Top 10 Worst Anime 2019 So Far

#10: “Fairy Gone” (2019)

Gone is certainly the right word. It’s like this show tried to stuff the most popular anime tropes into one series and expected us to sing its praises, instead it just makes us wish we were watching an episode of Fairy Tail instead. How to summarise? War orphan turned soldier battles an evil organisation and her former bestie with the power of her Stand. Yeah, they call it a fairy, but come on! Just look at it! The premise might have been easier to swallow if the CGI on the Not-Stands wasn’t so horrendous, and could someone please tell Marlya to tone down the adorably badass cliché. She’s not very good at it.

#9: “Kemono Friends 2” (2019)

When you manage to disappoint the die-hard fans of the original series, which may we remind you, looked like this, then you know you’ve stepped in it. For those of you who veered far away from this seemingly doomed title, then there’s no reason for you to even attempt to give the sequel season a go. As for the unfortunate loyalists who couldn’t wait to hop back in to see the weirdly adorable animal-girls continue their adventures…prepare yourselves. Without the original director at the helm, Season Two is more akin to a soft reboot, re-treading plot points almost beat for beat, only now with a focus on an even younger demographic. That’s gotta sting.

#8: “W’z” (2019)

Who in their right mind thought that Handshakers needed a spiritual successor? The original was heralded as one of the worst excuses for an anime fans had ever witnessed, and now we have a sequel?! All the insane features that left us stunned before are back in force, including paper-thin characters that spout confusing exposition and generally just grate on your nerves. Don’t worry though, you’ll be too busy trying to shield your eyes from W’z’ constant bombardment of bafflingly saturated visuals to really notice. Please let there never be a threequel…

#7: “Bakumatsu: Crisis” (2019)

The original was a lazy excuse for a historical fantasy series that seemed to think a bunch of bishounen boys would make up for its visible lack of effort. Now we have its second outing, and surprise, surprise, it’s more of the same. Studio Deen’s shame is once again on full display, only now with twice the amount of time-travelling samurai who never get anything done due to repetitive and poorly thought out plot threads. They really should have traded that colon in for an equals sign instead…

#6: “Bermuda Triangle: Colorful Pastrale” (2019)

Whatever cutesy promise this spin-off may have had ended up drowning as soon as we took a gander at just how poorly produced this undersea adventure really was. Focusing on a bunch of mermaids and their efforts to restore a theatre, every possible avenue to make this show somewhat passable was cut up and turned into sashimi. Awful animation leaves the cast looking more akin to mermaid-mannequins, while their lack of unique personalities makes it almost impossible to differentiate between them. Even by harmless, musical, glitter-filled, shoujo standards, this one is sucks.

#5: “Afterlost” (2019)

Can we please stop with the rushed adaptations of crappy mobile games already?! What the hell were you even thinking Madhouse?! As far as thrilling sci-fi mysteries go, this one doesn’t even come close to mediocre. Even if you somehow found yourself enraptured by the lukewarm premise about a city that suddenly vanishes, you still have to deal with some of the worst animation to come out this year, along with a bland as hell duo who do little to eliminate the slog that is the series’ overhanging story. This is certainly one mystery that deserved to stay lost…

#4: “Virtual-san Looking” (2019)

Virtual Youtubers have become quite the craze in recent years, providing a more entertaining spin on staples such as Let’s Plays. But was that really enough of a reason to warrant making an anime series based around them? The answer is a resounding no, at least where this anime is concerned. Take away the novelty of the Youtube platform, and all you get is yet another 3DCGI crap-fest whose concepts of charm and humour are bound to make you cringe. Guess you really can publish anything these days.

#3: “Nobunaga Teacher's Young Bride” (2019)

Now we go from the externally irritating to the internally repulsive. In this show, we have a time-travelling 14-yead-old girl who finds herself in the company of a down on his luck teacher, who she believes to be Oda Nobunaga, and immediately declares their engagement. From there, its ecchi galore with a barrage of busty lolis slowly crawling out of the woodwork, none of whom are older than fourteen, who are then subsequently depicted in the lewdest of ways. Don’t be surprised if you feel tremendously unclean after watching.

#2: “Dimension High School” (2019)

Fifty percent live-action, fifty percent CGI. What do you get when you put them together? A melting pot of weirdness that fails on every front. While the premise about an alien rock turning a bunch of students into animated characters might sound mildly interesting, the plot has so little substance that none of it pays off. The whole thing is a head-scratcher, with the CGI aspect failing spectacularly due to just how lousy the animation looks. Whether they were being dead serious or just trying to be meta, this thing fails in both styles!

#1: “Pastel Memories” (2019)

It’s not the most offensive thing the anime industry has ever produced, but it might be one of its biggest failures. On both a technical and a narrative level, this thing is a disaster. It has all the worst attributes you could expect from a terrible modern anime – it’s based on a mobile name, has a weak plot that doesn’t attempt to broaden its horizons, a cast of magical girls you might as well replace with cardboard, every episode is essentially a repeat of the last just with the odd tweak, and – of bloody course – the animation is terrible! It’s kind of amazing that such an unassuming series could be so awful!