Most disappointing series/film?

[Aion (Retired)]

List your biggest anime let downs!

For me, Spirited Away has to be the most disappointing piece of anime I've ever watched (I justfinished watching it and want my £3.99 back!!!), right up there with Howl's Moving Castle. It's beyond me how people can enjoy either film when the stories are unexplained/boring and none of the characters in either movie are interesting.

I've watched 4 Ghibli films so far, my ratings being:

Princess Mononoke - 10/10
Nausicaa - 7.5-8/10
Spirited Away - 5/10
Howl's Moving Castle - 4/10

I hope the 5th Ghibli I'm going to watch, My Neighbour Totoro, is worth the £4.24 I paid for it... I can't seem to trust reviews for Ghibli films.

 

[Sy]

For me, Spirited Away has to be the most disappointing piece of anime I've ever watched (I justfinished watching it and want my £3.99 back!!!)

Weird you should say that. When I bought it I watched it that same night but hated it so much that the very next day I went out of my way to take it back to HMV.

I'm not a fan of Ghibli films myself but there are two out of the eight I've seen that I would consider to be good and you might want to give a try. Grave of the Fireflies and Laputa: Castle in the Sky, although the pirates fronted by that old lady in the latter lose it some marks.

 

[awadama]

Steamboy.

It got major hype, but I thought it was super-boring, and the audio really seemed to jar with the visuals for some reason.

I thought Nausicaa was very dull too.

 

[Rui]

I've watched 4 Ghibli films so far, my ratings being:

Princess Mononoke - 10/10
Nausicaa - 7.5-8/10
Spirited Away - 5/10
Howl's Moving Castle - 4/10

That's so weird, I usually can't stand Ghibli, but loved Howl. It's even fired me up to take interest in Earthsea despite disliking every film I saw which came before. Perhaps I should pick up Spirited Away and assume I have reversed taste.

I'm pretty careful about researching things and know what sort of elements I enjoy, so most shows I've been disappointed in have been things other people made me watch after trying to convince me they were brilliant - Geneshaft, Kiddy Grade, GITS SAC all spring to mind.

R

 

[Lupus]

Howl's Moving Fail, 2 hours I want back and Jyu oh Sei, was decent at first, then by the end killing off main characters like they were nothing and ending it too quickly just killed it, FMA movie too, TOOK MY EXPECTATIONS AND RIPPED THEM UP IN MY FACE. ;_;

 

[Deaths Jester]

Cowboy Bebop,

so much hype about it, but when i watched it, all it did was bore me

 

[Trowa_Ayanami]

X/1999

After all the talk I heard from people about how great the X franchise was, I checked out the movie.

Biggest mistake ever.

1 and a half hours of complete boredom;

Little to no explination of the story.

Useless characters (Shōgo Asagi) that just come in, do their thing and leave/die.

And an anticlimatic ending that was just depressing.

Final Fantasy: Advent Children

I had borrowed it off my sister recently to see what all the hype was about and after watching it, it baffled me as to why it was so damn popular.

The movie was nothing more than a brainless action movie, just with Final Fantasy VII characters.

And another question:

What the hell was the point of Sephiroth?!?

A 10 minute appearence to fight Cloud?

What's the point?

 

[Aion (Retired)]

Final Fantasy: Advent Children

I had borrowed it off my sister recently to see what all the hype was about and after watching it, it baffled me as to why it was so damn popular.

The movie was nothing more than a brainless action movie, just with Final Fantasy VII characters.

And another question:

What the hell was the point of Sephiroth?!?

A 10 minute appearence to fight Cloud?

What's the point?

Is FFVII:AC even classed as anime? :|

I do agree; AC is only good for the visuals and the music. I hated it as a FFVII fanboy.

There is a nice little extra packaged with the ultra rare Japanese LE and newly released American SE you'd be interested in - FFVII: Last Order, a 25 minute OVA made by Madhouse, retelling the Nibelheim events from the game. Last Order is MUCH better than AC.

 

[BlackWolf]

Street Fighter Alpha 2 Generations- I bought this for £5 in the sales last year, I had seen the other Street Fighter anime movies and thought they weren't bad and i mistakenly thought this movie shown the Akuma and Ryu fight that was hinted at in the credits Street Fighter Alpha movie...Boy was i wrong. Yes it shows a fight with Ryu and Akuma (Gouki in the film) but it was crap, the film rehashed plot points that were in the first Alpha film, and the 45 minute running time turned into a blessing. The only good thing i can say about it is the animation isn't bad, that's all :roll:

Tekken the motion picture- Another game related anime, another failure. I just wished it would decide which game it was adapting instead of mish mashing the first two together.

 

[Aion (Retired)]

Rui: The problems I have with Spirited Away are near identical to my issues with Howl's Moving Castle. Since I rate Spirited Away slightly higher than Howl's, you'll probably love it...somehow.

For me, Spirited Away has to be the most disappointing piece of anime I've ever watched (I justfinished watching it and want my £3.99 back!!!)

Weird you should say that. When I bought it I watched it that same night but hated it so much that the very next day I went out of my way to take it back to HMV.

I'm not a fan of Ghibli films myself but there are two out of the eight I've seen that I would consider to be good and you might want to give a try. Grave of the Fireflies and Laputa: Castle in the Sky, although the pirates fronted by that old lady in the latter lose it some marks.

I ordered Spirited Away about 1.5-2 months back after seeing it drop from £4.99 to £3.99 (+ 10% QuidCo), not thinking it could possibly be bad with the amount of high ratings it has. I truly cannot understand how such an average movie could be so highly praised.

It's quite amazing the director of Princess Mononoke managed to do such a bad a job on other movies AND get praised for it. I'm starting to think Miyazaki is a one-shot wonder after seeing just how bad his two other most famous movies are.

...Anyway, I just watched Grave of the Fireflies since it's been on my HDD for ages and you reminded me - Amazing movie. I don't think Miyazaki worked on it?

 

[Lelouch]

Princess mononoke bored the hell out of me.

Chobits the ending was crappy.

Lucky star the ending was also crappy were they Run onto the stage about to do the dance again.

So they're all the anime that have dissapointed me so far.

 

[Taylor]

Anime that seriously disapointed me was School Days. Alot of people said it was a good series but when i watched it i thought it was sh**...

Chobits the ending was crappy.

Lucky star the ending was also crappy were they Run onto the stage about to do the dance again.

So they're all the anime that have dissapointed me so far.

Chobits ending wasnt so bad, over all i think it was a good series.
Lucky star i admit could have been better, but its kind of hard ending a series that doesnt really have a plot or story to it

 

[Pomtry]

Cowboy bebop - just cant stand it. I just realy hate the characters

 

[hopeful_monster]

Of the ones already mentioned agree with Steamboy, FF7:AC, & X/1999 (movie).
Personal disappointments are
Crest/Banner of the Stars Crap dub, and while the plot was accurate the characters were lifeless and all the bloody Ahb looked the same.
Boogiepop Phantom- Scary my fuzzy butt.
Most of the Gundam meta-series, The original was good, as was Turn A (but that almost nothing to do with everything else) Seed was fun enough, but Wing, 00 and X were dull. They still however churn the stuff out cause like Star Wars they could take a dump in a box with a Gundam label and the fanboys would buy it.
Jyu Oh Seti - it Bones but the animation looked like the content's of my toilet bowl and the plot seemed like it had been some one had taken the script, attacked it with a chain saw and what was left they made.
Evangelion Death and Rebirth - the 1st half ... WTF, no seriously WTF!!! I mean chopping up series to make a movie, fair enough. Macross Plus, Armatige III did a decent job of it and even the Rahxephon one wasn't that bad. I re-watched the series before i picked it up, and i still found it difficult to follow. The second half was better, but THEY GAVE IT TO YOU AGAIN WHEN YOU GOT E.O.E. Rip off central.

 

[Ramadahl]

I'm not a fan of Ghibli films myself but there are two out of the eight I've seen that I would consider to be good and you might want to give a try.

I'm not especially fond of them either. Only Yesterday is one that I quite liked though.

FMA movie too, TOOK MY EXPECTATIONS AND RIPPED THEM UP IN MY FACE. ;_;

The fma movie was an unnecessary hack job of tying up loose ends.

After all the talk I heard from people about how great the X franchise was, I checked out the movie.

Much though I like the X tv series, the movie is generally reviled - and with good reason.

Is FFVII:AC even classed as anime?

Using the old definition of animation made in Japan, it qualifies. I didn't mind it as an eye-candy action piece, and that was all I ever expected of it, so I can't say I was disappointed by it.

I'm starting to think Miyazaki is a one-shot wonder after seeing just how bad his two other most famous movies are.

I still say Miyazaki's best work is the Nausicaa manga. It shows he really is very talented, if you were having doubts.

Lucky star the ending was also crappy were they Run onto the stage about to do the dance again.

For a slice-of-life series, you're lucky to get that much of a finale .

Crest/Banner of the Stars Crap dub, and while the plot was accurate the characters were lifeless and all the bloody Ahb looked the same.

Interesting you mention lifeless characters, I thought that the charcters were the best part of the series ^^. I'll agree on the dub though.

Boogiepop Phantom- Scary my fuzzy butt.

I never really thought it was supposed to be scary, more sort of an action/mystery thing, and I enjoyed figuring out the story. Some interesting charcters too. Only disappointment for me was that the story, once I'd figured it out, was kinda weak ^^.

Evangelion Death and Rebirth - the 1st half ...

Yeah, seriously, is there anyone at all who thinks this was worthwhile? Anyone?


As for me... there are a couple, but one that sticks out is Elfen Lied. Really, that was my fault for being taken in by the hype. Had I looked into it a bit more I would've realised it wasn't my thing anyway.

 

[CitizenGeek]

Evangelion Death and Rebirth - the 1st half ...

Yeah, seriously, is there anyone at all who thinks this was worthwhile? Anyone?

I do! I thought it was done in a very Eva-ish way, it added lots of nice new animations and it's handy for whenever you don't want to watch the whole series again, but still need an Eva fix. 'Death' clearly isn't intended for people who haven't seen the series, it's just a very stylish feature-lenght re-cap episode.

 

[Chaz]

Street Fighter Alpha 2 Generations- I bought this for £5 in the sales last year, I had seen the other Street Fighter anime movies and thought they weren't bad and i mistakenly thought this movie shown the Akuma and Ryu fight that was hinted at in the credits Street Fighter Alpha movie...Boy was i wrong. Yes it shows a fight with Ryu and Akuma (Gouki in the film) but it was crap, the film rehashed plot points that were in the first Alpha film, and the 45 minute running time turned into a blessing. The only good thing i can say about it is the animation isn't bad, that's all :roll:

Tekken the motion picture- Another game related anime, another failure. I just wished it would decide which game it was adapting instead of mish mashing the first two together.

Agreed on both points... The only good animated fighter-adaptation I've seen in anime is "Street Fighter 2 - The Animated Movie."
Both Alpha movies were crap and bland, while Tekken just confused me on what was going on. None of them actually kept to the story of the games.

 

[Warmaster]

Well I'll ignore those I had no expectations of in the first place (Those who have followed other threads know what i would say otherwise.)

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: Started pretty good to be honest, but by the end it had turned into a complete pile of sappy mush. It is not that I instantly mind sappy mush, but for a series that started so much like Excel Saga manicness, it was bleugh.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence: The first GITS film was pretty good. It had a poor ending, but it was pretty good apart from that. The second one had a handful of good action scenes, and the rest was not very interesting at all.

Heat guy J: A bit of sci fi action? only cost me £20 for the series? Good cover art? I should have known better.

Steamboy: I have to agree with the above poster on this one. It isn't all bad and has its moments, but it could have, should have (especially considering the budget!) been so much better.

Nausicaa of the valley of the wind: As a Miyazaki/Ghibli fan, i was looking forward to this as the twin of Mononoke. And while it was pretty good (I soooo want the manga) it paled in comparison in all.

Tales From Earthsea: An extremely meh debut. Reminds me of Future Boy Conan in a way, but there the (only occasionally) slow moments were covered by likeable characters. Here they were not. Also has the 'Harry potter film' syndrome that it makes no sense unless you have read the books!

Ghost in the shell stand alone complex: Not a massive disapointment with the series as a whole, I rather like both of them (though the first is easilly the better of the two) my disapointment comes from the Tachikomas. Way to kill a serious franchise with the cute sidekicks. Bleugh. (As I said elsewhere, dropped my rating from 'Excellent' to 'Pretty good')

Martian Successor Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness: Probably my single biggest 'disapointment' I was really looking forward to this, I mean, Nadesico the series is still my favourite mecha series alongside Escaflowne, so it was long awated. The result has made me extremely warry ever to touch anime sequel movies ever again. It put 95% of all characters 'out of character' it tied up about zero loose ends, was too short for what it was trying to do, and generally was a horrible mess. I try to think this never existed when I watch the series. Horrible, Horrible, Horrible.

 

[Ammish]

Ghost in the shell stand alone complex: Not a massive disapointment with the series as a whole, I rather like both of them (though the first is easilly the better of the two) my disapointment comes from the Tachikomas. Way to kill a serious franchise with the cute sidekicks. Bleugh. (As I said elsewhere, dropped my rating from 'Excellent' to 'Pretty good')

Wha...

They were the best part of the series, I love the Tachikomas, we all need cute sidekicks in this day and age. And the mini episodes at the end are pure win ^^

Most disappointed series...

Naruto - Don't get me wrong, but I enjoyed Shippuden. But Naruto is one of the worst animes I ever seen. You may all disagree with me, but the characters aren't worth caring for. And Sasuke just annoys me. Great fights and stuff, but crappy character development.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Thats far by the most overrated anime I ever seen *Hides from hordes of Eva fans*. I so hate the main Character, and all the others didn't really interest me. Great mecha fights, though I admit that.

 

[Warmaster]

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Thats far by the most overrated anime I ever seen *Hides from hordes of Eva fans*. I so hate the main Character, and all the others didn't really interest me. Great mecha fights, though I admit that.

Well I didn't say it - I wouldn't say I was most disapointed with it - When I saw it i had no expectations at all. I just dislike it a lot and think it is horrendiously overrated.

But I will stand by my dislike of the Tachikomas as well. Completely throw the tone of the series into mehness at times.