The world of anime is a unique place. On the one hand, it is populated by passionate, dedicated fans. On the other hand, no one is as harsh on the most popular titles in the genre as these locals.
Take any well-known anime, and you are sure to find opposing opinions. The latest poll on r/anime, the most popular subreddit (9.4 million subscribers) dedicated to anime, proved this.
With 1,362 redditors voting for their top 10 least favorite anime, not a single title was chosen by 10% or more of the community. The votes were extremely spread out. Still, the poll showed which shows are more hated than others.
Let's take a look at the top 10 and see if your preferences match those of other fans.
10th Place: Elfen Lied (2004)
-74 Points
There are quite a few fans of this harem tale of a mutant serial killer suffering from a split personality. But the majority of viewers were disappointed by the plot after the first promising scene full of nudity and gore. The clichés, confusing arcs, plot contrivances, and inconsistencies made the show difficult to watch.
9th Place: The Detective is Already Dead (2021)
-78 Points
The premise of the show was intriguing and made many viewers tune in. But the story of a silver-haired detective who may or may not be dead and her sidekick turned out to be extremely boring, with weak character motivation and many deus ex machina moments that made it impossible to root for the protagonists.
8th Place: Tokyo Revengers (2021)
-79 Points
For fans of time-traveling stories, Tokyo Revengers may seem like a real treat at first. The main character gains the ability to travel back in time to save his ex-girlfriend from a deadly gang attack. But the snail's pace of the plot and annoying slide-show animation, coupled with extremely unrealistic character behavior, put the series at the top of this list.
7th Place: Berserk (2016)
-81 Points
The hatred for the 2016 adaptation of a well-loved manga by Kentaro Miura and Kouji Mori is easily explained by the expectation-versus-result factor. Those who have been reading the adventures of the medieval wandering swordsman since the 1990s and drooling over the 1997 series were crushed by the hard-to-watch 3D animation and all the distractions from the source material.
6th Place: The Seven Deadly Sins (2014)
-100 Points
Like Berserk, the story of the disgraced team of knights is set in the European Middle Ages, and like Berserk, it disappointed fans of the original manga by Nakaba Suzuki. With poor character design, unbearable fight scenes, and clichéd shounen plot twists and turns, the movie missed the mark completely.
5th Place: Tokyo Ghoul (Root A 2015) & (:re 2018)
-107 Points
The story, set in a universe where super-powered creatures called ghouls feed on human flesh, is well known in the anime world. Many find it compelling, and the first series, released in 2014, is widely loved by viewers. But starting with the sequel, Root A, the series strayed further and further from the original manga by Sui Ishida, resulting in choppy pacing, underdeveloped characters, and confusing arcs.
4th Place: Redo of Healer (2021)
-134 Points
The show about the brutal revenge of a powerful healing magician left many viewers scratching their heads. The main character, who is as unlikable as his victims, coupled with a lackluster plot development, caused viewers' attention spans to be cut in half and brains to cease functioning intellectually. At its core, the show is nothing more than torture porn.
3rd Place: Rent-a-Gilfriend (2020)
-168 Points
The romantic story of a college student who goes through a bad case of heartbreak and rents himself a girlfriend on a dating app is just uncomfortable to watch. The protagonist is pathetic and gives one of the worst second-hand embarrassments of any viewer's life. But hot girls fall for him anyway. If you want a realistic love story, look elsewhere.
2nd Place: The Rising of the Shield Hero (2019)
-173 Points
The show is loved by many anime fans, but has a lot of wasted potential. The story is a typical fish-out-of-water situation where a gamer suddenly finds himself in a magical universe and has to adapt to survive. And it could be good, if not for the overly simplistic black and white morality and the protagonist, who is the worst case of a Gary Stu character. Everyone loves him and the whole world revolves around him, but he does nothing to justify it.
1st Place: The Promised Neverland S2 (2021)
-185 Points
The premiere season of the adaptation of the manga by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu was certainly a treat for all fans. The story of the human children being raised in orphanages as food for demons set a high bar. Maybe that's why Season 2 was such a disappointment. For some reason, the creators decided to stray from the original and remove entire arcs and fan-favorite characters, which resulted in the first place in the fan ranking.