10 Worst Anime Adaptations That Completely Ruined Their Source Material

One of the worst things that can happen to any anime fan is seeing a bad adaptation of their favorite story; not only is it always bad to see a story ruined with bad pacing or animation, but there are many times where an adaptation will be so bad that it permanently tarnishes a story’s reputation, and that’s arguably even worse.

While the criticisms for many anime adaptations are often overblown, that’s not always the case, as there are plenty of anime adaptations that are, unfortunately, just as bad as people say, if not worse. A few of them especially stand out for how terrible they were, and even now, it’s hard to understand what the people in charge were thinking.

10) A Certain Magical Index

J.C.Staff’s A Certain Magical Index stars Toma Kamijo, an esper in the city-state of Academy City with the power to negate anything with his right hand. Nevertheless, Toma tries to live an ordinary life, but after meeting a nun named Index who holds thousands of magic books within her mind, it’s one massive adventure after another for Toma.

While A Certain Magical Index isn’t outright terrible, with its fast pacing and how often it cuts out exposition and internal dialogue, the anime often feels like a generic, fanservice-laden light novel anime, even though the story has far more depth than that. Season 3 was especially bad about that, and it’s hard to imagine the anime ever recovering.

9) Steins;Gate 0

White Fox’s Steins;Gate 0 is the follow-up to the original Steins;Gate anime. At the end of the original anime, Okabe regained his resolve to save Kurisu from an alternate version of himself who had once given up, and Steins;Gate 0 covers the trials that Okabe and his friends went through to reach that point.

Steins;Gate 0 is a less linear game than its predecessor, so when it came time for the anime, there was an attempt to rework the branching paths into a linear narrative. Unfortunately, that resulted in a slow and tedious story with lots of cut content, and with the art quality also suffering, Steins;Gate 0 was an unambiguous letdown.

8) Rosario + Vampire

In Gonzo’s Rosario + Vampire, Tsukune Aono, despite being human, accidentally enrolls in Yokai Academy, and if he wants to stay with his crush Moka Ayakashi, a kind vampire girl with a violent alternate personality, he’ll need to keep his identity a secret while dealing with dangerous monsters and the advances of all the girls who fall in love with him.

Not only does the Rosario + Vampire anime greatly exaggerate its fanservice, but while the manga became more serious in its second half, the anime doubled down on fanservice and comedy without even finishing the story. All of that made Rosario + Vampire feel more shallow than it actually is, and with how great the manga gets, that’s nothing but a shame.

7) Uzumaki

Production I.G USA’s Uzumaki follows Kirie Goshima, her boyfriend, Shuichi Saito, and their lives in the small town of Kurouzu. Once a quiet town, Kurouzu and its inhabitants find themselves continually plagued by supernatural occurrences revolving around spiral patterns, and their repeated failures to break away from them slowly lead to a gruesome and unavoidable fate for everyone involved.

Despite the massive hype for Uzumaki, it quickly faded after the premiere due to the terrible artwork and pacing that ruined the story’s tension at every turn. Junji Ito anime are almost always hard to watch, but as it stands, Uzumaki is probably the worst of his adaptations and one of the worst horror anime in recent memory, by far.

6) Lunar Legend Tsukihime

J.C.Staff’s Lunar Legend Tsukihime stars Shiki Tohno, a young boy who, one day, impulsively uses his supernatural powers to kill someone. Shiki’s victim turns out to be the powerful vampire Arcueid Brunestud, and after she revives herself, she makes Shiki pay her back by helping her hunt down the evil vampire running amok in Shiki’s town.

Lunar Legend Tsukihime fails largely because of its lackluster visuals and direction, all of which make it impossible to get invested in or even understand the story. There’s a meme among Type-Moon fans to pretend that the Tsukihime anime simply doesn’t exist, and overall, it’s easy to see why people would do that.

5) The Promised Neverland

CloverWorks’ The Promised Neverland revolves around the Grace Field House, an orphanage where the children have been trained to be hyper-intelligent since infancy. One day, one of the children, Emma, discovers that they’re being raised as food for demons, and now Emma and her friends must find a way to break out before they’re all eaten alive.

Despite having a phenomenal first season, The Promised Neverland season 2 failed because of its poor pacing, for cutting out the Goldy Pond arc, and for changing the story to be more contrived and less competent than the manga. The Promised Neverland season 2 is near-unanimously hated by fans and critics alike, and that’s not poised to change anytime soon.

4) Tokyo Ghoul

In Studio Pierrot’s Tokyo Ghoul, after Ken Kaneki almost dies in a confrontation with a man-eating monster called a ghoul, an organ transplant to save Kaneki’s life turns him into a half-ghoul with all the same cravings for human flesh, forcing him into a violent new world he wants no part in, but will ultimately have to protect.

While the first season of Tokyo Ghoul was great, not only was it followed up by a nonsensical original story, but even when it got back on track with Tokyo Ghoul:re, the rushed pacing and inconsistent visuals ruined everything. Tokyo Ghoul had the potential to be a generational anime, but thanks to its terrible adaptation, that will never happen.

3) The Seven Deadly Sins

In A-1 Pictures and Studio Deen’s The Seven Deadly Sins, the Liones Kingdom has been overthrown by its villainous Holy Knights, and to save her kingdom, princess Elizabeth must find the Seven Deadly Sins, the kingdom’s greatest knights who were framed for treason, and get them to help defend Liones once more.

Despite a mostly good first season, every subsequent season of The Seven Deadly Sins was plagued with increasingly terrible artwork and animation, with many climactic scenes being rendered with ugly still frames. It’s one of the worst-looking anime in modern times, and when combined with the story’s various problems, there’s little reason to engage with it.

2) One-Punch Man

J.C.Staff’s One-Punch Man stars Saitama, a former salaryman who decided to take up being a superhero as a hobby. Three years later, Saitama finally makes his debut, but not only did Saitama’s training make him go bald, but he’s become so strong that he can defeat anyone in one punch, thus making his superhero career incredibly boring.

After a critically acclaimed first season at Madhouse, One-Punch Man was given to a new staff at J.C.Staff, and the quality has dropped with every episode, with One-Punch Man season 3 always struggling to be average at best. There are plenty of worse-looking anime, but unfortunately, none of them fell off in the same way as One-Punch Man.

1) Berserk (2016)

GEMBA, Millepensee, and Liden Films’ Berserk is the second TV adaptation of the legendary dark fantasy manga by Kentaro Miura. First released in 2016, the anime was the first adaptation to move past the Golden Age arc of the manga, the anime instead focusing on Guts’ adventures in the present hunting down Griffith in his quest for vengeance.

Not only does the 2016 Berserk anime have some of the worst CGI in all of anime, but with its short runtime and terrible pacing, it’s an all-around horrible attempt at bringing Berserk to life. The 2016 Berserk anime has often been called the worst anime of all time, and there’s no better contender for the worst anime adaptation around.

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