There are a lot of really great anime out there. There are a lot of really bad series, too. And then there’s that subset of anime that are held in high esteem, but don’t deserve all the praise or popularity that they receive. For our Top 5 + Guest post this month, we’re tackling those series that get a lot of love, but maybe deserve to get a little more hate.
Joining us today is Tommy of Anime Bowl. A long-time aniblogger, Tommy’s unique site combines his passions of anime and sports. He’s recently started a Toonami podcast and has just finished up his annual March Madness character tournament (I was defending champion in the pick ’em, but came in dead last this year).
And as always, tell us below how we messed up and what shows would make your list!
Tommy’s Picks
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Attack on Titan
Sword Art Online (I)
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Durarara!!
All my picks are incredibly popular shows which have appeared on Toonami/Adult Swim recently; shows that are household names amongst otaku, yet ultimately missing something that causes them to fall into mediocrity. The top choice is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which failed to live up to the reputation of its predecessor due to a reliance on deus ex machina – which will be a recurring theme amongst my choices. Over and over again, Edward Elric, who was a very well-developed character in the first series, ends up in Brotherhood somehow always magically making the right choice no matter what, making him as close to a Gary Stu as you can get. And while I love how Brotherhood ends – I rank its final episode second only to CowboyBebop’s “The Real Folk Blues” – the major conflict is resolved by a dose of deus ex machina reminiscent of Frozen (just “love,” Elsa!). Next are Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online, which are two peas in a pod. Both suffer from a never-wrong shonen lead (like Edward Elric, to an extent), and both never live up to the over-the-top hype they received upon airing. Both make heavy uses of deus ex machina – in particular SAO. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a tough one to criticize; it’s got lots to like, and it has some really strong characters. However, if your bar is set at “Evangelion,” anything short of “masterpiece” is to fall short. (Plus my heart was ripped out in the finale. NIA!!!) Finally, Durarara!! doesn’t really fit anywhere amongst these, but I can’t figure out why everyone else loves this one. I watch it asking, “am I just watching people chat in chatrooms? How is this entertaining?” So while I do enjoy all these series, they ultimately fall short of the hype. Except Durarara!! – I can’t enjoy that.
Japesland’s Picks
Sword Art Online (I)
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Attack on Titan
Code Geass
Ninja Scroll
Yep, I completely copied Tommy’s first three entries. Copy and paste his reasons and you pretty much get my reasons as well, though I particularly dislike SAO (hence my reasoning for placing it as position 1). I used to also not feel as frustrated by FMA: Brotherhood until Sean, our dear podcast’s co-host, enlightened me with a fairly comprehensive and systematic reasoning as to why it falls short. Talk to him if you’d like to hear his rather convincing case (it convinced me!). Code Geass is simply a show I never got, and I felt it exploited too many tropes for its legitimate buildup to payoff. Ninja Scroll is just Ninja Scroll. I suppose I understand why it gained popularity given its time, but, man, is it a screwed up movie.
Kaze’s Picks
Attack on Titan
Code Geass R2
Death Note
Sword Art Online (I)
Cowboy Bebop
Attack on Titan reeks of horrible writing ripping off of Muv Luv Alternative plus the above. Even the animation is incredibly overrated, since it was actually in developmental hell the entire time and while it did blow its budget on a few great scenes, was overall an animating disaster. Code Geass’ first season wasn’t that bad but R2 was so terrible yet popular that you can pretty much trace everything wrong with the current state of mecha anime back to it. Death Note had pretty much the same problem as Code Geass; a passable first half and an atrocious second half yet somehow gets hailed by many as the pinnacle of intelligence. SAO has been falling in popularity lately, so I’m not sure how accurate this assessment is, but basically the above reasons. Cowboy Bebop is a strange one because I actually like it quite a bit. But the number of people who say it’s the best anime ever while I find it clearly is not makes it a good example of just because something is overrated doesn’t mean it’s bad!
stardf29’s Picks
Sword Art Online (I) (6.2)
The Flowers of Evil (7.4)
Watamote (7.9)
Attack on Titan (8.0)
Kill la Kill (8.1)
I’m not a big fan of the term “overrated”, because it carries with it the connotation that it’s not okay to like certain shows that happen to be really popular or critically acclaimed, and I think people should be allowed to like what they like. Nevertheless, here are five shows that have either been really popular or have gotten critical acclaim that I just do not quite feel the same for. I have included my personal scores (out of 10) for them, so you can see that I actually like #2-5 a fair amount, just not as much as others do. As for why, #1 suffered from all sorts of writing problems, #5 was fun but nothing particularly notable, and as for #2-4, the same “problem” affects those three: overwhelming negativity. For better or for worse, I prefer to watch shows that are optimistic or at least hopeful in tone even when dealing with bad events and tragedies. They’re all good enough for what they are but I find them really hard to sit through at times. I’m just not into the whole “true art is angsty” philosophy.
TWWK’s Picks
Angel Beats!
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Ponyo
5 cm per Second
Clannad After Story
Oh, Angel Beats. I had so much love for the first half of the series, and I enjoyed the conclusion, but the middle portion of the show was so, so bad. There’s such a universal love for the show, even with it’s imperfections, with the general consensus seeming to be, “It just needed more episodes.” But it didn’t – it just needed better writing. TTGL is also another highly esteemed series, but one that I found very, very boring. Bad fight scenes. Too much style, and too little substance – “fake substance,” I would call it, abounds throughout. Ponyo felt like Miyazaki on autopilot (retreading storylines and characters). 5 cm per Second was vague and disconnected. And my last series – which, by the way, I rank pretty highly – I think gets such a high score based based on its awesome last half. But are we forgetting the first half of After Story, which is really, really boring?
