The Worst Anime of 2018

DARLING in the FRANXX

I wrote nearly 30,000 words explaining the many shortcomings of DARLING in the FRANXX, which is is both nowhere near enough time needed to really dig into why exactly this show fails so spectacularly, and also far too much energy wasted on an anime that ended up amounting to so little in the end. A1 Studios and TRIGGER clearly put a lot of their own time and effort into making this show look as slick and entertaining as possible, and there were even individual episodes that were pretty fun when you divorced them from the larger context of the series, which only goes to show how much creative potential was wasted on this deeply shallow and frustratingly stupid anime. Beyond the show's noxious and confusing politics, or the way its desire to reference older series like Evangelion toed the line between homage and downright laziness, DARLING in the FRANXX simply couldn't tell a decent story. Individual episodes or scenes worked perfectly fine, and some of them were even borderline great, but then the show would trip over its own shoelaces and invalidate its success by making its characters and plot progressively dumber and shallower. Much has been made of the absolutely moronic twist that leads the two-cour series into its final act, but I cannot overstate just how frustrating it was to watch DARLING in the FRANXX literally toss two seasons worth of story development and world-building so it could indulge in a finale that favored empty, meaningless spectacle over more traditional narrative cornerstones, such as coherence, logic, or a basic understanding of how plot works. If there's one show that I think could honestly be erased from existence without causing much of a fuss, it would be DARLING in the FRANXX, and that makes it an easy pick for my least favorite anime of 2018.

Cutie Honey Universe

It was a big year for Gō Nagai! The milestone fiftieth anniversary of his manga career saw several of his formative series getting beautiful new releases in english, and an adaptation of one of those series being adapted into one of the best shows of the year in DEVILMAN crybaby. Unfortunately it also saw his other major work being adapted into Cutie Honey Universe. More than just a massive let-down from the story's pedigree, Universe was a lousy, poorly put-together show by any standard. The original Cutie Honey is hardly a masterwork of consistent tone and pacing, but this mess couldn't even be bothered to lean into or smooth out any of those elements. The result was an ugly, stuttering downer of a series that then broke up its needlessly grim tone with what must be reiterated were some of the worst comic relief segments in anime history. Virtually any other version of Cutie Honey you can find would be better than this one, so do yourself a favor and check one of those out instead. At least you'll get the right theme song.

Death March to The Parallel World Rhapsody

In its own twisted way, Death March to The Parallel World Rhapsody was almost impressive. It took all the negative stereotypes associated with the isekai genre and combined them into a single bundle of badness. It features an overpowered, unlikable blank slate of a main character, a harem of fawning ladies recruited under less-than-noble circumstances, a lazily-developed fantasy setting, and a story devoid of any drama or urgency. I started watching it out of morbid curiosity after hearing about it from other people, but even the spectacle of an ever-escalating trainwreck wasn't enough to hold my attention for the full season. A day may come when this genre isn't plagued by rock-bottom adaptations, but we're clearly not there yet.

Magical Girl Site

Disclaimer: I have a soft spot for grimdark garbage fires. I go into every one knowing that I'll be regaled by nonsensical character motivations and over-the-top violent situations. Sometimes these make for entertaining romps through ridiculous scenarios starring a rogue's gallery of the absolute worst characters anime has to offer. I watched all of Magical Girl Project for the same reason I willingly dived into Magical Girl Site and Happy Sugar Life this year. Magical Girl Site edges ahead of Happy Sugar Life because of just how far-fetched its key parts are, and that's saying a lot. Happy Sugar Life is a smorgasbord or horrible people bouncing off one another and while it has its fair share of murder and assault front and center it still doesn't reach the levels of Magical Girl Site, its magic panties, the gay-panic dungeon, or a key character torturing her family's killer in her apartment. Protagonist Aya Asagiri has the face of a perpetually kicked puppy for the entire show and it's actually painful to watch her on screen.

Hakyū Hōshin Engi

I only made it halfway through Hakyū Hōshin Engi before I gave up on it. The memorable designs, particularly the spirit beast, and the fact that it was supposed to be a full adaptation of a long-running manga made me want to check it out. However, the pacing is incredibly rushed, making the story difficult to follow, and strange moments with the villainess are often so over-the-top as to be laughable. To make matters worse, the art is often noticeably bad and those eye-catching designs don't translate well to movement. I wanted to like this show, but I still couldn't tell you much about what even happens in it.

Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line

How the mighty have fallen! Some shonen anime can chug along forever without losing their initial appeal, but this cycling anime reached its peak a long time ago. As the focus shifts from one new character to the next with few opportunities for closure, this endless tale is better off as a manga that you can read at your own pace.

Holmes of Kyoto

I want to clarify that this is the worst show I watched to completion, and if I hadn't been in charge of the episode reviews, I probably would have dropped it. Holmes of Kyoto had a great premise – a “smartest guy in the room” detective solving antiquities-based mysteries in Kyoto – that it couldn't quite follow through on. Kiyotaka and Aoi had a relationship that was mostly fun to watch (although he was a bit of a jerk), but the mysteries were sadly lacking and the counterfeiter subplot was neglected for most of the series' run. I'd probably still read the novels, because I suspect the story works better that way, but as far as an anime series goes, this alternately bored and frustrated me, which is not what I'm looking for in my entertainment.

Pop Team Epic

I'm sure this series is going to make a fair number of Top 5 lists for the year, but I had the opposite reaction. In fact, of all of the bad series that I at least sampled in 2018, this is the one series that I can genuinely say I actually hated. I found its brand of humor more commonly repellent than funny and its core gimmick of using the second half to repeating the first half didn't work for me at all. But I'll also freely acknowledge that this is more personal dislike than actual problems with the content or presentation.

My Sister, My Writer

Oh, this one was a pretty easy choice, even though there was somehow more Neo Yokio this year. My Sister, My Writer is something I initially carefully stepped around, like a fresh pile of dog crap on the sidewalk, simply because the consensus of peer reviews and social media reporting indicated it was both poorly-made and one of those “imouto” shows. Now, in most seasons, about halfway through, a series will abruptly collapse mid-production, either skipping a week unannounced to try desperately to get back on schedule, or shipping an undercooked, unfinished episode to the networks and streaming portals, which is then mercilessly skewered by dorks all over the globe. My Sister, My Writer did both of these things, as well as canceling a sneak preview of episode one because it wasn't ready yet. Aside from being plagued by the usual terrible “my adorable little sister is a genius and also wants to be my girlfriend and my five other girlfriends are jealous of her” business, the series is constantly, jarringly ugly and strange; it wins the “pseudonymously-named animator begs for mercy in the credits” prize for crediting “Shojiki Komata” (“Honestly, I'm screwed”), following in the footsteps of Neo Yokio's star animator, “Okadochigai” (“I'm HELLA frustrated”). I really only watched episodes two and six, because very quickly the schadenfreude-watching gave way to feelings of sympathy for the staff. I hope they've all moved on to something more manageable and validating.