I’m going to say, this is the last Worst Of the season list I’m going to do. While I do like looking at the other side of the coin, I made my blog to celebrate anime and I kind of feel this particular vote and round up doesn’t really contribute to that all that much. Still, it is fun sometimes to look at the mis-fires of the season so perhaps I’ll just need to figure out a different way to go about it.
In the meantime, here are my picks for worst of the season and at the end you will see the results of the poll and the reader’s choice. The rule is really simple, I have to have watched the anime without dropping it to declare it the worst. I don’t make judgements about shows I don’t finish.
Still, if you read my best of Autumn 2018 post you would have seen my rankings for the season already and know what my least favourite anime was.
Worst Story – Jingai San No Yome
Alright, I’ve watched all of this short anime and other than the premise I still don’t know what the story is with this one. It probably doesn’t actually have one and is meant to be a slice of life or something, but nothing is ever explained and things don’t really go anywhere. What was I expecting from three minutes a week? Probably about this, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is the most pointless thing I watched in Autumn in terms of story.
Worst Visuals – Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary
Okay, I like Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary, but there is no denying it is ugly to watch and the animation is just this side of terrible, when it isn’t actually throwing hideous CG at us. Fights suffer particularly and given we’re watching a show about a war between the empire and rebels, the fight scenes kind of need to be solid. There’s not a lot more to say about this one other than wishing it had been given more attention and more of a budget because the story was actually pretty interesting.
Worst Opening – Release the Spyce
Don’t get upset with this one. This is my personal list and honestly when an opening is so flashy with its visuals I actually have to walk away from the screen or turn down the lid of my laptop until it is done to avoid a serious headache each and every week, I don’t care how good the song is. This one is an eyesore (quite literally) and well and truly became the thing I hated most this season (even more so than a certain show that took out my worst of the season). Honestly, this opening was nearly grounds for dropping at the mid-season but I was kind of curious about where the show would go. Knowing now where it goes, I wish I’d just dropped it.
Worst Character – Mana
Considering I threatened this character with a paper shredder fairly early in the season, and I may have suggested using a nail gun on her (though I may also have sensibly edited that out of my rant review), I’m pretty sure I hate this character. The rest of Conception is at times slightly amusing, a little bit interesting, largely bizarre and unfocused despite setting up a potentially interesting plot, but Mana manages to make each and every scene a pain to watch. Forget worst character of the season, Mana may be the character I hate the most out of any character ever (and that includes Excalibur from Soul Eater who used to be the single most irritating character I could think of).
Worst Anime of Autumn 2018 – Conception
Yes, no doubt about this one. Conception was the worst anime I watched this season. Part of that is because it isn’t exactly a genre I’m a big fan of. And it relies on fourth wall breaking comedy, which I’m not a big fan of. And it has the single most annoying character I can think of as a major character who is with the protagonist in almost every single scene. But, I did watch this show from beginning to end. Even when I decided A Certain Magical Index was boring me too much to continue, I kept this one on the list. So while it was the worst anime I watched, I think for people more into this genre, while it still doesn’t exactly stand out as particularly good, there’s probably a lot more entertainment to be found in it.
Reader’s Choice
This one also had a clear ‘victor’ this season with one anime title being both fairly well watched and being riddled with problems. Yes, that was Conception.
The rest of the votes were kind of scattered, though part of the problem is that I ask people to have actually watched the show they vote for and most people are sensible enough to drop anime that aren’t very good (I really should learn that skill at some point – I drop boring anime but not bad ones).
However, that wraps up the final ‘worst of’ anime post for the blog, but just remember the best of the year poll will open on the 1st of January and you will have two weeks to vote. The top three choices from the best of polls each season will be available to vote for and I’m looking forward to seeing what wins best of the year.
Previous poll results:
Of the five shows I’ve watched this season, Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc and the Alchemist Knight appears to be the least appealing although I have not finished watching it yet. Perhaps the ambitious yet lewd costume designs for some of the female cast? The Astolfo clone who is a trap? Mediocre animation? I’ll return with a review to answer all of this questions very soon.
Definitely agree with the choices you’ve made of your impressions of what the worst anime was for 2018. Plus, it’s funny how I actually like playing the Conception video game but as a story, it’s downright terrible.
I could see how it could work as a game, but the anime certainly wasn’t putting in all that much effort.
I have Ulysses as the worst title. It had a lot more potential but was let down by poor storytelling and lazy animation. Conception is undoubtedly terrible, but we expected it.
That’s true. Conception didn’t really have any expectations to let down. I didn’t get through the first episode of Ulysses. I had it down to go back to when I had some time just to see if I was being hasty but honestly I have so many of those titles on my watch list it could be years and off streaming services before I get around to it.
Chance would be a fine thing. It really was a massive let down.
I didn’t finish Conception, so it didn’t win, but If I did, then it would have gotten it easily.
I actually enjoy reading your critiques. So, hope you find a way to keep them coming, though not at the expense of the positive stuff.
I’ll still review the shows I watched and if I didn’t like them that will be clear but the poll for worst anime of a season usually gets about half the votes of the best and with the caveat that you are supposed to watch the show, it usually ends up being some average show that ends up winning because most people dropped the truly bad stuff. So this particular form of the worst of the season is over and I’ll think about how to change it or modify it to fit more with what I want for the blog.
Yeah… I don’t agree with that worst of pick. Also I feel like a lot of people probably only watched 1 or 2 eps and then voted it the worst. I’ve always been of the opinion that you shouldn’t judge something until you’ve watched it all the way through but I have a feeling not many people agree with that opinion.
I do request in the poll description that people only vote for shows they’ve watched. I see it as a positive that clearly lots of people watched it. There were plenty of worse anime that got no votes probably because none of the voters watched them.
Though, I kind of figured you would have a different opinion on that choice.
Goblin Slayer seems to be at about the same position on both reader polls, I’ve mainly heard people shouting praise for it, so I’m glad I’m not the only one who had mixed feelings over it. I’ll have to try out Rascal as it seems lots of people adored it!
Goblin Slayer really divided people with some really liking it and others calling it edge lord crap. The polls kind of reflect that.
I wasn’t saying the polls were wrong or anything like that 🙂 I was just saying it was interesting based on what my own experience was online with the series, especially on Reddit discussion! I personally didn’t see many people call it ‘edge lord’ (but obviously I just didn’t see it) so I was glad to see in the polls that there was a divide!
Also ahh sorry for the random follow / unfollow notification! I’m on mobile but not on the app (I’ve had way too many issues with it) and it’s all wonky and my fingers are fat and tap weirdly 🙁
That happens occasionally. I do it accidentally on twitter quite regularly and follow or unfollow people I don’t intend to.