Most Disappointing Anime Of 2024

Overall, 2024 was a great year for anime. Every season was packed with fantastic shows, some of which garnered plenty of attention (Dandadan, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Kaiju No. 8, and Solo Leveling) while others flew slightly under the radar (The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash, Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again, Girls Band Cry, and Welcome Home). Except for maybe horror, the industry had most genres covered to an extent, all in an attempt to ensure that viewers left satisfied.

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However, each year always includes a handful of shows that fail to live up to their potential or hype. While not necessarily bad, these disappointing 2024 anime came and went without leaving a particularly flattering mark, and they might struggle to be remembered in a few years. Just to be clear, these anime series are still worth watching as they have their positives, even though they fell short of greatness.

1

Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror

A Horror Manga Masterpiece Gets One Great Anime Episode… Just One

Arguably the most frustrating 2024 anime, Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror started strong, setting the stage with an atmospheric and haunting trailer that eventually paved the way to a pretty great opening episode. Finally, the impossible seemed to be on the cards: a good anime adaptation of a Junji Ito manga. While not perfect, the first episode’s terrifying visuals, stylish animation, top-notch voice acting, and sense of dread combined to create an effective half-hour of horror.

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Unfortunately, Uzumaki declined substantially after that point, releasing three follow-up episodes that sprinted through the story while not allowing any moment time to breathe. The first episode also had pacing issues, but its narrative worked well as a self-contained introduction to the bizarre nightmare befalling Kurouzu-cho. The sequels also saw a noticeable dip in animation quality, stripping supposedly horrifying scenes of their intensity or terror. By the end of episode 4, Uzumaki had gone from perhaps Fall 2024’s most exciting anime to its most disappointing.

2

Tower Of God Season 2

Rushing Through The Manhwa Source Material

Tower of God is rightfully regarded as one of the best manhwa of all time, along with also serving as a decent gateway into that world. S.I.U’s webtoon is still going strong after more than a decade, and anyone remotely interested in this story should start with the source material and ignore anything else. That said, the 2020 Tower of God anime is mostly fine, at least as a companion piece to the manhwa. Season 1 streamlines the story and world-building so much that a lot of the nuance is lost, resulting in a cliff-notes version of an epic saga. Still, the animation is unique and pretty good, with the fight sequences being generally fun.

Despite its predecessor not setting the bar too high, Tower of God Season 2 ended up being an underwhelming sequel that doubled down on the 2020 show’s worst traits while also featuring considerably less impressive animation. Split into two parts that combine to cover roughly 100 chapters of content, season 2 has no choice but to rush through both The Prince of Zahard and Workshop Battle arcs, reducing them to little more than quick battles with almost no tension. The fight sequences are fairly weak as well, which is the one thing that season 1 really had going for it.

3

Whisper Me a Love Song

The Troubled Production Of A Once Promising Girls Love Anime

In recent years, boys love anime have flourished and matured, producing stories that can balance sweet romance with relevant social themes. The genre had a productive 2024, and there is nothing to suggest the upcoming year will be any different. Sadly, girls love anime have not enjoyed the same explosion in quality or even quantity, at least when it comes to shows with overt yuri romances.

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Whisper Me a Love Song seemed destined to elevate girls love to the next level, especially since the manga is all-around fantastic and generally beloved. While by no means terrible, the anime is just kind of average, with the core relationship (Himari and Yori) starting cute but not evolving much after that point. Honestly, that can be said for most of the show. Whisper Me a Love Song‘s opening few episodes are perfectly fine, but things just get progressively worse after that point. The pacing is all over the place, frequently undermining any forward momentum a character might pick up. The animation is also inconsistent. Finally, and maybe most importantly, the final two episodes were delayed for approximately six months, completely killing any remaining hype the show had.

4

Suicide Squad Isekai

Watchable But Forgettable Isekai Anime

Suicide Squad Isekai feels like it should have been huge. Created by the studio responsible for Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, Spy x Family, and The Ranking of Kings, and written by Re:ZERO‘s author, this series seemed to have the necessary parts to be a visually gorgeous and ambitious action-romp that could stand out in a genre drowning with unremarkable (but amusing) anime. Yet, Suicide Squad Isekai plays things shockingly safe, relying heavily on the novelty of seeing the likes of Harley Quinn and Peacemaker engage with conventional isekai tropes.

Like, this anime is fine. It has a couple of good action scenes, the banter between the characters is periodically witty, and the story moves along at a brisk enough pace to avoid the onset of boredom. However, nothing particularly interesting happens in any of the ten episodes, creating a sense that viewers are just watching a filler adventure starring a group of characters who needed something better after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The isekai fantasy world is strangely nondescript too.

5

Blue Lock Season 2

Motion Is Optional (But It Does Get Better)

Blue Lock Season 2 should have been an easy goal. The first season arguably transcended the sports genre, cementing itself as a straight-up modern shonen juggernaut. The sequel only had to continue down the same path and take things to the next level through the introduction of a proper 11v11 match, with Blue Lock’s best players going up against Japan’s U-20 national team. That match begins about halfway through the sequel, and it is undoubtedly the main attraction the entire season is built around.

While the eponymous contact is decent for the most part, Blue Lock Season 2‘s first half is considerably worse than anything else this anime has produced. The storytelling is mostly on par with the rest of the series, but the animation is borderline static at times, making the whole point of the adaptation feel pointless. It is a rough six episodes to get through, and they start the whole season on a negative note.

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