The success of an anime series depends drastically on its progressive storyline as it can make or break the reputation of a franchise. Down the road, there are several anime which started pretty good and impressed the audience with their first visuals but as soon as the plot progressed the anime went downhill.

Accomplishing the feat of hooking up the viewers into watching a show and keeping them interested in it for quite some time is very difficult. The start of a series determines its future however, the downside is that with a strong start, there’s an expectation to keep that momentum going. While some stand firm against that challenge others collapse immediately.

And, in today’s article, we’ll take a look at the same set of anime that started strong but went downhill after the first few episodes or a season. So, without any further ado let’s get started.

10. Akame Ga Kill!!

It would not be wrong to say that Akame ga Kill! is one of the most gruesome anime series fans ever witnessed. Written by Takahiro, the series began with an appealing storyline as it portrayed an oppressive & cruel world where nobody was truly safe. Lives were at stake in each episode, including the major character deaths.

This doesn’t seem to be a problem in the early episodes, but as soon as the story progressed deaths became a common phenomenon in the series and it seemed like anyone could die at any time. The main cast was totally wiped out making deaths less effective and since the manga was not finished at the time, the anime had to rush to its conclusion as a result of which the series lost its edge.

9. Death Note

Death Note is the first priority for many anime enthusiasts out there. The fascinating story of a student getting a notebook that grants him the power to exterminate anyone can draw the attention of any viewer. And, in the same way, the series caught the eyes of many and became very popular in the community.

Most of the part of the anime was close to perfect except for some little flaws or better to say missing links. Death Note was super interesting until the point where L and Light both were alive as fans always used to get hyped up for their dramatic rivalry leading to a set of unsolved mysteries. But, right after the death of L, things weren’t like before.

The dynamic duel wasn’t anymore there and the show started to crumble around the actions of Light alone rather than involving the rest of the cast. Besides, the introduction of N and Mellow was also not quite satisfactory as even after being L’s successor they weren’t able to fill the gap in his absence. Death Note failed totally would not be the right statement but it did lose its essence at the end.

8. The God of Highschool

2020 can be remembered for two reasons – first, obviously the COVID-19 wave and second, anime adaptation of some popular webtoons. Luckily, fans got to see a bunch of South Korean origin manhwa’s in just a gap of one year and God Of Highschool was one among them.

The God of Highschool is written & illustrated by Yongje Park which received an anime adaptation in 2020 by one of the highly recognized Japanese production, Studio MAPPA. For the first few episodes, everything was top-notch – animation, fight sequences, voice acting and theme songs; all were right to the point except one thing.

The only thing God Of Highschool did wrong was – not following the exact storyline. In the webtoon, the fight between Jin Mori & Ilpyo Park was won by Ilpyo but in the anime, it was favoured on Jin’s side. From here on the show began to downgrade and as a result, the fast-pacing of the story took the series downhill.

7. Darling In The Franxx

Darling in the Franxx is an original anime by a collaboration between three big studios – Trigger, A-1 pictures and CloverWorks. The series deals with themes like mecha & sci-fi having some sort of good storyline and well-written characters. The anime also features the hottest female anime character, Zero Two who serves as the series protagonist.

Things were looking good for the series in the beginning, however, it didn’t end so well. As good as the first half of the series was, the second half didn’t make the cut and things started to truthfully become unstable. This was largely due to the fact that the makers introduced a very unexpected new enemy into the fray of this war.

The development was still a bit odd as going from fighting the planetary beings that were the Klaxosaurs, to suddenly being faced with the threat of a massive alien race, was a rather ridiculous jump. Frankly speaking, it was a bit exaggerated considering other works of Trigger. Although the story from the climax was a little bit awkward still it worked out.

6. Charlotte

Charlotte is an original story from Jun Maeda, the same mind behind “Angel Beats” and “Clannad”. The series explores the lives of some superpowered high school students however, unlike other time manipulation anime Charlotte is a bit more unpredictable and evocative. It tends to get more interesting with each episode and the flawless animation and expressive characters add more to it.

But, an interesting tale which started strong wasted its potential in the second half. The anime ended up going through too many shakeups that it confused the viewers and rather than producing another season the makers tried to compile everything in just 13 episodes ruining the ending as well.

The sudden rush to finish the story in the second half resulted in characters not getting full development, several loopholes, unexplained plot points, and a romantic angle that didn’t work out. Indeed, Charlotte had a lot of ideas & concepts, but unfortunately, it didn’t have enough time to flesh any of them out.

5. Sword Art Online

The concept of Sword Art Online wasn’t something new for the anime community but it did have a fresh look of a “trapped in a video game” story. The first few episodes of the series were very intriguing for the fans and the curiosity to know how the trapped player’s struggle in the world of SAO drew a lot of viewers to the show.

The very first arc of the series titled “Aincrad Arc” wasn’t right on point, but it did have a concise beginning, proper build-up, and a well-suited end. But, things got out of hand for the franchise after Post-Aincrad as SAO ended up having the worst story arcs ever made in the history of anime television.

These mistakes gave rise to the small flaws that were already present within the Aincrad Arc and fans started realising something is wrong with the series. While Alicization tried to recapture that early feeling of Sword Art Online, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the loss and the series never fully recovered.

4. Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail was a critically hit anime series in the 2010s. The series is written & illustrated by Hiro Mashima who is highly praised for his good drawings. The way Mashima-sensei draws the characters, fights, and background is pretty stellar and it can be seen very well in Fairy Tail anime. Furthermore, the magical world of the series and the incredible soundtrack makes the experience better for the viewer.

The anime television series of Fairy Tail has a lot of plus points, but the series lacked a bit in its final arc. The arc which was supposed to be to be an engaging banger turned out to be a disappointment. The fake-out deaths, especially Makarov’s, felt jarring and completely ignored the idea of death in a fictional work. This was very unattractive to the viewers and as a result, an unpleasing finale took the steam out of the series.

3. Tokyo Ghoul

A 12-episode anime series can’t do that much, this is true to some extent considering the development of the story in a series but the first season of Tokyo Ghoul was way too extraordinary in the same number of episodes. The anime became very popular among the fans and was praised heavily for its first season.

But, the anime went downhill after the release of its second season. Instead of having Kaneki continue to fight against Aogiri Tree, the anime has him join them which was a drastic change as compared to the manga. In addition, several little plot changes were also made in the anime which completely changed the tone of the series making it hard for fans to understand exactly what’s going on.

And, adding more to this the follow-up seasons of Tokyo Ghoul seemed pointless as there was not a single clue about the story and the events that were taking place. The show became a total blunder after Season 1. For the anime only, it was confusing to understand the plot and for the manga readers, it was shocking to know that all the important details are nowhere to be found in the anime.

2. The Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Sins is a good entertaining fantasy shōnen anime series that features a setting similar to the European Middle Ages, with its titular group of knights representing the seven deadly sins. The plot & character development is pretty smooth in the series with a bonus of hilarious acts.

The first two seasons were well-executed by the production but things went wrong for the series in its third season. For Season 3, Seven Deadly Sins ended up changing studios which resulted in a massive downgrade in animation quality. Although the story section was done pretty well, it wasn’t good enough to make up for the sloppy visuals. And, the fans were really upset about such a downgrade in this series.

1. The Promised Neverland

The Promised Neverland was one of the best anti-shonen anime series with lots of intense moments and unexpected plot twists. It was destined to be the most lovable series only if the production studio had followed the same path as the author of the manga series did. But, as soon as the second season of the anime dropped everything changed.

In January 2021, the series aired its second season and expected it to be as successful as the first season however, it didn’t happen. Just after the premiere of the first few episodes the rest of the season turned out to be total hell. In just a single episode, the second season ruined the entire manga storyline as everything was rushed and all the necessary character developments were missing out.

Rather than sticking to the manga, the anime ignored over 100 chapters from the manga, skipping all the major arcs of The Promised Neverland. Key characters like Sonju were vanishing repeatedly and the return of Norman was also too rushed in Season 2. And, by giving a messed up ending CloverWorks turned the best anti-shonen anime into the worst anime of all time.

The failure of which of the following anime series was the most depressing for you? Feel free to comment down your thoughts and make sure to recommend us some other series like the ones listed above, also don’t forget to share this article with your fellow otaku friends.

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