Reminder, you can use the link in the sidebar or click here to go to the survey if you have a question for Karandi.
Question: What are some of your favourite anime that you know are terrible? from Naru
I think I’m pretty honest about the fact that I have a very weird preference for bad horror stories (regardless of whether they are anime or not). As such, anime like King’s Game, which is objectively terrible no matter which attribute you choose to look at (music, characters, plot, pacing), I actually find really enjoyable even as I will happily criticise them.
Then again, I’m a huge Sailor Moon fan from the original series with its original dub and I think if I’m honest there’s a lot that could easily be criticised about that series as well. I have no intention of doing so because Sailor Moon is awesome and I will love it forever, but I don’t know that it would actually hold up under any kind of critical analysis given it has a repetitive episodic plot structure for most of the first season, characters who literally get power ups just because they need them, and relies on a power of friendship ending to defeat the bad guy. Yeah, not exactly compelling writing and yet despite all of that it works.
Finally, I’d have to throw Inu x Boku SS in this list. I just finished a rewatch of it (as it is one of my go to shows when I’m awake in the middle of the night and can’t sleep – two or three episodes later I usually manage to crash again). For all that I like Ririchiyo as the main character, the story is really not good and there’s some fairly questionable characterisation for most of the cast if you think about it (the whole show works better if you switch your brain off and just let it roll over you).
Ultimately, I watch anime for fun so even if a story isn’t particularly good, or even if some element of the anime isn’t well done, provided I’m still enjoying myself I’ll happily watch. Horror anime, few and far between though they are, almost always tick the box for enjoyment even if they aren’t good. Supernatural anime have to be particularly bad before I’ll drop them. And I’ll try most isekai anime even though the majority end up being decidedly average. Bad isn’t as much an issue for me as feeling unengaged by the subject matter.
I am now going to turn this over to my readers and ask you for some of your favourite terrible anime. However, this is the last question in my backlog so if you have a question you would like answered in the inquiring minds series, please use the link in the sidebar or click here to go to the survey. Looking forward to the next round of questions.
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
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I think my fate revolves around enjoying shows that others tend to dislike. These include, but are not limited to, Guilty Crown, Negima, the Dic Sailor Moon dub (of course), Fractale, Seraph of the End, and heck even SAO. It’s an odd place to be, always on the “like” end when everyone else is on the “hate” side, but sometimes it feels like I’m rediscovering a lost treasure, and that’s kinda fun, right?
I’ve seen a few bad anime I’ve enjoyed watching. One of them includes the single episode OVA called Black Cat. I’m still mesmerized by how awful the English dub is, and how much stupid is packed into it. My favorite part about Black Cat is showing it to friends who never seen it, and seeing the reaction they have to it. It’s priceless every single time. Seeing a cat transform into a human always gets a laugh.
Another bad anime I enjoyed watching is Mad Bull 34. Oh boy, it’s just nonsense after nonsense. Just when you think it can get any dumber it manages to surpass your expectations every time. I thought seeing two police officers disguise as nun was crazy, but it was tamed when compare to the sight a police officer flipping over a tank. I highly recommend this one. The hype violence, and bad English voice acting makes it fun trash.
Lastly, a little known anime called Brain Powerd. The first episode is perhaps one of the worst things I’ve seen in any anime. It poorly introduce everything it was trying to establish. It won me over with it bad animation, questionable writing, and some hilariously bad dialogue. It kinda loses that so bad it’s good charm towards the end of the second half, but I enjoyed my time with it for all the wrong reasons.
There’s an obscure horror OVA called Umezu Kazuo no Noroi that I think is pretty bad, but I liked my time with it. Made me laugh a lot. I recommend that one too if you haven’t seen it. Only has a fansub, but it’s pretty good.
There are definitely some truly bad OVA’s out there if you go looking for them. I tend to avoid OVA’s unless I’m really hooked on the franchise, but even then there are a lot that are just a spectacular waste of time.
Surely if a show is terrible then by definition there is nothing to like about it? 😛
Semantics aside, this is your “guilty pleasure” type question, so I’d probably nominate a fan servicey show like Mahoromatic (I actually have this on DVD!). Mahoro is such a tragic figure in that her life is nearly over yet she goes into servanthood to atone for her military past. And she’s so sweet to boot! Awww…. *blushes
There’s really nothing sensible to like about something like King’s Game and yet there’s still an appeal to particular fans of truly bad horror where it is just so undeniably lame that it is quite fun. Still, I’d definitely have to say it is a terrible story even if I personally enjoyed watching it.
Inu X Boku is probably the only bad anime I loved that I can think of. Not saying that my taste’s amazing, just that I can’t recall the entire list of rubbish anime I loved at some point XD!
It’s also a hard question because you remember the good parts and forget the not so great ones after you finish watching. Watching it again usually reminds you but when looking back it is the positive experience you had watching that is more important than objective quality.
I think I loved Inu x Boku because of the characters, so yeah I completely get what you’re saying. Everyone has personal reasons for enjoying or disliking a series, so quality is not the only measure of how good a show is.
I think there’s a few in my completed list, depending on how you look at them – Samurai Flamenco is one of the more notable (it starts well, but will proceed to confuse the heck out of people after episode 7). Some of the others are Juuni Taisen, Kenka Bancho Otome (it’s got cliches, its OP animation is cheesy and it has way too short of a runtime to make its plot work) and most recently Mahou Shoujo Ore (kind of crass + had a barebones plot and even less than barebones animation, but it was definitely fun to watch).
I guess it depends on your opinion of waht’s terrible. Some of the older stuff that I enjoy – Fist of the North Star AMV, Project A-Ko, New Dominion Tank Police etc – could be viewed as awful in some ways by modern standards. More recently, Keijo felt really flawed to me, yet I couldn’t help but enjoy it.
Everyone is going to have a different view of terrible in the first place, but still there are definitely times when you are watching something you know isn’t great but you are enjoying it anyway.
I knew…without even having read the post yet, that King’s Game would be on this one 😊😊 As you know, I really liked that one myself….as strange and horrible as it was 😂😂 Another one that I think would fit this list is probably Highschool of the Dead. Even though it was quite bad..there were still elements that I enjoyed 😊😊
HOTD definitely deserves a mention here. It is great fun, and yet objectively pretty terrible when looking at plot or character development (or even just having a plot and the characters having character). Still, if you are just after dumb zombie fun and over the top fan service won’t throw you, Highschool of the Dead works a treat.
Haha..yeah, it works …only just, but it does work, I have to admit that 😊😊 And there are a lot of people that totally enjoyed this one 😊😊
First of all, thanks for answering my question.
Second, I saw the first season of Sailor Moon, and I thought it was okay.
For an anime I love that’s terrible… I guess I’d give that one to This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. I don’t think it’s Gainax’s worst show, but it’s admittedly not one I generally recommend to people.
No problem. I think Sailor Moon ended on this list because if it were to air today and I was to see it for the very first time, I would probably tear it to pieces. However, younger me loved it dearly hence why it is still one of my favourite ever shows.