Have you ever had the crushing experience of really looking forward to a show. Maybe someone recommend it, it’s from a studio you love or it just sounds exactly like something you’d like. Maybe all three of these things. Just to have it disappoint you. You try to pretend to yourself it’s still great, after all you’ve been waiting for so long… But you just can’t get into it!
Before I start, let me just say that just because I didn’t enjoy a series doesn’t mean it’s bad. If it’s on the list it already means I thought some elements were great. It just didn’t appeal to me and I feel like I’m missing out. These are shows that I thought would be in my all time favourites and didn’t make the cut.
Here are the top 5 anime I want to love….but don’t.
5. New Game
An adorable comedy about young ladies playing and making video games! Amazing! This sounds like the best show of all time. I like comedies. I like video games, I like adorable and smart young career ladies that are doing it for themselves…. I didn’t like new game.
The comedy didn’t hit the mark for me at all. It was mostly centered on the girls being cutely flustered and cute morons which got rather repetitive for me. And although I quite liked Aoba I got tired of her being portrayed as incompetent. Scenes like her getting locked out of her office and sitting down to cry on the floor before thinking of knocking, twice. Or describing her as a die hard fan of RPGs and a professional game designer but somehow still having another character have to explain even the most basic concepts of videogames such a NPCs, ended up annoying me. I felt like the show was kind of bullying her after a while. I did not watch the second season.
I know most people adore this show and honestly I can see why. I don’t know why I got so hung up on these things at the time but I just can’t let them go now.
4. SNAFU
Man this show is beautiful. And Hachiman rules. I relate so much. The girls are great, complex and individual. That teacher rules. It’s not a straightforward story and there are no easy answers because sometimes that’s just how life goes. I watched both seasons, I did not enjoy either.
I honestly have no clue why I didn’t like SNAFU. It’s true that the more romantic (aimless and slightly angsty romance at that) simply bored me. I couldn’t connect with the material and although I related to the characters I couldn’t empathize at all with the situations. I simply didn’t understand their feelings which made a show like SNAFU very frustrating.
This is clearly on me. Legions of fans love the series and I which I could be one of them.
3. Spirited Away
Before I go on, I would rewatch Spirited Away any day. It clearly is a good movie that deserves all the praise it gets. However, despite the Alice in Wonderland viibes (one of my favourite books), the spunky young lady heroine I can see myself in, the friendly dragon! This remains my least favourite Myazaki movie.
For me, it was just o.k. and I got a bit frustrated when the world at large seemed to think it was the only anime that existed. Obviously this is in no way the movie’s fault.
I must admit that I only saw it once when it was first released. I was not as… refined then. It seems very probable that my views would change on a second viewing. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
2. Sakomoto desu ka
I’m a comedy fan. A pretty huge one. I love to laugh and do so very easily. My incredibly broad sense of humour accommodates stupid toilet humors, questionably dirty jokes, pitch black satire, over extended irony, nonsequeture nonesense…. basically anything even loosely qualifying as a joke, I generally get behind. I consistently review straight comedies way higher than the average viewer.
Yet I simply couldn’t get into Sakamoto. Not the show’s fault. I could actually tell what was funny about it as I was watching it but it didn’t click in my brain. I suspect some type of hormonal disorder on my end may be to blame because there is no other explanation. I should probably rewatch this at some point if I can get past my burned bridges policy with anime….
1. Mayoiga
No no, I’m not kidding. Wait hear me out, I’m really not just being sarcastic. I wanted to like Mayoiga so bad. This is actually the main source of my unfair grudge with this show! I was sooo excited about it you guys!
First I love tense mystery/thrillers. It’s one of my favourite fiction genres and I’ve often bemoaned how little represented it is in anime. I’m the type of person that would watch a handful of these each season but we only get a couple a year. The synopsis for the show immediately grabbed me in the pre season announcements and I could not wait to watch it. Knowing myself I had put it in my “to binge” pile because it would have driven me nuts to wait an entire week to find out the outcome of some twist or the key to some minor intrigue and I carefully avoided all spoilers. I did however look up some first episode spoiler free impressions cause curiosity got the better of me and at the time they were largely positive which just fueled my enthusiasm.
And I can understand why. The first episode was kind of great. The uncertain mood had me going into insane conspiracy theory mode. For some reason it reminded me of that John Cusack “Identity” movie, which for me is a great thing. The little we learned about the characters seemed ripe with potential. And it looked great! It was a really pretty anime by my tastes. There was no reason for Mayoiga not to become a favourite.
But boy did it go down hill fast (in my opinion). I have rarely been this bored by an anime. Considering the genre and production values, this was an unthinkable outcome and I felt personally betrayed. (Cause that’s a healthy and normal reaction to have….) I have been taking it out on this poor series ever since. Does it deserve my ire, probably not. Am I going to stop? No…
There you have it. 5 shows I thought I would love band on paper I really should have but it never translated for me.
Do you have any series like that.? Shows that have tons of stuff you normally like to see in Anime but just didn’t work for you? Let us know, we can share your pain.
Been working FT so too busy to read or post much on anime these days. Sorry.
SNAFU isn’t really a romance, and the people who think it is are very confused. SNAFU is really about connecting with people or failing to do so. The hero of the story is broken, as are the girls in his club. He was chuuni and people avoid him. He tried to reinvent himself for the start of high school and breaking his leg on day one has ruined his chances forever. He’s an outsider and always will be, and he knows it. I also think SNAFU is a memoir rather than present-day story, so the title is the ending. As for the club, those people are wrecks too. One is ice cold because of withdrawing from peer-abuse thanks to jealousy. The other only measures her self-worth by how popular she is with others and that’s VERY common with young women. She may grow out of it but in this story she’s a victim of the desire to be accepted and liked. The cold girl’s older sister is fake, and it drives the cold girl nuts how few people even see it. The fake sister is deeply worried that her cold younger sister will never have peers or friends and how lonely she is. The hero being able to see fake sister is fake makes cold sister jealous. SNAFU is about relationships, but not about love or romance. It is wrong to think it is about romance, no matter how many emo fangirls ship this.
As for Spirited Away: I agree. I dislike that movie because is makes little sense and changes gears a couple times and its really jarring. Its pretty rather than a story. It doesn’t have a plot. It makes less sense than two Jackie Chan movies spliced together randomly with the endings removed and a third one attached without any kind of connection to the beginning. If you want a Miyazaki movie with better plot and visuals, try Porco Rosso.
Spirited Away?? Consider my heart broken…:-(
I’m sorry?
It’s my fave anime ever and one of my all time fave films. It’s unimpeachable in my eyes.
So are there any series or movies you didn’t enjoy but you wish you did?
Plenty, but that was mostly because they ruined the series by abusing the central premise in favour of fan service and other wasteful guff.
On a more serious note though, I would have to say the film “Mirai”, because Hosoda’s previous work has always floored me but this one didn’t excite me so much, which was disappointing. 🙁
It happens so often–so very often!
oh no!
Mayoiga was definitely a big disappointment, even more so since it had some of my favorite people in the business working on the creative side. How two people as talented as Tsutomu Mizushima and Mari Okada could produce something that profoundly awful is almost inconceivable.
My pick that might raise some eyebrows is Madoka Magica. For sure I get why it was so popular, but I’d watched so much dark magical girl already before it came out that it was hardly the revelation for me that it was for a lot of its audience, plus I’d already seen two of the three older Shinbo anime (Lyrical Nanoha and Petite Cosette) that Urobuchi has specifically highlighted as influences on his writing of the series, and the Nanoha parallels especially I noticed right from the start of the first episode. I won’t dispute that Madoka’s an extremely well-made series and probably deserves most of the critical praise, but as far as personal favorites go it’s not even among my top ten favorite magical girl shows. I’ve tried twice since to rewatch it, thinking maybe it’ll grow on me like Nanoha did, but I never got further than episode five either time.
It’s too bad people don’t remember Nanoha much. It’s a great anime
I’m neutral to mildly positive on New Game. Having to explain basic concepts to Aoba was… strange from both angles: why doesn’t she know? Why did they hire her?
Oregairu (SNAFU is one of the English titles I refuse to use) is an odd one. All through the show I couldn’t figure out whether I like the show or not. I used to joke that I like every other episode. Then the second episode hit me in the gut where it hurt. And the fun thing? All of the first season is actually necessary set-up. If I could have the story telling and direction of the second season with the character designs and rougher tone of the first…
Spirited Away is probably my fourth-favourite Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke – Nausica – Totoro – Sprited Away), but that’s not saying much, since I’m not actually a fan of Miyazaki. I do enjoy those four films, with Princess Mononoke being special among them. Least favourite would go to Howl’s Moving Castle. Random pointless war, sudden pointless plot twists… Basically a good-looking, pointless mess (to me).
I also didn’t click with Sakamoto. I did love the skit where he protected a sparrow from a storm (I hope I remember this accurately enough so people know what I’m talking about) but little else. Some of the humour felt actually uncomfortable, especially later on.
I’m completely indifferent to Mayoiga. Didn’t like it, didn’t hate it, never think of it of my own accord.
I for me the seasonally-relevant show I wanted to love so badly is My Hero Academia. I’ve decided not to watch season 4, but part of me still wants to pick it up. I’m sure there’ll be great scenes I’ll love, and a whole lot more that are going for a pathos that’ll rub me the wrong way. It’s better for both me and the show if I don’t watch it, but the temptation’s there.
Mononoke is my favourite too!
You’ll hate me for saying this, but Natsume Yuujinchou. At least when I first watched the first season a long time ago. Back then, it might have been just too slow and low-key for me. I think I’d like it a lot more now, though. Even when I dropped it, I could appreciate it for its high quality, it just wasn’t quite connecting. There were some “girly” moe-type shows like K-On and Hidamari Sketch that I also avoided back in the day but that I think I’d be able to appreciate if I watched them now.
Well it was nice knowing you…
Stein;s Gate anime.
People hate me for this, but I was Just. So. Bored.
I found Okabe grating, the characters all felt low energy somehow, and the plot was really dull for me. Granted, I’ve only watched 11 episodes, but that’s HALF the show I’ve gotten through with me being disinterested.
Maybe it’s better in the game, but I cannot get through Stein;s Gate despite the high praise it’s getting.
It’s definetly not for everyone. And the game is science heavy so unless you enjoy physics it’s likely to be worse
Oh, my Goooooooooood! Yes! Thank you! I was close to convincing myself that I was the only person on the planet (exaggerating for effect) who thought Spirited Away was just “Okay.” The heaping amounts of “Anime of the Century” praise it receives is so baffling to me. Yeah, I understand it’s well-crafted and there’s a lot of symbolism and heart, but… it’s fine? Other Ghibli films have done it better in more compelling ways? I understand the significance. It just didn’t resonate with me.
#JusticeForMayoiga
Wow! So there’s two of us huh?
I was excited for Mayoiga as well and I also found it to be pretty meh. I watched it all the way through though, cus I kept hoping at some point it would become great. It didn’t…
I did too. We never learn
I’m with you on Snafu. That post I’ve written a while ago still rings in my memory…
Umm, I guess the Haikyu anime is up there for me though I’ve been reading and enjoying the manga quite a bit recently. Somehow, how the anime was put together didn’t click for me.
Also, Cannon Busters but that’s a post for another day.
That’s odd. I wonder what rubbed you the wrong way
Me too, honestly. I wish I understood how my mind would work sometimes.
I am almost scandalized that someone can not like Oregairu(SNAFU)! Especially since one of the longest posts on my blog is about why I love it so much! But to each their own I guess. I absolutely love it. Hopefully, one day, you will see the light of Oregairu as well Irina-san.
I think March Comes In Like A Lion was a very deep and emotional and character heavy show (not about shogi) however, I couldn’t find myself enjoying it no matter how much I tried even though it’s obvious March Comes In Like A Lion is quality work. I suppose we just aren’t on the same wave length…
It happens! I actually haven’t seen it
Everybody has different preferences. Just watch what you enjoy!
Exactly
Gurren Lagann is one of my all time favourite animes and so far 2 readers have spontaneaously brought it up as deeply disappointing.
Age and gender gap may explain SNAFU a bit.
Yeah, as a guy, I could personally root for Hachiman, which prolly made the series much more enjoyable. Everyone has their own reasons for liking something, it’s okay if someone doesn’t like the same things I do.
Gurren Lagann is the main one. It was hyped up so much for me, and I expected near perfection. But I couldn’t finish it. The animation was inconsistent, the characters ended up boring me quickly. Apart form one who annoyed me. Then they died. Which left me thinking “You were the only one getting a real reaction from me, even if it was negative, now you’re gone.” The uncut abth hosue episode didn’t help either.
Ghibli films that aren’t Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke. I really enjoyed all three of those, but the others I’ve watched felt like good films, but not as amazing as others seemed to think.
Black Cat. I love the manga. I wanted the anime to be as fun. But it wasn’t. 🙁
I obviously don’t relate seeing as Yoko is my spirit animal but I do relate to the pain of just not getting into a good anime.
I do wonder if the sheer amount of hype had an affect for me. I ended up watching it after someone essentially sold it to me as the greatest show to ever exist in any medium. That’s a lofty bar to try getting over.
Maybe… Or maybe it’s just not your thing.
Ones I can think of off the top of my head are Gurren Lagann, the Digimon Adventure Tri movies and Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card. Each had their moments, but they’re not what I wanted.
Ahh the pain of not being able to love a good show…
I wouldn’t call the tri movies good, but they could have been. Which might just be worse.