Highly acclaimed anime you dropped.

[mecegirl]

Rant time: I dropped Your Lie in April. As a person who has played in many piano competitions, this anime is full of shit.

I knew I was in for a bad time when that blonde hair girl performed, and the main cast was all like "oh my god so bright, so talented." There is as huge disconnect when what the characters tell you is different than what your ears tell you. I don't want to be rude to the real person who did the recording who i'm pretty sure is extremely talented, but it wasn't "wow I am moved" stuff. Then they always force the fact down your throat that that she is a amazing unreachable virtuoso who plays music for children and cares so deeply for you that she even cries in front of you (obligatory character development) and is perfect in every way, oh except she's dating your best friend lol.

Then there's the whole Arima "I can't hear the notes when I play because my mother beat me as a child" Kousei. How the fuck can you not hear the notes? Selective deafness? How is that even possible? You don't even have to hear the notes to be able to play a song. If you practiced a piece enough, you can play it with earplugs, hell you might even be able to play it blindfolded.

The worst thing is this "Your piano told me everything, all your feelings" bullshit, as if you can actually telepathically transmit feelings into random audience members. I know music is powerful, but it's not magic. You can't show people images of your life just by playing a piece a certain way. Jesus.

I watched 12 episodes of this and forgot to go back. I don't think I can pick it up again.

So... I don't have your lived experience but everything you said is part of why I couldn't watch this anime. That and the main female character bugged the fuck out of me.

It's pretty amazing to me how many animes listed in this thread are also ones that I just couldn't get through or didn't even bother watching because the imagery didn't catch me.

 

[Fox12]

Texnolyze:
I keep promising to finish this series. It's from the people who made Lain for gods sakes. It's the people who made Haibane renmei. I love Abbe's work, and I've followed the career of the writer for some time. Nothing happens for long stretches of time. But this show is dull to the extreme.

Hmmm..Texhnolyze is probably the most impressive piece of fiction I've ever seen(not just anime). This show left a deep emotional impact on me. I think Texhnolyze is actually the opposite of pretentious. Nothing in the show is put there for esoteric purposes. Texhnolyze is more an introspective on the human condition and it's really so far removed from any other anime I can think of.

I've heard a lot of very intelligent people praise the show, so I'm sure it picks up, plot wise. I've also heard people say that the show is better after the first part of the series.

This wouldn't surprise me, since Lain was also slowly paced. I really like the team that made texnolyze, so I'm determined to finish the series at some point. I just need to wait until I have more time to really think it over, and mull the ideas over in my head. With my bachelors degree over with, and my Masters degree on the horizon, I don't have much time to really let it sink in.

 

[Jute88]

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Not because it was bad or anything, I just lost interest in it. Maybe the hype I had heard about it made me expect too much from it.

Attack on Titan. I managed to get farther with manga, but I still couldn't get invested in the story or characters. Not a bad idea for a series, just not my cup of tea.

 

[Slenn]

A couple of people have mentioned it already, but I quit Kill La Kill after around 4 episodes. It was way way too crazy for me to like.

Fullmetal Alchemist and Trigun are a few others. I'm sure they're really good if I were to continue on.
Fullmetal I stopped it because the hype overweighed what I saw. Maybe it was the style of animation; the choice of colors looked too clean and flat. I dunno, just something about it not being hand painted just made it look like it was lacking in quality. That and the anime, the manga, and the games all had different plots.

Trigun looked really dry; The landscape and the choice of colors for backgrounds was pretty bland. It just made it look a bit too depressing to me.

 

[Souplex]

Kill La Kill: I watched the first episode, only to see that it was nothing but fanservice, unfunny "humor" and dull action. I did not watch a second.

 

[Mister K]

Kill la Kill was already mentioned...

Wait, I know!

One Piece.
I am not saying that it is a BAD anime. Heck, OP fillers don't suck. However, the story haven't really progressed since, I dunno, 2010? As much as I liked it, I got tired of it and I had to drop it. Besides, post time-skip story arcs are just boring and bland compared to pre time-skip ones.

Gintama.
Again, not a bad series, but the humor didn't quite hit the right spot with me. So I stopped watching around episode 25.

 

[Harlemura]

I don't know if it's particularly praised, but I'd never heard anyone say bad things about A Certain Magical Index, so coupled with the fact characters from it are always making it into merchandise and crossovers and all that, I assumed it couldn't be that bad. But I just didn't like it. The characters were either bland or annoying, with Mikoto being the only one I had any kind of interest in but then she barely ever showed up.
Generic as it is, I think Touma being this everyman having to go up against all these powerful magicians with only his magic-cancelling hand to put up a fight with could've worked, but he was just made into too much of a hero. Dude's faced with a towering monster made completely out of fire and he holds his ground instead of just legging it, that's just not behaviour people could relate to and the point of him being basically a normal guy is gone.

If the plot was good I'd have given it more of a chance, but I barely even found it coherent. The last straw for me was the fight with the alchemist guy because I just completely lost track of what was going on.

Spoiler

I assumed all the stuff the guy was conjuring during the fight was meant to be illusions, like Stiyl's skin getting torn off. But then at the end of the fight Touma's arm appeared to get cut off, but it turns out it really was cut off and had to be reattached, so they weren't illusions? But then Stiyl was fine and didn't have all his skin missing, so some of them were illusions? Maybe??? I either missed a big chunk of something along the way or this whole part made no sense.

 

[Kyle Winston]

Cowboy Bebop: This was a case of Over-hype Backlash for me. Everywhere I went said it was one of the best anime ever. I watched the first several episodes, but was just underwhelmed. It simply came off as good, but not best anime ever.

 

[Wakey87]

Lucky Star - Complete nonsense and thats coming from somone who likes slice of life. I hear it was more relevant if you watched it at the time of airing but a 5 or 10 minute discussion on how to eat a cornet... you can fuck off.

I'm suprised welcome to the nhk has been mentioned so offen, as somone who lives on his own, sufferes from social anxeity and takes more drugs than he probably should, it was highly relatable. The scene where his sister gets arrested and he crawls out of his flat starving shows that you can over come your fears when forced too, he got a job and his life back on track and ended up doing better than the main character in the end.

 

[EMWISE94]

There's two that I haven't dropped per-se but I'm pretty much putting them on hold because they aren't grabbing me as much as I'd like so you could say I'm close to dropping them.

Katanagatari - I'm starting to think that maybe its just a cultural thing, but the preference for dialogue over visuals in terms of storytelling from manga/anime is something that bothers me a lot, especially if story flow or even the high speed tension of a scene is broken up by characters deciding to either have inner dialogues, normal dialogues or just start explaining shit and by fucking god does Katanagatari commit this sin! I knew it was a wordy show going in but god DAAAAAAAAMN does this show looooove to spew dialogue! Words, Sentences, Goddamn paragraphs and essays even! I stopped at episode 2 because I don't know if i can take another 50 minute word dumping session... or make it to episode 10.

Ergo Proxy - I've heard that this is also a good show, currently watching it and it does indeed have some interesting stuff going on... at least I think it does. The show's pacing is kinda slow and it spends a lot trying to blur the lines between what is real and what isn't... at least I think it is, it's kinda hard to follow, not that I don't understand whats happening its just, the show seems to revel more in throwing up questions rather than answering them.

Others that I have dropped super hard include:

God Eater - The visuals look janky as hell and the storyline isn't exactly gripping. Also what's with Japan and the jarring use of CG? Are we not in an age where you can blend 3D and 2D to actually look like they coexist visually? I feel like TAWOG should be blasted on their airwaves for like 24 hours as a way of saying "LOOK! Look how it can be done! LOOK!"

Digimon Tri - Ahahahahahaha I didn't even make it past the halfway mark of the first episode. TOEI at it again!

otherwise I can't think of anymore, I don't watch anime all that much, then again, I barely watch much of anything, should watch more stuff. Recently rewatched the entirety of Afro Samurai (the pilot, the show and the movie) and I wanna say I wish there was something with that amount of style airing today.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Ergo Proxy - I've heard that this is also a good show, currently watching it and it does indeed have some interesting stuff going on... unless I think it does. The show's pacing is kinda slow and it spends a lot trying to blur the lines between what is real and what isn't... at least I think it is, it's kinda hard to follow, not that I don't understand whats happening its just, the show seems to revel more in throwing up questions rather than answering them.

This isn't a justification for the show or a defense of it, but just so you know the heavy handed philosophical themes aren't just for flair. The show does, sort of, wrap up its plot. But it's left to you to decide what various things mean. This is deliberate. Whether it works or not is another question entirely.

It's the same trait (or flaw) that we see in Evangelion (show) and Ghost in the Shell (First two movies). There is plot closure, but no real answers to the questions raised. Again it's deliberate. Basically, if the question is something about the meaning behind abstract elements or themes, it's vaguely addressed or left unanswered. Characters often ponder on these things so they do get explored, but nothing concrete is laid down. A good example of this would be how Shinji would frequently learn something and believe it to be true only to have the show go "nope, wrong" and sucker punch him for his hubris. Other characters get the same treatment.

Personally this is something I actively seek out from Sci-fi. Sometimes this is just vapid surface level stuff, like Knights of Sidonia which tries to emulate Evangelion in several ways but falls almost comically short, but other have a lot more weight to it. Ghost in the Shell (1st movie) is still one of my favourite sci-fis of all time.

It's been a while since I watched ergo proxy and I was pretty young when I watched it, but I recall it had peaks and troughs of quality. Some episodes really worked others didn't.

OT: Man, Anime is 99% garbage 1% pure gold. You really have to have nerves of steel to continue trawling through the shit just to find the odd gem.

Kill La Kill.
Apart from some enjoyable absurdity, the show didn't hold my attention for very long. I got to around episode 12 before calling quits which was given it a generous amount of time for it to win me over. I guess I was hoping for "Gurren Lagann 2" but it felt short of expectations. I was also growing really weary of fan service in anime so the shows particular aesthetic flair didn't help.

Sword Art Online.
Fuck I don't even remember how far I got into it. I don't even remember the plot. This was shockingly dull for me, as I normally find something worth while in a highly acclaimed show, but I guess anime trends have just diverged way too far from my interests.

The 3 big ones, Naruto, Bleach and One Piece.
I gave naruto a good shot. I repeatedly came back to the show after each "filler" arc was done to watch the main story but I was growing tired of it before Shippuden rolled around. I had actually started reading the manga out of impatience and got a few chapters into the "Shippuden" part of the books and I just dropped it. The main story became as bad as the animes shitty fillers.

Bleach. Naruto had boring and terribly shitty filler arcs, but bleach had ENTIRE SEASONS of the shit. On the one hand, bleaches fillers weren't fucking terrible, but they were SO LONG. I lost interest in the show due to the sheer volume of the filler arcs. Worst thing about them they just retreaded character development... nothing new ever came from them. In the main story Ichigo would discover something, learn something or confront something, which developed his character and allowed him to beat his next opponent. The FILLERS would make him question what he just learned, relearn it and confront his opponent. FULL SEASONS where the character would just revert back a season of development, only to wrap up where it initially started, so the main story could continue unhindered. Maddening.

One Piece. Hated this show. Loved the concept, hated the characters. Wasn't for me at all.

I'm very much forgetting many others. I have become reluctant to even watch anime anymore as recent trends have really irked me. The Japanese animation industry really needs a good shake up... something awful is festering in it.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Oh there's loads. Just for a list:
- Kill la Kill
- Gurren Lagann
- Code Geass
- FLCL
- Cowboy Bebop
- Monster (Although not out of dislike of it, I just couldn't find an episode and never came back)
- Gundam Wing
- One Piece
- Ghost Stories dub (I'm actually ashamed about not having finished this one)

There's plenty more, but I'm not sure that they'd exactly be considered highly acclaimed. Unless stuff like Naruto, Bleach or DBZ count.

 

[Xeros]

Code Geass. I don't know why, but I just don't have the motivation to finish it. I really enjoyed what I saw of it, but my interest just dropped to non-existent after 10-or-so episodes.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Okay, get your pitchforks and chainsaws ready.

Death Note

Watched around 3 episodes I think. By the last one I watched I thought "This would be better as a book. Why am I watching an anime about people sitting around and explaining things instead of, you know, animating?" Never went back.

You are watching it because of scenes like this:
You don't get that from a book!

Dragon ball z

I freaking loved the parts I watched

Then namek happened.

Lots and lots of namek.

I then sorta dropped it because the whole freeza fight just got..... totally bleh.

Oh man, Namek!I really liked the original Dragon Ball and thought the saiyan arc of DBZ was pretty good, but Namek was soooo boring! I don't think they could have made that planet any more dull if they tried. The fake Namek that they go to on the way to real Namek was much more interesting. At least fake Namek had more than 1 biome. Also, I think that fight with Frieza was as long as the entire saiyan arc.

 

[Blitsie]

Monster

Yeah, it's actually quite brilliant, and yet... something about the way the dialoge was written just made it feel kind of goofy, in that typical anime sense. Not that there's anything wrong with being goofy, but the show was going for a very serious and dour tone, and the dialoge I found didn't really match up. I'm thinking of maybe picking it back up again, or maybe I should just go read the manga.

Also ended up dropping it about halfway through but for different reasons haha. I agree its quite brilliant and I'm not against slow pacing but.... eugh, I dunno, it just got kinda long in the tooth at one point when all the side plots came rushing in and I lost the motivation to start up the next episode. I loved the show's first ending credits though, that haunting song with the picture story of the nameless monster in the background really stuck with me.

Anyway

Attack on Titan is one that springs to mind, yet again its pacing that stopped me haha. The anime can just drag its feet so, so badly at times that I just kinda wish a titan would come punch everyone to hell and have the final credits roll up. But people insist its actually really great and I only stopped about eight episodes in, so I'll give it another try sometime.

 

[Fat Hippo]

Bakuman- I only watched season 1, and can't bring myself to watching more. It's not terrible, it's just not what I was looking for in a show about making manga. Everything's depicted way too "shounen-like," which I get that that was the point as they are making shounen manga, but I couldn't take all the cartoon-ish rivals, dramatic speeches about how supposedly skilled a particular mangaka is, or the romance that I have major issues with. I would rather see something a little more grounded when it comes to anime about the manga industry...

You didn't miss anything. The second season is the most drawn out piece of shit, I thought I was hallucinating when they repeated the exact same story beats for the third time.

Looking at some of the other acclaimed series mentioned that I also dropped (intentionally or because I forgot about them):
Fullmetal Alchemist (Original & Brotherhood)
Death Note
Gurren Lagaan
Kill la Kill
Code Geass
Monster
Gundam Wing

 

[RedRockRun]

Madoka Magica: Yes, I get that it subverts the magical girl genre, but I'm not impressed. Also there are these world design choices that aren't commented on at all. Those kinds of questions nag at me too much. Also since I know the plot of the movie and how it screws with the show's original plot, I see no reason to give this series anymore attention.

Baccano!: I watched the first episode and swore it off. I like disjointed, non-linear stories; I really do, but this is just beyond the pale in terms of confusing. I watched the first episode twice, by the way, rewinding over and over while trying to figure out character names and motivations but eventually just gave up. I don't want to have to take notes on something that I'm supposed to be watching for fun.

Big O: I watched several episodes but just couldn't get into it. Even though I love film noir, this anime just wasn't to my tastes for some reason. I can't really explain it better than that.

Akira: I've long railed against anime for melodrama, and there's no worse offender than Akira in my opinion. I just can't take it seriously.

 

[9tailedflame]

SAO: They just never gave me enough time to get invested enough in anything going on to give a crap before just jumping through time and space to something else entirely. Nothing ever felt like it had any weight.

Rozen Maiden: I get some flak for this one, but EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER in the first few episodes is so awful, i want them all to burn and die. Just give me one prominent character who isn't insufferable and i could latch on to that, but no, every single character is awful.

Naruto/bleach/one piece/fairy tale: I just can't do shows that go this long and don't really carry momentum throughout.

FMA brotherhood: Because while i liked the original FMA, i was satisfied with what i got, and the first few episodes of brotherhood felt way too much like a retread.

Ergo Proxy: It just felt like it was way not focused enough. Half the time i didn't know what was going on at first, and nothing really felt like it had any weight or mattered.

 

[Fox12]

Has it been done to death? the gratuitous graphic cute anime girl death? The only series I know that comes close is higurashi (when they cry), but those characters don't die for good. The first time I watched Elfen lied was a trip through an emotional wringer, I don't know of anything else so unapologetically packed with gore and mutilation of central characters. I found it disgusting as well, the hacking off of bodily parts, the incest, the child abuse.
I'll defend Elfen Lied to the death because of how unabashedly tasteless and unpleasant it is.

I really "liked" elfen lied, in so far as it's possible to like a show like elfen lied. It had some major flaws, most of which had to do with the writing, but there were some nuggets of genius there too. The way they handled Lucy's character was brilliant. The direction, tone, use of sound, and music was phenomenal. My only complaint is how underdeveloped some of the characters and plot points were. Elfen Lied had the potential to be a masterpiece. If they got some genius writers involved in the project then I could see a remake becoming quite a spectacle. As it stands, it's merely above average, like Madoka.