Withanimebeing the visuals-in-motion medium that it is, it’s often surprising when some anime are released with incredibly sub-par animation. What’s often even more surprising is when these low-quality animations are released for shows that have been incredibly hyped. The poor animation then ultimately leads to a hard swing in the other direction, and these shows face incredibly harsh criticism as a result.
While many of these shows do have somescenes of decent animation, more often than not there are a handful of scenes that stand out as exceptionally bad. These are what tend to stick with audiences, and leave the fans feeling disappointed and sometimes even very angry. While these few shows are certainly not the only ones to have faced these criticisms, they have earned some of the harshest critiques.
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The Way of the Househusband
The Way of the Househusbandbegan as amanga launched in 2018. Despite being a fairly recent manga, it quickly gained popularity as it depicted an ex-Yakuza boss who left his life of crime to be a househusband for his hardworking wife. Much of the comedy from this series comes with Tatsu still very much giving off the air of a Yakuza boss despite doing mundane tasks such as shopping for groceries.
When the anime was announced, many fans of the manga were excited to see the hilarious misunderstanding and hijinks in motion.Upon release on Netflix,however, fans were quickly confused. The animation for the show much more resembles a slideshow or storyboard than an anime, with characters sliding around on screen and simply jumping from pose to pose. Many fans argued that the show could not even truly be called an anime, seeming more like a moving manga.
One Punch Man: Season 2
One Punch Manseason 1 took the world by storm, helping catapult anime into the mainstream for western audiences as a whole.Saitama’s hilarious journey to be a herowho just wants a strong enough villain who doesn’t die in one punch was both endearing and awesome to watch. Much of what helped sell the first season was the nearly flawless animation throughout that made the various fight scenes feel electric and like the manga had come to life.
Due to the popularity of season 1, there was a lot of hype surroundingthe impending release of the second season. Many of the manga’s more famous arcs would soon be getting their starts and many favorite characters were set to be introduced. When the second season was released, fans and newcomers were upset to see that the animation quality had dropped significantly. The animation was much simpler and more basic, making some fight scenes lose much of their impact despite being major fights in the manga.
Berserk
Berserkis an incredibly popular manga with a long history of being known as one of the most beautiful works of fiction ever made.Kentaro Miura has been hailed for his workon the series, and fans were incredibly saddened to hear of his passing in May of 2021. Due to the intense popularity of the manga, many fans were expectant and very much excited for the 2016 anime adaptation that would put Guts in motion.
Where this adaption went wrong was in itsattempt at using CGIto produce quite a lot of the animation. The result was stiff characters, awkward movement for even Guts himself, and laughably bad fight scenes. The CGI in this adaptation was so awful, that it soured the taste of CGI in anime for many fans of the medium.
The Seven Deadly Sins
The Seven Deadly Sinsis a series about a ragtag group of former knights who come back together to fend off demons and clear their names of a crime they never committed. What began as a one-shot quickly rose in popularity due to the fun characters andhow well-handled their relationships are. Meliodus and his destined relationship with Elizabeth have resonated with many.
The Seven Deadly Sinsstarted off well, with many fans more than pleased by the animation done by Studio A1. After the second season, however, fans noticed that something was off. The anime had switched to Studio Deen for season three, and with it the animation quality had dropped severely. Not only were fights not quite as smooth, but the actual drawings were simply not at the expected level for release.
These anime stand as proof that for an anime to sit well with fans, it needs to actually deliver on the animation. Failing to do so simply leads to very much angered fans who expect a minimum level of quality out oftheir favorite works being adapted. Perhaps these anime, and their struggles to maintain fandoms, will serve as a warning for any future studios looking to cut corners with a hyped series.
