Sometimes, being faithful to a manga or light novel doesn’t always guarantee an anime’s success. In any anime adaptation, fans expect the end product to be faithful to the source material. In many cases, this faithfulness pays off, and the anime can be well-regarded. Unfortunately, that isn’t a guarantee that a series will do well.
Many small issues can pile up to lead to a lackluster product that still adapts all the source material’s events. Poor animation quality can make even the most spectacular scenes from the manga look terrible in an adaptation. If the story being adapted was already mediocre to begin with, anime fans can bet that the adaptation will be just as bland. Perhaps with a bit more love and care, these adaptations wouldn’t be looked upon so poorly.
10 Shaman King's 2021 Reboot Adapted the Manga's Events With None of Its Charm
Streaming on Netflix
The 2021 reboot of Shaman King gave fans a long-awaited adaptation of the manga that still felt boring to watch. While all the events of the Shaman Fight were depicted in the remake, they did not engage with newer fans. The pacing of the series felt far too fast for its own good. Volumes of material can be covered in the span of a few episodes, making it feel like the series is rushing to get to the manga’s conclusion.
Character dynamics also suffer from this fast pacing. The original Shaman King anime had an underrated soundtrack and animation to back up its story. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the remake, which all feels like a step-down from what came before. It’s no wonder why fans of the series are still disappointed with how the adaptation turned out.
9 The Seven Deadly Sins Poorly Adapts the Best Battles From the Manga
Streaming on Netflix
The Seven Deadly Sins is infamous for its drastic drops in quality in its later seasons, even when it still faithfully adapts its manga. Unfortunately, this leads to some of the most important fights from the manga animating like a slideshow. The battle between Meliodas and Escanor is a highlight of the manga. But in animated form, it looks downright ugly, thanks to the awful animation.
Those aren’t the only things that the series adapts poorly to TV screens. Odd censorship plagued the series and reverted the bloody injuries characters took in battle to white goo. Even slower-paced scenes were infamous for characters barely moving or looking stilted. The Seven Deadly Sins truly deserved a better adaptation than what fans got once Studio Deen took over production.
8 Bizarre Visuals Plague The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses
Streaming on Crunchyroll
The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses is already a by-the-numbers romantic comedy manga. The story about Kaede Komura’s attempts to win over his classmate Ai Mie is a little too generic to stand out, but it’s still cute. Unfortunately, the anime makes the series stand out in the worst possible way. Studio GoHands’ animation work only makes certain scenes far too confusing to follow.
The way the camera and editing are handled makes scenes linger on for far too long. The camera will often whiz past Ai and not stop until the show abruptly cuts to the next scene. This can be nauseating to watch on a first viewing, and it doesn’t get any better with time. These strange decisions pile up to make a decent story a mess to keep up with.
7 Horimiya: The Missing Pieces Adaptation Clashes With the Original Anime
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
The original Horimiya was a great romantic comedy about two high-school girls, Kyoko Hori and Miyamura, who grow close to one another. However, the original anime had cut out parts of the story that were included in the manga, and never got the chance to fully adapt its story. Horimiya: The Missing Pieces helps to fill in those gaps but doesn’t provide as much depth as the original.
The soundtrack and dynamic between Hori and Miyamura are still as strong as ever. The only major problem the series has comes from its premise. Picking up the «missing pieces» that weren’t initially adapted from the manga means that most of the season is made up of inconsequential slice-of-life moments. The first season has already covered the ending to the manga, so The Missing Pieces having to fill gaps in the story doesn’t make it as interesting as the original.
6 The Attempts to Adapt As Much Material as Possible Backfires in The God of High School
Streaming on Crunchyroll
The God of High School does its very best to adapt as many of the manhwa’s events as it can. Initially, this can be seen as a good thing. The bombastic fights and action are cranked up to eleven in the anime adaptation, making every battle feel intense. What fans ended up with is an anime adaptation where a lot of side characters have rushed development.
Yu Mira, for example, had someone propose to her before they even started dating. In the blink of an eye, she’s thrust into preparing for a wedding ceremony that has almost no believable buildup. The Charyeoks are explained to grant characters powers by making contracts with supernatural beings, but not much is known about how this process works in the anime. As flashy as the fight scenes are, there’s little substance to back up its story.
5 The Rising of the Shield Hero's Faithful Adaptation Leaves Much to Be Desired
Streaming on Crunchyroll
The Rising of the Shield Hero is faithful to its light novel roots. The series does a commendable job at translating its first 20+ volumes into an anime. The story itself leaves a lot to be desired, however. Naofumi’s journey is often plagued with one-dimensional villains and only covers the broad strokes of the light novel’s story beats.
The Spirit Turtle arc in the anime fails to capture the desperation Naofumi feels now that he needs to face the titular beast in combat. The light novels do a much better job of capturing his desperation and will to survive. Any development meant to go to established characters like Raphtalia or Filo ends up going to newer characters like the White Tiger Siblings. This just makes the more established characters feel like they have little to do except for Naofumi, as the plot blazes through story beats from the light novels.
4 Eromanga Sensei's Faithful Adaptation Only Ruins the Anime
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Eromanaga Sensei’s anime adaptation depicts the events of the first three volumes of the light novel. The anime stays faithful to its source material, covering the drama between the Izumi step-siblings. Unfortunately, this is more of a negative for the anime than it is a positive. The series is infamous for Sagiri Izumi’s controversial affection for her stepbrother Masamune, something that’s very awkward to watch.
This controversial relationship haunts the anime like a boogeyman for most of its runtime. Masamune refuses to reciprocate the feelings his stepsister has for him. Yet, the anime still makes it a point to focus on it to an unhealthy degree. Even if it’s faithful to the light novels, Eromanga Sensei’s story is too awkward to ever take seriously.
3 Faithfulness to the Source Material Couldn't Save The Flowers of Evil's Anime
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
The Flowers of Evil is one of the most obscure psychological dramas in anime, and it’s not because the show is a hidden gem either. The story covers the first 4 volumes of the manga, and while it doesn’t adapt all of it, what events are translated into animation play out similarly. However, two things hold the anime back from being truly great. Character designs are changed between the anime and manga, and the former uses lots of rotoscoping in its scenes.
The Flowers of Evil‘s use of rotoscoping is the most controversial aspect of the anime. Fans and critics lambasted the series for how distracting and off-putting the rotoscoping made the series look. While some people still liked how it added to the anime’s creepy atmosphere, many others found the art style distracted viewers from what was happening in the story. This devalues The Flowers of Evil‘s gripping narrative, as viewers won’t fully appreciate how the main character, Kasuga, slowly falls apart mentally and emotionally.
2 EX-ARM's Terrible Animation Ruins Its Attempts to Adapt The Manga
Streaming on Crunchyroll
EX-ARM is infamous for its horrific effects and terrifying animation. The CG animation for the characters makes everyone look and act like a robot. Flashes of light pop into the center of the screen every time characters kiss to avoid animating it properly. And with all these issues, it’s easy to forget that the story being told tries to adapt the manga.
The initial episodes of the EX-ARM anime cover material from the manga’s first dozen chapters. However, it’s hard to pay attention to the mysteries behind the powerful EX-ARM weapons when the animation is consistently atrocious. The manga’s slick illustrations of Alma and Akira’s battles are replaced with sloppily choreographed 3D action. Many believe that EX-ARM‘s manga was canceled solely because of how bad the anime was, and it’s easy to see why.
1 A Certain Scientific Accelerator Barely Leaves A Lasting Impression Compared to Other Index Anime
Streaming on Crunchyroll
A Certain Scientific Accelerator is a spin-off of the long-running Toaru franchise. Despite being faithful to the core plot of the manga, the spin-off can still be aimless often. In staying true to the original plot of the story, the anime also inherits the manga’s biggest weaknesses. Accelerator is a powerful character in the world of Index, with his control over Vectors allowing him to reflect and dismantle almost anything he wants. This makes it very difficult for the anime and manga to come up with antagonists that pose a decent threat.
While the spin-off does a lot to flesh-out Accelerator’s backstory, the antagonists leave a lot to be desired. Disciplinary Action are the main antagonist faction in the spin-off, and it’s rare for any of their members to truly feel distinct. New supporting characters like Esther Rosenthal have little depth, and are only notable for their necromancy powers. While the anime still improves the presentation of the manga’s narrative, the story still feels lacking overall.
