Prepare for a cringe-fest as we dive into the realm of unwatchable anime! From poorly executed adaptations to disastrous sequels, these shows will make you question your love for the medium. Join us as we explore the worst offenders that'll have you reaching for the remote faster than you can say "nani?!"
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00:00Multiple realities are progressing at the same time.
00:04It's a doozy.
00:06Never thought I'd actually see you again.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:12for the worst of the worst anime that are genuinely difficult to sit through.
00:26Number 10, Listeners.
00:30Ah, you're awake. How do you feel?
00:36In a post-apocalyptic world where music is nowhere to be found,
00:40the young Echo Rack discovers the joy of a good beat
00:43when he finds an audio port in a girl.
00:47Yeah, that's right.
00:48He sticks an aux cord in the amnesiac Moo,
00:51and no, that is not a dirty metaphor.
00:55It's the literal plot of the show.
00:57Oh, and there's also mechs.
00:58Don't ask us why.
01:00That implies there's a reason for anything that happens in Listeners.
01:08The characters love to spout off names of classical musical artists,
01:12but otherwise it's a boring nothing-burger of an anime
01:15that squanders its potential beneath cringey jokes and nonsensical plotting.
01:24Number 9, Handshakers.
01:29As more and more battle anime come out of the woodwork,
01:32it's becoming harder for anyone to stand out from the crowd.
01:35But forcing your leads to always hold hands?
01:38Is that really the best selling point Handshakers could come up with?
01:42If this were a comedy, or even a light-hearted isekai,
01:45it'd be funny, but it's not. It's awkward.
01:48Then again, the story doesn't matter when the visuals alone
01:52are enough to turn most people away.
01:54Studio GoHands has a track record of turning in
01:57some of the ugliest anime around,
01:59and Handshakers' CG attacks are no exception.
02:02Trust us and stay far, far away from this one.
02:17Whether you play basketball, volleyball, football, or something else,
02:21there's a great sports anime out there made just for you.
02:24Rugby players, on the other hand?
02:26Well, they got Try Nights.
02:28It's a lifeless, stereotypical underdog story
02:31stuffed full of lifeless, stereotypical characters.
02:35And even worse, it's all topped off with some of the most abysmal animation
02:39to ever make it to public broadcast.
02:41There's no speed or impact to anything that happens on screen,
02:45which makes Try Nights utterly impossible to take seriously.
02:49Given the lacklustre plot, we wouldn't blame the animators
02:52if they just cut their losses.
02:54So seriously, don't bother trying Try Nights.
03:10Number 7, FLCL Grunge, Progressive and Alternative
03:15The original FLCL is an untouchable classic
03:18that much we can agree on.
03:20But instead of leaving good enough alone,
03:23Adult Swim just had to go and milk the brand for all it's worth.
03:26Out came three different sequel series,
03:28Progressive, Alternative, and Grunge.
03:31Some of the best of the best,
03:33some of the worst of the worst,
03:35some of the worst of the worst,
03:37some of the worst of the worst,
03:39some of the worst of the worst,
03:41some of the worst of the worst,
03:43and Grunge.
03:44Somehow, each is worse than the last.
03:47Without even touching on the poor animation quality,
03:50the overblown storylines feel like they miss the intimate heart
03:53that put FLCL on the map in the first place.
04:04It's not just that they're disappointing,
04:06these cash-grab sequels actively detract from the original's legacy.
04:10So if our choices are Sink or Adult Swim,
04:13we choose Sink every single time.
04:32Let's make one thing clear,
04:34Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is not a bad manga.
04:37It's actually a pretty damn good one,
04:39especially once it starts peeling back the dark layers
04:42of its messed-up characters.
04:44It's unfortunate, then,
04:46that all the best parts of the series are stuck on the page.
04:49Somewhere in translation,
04:51the anime lost sight of its source material,
04:53instead doubling down on bad fan service and cliche jokes.
04:57Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer's poor adaptation
05:00hurts all the more because the manga readers know that,
05:03if it were in other hands,
05:05this show could have been great.
05:07Or, sadly, could have is as close to greatness as it will ever get.
05:28Adult Swim strikes again.
05:30Instead of spitting on a beloved IP,
05:32they went for an original idea this time.
05:35Things didn't turn out much better, anyways.
05:37Ninja Kamui's whole story
05:39is the same old tired revenge tale
05:41you've seen a thousand times before
05:43in a thousand better anime.
05:46Then, rather than doing anything new
05:48with its very familiar setup,
05:50the show throws a bunch of agonizingly boring fights
05:53at the screen and turns in for the day.
05:55It's an insipid, try-hard piece of fiction
05:58that feels like it only exists
06:00to cash in on the success of other, better action shows.
06:06Based on the negative reception,
06:08we'd say it epically failed.
06:16Number 4, Tesla Notes.
06:26Saving the world with the long-lost artifacts
06:28of Nikola Tesla
06:30is some pretty serious work.
06:32So, it's a real head-scratcher
06:34why Tesla Notes
06:36can't seem to go more than 60 seconds
06:38without cramming another lowbrow joke
06:40down your throat.
06:48Every engaging plot development
06:50is almost immediately shoved to the side
06:52in favour of more attempts at comedy.
06:54Although, given the truly awful 3D animation,
06:57there's a good chance Tesla Notes
06:59would have flopped even if it had been
07:01a straight drama.
07:03You'd think combining spy thrills,
07:05flashy action and quirky characters
07:07would be a foolproof operation.
07:09But somehow, Tesla Note came out
07:11much less than the sum of its parts.
07:13The only entertaining part of Uzumaki
07:15is figuring out what the hell happened
07:17behind the scenes.
07:19Announced in 2019,
07:21this is the first time
07:23we've seen a scene
07:25where the protagonist
07:27of the show
07:29is actually dead.
07:31It's the first time
07:33we've seen a scene
07:35where the protagonist
07:37of the show
07:39is actually dead.
07:41Announced in 2019,
07:43the four-episode miniseries
07:45faced delay after delay
07:47before finally hitting screens
07:49five years later in 2024.
07:51And after all that waiting,
07:53fans of the manga tuned in
07:55to see a PNG slideshow
07:57that barely qualifies as animation.
07:59While the first episode looked
08:01fine enough, the following three
08:03fell off a cliff.
08:05To say fans were disappointed
08:07would be the understatement of the century.
08:09It makes you wonder what in the world
08:11they were doing for five years.
08:13Because clearly, it wasn't working
08:15on Uzumaki.
08:29Some shows are unwatchable
08:31because they're boring. Others,
08:33because they squander their potential.
08:35Some are just flat-out tasteless.
08:37But when we say X-Arm
08:39is unwatchable, we aren't even
08:41talking about its convoluted plot,
08:43misguided changes,
08:45or blatant fanservice.
08:47No, it's unwatchable on a pure visual level.
08:57The dizzying camera and atrocious
08:593D animation is more likely
09:01to make you sick than keep you entertained.
09:03There is no way to sugarcoat it,
09:05X-Arm is an indefensibly
09:07ugly show.
09:09It's such a monumental misfire
09:11that at this point, it's pretty much
09:13the face of bad CGI,
09:15if not anime as a whole.
09:17Fans of the manga, all we can say is
09:19we're sorry.
09:35You have the option to be notified for occasional
09:37videos, or all of them.
09:39If you're on your phone, make sure to go into
09:41your settings and switch on notifications.
09:52As it turns out,
09:53slapping the name of a popular show
09:55on a cheap spin-off anime
09:57does not automatically make it good,
09:59funny, or worthwhile. But really,
10:01we shouldn't be surprised considering
10:03this Rick and Morty offshoot
10:05was partly produced by, you guessed it,
10:07Adult Swim.
10:09Most of the show's issues can be summed up
10:11by the fact that none of the original cast
10:13reprised their roles for the English
10:15dub. That's right, they couldn't even get
10:17the current Rick and Morty back
10:19for Rick and Morty the Anime.
10:21That's how little care went into the production
10:23and you can see it reflected in every
10:25painfully unfunny corner of
10:27this disaster.
10:34What's an anime everyone else seems to love
10:36but you can't stand?
10:38Let us know in those comments below.