10 Overrated Anime Series That You Shouldn’t Finish

Anime can become overrated for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, like in the cases of Attack on Titan and Fairy Tale, a series simply isn’t good enough to deserve the success and popularity they achieve. Other times, however, an anime can properly earn a massive fanbase with its high-quality, only for it to drop off after a certain point.

Many of the most popular anime are worth watching, but not worth finishing. The only way to fully enjoy overrated series like My Hero Academia and Death Note is to stop watching after specific episodes. These anime are all iconic and beloved, but their reputations would be even stronger if they’d just ended sooner.

Naruto: Shippuden Fans Should Stop Watching After Naruto vs Pain

While it has its flaws, Naruto: Shippuden begins as a worthy sequel to Naruto, and it remains as such through the Pain’s Assault Arc. However, the final clash between Naruto comes less than half-way through the anime. After Episode 175, the prelude to the interminable War Arc begins, and Naruto: Shippuden becomes a slog to watch.

Composed of multiple smaller arcs, the Fourth Great Ninja War is a horribly paced mess of a storyline that poorly utilizes its main cast, features underwhelming antagonists compared to Orochimaru and Pain, and includes one of the most contrived twists in all of Shonen. Making matters worse, this arc is packed to the brim with poorly made, boring, anime-original filler episodes. While the manga version of the Fourth Great Ninja War could be dull for long stretches, the filler added by the anime makes the arc close to unbearable to get through.

Tokyo Ghoul Falls Apart at the Beginning of Season 2

Despite having one of the greatest OPs in all of anime, Tokyo Ghoul Season 1 isn’t anything special. In its debut outing, the dark fantasy series was riddled with issues, but these were balanced out by a sense of goofy fun, superb presentation, and a handful of compelling characters worth getting invested in. Tokyo Ghoul, from Season 2 onward, doesn’t lose all its appeal, but it does lose much of the charm that allowed it to initially succeed in spite of itself.

The downfall of Tokyo Ghoul begins right at the start of Season 2, with Episode 13. Diverging from the manga material it was previously adapting, the anime goes down an absurd direction with plot beats that go nowhere, characters that are impossible to care about, and meaningless action. Largely because of how poorly Season 2 set it up, Season 3 of Tokyo Ghoul manages to be even more of a disaster than its predecessor.

Beastars Abandons What Made it Great During Season 2

Beastars Season 1 is one of the most unique and refreshing anime experiences of the past ten years. With its distinct art style, original setting, outstanding characters, gripping drama, and the one-of-a-kind romance between Legoshi and Haru, Season 1 is arguably too underrated by much of the anime community. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the disappointment that is Beastars Season 2.

Beastars Season 2 fails to give audiences more of what made Season 1 so special, specifically its flawless blend of slice-of-life elements, romance, melodrama, and action. Instead, the melodrama and action completely take over the anime, turning what was once an intelligent and thoughtful series, and dumbing it down significantly. The great characters from Season 1 all take a severe hit from this shift, with the biggest loser being Haru, whose role is bafflingly sized down starting with Episode 13.

Death Note Infamously Becomes Terrible After the Death of L

Death Note is one of the most popular anime of all time and, at times, it deserves all the praise it gets and more. It is fairly well known that the series loses much of what made it great when fan-favorite L dies in Episode 25, but the subsequent 12 episodes have never been enough to damage the anime’s sparkling reputation. In truth, though, Death Note begins its plunge in quality long before the battle between Light Yagami and his greatest rival comes to an end.

All the most commonly praised aspects of Death Note are largely contained within the thriller’s first ten episodes. Episode 11 is when the anime begins its downward spiral with the introduction of Misa Amane, and things get even worse once the Yotsuba Arc begins in Episode 17. While stopping at Episode 10 may leave a viewer without closure, it does at least feature the single-most memorable scene in the anime, with the tennis match between Light and L.

Sword Art Online Goes From Bad to Worse After the Aincrad Arc

Sword Art Online became an instant phenomenon when it first aired, with fans around the world falling in love with Kirito and his adventures in Aincrad. The Aincrad Arc, especially its final few episodes, aren’t nearly as impressive as audiences in 2012 made it out to be, but it isn’t terrible, and it’s easy to understand why it was successful. Most everything that followed the Aincrad Arc, though, shows why a large contingent of anime fans continue to hate Sword Art Online passionately to this day.

At Episode 15, Sword Art Online begins the Alfheim Online Arc, which is often considered to be the single-worst storyline in the entire franchise. While none of the subsequent storylines even come close to being as nonsensical and uncomfortable as the back-half of Season 1, they don’t reach the mediocre heights of the first half of Season 1 either. If a new viewer really wants more SAO after Episode 14, they’d be better off checking out similar anime, like Log Horizon.

Little Witch Academia Loses its Magic Half-Way Through its Run

Little Witch Academia could have easily stood as one of the best magical girl anime of the 2010s. For its first two-thirds, Little Witch Academia is an utter delight, presenting a fantastical world alongside lovable characters, hilarious humor, outstanding animation, and gorgeously rendered action. Once the series begins to focus more heavily on its plot, and all the drama involved in it, however, it quickly loses steam.

The beginning of the end for Little Witch Academia comes in Episode 11, but things remain consistently entertaining until Episode 19. From this point on, whimsical charm and funny side characters take a backseat to generic fantasy action and melodrama. If Little Witch Academia had a more original premise, or more interesting conflicts, this wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but instead, its final run of episodes just wind up being boring.

The Promised Neverland Has the Worst Sequel Season of Any Popular Anime

Never has there been a more significant drop in quality between anime seasons than between the first and second seasons of The Promised Neverland. While a tad overrated at the time of its release, The Promised Neverland Season 1 is a masterpiece nonetheless, and it had fans hyped for what was to come next. What no one expected was that not only would TPN Season 2 be an unmitigated disaster, but the rushed conclusion of the series.

Right from the start of Episode 13, it’s clear that the subtle, mysterious horror anime that fans fell in love with is dead. Skipping over entire arcs of the manga it’s based on, and butchering the arcs that it does adapt with horrid pacing and out-of-place anime-original material, every episode of The Promised Neverland Season 2 is painful to watch, especially for those who were invested in the struggles of Emma, Ray, and Norman, and the secrets of the nightmarish world around them. With how unsatisfying its ending is, fans are better off pretending Season 2 doesn’t even exist.

The Seven Deadly Sins is One of the Worst Modern Shonen Anime

For all the franchise’s success, and continued longevity, The Seven Deadly Sins has always been atrocious. A peak example of what it means to be a bad Shonen anime, it’s unoriginal, its characters are largely unlikable, it’s horribly paced and structured, it fails to use its few interesting concepts efficiently, and, from Season 3 onward, its animation is atrocious. This can all be true, and it can also be true that Season 1 of The Seven Deadly Sins can be worth watching for those in the mood for generic Shonen fun.

The Seven Deadly Sins Season 1 suffers from many of the same issues that plague the rest of the anime, but they’re better hidden, and there at least seems to be some ambition on display. It’s also the only season of the series where any of the initial five Sins are remotely likable, the action isn’t thoroughly mind-numbing, and the plot mostly makes sense. Stopping at Episode 24 does mean never meeting the best character in The Seven Deadly Sins, Escanor, but that’s a price worth paying to avoid 76 atrocious installments.

My Hero Academia Peaked During the Overhaul Arc in Season 4

For its first few seasons, My Hero Academia was only mildly overrated. While it didn’t quite live up to its predecessors in the Big 3 as the new face of Shonen, it was still an exceptional action anime with an endearing cast of characters, spectacular fights, and ample potential. My Hero Academia would go on to reach the height of its potential half-way through Season 4, and never approach such peaks again.

My Hero Academia achieves its greatest high in Episode 76, fittingly titled “Infinite 100%.” While the anime doesn’t instantly become awful after this point, it does begin a slow decline that never ceases. The flaws that always plagued My Hero Academia persist as new ones are piled on, and while the action remains consistently phenomenal, this isn’t enough to redeem its poor handling of its story and characters.

One-Punch Man Lost All its Hype When Season 2 Released

One-Punch Man is one of the defining anime of the 2010s. Specifically, Season 1 is almost universally beloved, both for its great comedy, and its absolutely jaw-dropping action, direction, and animation. One-Punch Man Season 1 definitely isn’t as perfect as many make it out to be, but it’s at least worth watching, unlike One-Punch Man Season 2.

Starting with Episode 13, One-Punch Man went from being animated by Madhouse to J.C. Staff. While J.C. Staff is a more than capable animation studio, in this case, they failed completely to re-create the vibrant, explosive spectacle that made Season 1 such a success. Other criticisms of Season 2 include its poor sound direction, odd pacing, and the way it adapts the manga it’s based on overly faithfully.