One thing that everyone hates is a show that looks so good but ends up so bad,and anime is no exception. This is not always the case, but when it is, it’s usually a simple case of the awful-pacing blues. Sometimes they start strong but just wither off towards the end. Other times, there is potential but poor execution.RELATED:The Best Anime TV Series on Netflix Right NowPoor pacing and convoluted plots can mess with character and plot development, which can end up confusing the audience or viewer. It can turn an anime sour pretty quickly and leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Here are ten anime that looked so good but were just so bad.
10) ‘Sword Art Online’
Sword Art Onlineis a popular franchise with several seasons and a few movies to its name. However, it did not have such a strong beginning.Sword Art Onlinefollows game tester Kirito. On the first official release day of the game, thousands upon thousands of players get trapped inside the game when the creator decides to remove the “log out” button. Due to the newer technology — the NerveGear — used to play this game, those who die in the game also die in real life. For Kirito and everyone else, the game becomes riskier.
Interesting premise, right? However, this interesting premise gets squandered early. The anime speeds through most of Kirito’s challenges and achievements, highlighting a few key moments throughout his survival as he jumps the ranks. Not to mention, the second half of the first season turned sour quickly with an incest-related romantic subplot of the secondary main character, Suguha. Rescuing Asuna — Kirito’s love interest — becomes the main plot of the second half, but it is executed disturbingly — involving sexual harassment of Asuna — while also making Asuna weaker than she first was. In the first half of SAO, she was Kirito’s rival — his equal — but in the second half, she is simply an object of desire.
9) ‘Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon’
Yashahimeis a spin-off series of a much larger franchise calledInuYasha.Yashahime: Princess Half-Demonfollows the story of half-demon Towa who was transported to modern Japan at a young age. Years later, she’s learned how to teleport between the feudal era and the current one, meeting quarter-demon Moroha and even Towa’s half-demon sister, Setsuna, along the way.Together, the three of them complete jobs and slay demons, all while learning about the mystery of their absent parents.
Fans ofInuYashawere undoubtedly excited when this spinoff series was announced. Similar toBoruto,Yashahime’s first season focused specifically on the next generation of the original cast. However, while the concept was exciting, the show fell short in terms of execution and plot. Many fans wanted to see the original crew in their new roles, but all of them vanished without a trace. The show kept dropping hints on their disappearance, which only increased the audience’s interest in the original cast, and as a result, there is little interest in the newer cast’s struggle. Not to mention, the original cast’s disappearance is barely touched upon, which hardly makes the show satisfying.
8) ‘Black Butler’
An anime that blew up in the late 2000s wasBlack Butler.Black Butlertakes place in the Victorian era and is about a twelve-year-old heir — Ciel — to the Phantomhive house. Ciel, after being tortured by a cult of some kind, summons a demon and makes a contract with him. This demon is called Sebastian, and he takes on the role of a servant, namely a butler, and works for Ciel until he achieves his revenge. Until then, Sebastian has to fulfill his every whim.
While the premise and first few episodes started off good, the anime seemed to go downhill, and the plot started to get more convoluted. More specifically, the end of the first season felt unsatisfying and incomplete; there were many questions left unanswered.
7) ‘The Promised Neverland’
The Promised Neverlandis a dystopian anime about orphaned children who live under the watchful eye of Isabella, the orphanage’s “mom.” Every so often, a child gets adopted out and leaves the secluded orphanage. Emma, one of the oldest children, helps Isabella take care of the children. However, as one of the children is adopted out and sets out to leave, Emma and fellow orphan Norman race to catch her before she leaves so they can deliver her stuffed animal that she forgot. But as they search for her, they find her mauled body in a truck. From there, Emma and Norman learn that the orphanage is simply a food bank for demons, and Isabella is one of those who operate it. It becomes Emma’s job to help the orphans escape.
The first season ofThe Promise Neverlandwas executed beautifully. It remained interesting and well-paced. However, while the first season cements itself as one of the best first seasons for an anime, the second season isn’t as successful. The pacing becomes a mess as the anime just rushes through the rest of the arcs that it has little time to develop the story and the characters in a way that was satisfying to watch. The ending also leaves a sour taste, as it feels more like a slideshow of images than anything else.
6) ‘Amnesia’
Amnesiais an anime based on a popular visual novel. It follows the character who is commonly referred to as the heroine because she has no memories of herself, which includes her name. A spirit named Orion sticks by her side, revealing that when he collided his spirit into hers, he got attached and jumbled her memories. He helps her as she navigates the world without memories, and with each “death” she encounters, she is teleported to a parallel universe where she is still alive. However, each time she finds thatshe is living a completely different life with a different boyfriend. It’s up to her and Orion to survive as she collects her memories and finds out which life is hers.
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There are instances where anime based on video games — in this instance, visual novels — turns out exceptionally well.ClannadandClannad: After Storyare both based on visual novels and were well-received as anime, making them classics. However, this wasn’t the case forAmnesia. While the premise is interesting, the anime didn’t give room for the plot or characters to develop. Instead, many of the characters were left as one-dimensional with very little room to fully develop. Furthermore, little is still known about the heroine as she collects her memories. It’s simply a bad case of poor pacing, despite its interesting premise and beautiful animation. Like heroine’s memories, it’s forgettable at best.
5) ‘Junni Taisen’
Junni Taisenis a twelve-episode anime about a tournament — the Zodiac tournament — where the most skilled warriors participate. The goal is to fight against one another until there is one sole victor. In the end, the victor is granted one wish.
Junni Taisenwas a great anime off the bat. It had great fight scenes and a high-stakes plot that keeps the viewer locked in. It’s entertaining through the end; however, the ending — unfortunately — sours the experience and makes it not worth watching. The anime ends with the victor, Nezumi, deciding his wish: to have all his memories of the tournament and his past erased. This kind of wish ruins all character development, and it erases what happened. The entire tournament ultimately lost its impact, and it was anti-climatic, which doesn’t match the tone of the anime itself.
4) ‘Tokyo Ghoul’
Tokyo Ghoulis an anime about Kaneki Ken, an ordinary human in a world that coexisted with humans and undead ghouls. However, one day after asking a woman on a date, he discovers that he’s been attracted to a ghoul as she attacks and begins to devour him (as ghouls do). However, due to an accident, Rize is crushed and Kaneki is clinging to dear life. After being rushed to a hospital, Kaneki receives an organ transplant from Rize’s body, which ultimately turns him into a ghoul-human hybrid. Kaneki has to learn how to survive in the world as a ghoul.
Tokyo Ghoulis another anime with a great premise and strong start. However, with season three comes pacing issues. The story and development felt more rushed than anything else, which is important due to how plot-heavy the anime is.
3) ‘Sunday Without God’
Some people prefer short anime.Sunday Without Godis one of those. The anime follows a young orphan named Ai who is a grave keeper. Meaning, she is the only person who can put people to rest after they have sustained fatal injuries and “died.” This is because they live in a world that was abandoned by God, meaning that he has no hand in the lives of humans any longer. This goes for her village which is filled with the dead who resume their lives even after death. But one day, as Ai returns to her village, she comes to find it massacred by an immortal man named Hampnie. From there, she has to go learn to survive in the world, meet new people along the way, and discover her purpose.
Sunday Without Godis another short anime with beautiful animation. As a concept, it had potential; however, the pacing of the anime itself was slow, which made it difficult to keep watching. The anime was also filled with plot holes and confusing subplots that made it hard to understand the first time through.
2) ‘Berserk’
The 2016Berserkanime follows the story of a character named Guts who is known as the “Black Swordsman.” He takes revenge against those who have wronged him. This season serves as a companion to the set of films based on the manga.
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WhileBerserk’sanime carried an odd and somewhat worrying animation, the plot itself made the anime look good. However, the animation ended up being of poor quality with awkward camera angles and the overall uncanniness of the anime. Apart from the animation style, the anime had generally bad pacing, which made it difficult to fully enjoy.
1) ‘Pandora Hearts’
Pandora Heartsis a one-season anime that follows Oz Vessalius, a young boy who lives quite a privileged life. However, all that changes when he is banished into the Abyss by a cult going by the name the Baskervilles. As he traverses the abyss, he meets and makes a contract with Alice, otherwise known as B-Rabbit. Once he exits the abyss, he finds himself back in his world again, but everything is different.
Concept-wise,Pandora Heartsboth looks and sounds great. This even goes for the first few episodes. However, as the show progresses, the plot becomes more convoluted, and the subplots become entangled. The story overall becomes less and less clear, and at the end, the audience is left on an unsatisfying cliffhanger that is never resolved. This is an anime that had potential but failed to meet those expectations.
