Most of thebest anime series of all timecome from amazing source material, like a well-known manga, manhwa, or series of light novels. These shows usually come with built-in fans, as thousands of people can’t wait to see their favorite manga get brought to life on-screen. Unfortunately, their anime adaptation isn’t always as successful as it should be. There are a few studios in anime synonymous with amazing work, but not every studio is known for creating quality anime.
There are a ton of great stories that have been poorly animated. Excellent source material should make for an excellent manga,but there are a few studios that just drop the ball.If these manga series were picked up by a different animation studio, they could have become classics. Maybe they’ll get another adaptation, but until then, they’ll only be known for their terribly animated anime series.
The Way of the Househusbandcould have been an excellent anime series, and maybe even one ofthe best anime series about the yakuza. It stars a former yakuza boss as he looks to step away from his life of crime to support his wife. While she works, he stays at home like a househusband. It’s an interesting premise that gets even better as the series progresses.
Unfortunately, the animation behindThe Way of the Househusbandcan barely be called animation at all.The series looks more like a slideshow presentation than an actual anime.Instead of animating fully realized scenes, animation studio J.C. Staff animated single images at a time, creating a terrible experience for anyone looking forward to the series.
Dororois one ofthe darkest anime series of all time. The story is set in the Sengoku era of Japan where a daimyo sacrifices his son to several demons in order for his land to benefit. His son, Hyakkimaru, then goes around and slays the demons in order to get his body back, destroying the daimyo’s land in the process.
Most ofDororohas decent animation, butthere is one episode that is animated so poorly that it’s hard to look past.Episode 15 is filled with outlandish animation, including an awkward running segment that makes Hyakkimaru look like a stick figure, a monster attack that doesn’t make sense, and more.
A-1 Pictures is normally one of the best animation studios in Japan, withseveral hits under their belt, likeSolo Leveling.The Seven Deadly Sinsshould have been another one of their masterpieces,but the animation quality just isn’t there.The manga that the anime is based on was already incredibly successful, but the anime adaptation let the series down.
There are a lot of frames inThe Seven Deadly Sinsthat don’t make any sense at all. While a moving art form like anime shouldn’t really be judged by the still images within it, it can be hard to ignore them when there are so many errors. The main characters aren’t always animated well, the fights look low-budget, and one of the series' biggest fights was a massive let down to many.
Overlordis one ofthe darkest isekai series ever made. The premise is one of the best reasons to watch the series: instead of tasking the main character, Ainz Ooal Gown, with saving the world,Overlordlets him dominate it.It’s a great idea that makes for an amazing anime series, except for a few awkward moments.
Ainz is on the battlefield against more than 100,000 enemy soldiers when he unleashes a devastating spell, killing almost all of them in a few seconds. Madhouse chose to use computer graphics for this scene, animating all the enemy soldiers poorly. It’s an odd moment that takes away from the scale of Ainz’s actions and brings the quality of the series down with it.
TheDragon Ball Superanimeshould have been animated much better than it was.Dragon Ballis arguably the greatest manga/anime franchise of all time, and its latest iteration into the canon should have been treated with much more respect. There are several moments that makeDragon Ball Superfeel subpar, and they all have to do with the animation.
Dragon Ball ZandDragon Ball DAIMA,the series that came out before and afterDragon Ball Superrespectively, are handled with much more care. Fights are animated incredibly well, each still frame feels like it could be a great image in and of itself, and the transformations are about as good as it gets. Sadly, the same can’t be said forSuper.
Berserkis a classic. It’s one of the most well-respected manga series ever made, and creator Kentaro Miura has become known as one of the greatest mangakas ever because of it.Berserkhasn’t had a true anime adaptation like most mangas that are handled by a single studio. Instead, there’s a 1998 series, a trio of great movies, and a terrible 2016 series.
The 2016 series is bad for a couple of big reasons. First,it doesn’t faithfully animate a lot of important moments from theBerserkmanga.Second, instead of normal hand-drawn animation, the animation studios behind the series opted for computer graphic animation instead. It’s a disappointing change for one of the most legendary series ever made.
The first season ofOne-Punch Mancemented itself as one of the freshest andmost funny anime series around. The story centers around Saitama, the titular One-Punch Man who can defeat any villain with a single punch. Madhouse did a great job bringing the absurd series to life in the first season, but they weren’t available for the second, leaving it to J.C. Staff instead.
While the second season isn’t as bad as a lot of other anime series,it’s a pretty big drop off from the first season in terms of quality.The second season doesn’t have that same unique feel that the first did, and it’s a disappointing change for what could have been a great follow-up to what the first season put forward.
The Beginning After the Endhad what it took to become the next big isekai series. The series stars King Grey reincarnated as a young boy named Arthur, and it handles all the common isekai tropes with excellence.Unfortunately, the anime adaptation looks dead in the water within the first three episodes.
The animation was so bad that the creator of the series,TurtleMe, came out with a public statementto address the significant backlash that the series was receiving. It’s not often that a series receives so much negative press after just a few episodes that the creator has to step in and address it, but that’s just how bad the animation is.
Tower of Godcould have been the next great shōnen series.Not only is themanhwa/Webtoon one of the most popularcurrently in circulation, but the first season was amazing. The first season featured a unique art style unlike anything in anime that was also a faithful recreation of the source material, great pacing, and ended at an incredible moment.
To call the second season a let-down would be a major understatement. The first season was animated by Telecom Animation Film, but the second was by The Answer Studio. The animation quality took a significant dive all around. Not only was the original style changed for something much more bland, but fights seemed like more of a PowerPoint presentation than actual fights.
