Feature: Top 6 Worst Anime of 2016

With the year now over (or approaching at least) and as is customary just about everywhere it’s time to look at series that stood out for the wrong reasons. As you’ll immediately notice this is a top 6 as short series are separate and whilst there were a lot, and I mean a lot of average series this year there weren’t that many outright bad that I watched since I’m good at picking what I will like. Only series that finished this year are eligible for my list. Without further ado and in no particular order here is my top 6.

Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru

The problem I had with Touken Ranbu is perhaps my expectations were too high. Based on a browser game and likened to the KanColle for girls I had high expectations as I like a good bishie but when that’s all you got going for you then that is a major problem.

The overarching plot here is that swords have been made into people, warriors in effect with the traits and names of famous swords and they attempt to fight off those wanting to change history. Nice setup but nothing else much. No sense of danger like there was in KanColle, nothing to make me feel anything for characters (who are admittedly varied in personality which is a plus point) or make me care what happens.

It’s a shame as visually the show looks great with a wildly varied colour pallet, beautiful scenery, lush costumes and soothing soundtrack. All the boys look fab with cute, sexy, masculine they fit all the types you may prefer, there is someone for everyone. This is all well and good but it misses that one crucial element: enjoyment.

It is just so, so dull. A lot of the time it is just slice of life antics spliced with the odd bit of action and it suffers badly, I know it is predominantly a slice of life but it does not tick the required boxes to make it enjoyable. It slogs along at a snails pace with only the new, slight focus on a different sword to differentiate and that can only last so long before it becomes grating. Maybe if you are a fan of the game you can fine more enjoyment out of it but for me coming in new then it did not work.

Days

An anime series about my second favourite sport football is bound to catch my attention and Days did just that. Hoping it would follow in recent sport shows footings and provide an entertaining and likeable cast as well as sharp and solid representation of the sport itself I entered but very soon my patience wore thin.

The main reason this is here is because of the main character Tsukamoto. He isn’t gifted nor supremely talented but his never say never determination is what sets him apart and what attracts people to him. That is fine but it is the way this is presented that becomes infuriating.

He constantly wines, never thinks he’s good enough, always questions himself and thinks others should go ahead of him. He has confidence issues that is clear but by god please shut him up! His constant wining, moaning, crying, idiocy and expression of amazement and wonder on his face become grating. It takes it way too far and he becomes insufferable which in turn makes the show insufferable.

It doesn’t help that the football in the show is poor: poorly animated with frequent use of still images, no flow to it with very stop start motion, little attention paid to the rules with referees being redundant and nor real look at the different tactics employed or how best to set a team up resulting in a very lacklustre show of the beautiful game. It is not what I expected and the biggest disappointment of the year by a distance.

Hatsukoi Monster

I like to give series the benefit of doubt if their synopsis sounds a bit, well, iffy. I did that with Hatsukoi Monster, a show where the main girl Kaho falls for a guy who saved her, the guy Kanade just so happens to look a lot older than he looks as he turns out to be in just 5^th grade!

I was not put off by the so called ‘creep factor’ so that is not where my issues lie. No my problems came with the one note humour and repetition of it all. There are only so many times I can handle the juvenile humour. Poop jokes, ‘icky’ jokes and the like I have a threshold for and this passed it quickly. You cannot repeat the same stale jokes for 12 episodes and expect it to work unless you have a real understanding of that humour.

It’s a shame as well as the story could have taken some interesting roads and it tries but the humour as well as the characters are not cut out for it. Yes the characters are frustrating in their own ways with stupidity high on their lists especially Kaho. They also just do not make for engaging or entertaining scenes as they have few discerning traits or anything of note to make you interested.

Try as I might I could barely muster a smile after a few episodes. The premise had potential but it blew it fast. Perhaps predictably as really how far can you go and what can you do with it? As an OVA or short series this might have worked but 12 full length episodes pushed it beyond my tolerance.

Gyakuten Saiban: Sono "Shinjitsu", Igi Ari!

Ace Attorney was a series I was familiar with through the sheer impact and popularity it has but nothing more so when an anime adaption was announced I was intrigued, finally a chance to see what the fuss was about but turns out the anime was the worst place to start.

Naruhodo starts out on his path to become a defense attorney but on the way he will have to traverse all manner of bizarre and inconceivable cases including the death of his mentor. Setup is the same as the game, the cases are the same as the game, the characters and the art is the same as the game but therein lays the problem. It is too much like the game.

The game was designed with interactivity in mind and pushing this as a viewing experience means a much slower, plodding pace, little opportunity to collect evidence, no chance for you to shout objection and no real engagement in the story. It pays the price for that with a boring, often irritating 24 episodes that makes you yearn for some form of control. If it had been rewritten or written specifically for a viewing experience it would have been much better.

It doesn’t help that the production values are on the low side. Off character models, limited animation, clunky movement, lack of detail and constant use of still images. It makes it so much more painful to watch, so mundane and so uninteresting. They all add together to create an experience best avoiding if you want to get into Ace Attorney.

Scared Rider Xechs

Based on an otome game I had an inkling of what to expect but could not prepare myself here for what came. Not the story or anything like that no, that’s okay and even verging on decent but the production values. From episode 1 it becomes clear this series was made on the cheap.

First thing first the story isn’t that bad, 5 guys who control some sort of power that they can call upon but actually live physically in another part of the facility. They basically use this to fight against an enemy hell bent on destroying the world. It’s fairly typical and thus doesn’t stand out initially nor does it stand out by the series end with the developments coming lacking any sort of punch. At least the action is semi-decent with some nice effect and nice, varied powers on display to match each guy so kudos there on the one redeeming feature here.

Visually it just looks so rough. Like it was made and without any refinement sent off to be aired giving it a cheap feel and look. The colours are at least vibrant which is only ever so slightly redeeming. The character designs also have a weird, lanky look to them. They’re all tall with long legs, long bodies and long arms. It’s weird and disjointing to look at. The girls here don’t suffer from that problem and the only good thing to look at during the whole series.

The humour is wooden, the characters themselves feel stale and cut out of a ‘101 Guide’ on characters with nothing to distinguish them other than looks and the odd quirk they may have. I felt nothing for them at all and thus felt no interest in their relationship with the main girl. The girls here are the only reason it wasn’t completely awful as Asagi is nice and Hako is a lot of fun, we needed much more of her. Basically every element here is so poor, so lacking in any real spark that it was a chore to watch all 12 episodes.

Battery

Having found love of baseball through Diamond no Ace I was eager for another baseball animation dose so when Battery was announced for the noitaminA block I was excited as that block has rarely let me down. Unfortunately this is one of those cases where it falters.

Takumi moves to the country to live with his grandfather and Takumi being the supreme talent he is at baseball only has that on his mind. The main problem here is the character drama that plays out is just so dull. The main character Takumi is stuck up, arrogant and rarely cares for anyone’s feelings. You dislike him intensely. Other characters just fall into the background like Gou who wants to be the catcher for Takumi, he has more to him but little else. Other characters revolve around Takumi to the point of obsession and it becomes a grind hearing about his wonder every few minutes.

Then you come to the baseball itself and lacklustre is too fitting a word. It is painfully slow, little attention paid to it. It is back piece to the coming of age and intense, growing character drama and suffers because of it. No explanation of rules for newcomers, no real games played, no focus on the action, the tension associated with sports nothing. A very poor showing.

Add to that the bland and washed out visuals and you have a real bore of a show that takes everything that can be exciting about sport, the actual character drama, the developments, the fun, the competition and throws them out the window into the gutter. This taking the sport focus out of the sport show hurts this show immeasurably especially when the pacing is glacial and not much happens anywhere in this quiet town.