00:00Multiple realities are progressing at the same time.
00:04It's a doozy.
00:06Never thought I'd actually see you again.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:12for the worst of the worst anime that are genuinely difficult to sit through.
00:26Number 10, Listeners.
00:30Ah, you're awake. How do you feel?
00:36In a post-apocalyptic world where music is nowhere to be found,
00:40the young Echo Rack discovers the joy of a good beat
00:43when he finds an audio port in a girl.
00:47Yeah, that's right.
00:48He sticks an aux cord in the amnesiac Moo,
00:51and no, that is not a dirty metaphor.
00:55It's the literal plot of the show.
00:57Oh, and there's also mechs.
00:58Don't ask us why.
01:00That implies there's a reason for anything that happens in Listeners.
01:08The characters love to spout off names of classical musical artists,
01:12but otherwise it's a boring nothing-burger of an anime
01:15that squanders its potential beneath cringey jokes and nonsensical plotting.
01:24Number 9, Handshakers.
01:29As more and more battle anime come out of the woodwork,
01:32it's becoming harder for anyone to stand out from the crowd.
01:35But forcing your leads to always hold hands?
01:38Is that really the best selling point Handshakers could come up with?
01:42If this were a comedy, or even a light-hearted isekai,
01:45it'd be funny, but it's not. It's awkward.
01:48Then again, the story doesn't matter when the visuals alone
01:52are enough to turn most people away.
01:54Studio GoHands has a track record of turning in
01:57some of the ugliest anime around,
01:59and Handshakers' CG attacks are no exception.
02:02Trust us and stay far, far away from this one.
02:17Whether you play basketball, volleyball, football, or something else,
02:21there's a great sports anime out there made just for you.
02:24Rugby players, on the other hand?
02:26Well, they got Try Nights.
02:28It's a lifeless, stereotypical underdog story
02:31stuffed full of lifeless, stereotypical characters.
02:35And even worse, it's all topped off with some of the most abysmal animation
02:39to ever make it to public broadcast.
02:41There's no speed or impact to anything that happens on screen,
02:45which makes Try Nights utterly impossible to take seriously.
02:49Given the lacklustre plot, we wouldn't blame the animators
02:52if they just cut their losses.
02:54So seriously, don't bother trying Try Nights.
03:10Number 7, FLCL Grunge, Progressive and Alternative
03:15The original FLCL is an untouchable classic
03:18that much we can agree on.
03:20But instead of leaving good enough alone,
03:23Adult Swim just had to go and milk the brand for all it's worth.
03:26Out came three different sequel series,
03:28Progressive, Alternative, and Grunge.
03:31Some of the best of the best,
03:33some of the worst of the worst,
03:35some of the worst of the worst,
03:37some of the worst of the worst,
03:39some of the worst of the worst,
03:41some of the worst of the worst,
03:43and Grunge.
03:44Somehow, each is worse than the last.
03:47Without even touching on the poor animation quality,
03:50the overblown storylines feel like they miss the intimate heart
03:53that put FLCL on the map in the first place.
04:04It's not just that they're disappointing,
04:06these cash-grab sequels actively detract from the original's legacy.
04:10So if our choices are Sink or Adult Swim,
04:13we choose Sink every single time.
04:32Let's make one thing clear,
04:34Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is not a bad manga.
04:37It's actually a pretty damn good one,
04:39especially once it starts peeling back the dark layers
04:42of its messed-up characters.
04:44It's unfortunate, then,
04:46that all the best parts of the series are stuck on the page.
04:49Somewhere in translation,
04:51the anime lost sight of its source material,
04:53instead doubling down on bad fan service and cliche jokes.
04:57Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer's poor adaptation
05:00hurts all the more because the manga readers know that,
05:03if it were in other hands,
05:05this show could have been great.
05:07Or, sadly, could have is as close to greatness as it will ever get.
05:28Adult Swim strikes again.
05:30Instead of spitting on a beloved IP,
05:32they went for an original idea this time.
05:35Things didn't turn out much better, anyways.
05:37Ninja Kamui's whole story
05:39is the same old tired revenge tale
05:41you've seen a thousand times before
05:43in a thousand better anime.
05:46Then, rather than doing anything new
05:48with its very familiar setup,
05:50the show throws a bunch of agonizingly boring fights
05:53at the screen and turns in for the day.
05:55It's an insipid, try-hard piece of fiction
05:58that feels like it only exists
06:00to cash in on the success of other, better action shows.
06:06Based on the negative reception,
06:08we'd say it epically failed.
06:16Number 4, Tesla Notes.
06:26Saving the world with the long-lost artifacts
06:28of Nikola Tesla
06:30is some pretty serious work.
06:32So, it's a real head-scratcher
06:34why Tesla Notes
06:36can't seem to go more than 60 seconds
06:38without cramming another lowbrow joke
06:40down your throat.
06:48Every engaging plot development
06:50is almost immediately shoved to the side
06:52in favour of more attempts at comedy.
06:54Although, given the truly awful 3D animation,
06:57there's a good chance Tesla Notes
06:59would have flopped even if it had been
07:01a straight drama.
07:03You'd think combining spy thrills,
07:05flashy action and quirky characters
07:07would be a foolproof operation.
07:09But somehow, Tesla Note came out
07:11much less than the sum of its parts.
07:13The only entertaining part of Uzumaki
07:15is figuring out what the hell happened
07:17behind the scenes.
07:19Announced in 2019,
07:21this is the first time
07:23we've seen a scene
07:25where the protagonist
07:27of the show
07:29is actually dead.
07:31It's the first time
07:33we've seen a scene
07:35where the protagonist
07:37of the show
07:39is actually dead.
07:41Announced in 2019,
07:43the four-episode miniseries
07:45faced delay after delay
07:47before finally hitting screens
07:49five years later in 2024.
07:51And after all that waiting,
07:53fans of the manga tuned in
07:55to see a PNG slideshow
07:57that barely qualifies as animation.
07:59While the first episode looked
08:01fine enough, the following three
08:03fell off a cliff.
08:05To say fans were disappointed
08:07would be the understatement of the century.
08:09It makes you wonder what in the world
08:11they were doing for five years.
08:13Because clearly, it wasn't working
08:15on Uzumaki.
08:29Some shows are unwatchable
08:31because they're boring. Others,
08:33because they squander their potential.
08:35Some are just flat-out tasteless.
08:37But when we say X-Arm
08:39is unwatchable, we aren't even
08:41talking about its convoluted plot,
08:43misguided changes,
08:45or blatant fanservice.
08:47No, it's unwatchable on a pure visual level.
08:57The dizzying camera and atrocious
08:593D animation is more likely
09:01to make you sick than keep you entertained.
09:03There is no way to sugarcoat it,
09:05X-Arm is an indefensibly
09:07ugly show.
09:09It's such a monumental misfire
09:11that at this point, it's pretty much
09:13the face of bad CGI,
09:15if not anime as a whole.
09:17Fans of the manga, all we can say is
09:19we're sorry.
09:35You have the option to be notified for occasional
09:37videos, or all of them.
09:39If you're on your phone, make sure to go into
09:41your settings and switch on notifications.
09:52As it turns out,
09:53slapping the name of a popular show
09:55on a cheap spin-off anime
09:57does not automatically make it good,
09:59funny, or worthwhile. But really,
10:01we shouldn't be surprised considering
10:03this Rick and Morty offshoot
10:05was partly produced by, you guessed it,
10:07Adult Swim.
10:09Most of the show's issues can be summed up
10:11by the fact that none of the original cast
10:13reprised their roles for the English
10:15dub. That's right, they couldn't even get
10:17the current Rick and Morty back
10:19for Rick and Morty the Anime.
10:21That's how little care went into the production
10:23and you can see it reflected in every
10:25painfully unfunny corner of
10:27this disaster.
10:34What's an anime everyone else seems to love
10:36but you can't stand?
10:38Let us know in those comments below.
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