Most disappointing anime of 2011 (in your opinion)

[Echoes]

I rarely have high expectations for series, because I don't read source material (manga, visual novels, light novels ect), so my expectations have to be built on other things than the actual material the series is based on. Voice actors involved, the director, the time-slot etc combined with promotional art is what usually decides whether I'm excited about something, and I don't tend to get carried away before the series actually begins airing.

I think that the series that sticks out in my mind as most disappointing this year is Ikoku Meiro no Croisée. That might seem strange, but I still consider it a good series. But that's just it, it's merely good. I expected and hoped to be carried away, to be swept up in emotion and healed of whatever ailed me. I can't put my finger on just why, but the series lacked that extra punch to make it magical or memorable. I think part of it was just not liking any of the characters enough, but there is something else at play too. Good series, but extremely disappointing given my expectations for it.

I actually really liked most of the top choices for most disappointing show of the year. Yumekui Merry, Fractale, Nichijou, heck even Blood-C.

Originally Posted by stuopidget

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi

If I had *any* expectations whatsoever, this one would have certainly topped the list.

[Kameruka]

Marvel "anime" from Madhouse anyone? Especially Blade though its pretty obvious that nobody expected it to good anyway.

[all_flying]

Originally Posted by Kameruka

Marvel "anime" from Madhouse anyone? Especially Blade though its pretty obvious that nobody expected it to good anyway.

Never watch it, whether is it iron man, X-men, Wolverine, nor Blade.

Gimme back my old Madhouse!!
--------------------------------------
Anyway,

- Blood-C, I knew this gonna be suck, but I didn't expect it to be that bad.
- Guilty Crown, superior production quality and artists (supercell, redjuice) doesn't always guarantee epicness (wtf, it also announced the game before this anime first airing)
- Hidan no Aria, don't ask

seems that's all. Personally, Persona 4 is not that disappointing yet. Just keep your expectation low, and you'll be fine

[Lord of Fire]

Yumekui Merry; Till episode 9, all was good, interesting or even funny. Then the show took a nosedive and never recovered. Someone needs to redo this show, with a director who actually knows what he's getting himself into (and whoever's bright idea it was to hire him needs to get sacked).

Nichijou; I'll admit, after watching it again, it becomes more funny. The problem is that it failed to entertain me almost half of the whole series and even now, there are some things I don't really see the humor in.

Blood-C; This show started off way too slow for my liking. Plus, the main character was quite annoying. It felt more like Nana Mizuki was promoting herself rather than being the character.

Dantalian no Shoka; The first five episodes were actually good, but the show lacked on overhanging plot and I didn't really find most of the characters particularly interesting.

Kamisama Dolls; I just couldn't get into this show. I tried two times, but I got bored at episode 4 and couldn't take no more.

Hidan no Aria; It started good, but it kinda fizzled out near the end. It's not as bad as Yumekui Merry, but it could've been better nonetheless.

Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai; This show confused me too much. The fact that it was actually more than one story being told didn't help either.

Kyoukai Senjou No Horizon; Can someone explain to me what I am supposed to like about humongous boobs? All I got is nauseous from watching them bounce around. And then take into account that I have to do that for at least 4 episodes before the plot (for what it's worth) starts kicking in.

Maken-ki!; I'm not even gonna try to find reasons to hate this. I just did nothing for me.

[Flower]

Hmm ... I would have to vote for No. 6 - so much potential and so much . Argh...

****

Fractale was kinda in the same boat for me. I gave it a really long gbbotd until the last ep, where I suddenly stopped and the classic "Wait ... what? " A pity too as the OP and ED were so well done! Hate when that happens....

****

Guess I will also Yumekui Merry if only for the last few eps ... what a waste .

Such a good manga series too!

[gsilver]

Noitamina let me down in a big way. Fractale had a really promising start, then became ****ing awful. [C] wasn't bad, but it ended up being a, well, C-level anime. I tried No. 6, and it just took a few episodes before I dropped it to the ground. It wasn't all fail, though. Ano Hana was really good, and I've liked what I've seen of Usagi Drop.


Also, I can't help but be let down by Suite Precure. Don't get me wrong, I like the show, a lot, but I keep thinking, man, I wish this was as good as Heartcatch. I know that it's one of the better ones for the franchise, but my expectations were set too high last year.

[Last Sinner]

Fractale - Yakaman making promises he can't keep and making a poor man's version of Nadia of the Blue Water (1990).

Infinite Stratos - Nice visuals, Charlotte was a delight. But where's the freaking story?! WHERE IS IT?! And the nationalism went way too far. Charlotte deserved a better show.

Madoka - It's everything SHAFT does well for its target market. Don't confuse popularity/hype with quality, though. Episodes mainly composed of 'watch the backgrounds while we rant!' just does nothing for me.

Rio - Rainbow Gate - Koutaro's fine artbooks and game art deserved WAY BETTER than this monstrosity!

Deadman Wonderland - Should have been great. Let down big time by poor execution and being too much like Hollywood movies.

C - Good idea that was utterly butchered and didn't aim for a viable market.

Hanasaku Iroha - Way too much drama, cast was unbalanced, wasted a lot of time on trivial issues, plus Episode 3 was downright creepy. Ohana deserved a better show.

Moshidora - You get a good studio, good production values and good seiyuu talent in Kana Hanzawa and Yoko Hikasa. Yet you have a high-selling book turned into a lifeless show despite all that...

AnoHana - A character cast that drives me insane to no end. If people like this show, so be it. I understand why you like it and I'm not knocking this show. But Menma is amongst the top few most annoying characters I've ever watched in my life and several others in that cast aren't far behind. Most unlikeable cast for me for all of this year.

Blood-C - The only people I know that like this show are literally trolls. Need I say more? There are some thinks CLAMP should be banned from associating with. They can't make everything good. It's not even hilariously bad. It's just bad full stop.

No. 6 - Pandering to qualities that sell doesn't work if you can't execute the basics properly! Main characters that clash whenever they're together is unforgivable.

Horizon - This is not for everyone. Because not everyone likes tropefests, generic service and world settings being introduced in the ending credits.

Mashiro-iro Symphony - manglobe utterly botched the art and character designs! How can you like something in that genre if it looks bad?

Guilty Crown - A cast full of purely unlikable characters. *shiver* Emo male lead, a female lead that's treated like a sex doll. Creepy side cast.


There's plenty more I didn't like from the year, but there were the ones I've been legitimately disappointed by because I had faith/interest in them at one point. You may disagree/be outraged by some of the titles I listed. But this is honestly how I feel.

[DasDingus]

Fractale - Given all the hype going in you'd think that the show which seems bad after a first watching wouldn't look so bad upon closer inspection. And it's doesn't look as bad, it looks worse.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko - I normally have no issue with shows where there is very little plot to speak of and the focus is on the character interactions (and often their moeness) but when I look back at Denpa Onna I just think of a barren soulless expanse of blaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuugh. It's a show about nothing that thinks it's about something. Or something like that.

Kamisama Dolls - I quickly got tired of all the characters and there just wasn't anything left to keep me interested. The show fell victim to what I've decided to call "School Days Syndrome" wherein the show become so boring and the characters so unlikable that you're just cheering for one of them to go crazy and kill the rest.

The World God Only Knows II - It was just the same thing as the first season, which normally wouldn't be bad since I liked the first season but there were so many chances to change the tired formula (which was already getting tired by the end of season 1) and they never wavered even once. I suppose this is more a fault of the source material but regardless I wish things had changed up a bit.

[Dop]

Another vote for Nichijou.
"Kyoto Animation? Comic slice of life? Count me in!" I thought, but then I sat through episode after episode until I arrived at a point where I just couldn't be bothered any more. Endless Eight was more entertaining...

The thing I didn't like about it was the way they'd take what should have been a short, snappy skit and s---t---r---e---t---c---h it out long beyond the point at which humour was lost and it just became tedious.

[Yui Is My Wife]

Hidan No Aria deserved much better treatment than what it got, considering the source material.

And what makes it doubly infuriatng is that it was done by the same studio that brought us To Aru Majutsu No Index, having clearly showed us that they are more than capable of doing a competent task with Light Novels if they give a damn, which they most clearly did NOT this time.

I'm gonna miss my Riko-chan and Shirayuki-chan badly.

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by Yui Is My Wife

Hidan No Aria deserved much better treatment than what it got, considering the source material.

Honestly I'd agree it should have been better, but compared to JC staff's disaster of Yumekui Merry this year, HnA was at least decent overall(in my opinion).

[hyl]

2011 had lot's of disappointing series and i think it had more of them compared to 2010.
A selection of what i found disappointing so far (not included anime from this season and animes that were intentional bad, like Softenni or Rio Rainbow gate )

A channel:It looked almost like another Moe serie that tried to mimick K-on and the jokes weren't that funny.
Ao no Excorcist : the last few episodes were a complete mess, because it was trying to make an anime original ending just like the 2003 FMA
Baka Test 2: it's less funny and it has less action than season 1. It simply didn't live to the expections after the decent first season.
C: Settings were nice, but the plot ended being bad. I learned more economics from Moshidora than from this serie that used economical terms nonsensically.
Also the fight with the guy with the Angel asset was just horrible. He was defeated off screen using a crippled Msyu, while he was completely dominating the fight before with a huge intimidating Angel.
Dantalian no Shoka: i expected a serie like Gosick, but i got to see more boring and less clever anime with a focus supernatural themes and stories. And the characters in this one weren't that interesting as the one in Gosick.
Dog Days: I expected much more from the creators of Nonoha and the anime wasted such a good seiyuu cast for this mediocre anime.
Fractale: i don't think i can add anything what hasn't been said
Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi: After what Zecxs did with their previous LN adaptions, i should not have had too much hope for this one. But i got suckered in and disappointed again.
Hidan no Aria :The last time that JC staff had an anime with both Kugimya Rie and Junji Majima , it ended being one of my favorite animes. But this one was just average in every aspect.
Hoshizora e kakaru hashi: another ruined Eroge/VN adaption with hardly any character development and story. Also the main heroine that was choosen for the ending was really questionable.
Idolmaster anime: Eventhough it's still ongoing and i am sure lot's of people like it, but as someone who did play the games i find this adaption quite disappointing. The characters have their game quirks and personaility, but some of the personaility quirks are much more exaggerated compared to the game. Also the idol's backstories were poorly handled.
I actually know someone in real life who is a diehard Im@s fan (a certain idiot who owns all of the im@s live blu ray concerts and bought 10 months ago a japanese xbox360 just for Im@s2. Also he recently bought the limited edition version of the ps3 game ), who dropped the series at pretty much the beginning, because he thought that the anime did a poor job accurately portraying the idols.
Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai: personally i think both seasons failed compared to the manga. The anime added too much useless scenes and at some times it ruined other scenes by skipping some elements or by explaining too much.
Kamasama Dolls: The last few episodes were actually quite nice, unfortunately most people would have dropped this serie because the first 8 or 9 episodes weren't that interesting
Yumekui Merry: it has a really good episode 1 in my opinion, but like most anime adaptions of mangas that are still ongoing it ruined he story of the original by adding too much anime original elements. I don't mind anime original ideas, but they have to be well executed and in this case it was not. Mystletainn was a horrible last villain.

[Yuna Amakura]

Blood-C. Not that I was expecting much out of it, but I wasn't prepared to the atrocity it was.
Production wise, Persona 4 has been a trainwreck.

[hyl]

I kinda liked the mind****k ending of blood-c and i hated the first half of the series, because the first half began to get repetitive after a few episodes. The fights were choreographically quite nice, although a little gory at times.

[DXMichael]

I did find Yumekui Merry dull and stupid at times

I also find Maji de Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai rather disappointing. The first episode teased a good anime, but now it's been drowned with fan service and has been going downhill since.

[djmaca]

Thread Hop with the power of a Troll king.

@OP: Nothing I have watched has disappointed me yet. :P In contrast I regret not seeing Blood - C, for the gorn, and A Channel, for loli lesbian.

[Fuyuno]

Hate to revive this thread but I forgot to include Kimi to Boku in my previous post. Sorry if the mods prefer to let this thread to stay dead.

[Flawfinder]

I guess the one that comes to mind the most would be Kamisama No Memochou. I think I literally got dumber watching that anime rather than smarter. No interesting story, no interesting characters, and nothing to make fun of. It was that boring. I also hated Yosuga No Sora.

[mecharobot]

Fractale, Madoka, Level E, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee and Kaiji S2 to some extent.

Fractale and Madoka fell for me to the "potentially amazing, but not living up to the potential" kind of shows. I mean both have good concepts, Fractale as an adventure anime and Madoka as a grand magic girl show, but they fell to either bad directing and being a some sort of meta-series that didn't even seem to be an anime.

Level E, well I really liked the first comedy arc it had, but then it fell in to using cheap tricks like sentai parodies that I've seen a billion times already and done better.

Ikoku Meiro had comptent people behind it, but it turned out to be all looks and no soul. The character types were also quite played out already.

Kaiji had an awesome first arc. The second one wasn't that bad either, but Jebus was it a mistake to have only two arcs for 26 episodes.

Note, that these are shows that I placed some kind of expectations upon.

Originally Posted by Kameruka

Its good to see Clamp making a serious seinen show than their usual shoujo ones.

Haven't you heard of X?

[Chiibi]

Originally Posted by mecharobot

Haven't you heard of X?

X isn't seinen, it's josei. Or older shoujo. Um...one of those. XD