Top 10 Things Every Anime Fan HATES

WRITTEN BY: Alex Crilly-Mckean
These practises bring out our inner otaku rage! Join Ashley as he counts down our picks for the tropes every anime fan hates, including the likes of "Filler Episodes", "Recap Episodes", "Terrible CGI", and more!
Script written by Alex Crilly-Mckean

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we are counting down our picks for the Top 10 Things Every Anime Fan HATES.

For this list, we’ll be looking at the tropes across the anime industry that fans have come to despise over the years.

Which of these conventions do you wish would just die already? Let us know in the comments!

#10: Incomplete Stories

Cliff-hangers are all well and good, and they can certainly be effective when hyping up the possibility for a sequel. The only problem is when that sequel doesn’t show up, the whole thing feels like a slap in a face. We’ve seen certain shows, a lot of whom performed poorly, have money thrown at then in order to dish out sequel after sequel, and yet some of the most well-regarded anime in the medium can’t get a second season! Seriously there’s no end of fantastic anime that has just been left in the dust with no conclusion whatsoever.

#9: Bad Dubs

Not like we’re trying to restart the Sub vs Dub wars or anything, but there is an argument to be made for the quality of a dub and how it directly relates to a watcher’s enjoyment. There are some incredibly talented actors in the business of providing English dubs, and on occasion they even surpass the original! But that’s not always the case. Imagine someone wanting to experience a great anime with a dub that falls way short of the original. Hell, sometimes it's not even the voice direction, sometimes it’s the translations! Like when they slip in western references for absolutely no reason.

#8: Calling Things Anime When They’re Not

Okay, we have an axe to grind with Netflix. Let’s face it, the term ‘anime’ has been abused in recent years, with Netflix making constant announcements for new ‘anime series’ which end up just being produced in America. Anime is Japanese animation. If something is anime inspired it is not anime. This is deceptive marketing, as they’re latching onto something that’s already popular, and appropriating the term for something completely different. We’re not saying these shows are bad, necessarily, but don’t you think it does them more justice if they’re praised as great cartoons? Have more faith in yourselves.

#7: Live Action Remakes

Sometimes they’re fun, sometimes they’re abominations, none of them are as good as the anime. Appealing to a wider audience is one thing, but more often than not condensing an anime’s story into a two-hour time frame with none of the visual wonder just diminishes the enjoyment. Japan themselves are huge fans of doing this, and even then, barely any of their live action undertakings are worthy of mention. So, what chance so western versions have? Does the world really need more Dragonball Evolutions?

#6: Censorship

Both dubs and the original are guilty of this, and while they have been implemented for the greater good on a few occasions, most of the time it's wholly unwarranted and unwanted. These can extend to removing raunchy scenes, cutting away from gore, inappropriate content, etc. It’s a bit of a tightrope, since too much censorship can end up dulling what was supposed to be an intense scene, with some series going off the deep end by blacking out or filtering the mature content. Fans want it raw!

#5: Anime Original Endings

Ugh, not these. Sometimes they can’t be avoided due to budgetary reasons, other times they’re a creative decision that benefits the anime slightly better, but most of the time they are nothing but trash! There are so many of these conclusions that either feel rushed, unsatisfying, or undermine all the effort put into the build-up. The real kicker is when these occur when the source material is already done, dusted and waiting to be adapted!

#4: Terrible CGI

3D is a tricky tool, but it has been proven to be effective in anime, when used sparingly or with a high enough production quality. Take those away and what do you get? An eyesore that sucks all the fun away. We’ve seen it in many shows, everything is going along swimmingly and poof – along comes a CGI monstrosity that ruins the atmosphere, doesn’t gel well with the surrounding visuals, and just genuinely brings the whole series down.

#3: Recap Episodes

Has there ever been a bigger waste of time and effort than a recap episode? Aside from the occasional extra bit of narration, the whole thing is a clip show meant to catch fans up to date on what they had already been watching. Maybe the odd viewer might appreciate it, but for the most part this just seems like a way to fill a series runtime without having to do anything new! It’s especially painful when it occurs so early on in the series, after only a few episodes.

#2: Low Production Values

It can be a moment, a battle, or in some instances an entire series, but when subpar animation strikes everything takes a plummet. Stocky character models, poor artwork, misplaced music, weak transitions, all of it is anime poison. It can take a universally loved series and make it a laughingstock, it can wreck the chances of a new series finding its feet, or it can make a terrible show a million times worse than it already is.

#1: Filler

Some people will say it’s a necessary evil in order to give the manga time to get ahead. Others will say that when your non canon content starts getting its own spin offs, then you’ve got too far. Shounen are infamous for this, with some getting whole arcs filled with stories and fights that are often lacklustre at best. Would it really be so bad to just take a break and not push out garbage episodes? Just look at what happened to some of anime's biggest shonens! Those filler episodes are a permanent stain on their names, clinging to them like anime syphilis. We want to pretend it's not there, but we can’t.