The Top 5 Worst ‘Anime’ Of 2016

With the end of the year right around the corner, it’s time to look back at worst Anime titles which came out in 2016. It should be noted these animes are more disappointing than absolutely terrible. Still considering how much other media is available watching something which isn’t satisfying is almost a worst crime. The time spent watching these shows could have been used to help expand the upcoming best of list from five entries to a full ten. Time is a precious thing and it shouldn’t be spent watching shows of less than average quality. Without further ado, here are the five worst animes of 2016.

5. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN RE:0096

It should be noted if you have no other way of watching Gundam Unicorn, then by all means check out this series. It is one of the best Gundam shows to come out in a while which wasn’t being self-referential (Gundam build Fighters) or without having to introduce another timeline (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron blooded Orphans). Unfortunately these facts aside this is just a repackaging of an already released series with little to no additional additional scenes. Essentially it’s a clip show for anyone who has seen the original Gundam Unicorn and a glorified clip show easily fits onto this list.

4. Nurse Witch Komugi R

Remember SoulTaker? No? Then maybe you caught its OVA, Nurse Witch Komugi where they spun off a character and made her into a magical girl. Still nothing? Doesn’t matter as this series is supposed to be a reintroduction and reinvention of the characters. Unfortunately this series doesn’t exactly know what it wants to do. Sometimes it wants to be an idol show complete with a song and dance number almost every episode, other times it’s trying for comedy and deconstructing aspects of the magical girl genre, and a few times it seems like it’s actually trying to be a legitimate magical girl series. Unfortunately most of the time the jokes aren’t funny, the new magical girls are cookie cutter (A Magical Maid and Magical Sister are introduced) and the songs aren’t even close to being as catchy as those featured in Love Live. If this show had tried to stop being other shows and instead had dedicated itself to one idea, it might have been worthwhile instead of easily forgotten.

3. Ace Attorney

It is possible to have an adaptation be so faithful it actually hinders itself. This is the case with the anime adaptation of Phoenix Wright. The anime takes the first two video games stories and so accurately represents them in-motion they come off kind of boring. Who was the show even for? The fans? They have already played the games so they know what is going to happen. A newcomer? The show assumes you are already a fan and will appreciate the nuances which went into the animation. In the end you’re left with the series which is below average and not really much fun for anyone.

2. Time Bokan 24

As many studios keep trying to relaunch old shows for a new generation there was a lot of promise behind this series which was one of Tatsunoko Studios more iconic franchises. Unfortunately this new installment of Time Bokan is so formulaic you can time out how each episode will play out nearly to the second. The series isn’t helped by overwhelming need to present a more comedic atmosphere. The good guys travel back in time to discover “true history” such as the Wright brothers being one guy or Cleopatra being a two-person comedy act. Meanwhile, the villains are actually trying to keep things the same so they don’t have to change the textbooks they produce which really makes it feel like these roles should be reversed. It’s underwhelming and is intended just really to sell the robots featured in the show to kids. Considering how well other shows can do this and still present an entertaining promise, this one just runs out of time.

1. Berserk (2016)

Man this one hurt. After waiting 18 years for another Berserk series to expand upon the atrocious stopping point of the first one, a continuation finally arrived. Unfortunately, it’s not very good. The art is literally painful to look at at times as the studio preferred to wait for the final renders to be available with the blu-ray releases which is becoming far too common a practice. The story is a bit underwhelming as this arc moves slower than previous ones and introduces one of the most annoying characters in all of anime. Seriously, the Nina character whined so much she got trained executions, whose job is to ignore the complaining of others to stop. Considering how many Berserk fan there are in the world and how much they were looking forward to this series it almost feels like a slap in the face. The original manga is known for having gorgeous art, being deep and emotional at times, and is considered one of the best fantasy mangas of all time. This series just felt rushed and quickly ran out of steam in a very bad way. Hopefully the studio will learn its lesson and the next season in 2017 will at least look a little better. They’ll already have to win back the audience who were disappointed after watching this 12 episode trainwreck.

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All of these titles are streaming at Crunchyroll. What was your most hated Anime title of 2016? Leave a comment below and let us know.