You get settled in, enjoy whats shaping up to be a great series, look forward to seeing what happens with the characters once they’re introduced … aaand the writing trips over it’s own feet and faceplants into the ground like so many defeated enemies.
What’s the worst one out there, and what happened to it?
Promised Neverland, though I only watched the first season due to how much they changed for the worse in season 2. I’ve read most of the manga so I knew what was supposed to happen, but I’ve never got around to finishing it.
I thing that was so frustrating about season 2 was that they were leaving breadcrumbs, clues, and hints that in fact things ARE different. Characters werent just conspicuously absent, there was scrawling on the walls stating that they left.
It felt like the series was going to dive into some multiverse/time travel/alternate reality/reality warping shenanigans and do things a little differently than the manga while still tying into the original . Then the anime wasted a lot of time, skipped ahead a bit and resolved the majority of the manga in the form of a slideshow.
I really wonder what happened during production to lead to this change and issue and why the series just ended the way it did.
I’ve not seen it myself, but I’ve read the story … IIRC nobody knows what actually happened, there’s been no information from those involved and the only public info was regarding staff changes (which didn’t help deduce anything either)
strong second on this
I’m reading the manga right now, and was curious about the anime, but judging by everything I’ve heard about it, I think I’m going to skip it. A shame, because a well done adaptation would make some of the action scenes a little easier to follow.
Controversial, but Attack on Titan.
When they realised how much money they could squeeze out of the IP, they decided to stretch the story way to long. It should have ended already.
Anything where the older role model ends up dating the child they just spent the whole start of the series essentially raising. It has happened twice now, and I’m repulsed every time q.q why is this even an issue??
Usagi Drop’s anime interestingly removes this part. In the manga, they timeskip to her teenage years where she’s dating him. In the anime, they story just ends right before the timeskip. Vastly improved lol
Eww, yes absolutely that! (and the “but that little girl is actually a 400 year old dragon” trope is similarly nasty)
Since the worst examples I can think of have already been mentioned, I’ll just throw in that Boku No Hero Academia is making me pretty sad these days. It’s like they decided to stretch out a few things that were shorter in the manga for a reason and it’s gone on for so long that it doesn’t feel like the same story at all anymore. I miss what the show used to be.
ETA: Ascendance of a Bookworm was really fun right up until she decides to dump everything in the trash and join the church.
How long is Buko no Hero Academia? There’s been a couple of long series I’ve seen where it hasn’t been all that surprising that the story lost it’s way on the altar of profit!
Ousama Ranking recently comes to mind. Such a bizarre and wonderful setting filled with intrigue and all I can remember about it by the end was the made the MC op and the other prince wants to marry his father’s childhood sweetheart and villain, after she basically killed him
Oedipus complex from the protagonist? That really does sound off putting.
Not the protagonist, but his brother
Ah ok, sorry I totally didn’t understand!
I imagine almost anything with a Gecko Ending fits. Also here should be the series where something happens and they’re rushed to finish it in the next 2-3 episodes instead of 10-15 as planned or something on those lines, faintly recall seeing a few like this before. But both of these are special cases, more interesting is when there’s no external pressures and there’s plenty of material, yet they screw it anyway. Rosario to Vampire comes to mind, the manga had the usual harem and comedy shenanigans, but went full shonen. The anime discarded most if not all of the shonen for the harem/comedy shenanigans and ended funny but less good as a result. Never watched S2 because of this, no idea if there’s more. I suspect nearly every case in the thread is behind the scenes a result of executive meddling, but that’s just gut feeling.
Didn’t know about Gecko endings being a thing but it makes perfect sense … it’s bewildering to me that there isn’t more general planning when it comes to making something that costs a lot of money
Charlotte rushed the ending and fumbled it bad.
This one’s a CLASSIC fumble. I really liked the show too so it was a shame. If they were given, say, 12 more episodes to work with they probably could have made it work.
I’m not sure if Guilty Crown fumbled the ending or if it just was garbage right from the outset, but I distinctly remember everyone hating its big tone shift with the MC going hyper edgelord mode.
There’s enough edgelords IRL without having them in entertainment too!
Wonder Egg Priority. No, WEgg,
commit die
is not caused by a jealous android and her weird program friends.Yeah that was a show that didnt really have an end game properly planned out and thanks to the production woes it had that caused it to get delayed and cut short, the ending really does hit the fan.
It’s such a shame too because the animation was solid and the concept was fascinating. I feel like the biggest crime this series has is how they knew they were running out of time, money, episodes, and instead of wrapping things up they just kept adding more and more undercooked ideas. I think the series would be more fondly remembered if it just hastily fizzled out instead. It would still be disappointing but it really is one of those shows where the back half manages to retroactively make the front half worse.
The final TV episode still ends on a strong note. YMMV on whether or not it’s worth sitting through the whole show for the payoff.
Just don’t bother with the special episode. The first half is just a recap, and the second half just throws out even more loose ends without resolving anything, and then writes “The End” at the bottom. Incredibly dissatisfying.
The last season of Food Wars felt really rushed, like a shell of the former seasons. Absolutely everything felt unnecessarily shortened.
So for me it would have to be the original Dragon Ball tv show. I fell in love with the show around the Tien Saga for how meticulously animated the fighting was. Every punch and kick was seen and the focus was on martial arts. This continued through the King Piccolo saga, which I also loved.
However, I was massively disappointed with the Piccolo Jr saga. To me, it seems like the show switched from being focused on martial arts to generic energy blasts and poorly animated “flurry of blows” that really watered down the quality of the fights. Where before we had well drawn punches and kicks now we had people yelling loudly while blasting energy beams.
I’ll die on the hill that this was a “jumping the shark” for the Dragon Ball franchise that it never fully recovered from. Future DBZ seasons were a bit more creative (thinking of Goku holding Raditz while Piccolo blasted him) but the show as whole never really returned to being about “martial arts” the way it was before.
I feel like an old man shaking my fist at a cloud though, as I’ve yet to meet one single person who misses that focus/aspect of the old show.
Erased and To Your Eternity both fell off so hard, I’m not sure which upset me more. I don’t want to spoil for anyone, but man.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The first couple of stories of To Your Eternity are great, I’d still recommend watching the series as long as you don’t feel a commitment to finish it.
I don’t watch a lot of anime, but how about the original Evangellion? My understanding is that the last few episodes were deeply confusing and disliked when they came out, to the point that the movies were created partly to “fix” the ending.
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Surprised nobody mentioned Tokyo Ghoul, it’s probably one of the most legendary fuckups in anime history.
Also the second season of The Promised Neverland.
What happened with Tokyo Ghoul?
Have you watched Tokyo Ghoul: re?
Completely butchered the plot from the original and ended up being a hot mess with no structure or understandable story whatsoever.
I haven’t, I haven’t watched a huge amount of Anime … I’ll remember to avoid this one though, thanks to your summary!
This isn’t like awful, but it’s noticeable. Full Metal Alchemist (brotherhood? I forget who came first) we started great and strong, good pacing, but then they ran out of source material too quickly. SO, they started making it up as they went. I stopped when the general planning a coupe flips to a genocidal maniac, the character shift was so jarring. Apparently further down this path they lose their alchemist abilities and get shot to WWII to fight some Nazis. It was so off the rails, when the manga started up again they completely redid the anime from the beginning. I love this anime, but I have to make a guide on how to watch it every time I suggest it. The second attempt didn’t do as well with the early episodes like the first one did, probably because they were trying to catch up. Wild ride, still worth it.
It’s not Brotherhood, just Full Metal Alchemist. Brotherhood was made in response to what a mess the original series was. Fans largely pretend the original series never happened and just tell people to watch Brotherhood instead.
Aside from being more accurate to the manga, Brotherhood is darker and more geared for an older audience than the original show was.