As the tradition goes, with every good Anime there is always a bad one, this year has had some decent stinkers like last year around this time, let’s first go over what I qualify as a stinker anime. A Stinker Anime is one I find so boring, I end up dropping it before the halfway point, I give it a fair chance till around Episode 5-6 depending if i can last through it, if i cannot well it is considered a stinker anime.
So with the basics of what I refer to as a “Stinker” anime, let’s get to the basics and start with the first stinker of this year.
Circlet Princess
Episodes watched of this series: 7, I gave it a fair chance and let me tell you folks this is bad on another level, the premise is so boring let me break it down for everyone. In the near future there is this sport called Circlet Bout which contestants fight each other in these arenas that are virtual, however the main character Yuka Saskia winds up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gets involved in a bout she shouldn’t, winds up in a school for this sport leading to the premise of this series.
It’s so cliched it’s not even funny, Circlet Princess is only a 12 episode series but after the halfway point of this one I just gave up hope, the characters are dull, the plot is boring and it’s only for the fans of science fiction/power fantasies fans. This stinker produced by DMM Games is a hard pass, avoid this one and do yourself a favor, go watch Kakegurui Season 2 if you want power fantasies.
The Rising of the Shield Hero
Episodes watched of this series: Not even 1, gave up halfway through Episode 1, it’s bad. People are going to hate me for this one, but Rising of the Shield Hero is one of the worst fantasy animes I have witnessed in my many years of watching these. Wanna hear the premise, 4 high school kids are pulled into another world and asked to save it from destruction. That’s it, this is one of the most boring plots to do these days since it has been done to death, hello Magic Knight Rayearth did it far better and had a better premise in it’s first episode and it was done 25 years ago.
Rising of the Shield Hero is decently done visually but that’s all it has going for it, the story is just pew worthy and I can’t recommend staying away from this far enough, if you want a decent fantasy animation, go either watch Danmachi or Magic Knight Rayearth, this is a major pass in my mind and a huge avoid at all costs. Rising of the Shield Hero is broadcast by Crunchyroll and is currently still airing at this point, with the dub of the anime being shown by Funimation.
Grimms Notes: the Animation
Episodes watched of this series: 4, I was disappointed it doesn’t get more entertaining after the 4th episode. Grimms Notes the Anime focuses on a game that was actually released as a IOS and Android device game, as it was a Side Scrolling RPG which is based off specific fairy tales we all know and love. The anime goes as thus, a group of no fated people are brought together to protect the various stories that are created by the Storyteller, whom wrote these tales.
In this everyone has a Book of Fate, except the four main characters whose books are blank meaning they can use the powers of various story heroes to combat the Chaos Tellers, while traveling from childhood story to childhood story, such as Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, etc. I was very disappointed in this one and this was animated by Brain’s Base, a fairly familiar animation studio. This series is 12 episodes long, while being broadcast by Crunchyroll, with Sentai Filmworks currently in the works of putting this on DVD.
Grimms Notes the Animation finished airing on March 28th, 2019 and is one you can avoid, if you want a good fantasy story anime, I am going to recommend the Magnificent Kotobuki instead as that is more entertaining to watch.
Ao-Chan Can’t Study
Episodes watched of this series, 5, I am sorry this one was just bad, the premise is a simple one for this anime, the main character is named Ao, her father is a famous adult literature writer and that’s it, because of this she is teased and tormented because of her name. This is one of the worst adult type animes I have had the pleasure of witnessing, which means this is saying something in terms of being a stinker.
The plot is dull, the love story is very forced and doesn’t seem like it’s worth it, you can probably find it better then I did, Ao-Chan Can’t Study airs currently on Crunchyroll respectively, it is still on-going but likely most people have dropped this due to the lack of actual interest in it’s 10 minute based episodes. If you want a decent love story, go watch Senryuu Girl, it’s much better and has a very interesting premise.
Unfortunately this is all the current stinkers that have aired because the Winter/Spring anime season is almost over and resumes in July with the Summer/Fall season respectively. You may find a few more of these stinkers then I did but these are the major ones to avoid if you intend to watch any anime this year. But for those who were curious here’s what I would give each Anime respectively as a stinker.
Circlet Princess: D- [Bad, just bad, avoid at all costs]
Rising of the Shield Hero: C- [May give this a second chance, but as of right now this is a stinker.]
Grimms Notes the Animation: F [One of the most boring animes to air this year, it’s dull, focuses way too hard on being a relevant story and it’s characters are presented in the most dull manner possible. Avoid at all costs]
Ao-Chan Can’t Study: F– [The worst offender on this list, it’s plot is dull, it’s love story is forced and you will fall asleep after the first episode, it has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and should be avoided at all costs.]
This is… shit, like all of it. I start from the bottom and go up for lists like this. I got partway through number 2 before I gave up on it and didn’t bother with 1.
4th one, you’re talking about how it’s an adult anime, it’s not, it’s so very clearly fucking not. it’s an anime for young women, not adults. You’re trying to compare it to anime that aren’t IT. You aren’t even the core audience of the thing of course you’re not going to like it.
You’re comparing it to adult anime and being like, it sucks, well if I compare card captor sakura to gorey anime like beserk, of course it’s not good compared to them because it’s not ONE OF THEM.
3rd one, damn near same problem as above, it’s not a fantasy anime, it’s a children’s story anime. It’s like trying to compare mother goose stories and rhymes to D&D, they’re two different animals. Also from the look of it, it’s angled towards children. Again you’re not the right audience for this.
2nd one, I’m glad you realize people don’t like you. Everything so far about the article has been just… really damn bad, I didn’t even bother finishing reading this, just… seriously… watch the stuff that’s made for your age bracket, and compare it to stuff within that same bracket, not stuff that it barely has anything to do with.
okay I continued #2 to give you a fairish shake… It’s not a fantasy anime… it’s an Isekai anime, that’s an entire genre, and their plots ALL of them revolve around someone being transported from Earth to another world to save it, well almost all of them, there is the odd-man out like Devil is a Part-timer which does it backwards, but still. It’s not fantasy, you’re complaining about a plot point that is the GENRE, that’s like complaining about there being magical girls in a magical girl anime, that’s the genre… the plots are built on the same concept, because that is the type of anime it is. Just… stop.
Hmm, someone’s got a little too much of a obsession with this stuff, take a chill pill and just let it go it’s only a opinion
No, you’re rating these things on an incorrect scale then informing people what they should avoid. That’s like someone telling you to avoid this type of desk because it’s not a chair. When you tell people what they should avoid you should be coming from a sense of authority which you pretend to have, which is part of why you’re trying to toss my criticism aside.
If you’re suppose to be, even remotely, an authority figure on the subject, which is what you are if you’re reviewing it, then you should be using proper criteria, judging them properly, and informing people correctly. No one should take you seriously and no one should bother publishing your work if you can’t do something that simple. You have no credibility when you can’t even compare stuff to it’s own genre but instead compare it to other genres then complain about it not being good for a genre it’s not even part of.