Forum - View topicThe Worst Anime of Summer 2025
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Sekaro
Posts: 481 |
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Judging from what everyone's been saying about Shield Hero S4, I think its safe to say I made the right decision to end my journey at S3 (still wished I ended it at S2 but whatever). I honestly think that the reason S2 onwards is so dogshit is because Naofumi's character arc already ended at S1. He's found real companions who he can trust & even established an independent village for a discriminated race. It was complete & there's really nothing more they could do from there. Naofumi pretty much remained "static" throughout S2 & 3 so it just wasnt interesting to follow his story anymore.
I didn't watch Watari-kun but I did read the source material & it was actually interesting & entertaining.... at least in the first half. I could always feel there was something very eerie happening in the background especially when it came to the little sister. Like you could tell something was just off. The manga did a great job at capturing that feeling atleast. I dont know how the anime is doing it but judging from its production values, I think they more than missed the mark on this series. |
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leetailor
 Posts: 42 |
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Richard's apparent confusion about how the shield hero is still an "unsympathetic asshole" is kind of incredible. Like how did he get the impression that this was the kind of series where the main character is forced to change and grow as a person
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19175 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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If your definition of "worst" is "biggest underachiever" then I can see a case being made for Shield Hero in the #1 spot. Also:
I can agree with this sentiment. There are definitely qualitatively worse series this season, however. And while I would agree that Apocalypse Bringer isn't a great series, it's nowhere near the bottom, either. It's doing some more interesting things than the write-up in this article is giving it credit for, especially in its most recent episodes, which explore what happens when spoiler[the mechanics of different game systems clash]. As for Uglymug, I can certainly understand the complaints against it (and it definitely has some of the season's weakest art and technical merits), though I give it at least some credit for its take on social commentary. Of the 20-odd series I have (or am expecting to) follow to completion this season, Scooped Up By an S-Ranked Adventurer is likely to get my lowest grade. It's among the weakest on technical merits, fails to do anything novel or interesting with its base concept (i.e., the support caster who's way stronger and more competent than he realizes), and offers little that's interesting on the plot or character development front, beyond spoiler[having the rescued princess clearly more romantically interested in her childhood friend than the protagonist]. It also commits the fatal sin of having a party that's classified a S-rank which is utterly unconvincing as a party of top-tier strength. New Saga (which has probably the season's most eccentric musical score) is also a contender here, though it has more of a real plot and I can't totally fault a series which has a character with my uncommon first name. |
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Great Rumbler
 Posts: 349 Location: Oklahoma |
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It's funny that Uglymug's central joke was already done, and done better, in Uncle From Another World.
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Philmister978
Posts: 536 |
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If we're talking absolute worst:
Perhaps the biggest one (out of the titles I actually watched or didn't drop due to lack of interest) was Kamitsubaki. I could barely follow the plot and what little I was able to gleam felted horribly rushed or convoluted. Usually both. The backstory is poorly explained, the whole plot point of "the citizens turn on the witchlings" that happens at the halfway point lasts all of half an episode before its promptly dropped. That pointless episode done in live-action which takes away from the plot. And that's before getting into how they pulled the "this universe is part of a greater multiverse" nonsense, or the animation looking exceptionally cheap and washed out. Nyaight of the Living Cat definitely comes close and probably rivals Your Forma in terms of stupid logic and incompetently handled plotting and pacing. Half the episodes sidetrack to other situations that are either flashbacks or completely unrelated and it comes off as the show having no focus at all. I don't know if this like that in the manga, but it doesn't work in anime form unless they do it as an episodic effort. Then you got how the outbreak happened and how poorly it or the effects of the outbreak are handled. Even the animation isn't all that good -- The frequent outsorucing prevents it from looking anything beyond passable (at best) and the CGI is perhaps some of OLM's jankiest I have ever seen. If we include disappointments as "worst" material, then I nominate both Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show and Mr. Osomatsu Season 4. Both of them I honestly felt were extremely weak compared to most of the offerings this season. With Osomatsu, this mostly feels like a case of creative burnout on the production staff, there's a couple episodes that are amusing like the watermelon aliens, but for the most part it comes off as boring. Necronomico on the other hand feels like it didn't take advantage of its plot or the stakes given. And wasted many of its characters in the process. As a whole, the season is better than spring, but that really only makes the mediocre and awful shows that premired stand out more. |
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champeagle3
Posts: 68 |
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I’m surprised to see Apocalypse Bringer on this list, especially after this week’s episode that turned out to be the penultimate episode and not the finale. Brutal doesn’t begin to describe how gut-wrenching the latter half of that episode was.
Plus, as someone mentioned earlier, the idea spoiler[ of game mechanics fighting against one another is something I found really interesting. There are few things truly as devastating as a “scripted scene.”] |
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fathomlessblue
 Posts: 426 Location: Manchester, UK |
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It's astonishing to me that the worst show in this list with a fixation on b-movies and pussy is Nyaight of the Living Cat and not Panty & Stocking S2.
Sure, the cast are fully archetypical to the genres it's spoofing, and there are really only enough ideas to carry half a season but at least it makes an effort. Even as a non-cat guy, there were enough clever little ideas to keep me invested for a while, as opposed to what if *blank* film but with a giant penis x20+ times It's a shame the directing was so wooden and the animation so underwhelming. That's one thing P&S S2 has over it in every way. I'm guessing this will be a hot take, plus it's technically a carry-on from last season, but my most disappointing show was Witch Watch. I really liked the initial premise about a bunch of folklore figures interacting with each other. It's been a while since we had a comedic sitcom in the Urusei Yatsura mold and I am fully onboard. The problem is that I didn't know the mangaka was a protege of the Gintama author, although that was something that would become obvious very quickly, & highlight why I could never get into that series. Given how much room there was for imaginative and outlandish gags about the occult and fey, it was dispiriting to see more and more of the sketches become about meta genre winking, social media eye-rolling or just dry depictions of Kenta Shinohara's profession and hobbies. Like, it's cool if he's into denim culture - I browse second hand shops all the time. But there has to be more to it than just depicting the things you know in slightly self-aware manner. The show feels like the dark underside to the popular criticism about authors needing to be into more things than just anime, manga and games. Witch Works attempts to do both but struggles to actually incorporate them in fun, entertaining ways, while all too often forgetting the rich vein of ideas that its core premise is built on. I'm not asking for 'Magus Bride with jokes' levels of detail, but surely there should be more creativity than this? Well, I guess Flying Witch still exists. |
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EmeraldSaucer
 Posts: 995 |
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I didn't have a ton of expectations for Onmyo Kaiten Re:Birth Verse after its premier, but as the show went on it stumbled over just about every low bar it could. Main character Takeru remains as flat and uninteresting in the last episode as the first, the ensemble isn't much better, and the show stops dead in its tracks multiple times to have episodes dedicated almost exclusively to dry and dully presented exposition. I can't even give the show credit as a dumb visual spectacle, because for the touted first original from David Pro it looks shockingly bad for a number of episodes (especially in the second half). I'm left with the feeling that somebody had some notes on worldbuilding but wasn't sure how to string them together into an engrossing narrative. It was like if you took Back Arrow and replaced the vibrant direction, cool characters, and constant sense of escalation with the most boring shonen protagonist you've ever seen
While not as bad, Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show turned out to be a case of squandering a much more potentially compelling premise. Thank goodness Kanna was there because she was the one carrying the show on her shoulders, both from a character writing perspective (would hazard to say that Miko was nearly as anemic a lead as Takeru) and from the perspective of doing anything with the idea of Lovecraftian horror through the lens of livestreaming and streamer culture And since it will end this season, will have to mention Anne Shirley as a prime example of how pacing can make or break a show. By laser focusing on a Cliff Notes version of the romance between Anne and Gilbert this production almost never stopped to smell the roses, which to me (circling back to a concern I had at the very beginning of the anime) defeats the whole point of adapting a series of books about slowly and contemplatively examining the life of a young girl as she grows up. Takahashi's seismically important adaptation this was not, and I imagine this will get lost to time in short order (barring Naoko Yamada's incredible contributions to the OP and ED) |
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Eilavel
Posts: 557 |
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Mynoghra clearly has some writing problems, especially as you can tell it started off in the WN aping Overlord a bit too closely then tried to course correct. But its exploration of different mechanics has made it somewhat more inventive and interesting than most isekai. I can see it has limited appeal but its not amongst the worst at what it is doing.
I guess leftovers don't really count but gosh Summer Pockets really is dull. Episode after episode of meandering nothing (though its a little stronger now its concluding). I have no reasonable excuse or explanation for having proceeded to watch the whole thing. |
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1761 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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I didn't watch any of the shows on this list or what's been mentioned in this thread thus far - though being one of several "legacy shows" among what I watch with my uncle on the weekends, Shield Hero S4 is practically guaranteed viewing at this point - but even so, my personal weakest is clear: the fourth and last show from this season I saw at least some of within.
Don't get me wrong, I don't find Sakamoto Days S2 bad in any capacity. Hell, there's plenty about it that I love! The surprisingly fast pace of progression in the Death Row Inmates arc culminating in the long-awaited meeting between Sakamoto and Slur certainly impressed me. The dub is still solid in the right places, my highlights being Xanthe Huynh continuing to play a deadly assassin using her Sawako voice and Crispin Freeman hamming it up as Kanaguri. And I don't think I had as much joy outside of a Cloverworks anime this season than the post-credits omake where Shishiba and Osaragi hit up a ramen festival. 
But on the other hand, Sakamoto still struggles in the one place that counts: that all-important "oomph" factor. As much as I love what TMS did with Dr. Stone in spite of its shortcomings, the magic that worked there failed to carry over to here, thus stopping me from really feeling the hype. Also, the JCC Transfer Exam arc is far too murdery, even by the standards of a show about assassins, for my evolved tastes. Pourin' one out over here for spoiler[Atou, the plane captain, and that poor sod in the bathroom with the axe he didn't even get to use]. More light-hearted omakes in the at-this-point-inevitable season 3, pretty please? Last edited by Takkun4343 on Tue Sep 23, 2025 8:26 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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earl_of
Posts: 23 |
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"If you told me that the creator of Tougen Anki was just a pair of horny middle-schoolers stacked on top of each other in a trench coat, I would believe you without asking a single follow-up question."
No, but does describe who the show is made for. It ran in Weekly Shonen Champion and the shonen demo isn't 40 year olds with MAs in comparative lit who like Celine Song and Paul Thomas Anderson movies. The middle school boys that this show was unapologetically made for had a far higher opinion of it than ANN reviewers and commenters: animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2025-07-30/tougen-anki-hits-no.1-in-japan-and-enters-netflix-global-top-5/.227161 |
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harminia
 Posts: 2225 Location: australia |
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I haven't watched this show so I looked it up and... damn. I don't think I've seen a generic shonen series where every single main female character has a massive rack. Like, normally there's at least a little bit of a mix, but this mangaka clearly wants his girls fighting with a sexy handicap. Incredible stuff. |
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Exodus007
 Posts: 140 |
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Definitely disagree with most the list.
Nyaight of the Living Cat I enjoyed but it was a slog at times so I agree. Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra is a fun show (1 episode left) with a unique premise of different game types being isekaied into this world and fighting. So don't agree it' belongs on this list. Uglymug, Epicfighter isn't about fat jokes/comedy. The show is actually really cool. We got tons of people that force themselves to isekai with unique abilities based on notes. He's ugly to get strong, he meets another "God" character that is female and while not ugly she gave up sex and sleep for her power and is insane. They have a really unique world that too many will sleep on. Only issue is him not telling his companions all abilities and identity becomes pointless by the end. Watari-kun's ****** Is About to Collapse starts a little unhinged and questionable but it gets better. Also it's a double cour so too early to judge. Tougen Anki starts really dull and boring but after several episodes it's more interesting but it can stay on the list. I hate the CG for the Momotaro's particles. Also double cour though. Solo Camping for Two isn't bad but had a slow start. The way the guy's face is drawn is annoying though. It's also a double cour. I like it more by the end of cour 1 but I guess it can stay. The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4 is probably my favorite season since 1 so it's far from bad even if the pacing isn't great. Summer Pockets isn't bad but it's really weird and should be on here. |
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Pokenatic
 Posts: 643 Location: Neo Venezia |
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I actually managed to (mostly) avoid the bad this season as I only watched 2 episodes of Nyaight of the Living Cat, so I left it still perfectly fine with it. Definitely surprised to see Rent-a-Girlfriend not make the list.
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 3057 |
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I assume the "worst" list here is in the context of "what I/we saw" but like several others, the absolute worst IMO was Kamitsubaki and not enough ratings to appear in the ratings says it all. I couldn't bring myself to watch more than 1.5 episodes and have not missed a microsecond of it...As for Shield Hero S4, it was better than S2 and slightly better than S3 but as an initial fan, they have run my goodwill down to about zero. Not worst, but I wonder what the prospects of an S5 are and don't care if the answer is "nil"...UglyMug was not good but I gave it two episodes before dropping it like a hot potato, so I can see it being some people's "worst".
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