12 Least Popular Anime That Fans Love to Hate

12 Least Popular Anime That Fans Love to Hate

Anime fans are known for their passionate opinions, especially when it comes to shows they consider terrible. Some series become infamous not for their quality, but for how spectacularly they fail. These shows often gain a special place in anime culture as examples of what not to do, becoming legendary for all the wrong reasons. From bizarre storylines to awful animation, these 20 anime have earned their spots as series that fans love to hate-watch and criticize.

1. Mars of Destruction

Considered by many as the absolute worst anime ever created, this 19-minute OVA manages to cram in more plot holes and animation errors than some series do in entire seasons. The story makes little sense, following alien hunters who protect Earth from invaders called Ancients.

Characters die without emotional impact, and the big twist at the end feels both nonsensical and unearned. The animation quality looks like it was created on a shoestring budget by beginners who had never watched anime before.

Fans regularly host viewing parties specifically to laugh at its awfulness, cementing its status as the gold standard of terrible anime.

2. Garzey’s Wing

The English dub of this fantasy anime has achieved legendary status for its hilariously bad translation and voice acting. Lines like “I must somehow make sense of our convoluted situation” have become iconic in the anime community for all the wrong reasons.

The story follows a young man who gets transported to a fantasy world while his consciousness remains split between both realms. Characters speak in philosophical gibberish that sounds profound but means absolutely nothing.

The animation quality isn’t terrible, but the disjointed storytelling and nonsensical dialogue make this a prime candidate for group viewing and mockery.

3. Pupa

Horror anime often pushes boundaries, but Pupa crossed into territory that left viewers disgusted rather than scared. The premise involves a sister who transforms into a monster and must eat her brother’s flesh to survive, while he regenerates continuously.

Episodes run only a few minutes long, yet somehow manage to pack in disturbing imagery without any meaningful story development. The animation alternates between decent and shockingly poor.

Fans who expected a thoughtful exploration of body horror instead received a disjointed mess that relied on shock value and cannibalism without the narrative depth to justify its grotesque elements.

4. Hand Shakers

Visually assaulting the eyes with its mix of 2D and 3D animation, Hand Shakers caused actual motion sickness in some viewers. The camera never stops moving, spinning wildly around characters during even simple conversations.

The story follows “Hand Shakers” who can summon weapons by holding hands, fighting to meet “God” and have a wish granted. Character designs range from generic to bizarre, with one character inexplicably chained to a hospital bed.

Despite a decent budget, the experimental animation style backfired spectacularly, creating an unwatchable mess that fans remember for its nauseating visual presentation rather than its story.

5. Big Order

From the creator of Future Diary came this confusing disaster about people with superpowers called “Orders.” The protagonist can control anything within his territory, yet the rules of these powers constantly change to serve the plot.

Notorious for a scene where a character gets pregnant through hand-holding, Big Order never met a ridiculous plot twist it didn’t like. The story jumps erratically between world domination schemes, family drama, and awkward romantic situations.

Animation quality varies wildly from scene to scene, with some episodes looking significantly worse than others, suggesting production problems behind the scenes.

6. School Days

Unlike most entries on this list, School Days is competently produced but hated for its deliberately unlikable characters and shocking content. What begins as a typical high school romance rapidly descends into a disturbing exploration of infidelity, psychological abuse, and violence.

The protagonist transforms from shy boy to manipulative womanizer, treating every female character terribly. The infamous ending involving extreme violence caused such controversy that several TV stations delayed the final episode.

Fans love to hate this anime precisely because it effectively evokes strong negative emotions, making viewers feel genuine anger toward fictional characters.

7. Vampire Holmes

With episodes barely lasting two minutes, Vampire Holmes still manages to disappoint on every level. The animation consists largely of static images with minimal movement, resembling a poorly made PowerPoint presentation rather than an anime.

The titular character, despite being a vampire detective, solves no mysteries and displays no vampire abilities throughout the series. Characters stand around delivering monotone dialogue against backgrounds that barely qualify as finished artwork.

Production values are so low that fans speculate it was created as a tax write-off rather than a serious entertainment product.

8. Magical Girl Site

Taking the magical girl genre into extremely dark territory, this anime substitutes character development for increasingly disturbing scenes of abuse. The protagonist suffers relentless bullying at school and abuse at home before receiving magical powers from a creepy website.

Rather than creating meaningful commentary on serious issues, the show wallows in its characters’ suffering for shock value. The animation quality is acceptable but serves to make the graphic content more disturbing.

Fans criticize it not for addressing dark themes, but for its exploitative approach that seems designed to upset viewers rather than tell a compelling story.

9. Berserk

The 2016 reboot of the beloved dark fantasy manga betrayed fans with some of the worst 3D animation ever seen in a major anime production. Characters move like wooden puppets, with clunky animation that fails to capture the fluid combat the series is known for.

Sound design compounds the problems, with bizarre choices like using a frying pan sound effect for sword clashes. The directing obscures the action with strange camera angles and cuts, making fight scenes nearly incomprehensible.

What makes this adaptation particularly painful is that it butchered one of the most respected manga series of all time, leaving fans to wonder how such an impressive property received such disrespectful treatment.

10. Dragon Ball GT

Created without original manga author Akira Toriyama’s direct involvement, Dragon Ball GT is considered the black sheep of the franchise by many fans. The decision to turn protagonist Goku back into a child undermined his character development, while new villains lacked the charisma of previous antagonists.

Power scaling became inconsistent, with previously established rules about strength levels seemingly forgotten. The animation, while not terrible, felt like a step backward from Dragon Ball Z’s most impressive moments.

Though it has defenders, GT remains controversial enough that when the franchise continued with Dragon Ball Super, it essentially erased GT from the canon timeline.

11. Divine Gate

Drowning in pretentious dialogue and nonsensical philosophy, Divine Gate attempts to be profound but achieves only confusion. Characters constantly spout pseudo-deep monologues filled with mixed metaphors about doors, water, and existence.

Based on a mobile game, the anime fails to establish coherent rules for its world or powers. The protagonist’s tragic backstory involves pushing his parents off a building, which the series treats with bizarre tonal inconsistency.

Animation quality ranges from acceptable to poor, with fight scenes lacking impact despite the supposedly world-changing powers being displayed.

12. Hundred

Generic doesn’t begin to describe this by-the-numbers harem anime set at a military academy where students fight aliens using weapons called “Hundreds.” Every character is a walking trope with no development beyond their initial introduction.

The protagonist possesses special compatibility with his weapon, making him incredibly powerful for no adequately explained reason. Female characters exist primarily to fall in love with him despite his lack of personality.

Animation is competent but uninspired, with fight scenes that feel like they were assembled from better shows’ leftover storyboards.