What is your greatest disappointment in Anime?

[Sethzard]

The gaps between hellsing episodes, filler, filler endings especially, and anime finishing way before the manga without any kind of conclusion e.g. air gear or d.gray man, and the ending of death note.

 

[Eternal_24]

Watching all of Chaos;Head because I heard it was a sequel of sorts to Steins;Gate when actually the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other. I wouldn't have minded if Chaos;Head was good but it was the most clichéd non-sense I have ever watched.

Edit - also this:

Bleach episode 64 onwards. The series was really cool for 63 episodes and it only took like 2 episodes for it to get absolutely horrible. I stopped watching it at about episode 66 and never started again.

 

[Maverick Dorotheo]

1: Ending of School Days. Actually made me fear watching towards the end of any anime from then onwards. Until I conquered it.
2: Filler in any anime.
3 & 4: HoTD and Kaichou-wa Maid-sama. Where they chose to end the anime.
5: Endless Eight. Hm, actually I really liked Endless Eight. It made me get some much needed sleep.

 

[michael87cn]

I really liked Bleach when it was brand new, but as it began passing the 200 episode mark, I began to wonder if it would ever end. I believe it's somewhere in the 600 episode range now, and I gave up watching because it's like 25 episodes of filler in a row, with half an episode of filler mixed with half an episode of story, and then 25 episodes introducing 500 new characters... etc.

Naruto is the same exact way.

My biggest disappointment with anime is that there are only a few diamonds in the rough, most of it is pretty darn bad. Then again it's designed with 12-15 year old girls and boys in mind, not adults (usually).

 

[Beliyal]

The fact that people consider Elfin Lied to be a good series.

I haven't read the Manga, so I can't say if it gets better, but the fact that little kids beat a puppy to death because someone was different. This was taken place when there was no implied government brainwashing, these were normal, everyday bullys, not insane psychopaths, bullys, beating a puppy, to death, because someone, was different. I am sorry to add so many commas but my god, I can't think of one scene so forced. I can't sympathy because of how unrealistic that scene was. Little kids, normal little non-brainwash non-insane completely normal kids. Would never ever beat to death a puppy. Elfin Lied as a TV show reminds me more of glorified blood porn, that has the emotional depth of metalocalypes but still attempts to take itself seriously. Which makes me rage so hard.

Seriously, how Immature of a author can you be. Ok so we have this complete psychopath with the powers to kill pretty much everybody, and to make you symphatize with her were going to make her seem innocent and lovable. How do we do this? LETS GIVE HER FUCKING CAT AMNESIA, everybody love kittens, hell we can throw fan service in ad the same time, those horns look like cat ears, thats a fetish right.

THIS is BRILLIANT. We can literally pander to almost every crowd. We have pointless titty shots for the hentai fans, overly bloody scenes for the mindless br00tal crowd, Nekos for the OMG ITS SO KAWAII crowd and shallow attempts at depth for the people who can fall for that.

This, so much this.

I watched the anime and found it stupid, filled with pointless gore and nudity and having literally zero depth or being good story-wise. And then one of my friends told me I'm wrong and that Elfen Lied is great and has good story and characters and has depth and meaning. I was a bit confused as I saw none of that in the anime and blamed it on anime being too short, unfinished and, well, an anime.

So I read the manga. And let me tell you, it doesn't get better. I wanted for it to get better, but it doesn't. Manga is filled with pointless fanservice nudity/panty-shots that completely kill the mood and any possibility of depth. I was engaged in the story at some points, but then, out of the blue, you get back to Lucy being a retard that meows or whatever and how she constantly can't keep her clothes on. I have to admit that the story was actually good, but only if you completely remove half of the manga (with Lucy's amnesia and those stupid people that keep her; seriously, I've never seen such poor depiction of human beings anywhere else. Absolute lack of any cohesion, development and motivation); all that about the diclonii (mutants) could be quite interesting if it only stuck to that. But it didn't and any attempt of serious story that deals with "social alienation, identity, prejudice, revenge, abuse, jealousy, regret and the value of humanity" (Wikipedia) is completely lost and actually quite non-existent in 90% of the story.

And yeah, cat fetish; seriously, why not make those horns look like something that might actually have a reason for people to be afraid or to present prejudice or alienation? No, they look like cat ears, for no other reason than for the character to be "cute". Sure, not all people see it that way, but I couldn't shake that feeling, not during anime and especially not while reading the manga. Your last paragraph nails it I think; the author probably wanted to expand his audience so he incorporated everything in the story, regardless of the content. The worst thing is the fact that I see the enormous potential the story could had and how could it have developed to be something that really explores society and humanity, but instead, you get panty shots of a character with severe mental retardation. I found that borderline disturbing, as abusing someone who is mentally incapable of experiencing the world around them and you use that character to show tits to the audience (pretending it shows depth and explores social alienation). I have nothing against either nudity or gore, but the way it was done in Elfen Lied was just insulting, mood-breaking and immersion-killing. I was very disappointed in both anime and manga after that.

 

[mirasiel]

Then that dang bullet broke the laws of physics, a bullet travailing several hundred feet/second passing preforming stunts with breast physics. I lost all interest in the show after that.

You are talking about a show that has the dead coming to live and you are hung up on Physics, reality has already been suspended.

No, you really have to see the shot in question, sniper round going between a girls breasts that are both moving in opposite vertical directions....it just looks awful, strangely thats about the same point I lost interest in it too.

 

[Jonluw]

Death note.

Spoiler

Seriously; after Light gives away his death note, everything just goes to shit.

 

[Easton Dark]

Spoiler: Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood spoiler

Greed dying is both a disappointment and the most beautiful thing I've seen lately ;_; My favorite homunculus, gone forever!

Spoiler: Code Geass R2 spoiler

WAS THAT LELOUCHE DRIVING THE CARRIAGE AT THE END? Why didn't they let me see!

Also every Bleach episode. Every time I'm disappointed. Half of the episode is recapping what happened in the last episode. God damn animating is easy when you reuse half the clips.

 

[Kuroneko97]

To Love Ru. I honestly thought that story had some potential, but like Highschool of the dead apparently, it got lost in all the panty shots and bouncing boobs and tentacles coming out of nowhere.

 

[TheFederation]

probably when soul eater ending. it was so cheap and rushed and didn't really feel right, also it was very disappointing that the big bad was destroyed by 'heart'

 

[Bleedingskye]

The worst thing about anime is that no one wants to draw characters or VFX differently (aside from the occasional unique movies) and that all the plot constructs are nearly exactly the same, all the voice acting is exactly the same, stereotypes abound, and the obsession with little girls.

What I love are the existential ideas and philosophies, the extremely creative ways to explain the way the world(in the show/film) works and every now and then there's a really cool character relationship.

EDIT: Also I cannot stand the endless terribly awful fillers that make me feel like the creative directors are just shitting all over my face

 

[The Hero Killer]

Claymore not continuning like the manga.

Gundam Unicorn taking 3 years to finish.

The X-Men anime being boring it showed all the cool villains and costumes during the credits but not on the show.

 

[Damura]

Berserk was less terrible, but still pretty freaking terrible.
As I've noticed is usually the case, it's a bunch of teenagers faffing about, again having insights into the human condition of the same caliber I have when I'm drunk out of my mind.
There's 4 rapes, I think, one of which is that delightful old Japanese fallback, the tentacle demon rape.
Because, from what I saw in these 3 shows, it is never not demons.
They might not always be called that, but there is always an otherworldly evil that can only be defeated by the power of believing in oneself and/or friendship.
Anyway, the main characters dick around for 25 episodes or something, the humor is unfunny, the action scenes are boring, and.. well that's all there is to the show.
Screw this show too. Though less than Claymore, at least it didn't have Officer Huggington

Did you even watch the show? There was no tentacle rape. There was no 'otherworldy evil that can only be defeated by the power of believing in oneself'. Everytime the main characters went against a demon they got fucked up. Berserk isn't known for it's humor (there wasn't much of it anyway, though you're right that it wasn't any good). I thought the action was good personally though it's not for everyone and it's definitely aging.

So, to answer the OP's question, my greatest disappointment in anime is that, in a medium where you can have literally anything happen, even more so than in live action movies or shows, the 3 that came highly reccomended were all just... palate swaps.
It is never not sexual, it is never not demons, it is never not trying to sound deep and sophisticated, and it is never not terrible."

You whine too much. Fair enough if you didn't like these anime. A lot of anime absolute shit. You know what I do when when an anime isn't for me? I stop watching it. I think you're being way too judgmental but I am interested in what shows you DO actually like. Maybe you can recommend me something 'deep and sophisticated'? Let me know.

 

[snappydog]

I liked Death Note's ending, it was a certain bit that happened around halfway through that made me sad as anything, although that wasn't disappointment at all but genuine sadness.
Disappointment, probably when they choose to put in an ill-fitting ending rather than follow it to the end of the manga - Soul Eater springs to mind, even if its ending was kind of awesome.

 

[Axelhander]

The entirety of the genre, for the most part. This is coming from a former huge anime fan: most of it is sub-Michael Bay garbage.

Most recent disappointment: how awful the 2009 Fullmetal Alchemist series compared to the infinitely superior 2003 one.

Most recent pleasant surprise: G Gundam, which is by and far the best Gundam series.

 

[GeneticallyModifiedDucks]

The ending (or lack there of) of Claymore. The manga went on, while the anime just kind of stopped. It's sad really, because the episodes that do exist are bliss.

 

[darthcendiarygrenade]

The first Hellsing anime. Enigma? Really?? Ugh.

 

[Navvan]

I watched Claymore, Berserk, and Tengen Guren Lagan or whatever it's called to get a buddy off my back about how "You'd really love anime if you gave it a shot."
After watching these I resolved to resist watching any more anime with renewed vigor.

Claymore... was terrible.
It's the story of a bunch of women who are freaking terrible at their jobs, going around having bargain bin psychology insights into what it is to be human and friendship and whatnot, accompanied by one guy who is WHINING made flesh, hugging everything in sight.
I swear, he was always going on about how he would try to defend this one chick, and at one point he actually gets some swordsmanship training from a demon (he hugged the demon... obviously).
So I figured he'd at least get a moment to shine, but when it does come, he drops his goddamn sword and starts hugging the biggest, evilest demon of them all.
Seriously, screw this show.

Berserk was less terrible, but still pretty freaking terrible.
As I've noticed is usually the case, it's a bunch of teenagers faffing about, again having insights into the human condition of the same caliber I have when I'm drunk out of my mind.
There's 4 rapes, I think, one of which is that delightful old Japanese fallback, the tentacle demon rape.
Because, from what I saw in these 3 shows, it is never not demons.
They might not always be called that, but there is always an otherworldly evil that can only be defeated by the power of believing in oneself and/or friendship.
Anyway, the main characters dick around for 25 episodes or something, the humor is unfunny, the action scenes are boring, and.. well that's all there is to the show.
Screw this show too. Though less than Claymore, at least it didn't have Officer Huggington.

Guren Lagan was everything I expected, and less.
Bargain bin psychology, teenagers destroying Satan, manifesting here as a muscly dude and then a stick figure, magical power of believing in yourself and/or friendship, and of course; overly sexualized teenage girls. It's got the lot.
Action scenes were too ridiculously over the top, dialogue was the same inspirational believe in yourself horseshit I'd already suffered through for the entirety of the other 2 shows, and well... it was crap.

So, to answer the OP's question, my greatest disappointment in anime is that, in a medium where you can have literally anything happen, even more so than in live action movies or shows, the 3 that came highly reccomended were all just... palate swaps.
It is never not sexual, it is never not demons, it is never not trying to sound deep and sophisticated, and it is never not terrible.

I only say this because it seems to me that what made you interested in anime in the first place is the same reason that it interested me. Why you hate it is also the same faults I dislike with the medium. The vast majority of anime is silly/sexualized/unsophisticated and a lot is garbage. But to say it is never deep/sophisticated is wrong. Monster, Serial Experiments Lain, Kino's Journey, Mushi-shi, Natsume-Yujincho, Haibane Renmei, and the list go on. None contain sexualization, all are deep to various levels, all are sophistcated to various levels, and all are awesome. None really have that otherwordly evil thing going on either.

Monster goes to great lengths to illustrate the complexity of saving and taking lives and their consequences. Serial Experiments is about what constructs reality, Kino's Journey/Mushi-shi are fun episodics with stories that each have a different theme, Natsume is about living and overcoming isolation/solitude but deals with it in a light-hearted way, and Haibane Renmei is well; I'm just going to say coming to terms with death but there is a lot of symbolism in there.

The problem is that you went into the equivalent of an action flick and expected something deep.