This is our list of the 13 Worst Anime Adaptations of Good Manga. It has now become almost like a culture to adapt manga into anime series. But it’s not always easy to hit the mark. The character designs, the direction, the writing all should be on point. Even if one thing misses the spot, the anime is bound to go downhill. There have been many anime shows that have failed to create a good adaptation. Hence, here is a list of the 13 Worst Anime Adaptations of Good Manga.
Today, we will go down the spiral and look at all those anime that could not stand up to the original works. We will also look at the factors that make these adaptations bad.
1. Sword Art Online
To kick-start this list, what is a better anime than the very controversial Sword Art Online. SAO comes around as one of the most polarizing anime adaptations of all time. Some fans love it, while some love to hate it. So, the only drawback of the anime adaptation is that it lacks the original epicness of manga. From the characters to the battle sequences, everything has been downgraded to an average.
2. Fruits Basket
The original Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya is a beautiful story within itself. What makes the Fruits Basket anime a bad adaptation are the major plot changes. Many characters lost their original motivations, and many plotlines were ignored altogether. Moreover, important characters never make it to the screens. Hence, Fruits Basket anime joins the list of the worst anime adaptations.
3. Pupa
One of the most annoying things that you can witness in any anime would be the blurring of dark visuals. This amount of censorship takes away the essence of any manga creator’s work. The Pupa anime does just that. Not only does the anime completely fails to communicate the plot properly, but it also opts out from being a horror manga. Unfortunately, Pupa does not stand in the category of a sincere anime adaptation.
4. Naruto
A big reason for the failure of Naruto was the filler arcs. In the final days of the anime, the vision of the makers seems messy and all over the place. The anime could never keep up with the story of the manga. And people were eventually bored with watching neverending filler arcs. Thus, even though it’s an iconic anime series in itself, Naruto fails to become a good anime adaptation.
5. Erased
Another anime that could not keep up with the essence of the source material was Erased. The original story has a pretty enthralling plot that deals with time travel. But, the anime adaptation of Erased feels like a completely different show. Even the character development saw major diversions from the source material. Thus, we place this one on the fifth spot on our list of the worst anime adaptations.
6. Deadman Wonderland
2011’s Deadman Wonderland anime series is facing criticism ever since its first release. One of the major factors that lead to an anime adaptation becoming bad is the diversion from its original themes. The same was the case with Deadman Wonderland. Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou’s original manga was a horror series. But what we saw on screen was an action thriller which completely misses the mark. Thus, we place this on the sixth spot on the worst anime adaptations list.
7. Flower of Evil
Once you see the animation style of Flower of Evil, you will get why this anime is on this list. Unlike the shows we have seen so far, Flower of Evil uses a weird technique to animate. All the characters and objects are drawn over real-life backgrounds. The visuals are downright unwatchable. Hence, we place Flower of Evil on the seventh spot of this list of worst anime adaptations.
8. Rosario + Vampire
The popular anime series Rosario + Vampire is yet another adaptation that faces criticism for changing storylines in the name of ‘originals.’ The makers focused more on fan service than sticking to the source material. In fact, both the seasons were equally bad to watch. Moreover, the characters only share the same name with the manga. Besides this, there is nothing similar between the characters of the two.
9. Tokyo Ghoul
The Tokyo Ghoul manga is a psychological thriller at its core. But the anime was routed in a different direction altogether. Sui Ishida’s original works’ main focus was towards mind games. However, the anime adaptation became an action thriller. Moreover, the storylines saw major changes in the character arcs. For example, the protagonist became a member of the villain group, which was not the initial idea of the manga.
10. Berserk
Kenta Miura’s original Berserk still remains one of the most epic manga anthologies of all time. The dark imagery of the artist is certainly hard to depict, but the animators made a mess that no one enjoyed. The initial season was much more enjoyable as it was a sincere adaptation of the origin stories. Still, as the show enters its second season, it became clear that animating Kenta Miura’s work is not easy. While the writing and direction were decent enough, it was the animation that makes Berserk a bad anime adaptation.
11. Dragon Ball Z Kai
The popular Dragon Ball Z Kai remains one of the most disappointing adaptations of Akira Toriyama’s work. What makes this anime worse is the fact that Toei Animation cut out almost every plot point that was necessary to build towards important arcs. What remains is a half-baked product that is soulless in all senses. Thus, Dragon Ball Z Kai gets a spot on this list of the worst anime adaptations.
12. Black Butler
Yana Toboso’s original manga did wonders when it came out back in 2006. But, we cannot say the same for the anime. The first season is one of the better installments of the anime. After that, the entire story was changed as per convenience. New original characters are also there that nobody asked for. The original Black Butler itself has a wide range of arcs that can get an adaptation. But the second and third seasons are downright annoying.
13. Soul Eater
Mangaka Atsushi Okubo has created a gem in the form of a Soul Eater. But unfortunately, Studio Bones could not do justice to the original. To put it simply, the story was all over the place! From messy direction to missing plot points, the Soul Eater anime had it all. But what was the most disappointing factor was that the makers gave the manga an original ending which snatched away the entire essence of Soul Eater. Thus, we can consider this as one of the worst anime adaptations.
Thus, we can conclude our list of the Worst Anime Adaptations of Good Manga. Do you agree with our rankings? Let’s discuss this in the comment section down below. For more such listicles, keep coming back to The Anime Daily.