Top 5 Worst Anime That I Watched in 2016

Top 5 Worst Anime That I Watched in 2016

Warning: The following list may contain spoilers of the shows on this list. If you wish not to know some plot details in the stories, or simply don't wish to find out what happens in the series that are mentioned, please exit the tab, and come join me once you've watched the first few episodes. But than again, if you don't mind spoilers, feel free to stay put.

Also, the pictures for my special posts are chosen at random. Emma Stone's showing one of my reactions to shows I end up disliking, since I can get quite vocal at points.

Also, keep in mind that these shows that I talk about aren't all terrible. Some of them have good points, but the bad outshine the good unfortunately. Any show that I rate a 7 or below could show up on this list, so keep watch.

With that said:

I think everyone's already fed up with the "2016 is crap" jokes, but in terms of anime I've watched this year, it hasn't been that. There have been another bunch of great shows that have made up this year, along with good ones. Of course, there's the ones in-between, and then we have the anime that didn't impress me. Ones that were composed of many elements that fell flat, annoyed the hell out of me, simply made my brain turn to mush for the time being, and also just tumbled in a never-ending cycle of "MAKE IT STOP!"

This grand mix has once again been pondered over for a few months with less organization, considering that there actually weren't too many horrid shows this year. There will still be a Dishonorable Mentions (because it's still at least a bigger amount than the shows I didn't like 2 years ago), but let's just say that 6.5's and 6's didn't actually make the list.

We also have another load of shows that I finished, and shows I stopped caring for halfway through their run or after the first episode. So let's start rolling them out, shall we?

#5

B-Project: Kodo Ambitious (again, the joke will be saved until the actual review).

I didn't start this show expecting it to be as mediocre as it was, as I was expecting B-Project to have its sour parts. I was, however, looking for a fun cheesy show for the summer, and this one managed to fit the bill.

Unfortunately, despite some promise in the beginning that seemed to take a closer look on some of the darker sides of the idol industry, the story completely falls flat in the second half, picking up icky melodrama that doesn't really make this idol series stand out from the pack, which in turn produces one of the worst endings of any anime that I have ever finished. The writing isn't the best either, with a couple of the characters being portrayed slightly different as script writers were changed throughout its run. Their interactions are humorous, sure, but sometimes, it takes more than that to establish a strong character.

The animation really isn't the best either, getting incredibly inconsistent in the second half (with some slip-ups here and there) with the manservice that I typically enjoy becoming more of a gimmick than any actual titillation. 

Well, I wouldn't say that about the endcards, because those are actually sexy. Exhibits A-J:

See, don't they look hot (and yes, I made that collage myself)?

Regardless, B-Project still had some good parts to it that made me want to finish it, but the faults in the storytelling and the characters took the major downfall. For reverse harem (there's a main girl protagonist in this; don't worry, though, she isn't that relevant) and idol show fans, you're not missing much if you end up skipping this.

Score will be revealed in the review for this anime.

#4

Divine Gate.

Much like with B-Project, this show also had major faults with its story and characters. But while B-Project was too simple and over-dramatic, this anime was overly complex and confusing. Not only does it fail at developing the main characters (out of a very large cast, mind you), but having a narrator didn't really help matters. In fact, it made the show even worse, with melodramatic narration that smelt of pretentiousness so badly, I felt that I needed to build an army of Febreeze cans just so it could go away.

But it didn't. I only really finished this anime due to my undying love for Loki and PV hype, but that didn't escape it from being meh. It didn't even have a full ending, which is honestly dumb, because I can't see this getting a second season. It was just that meh and overall frustrating, which sucks considering the amount of potential this series had going into it.

In the end though, despite having a few good parts to it, Divine Gate was just one hot mess that no one really cares to clean up. It built itself a pedestal to stand on in my eyes, which it only ended up destroying once things actually started moving.

5.5/10

Review link: http://dazzlinganime1.blogspot.com/2016/04/divine-gate-review.html

Now it's time to go straight to the DNF shows that made this list. One made that halfway rule, while the other two got one episode each before being tossed into the wastebasket. No interruptions this time either, which is pretty nice.

#3

Uta no Prince Sama's 4th season (Episodes 1-6).

To most people, this season is seen as an overall step in the right direction following a good/average third season. To me, the first half seemed to be an even worse version of the last 3 episodes of Season 3. For a show that had a really great Season 1, then slightly weaker each season onward, it almost entirely wiped out this time, and it's not giving me any motivation to move beyond the first 6 episodes aside from looking at bits of episodes on Twitter, Tumblr, or watching the actual material, okay?

The HEAVENS duet project plot feels like a complete retread of Season 3's storyline with the Cross Units without the use of Haruka Nanami: The Plot Device, Haruka may not be a plot device anymore, but she's become completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things (and with the slight return of her special medicine in some cases. No, I'm not talking about anything sexual). Characters either don't get developed further or do but it's not as elaborated as I'd like it to be, or still act the exact same (excluding Cecil in Episode 5, Satsuki's return in the episode after the one I dropped, Otoya's breakdown later on in the season, and all of QUARTET NIGHT), and the QUARTET NIGHT subplot of them going on tour is SO poorly incorporated into the show that it makes it seem like the writers needed an excuse to get them out.

Also, the animation is garbage in the first half. It's incredibly inconsistent, lazy, just plain ugly, and pretty much like A-1's work with Qualidea Code in the previous anime season before this aired (yup, you heard me). I thought it couldn't get worse with Season 3's broadcast material, but lo and behold, I was wrong (though I was expecting the animation to not be as pretty).

I'm going to cut off any more elaboration here, because I'm pretty sure I can write a 4 page paper on how this season fell flat for me. Even with watching the entire finale and that actually being pretty good, it doesn't excuse the fact that the first half wasn't fun to watch, and parts of this season (even later on) made me want to vomit. Like Ariana Grande sang in Knew Better, I can do better. That is, I can find better than this season of Uta Pri.

Well, I probably won't find a guy as good as Ranmaru Kurosaki.

Score will be revealed in the Incomplete review for this anime (because I still need to let my thoughts out more than I already have).

#2

First Love Monster (Episode 1).

I still wish this went better than it ended up being. But in the end, First Love Monster's premiere episode didn't sit well with me. It's not due to the fact that the majority of the male cast is all in fifth grade (I'm still not sure if I should take that seriously or not), but it's because of this show being a comedy and not being funny. 

Sure, there were some times I laughed, but it was either unintentionally produced or happened at the dumbest moments. The majority of the jokes in the first episode are just sex humor I've heard a million times before, and better elsewhere then in here. The score did help with the comedic nature of the show, but it didn't really wow me, plus the animation was just average.

I am still thinking of giving the manga a try in the future (there are less poop and pee jokes from what I've heard), but in the end, this was one of the roughest introductions to an anime that I've seen this year, along with ever. If you're one of those viewers that was turned off by the premise, you're probably still going to want to sit this one out.

4/10

Not planning to review this since it's a DNF.

Now it's time to go through the Dishonorable Mentions list, which probably won't be as big as last year's list, considering I dropped less shows this year. The OVAs from my Yaoi Corner post won't be counted for, since they aren't full length series.

Dishonorable Mentions

Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation (Not horrible, but the story took a while to get going, and most of the characters didn't get proper development)

7/10

Qualidea Code's animation budget (Do I even need to explain it? It was a complete mess all around and just turned to be the butt of everyone's jokes for this series)

7/10 for the actual series, 1/10 for the TV animation

Servamp (The pacing easily dampened on what was a really good show, with some characters not getting any development. The ending was absolutely terrible)

Score to be revealed.

Sukisho (The story's supernatural elements aren't incorporated well; most of the show, while good, does become a bit too simplistic)

7/10

Taboo Tattoo (Sloppy story pacing and character development; some animation not up to rest of show's standards)

Score to be revealed.

Togainu no Chi (Episodes 1-6) (Bad TV animation, plus the story isn't executed to its fullest potential as it should have been)

6/10

Now it's time to jump over to my worst anime of the year. Are you ready? Give a drum roll to:

#1

Magical Warfare (Episode 1).

No joke; this first episode almost gave me a migraine. I've been curious to check out Magical Warfare for a while, mostly because people have said that it sucks and the ending is terrible. Sometimes you can't help but get intrigued when someone says an anime is horrid, so I was interested to see where it would end up going. Also, the seiyuu cast looked pretty promising. After all, who wouldn't want Mamoru Miyano as a lead character?

In the end though, this show only proved that it's one of the many babies born from the same tired and true tropes that we've seen countless times with LN adaptations. It's not one of those entity series where it's a dime or dozen to see if they're actually good; it just has several cliches that make my eyes roll so hard that I feel like a pair of new sockets wouldn't be too bad. Neither the story or the characters looked promising beyond the first episode, and the animation was more of a sub-par effort from Madhouse.

When the chibi hosting the previews announced "Did you like the first episode?" I responded with no, closed the tab, and promptly updated MyAnimeList because there was no way I was going to finish this in the end. So if you haven't watched it yet, and you think it looks bad, just don't bother.

2/10

And that's going to wrap everything up. Did any of the shows I mentioned have opposite opinions from any of you, or are you in the same boat as me? Do you have any other shows that you didn't like watching this year?