Just like every other form of popular fiction, successful anime more often than not lead to sequels or, even better, a franchise. It wouldn’t be surprising for anime and manga creators to have dreams of making the next mega-blockbuster and merchandising giant like One Piece.
Unfortunately, not all of these anime get close to their ideal happy ending, or they become failures of epic proportions. This is what happened to these shows, whether it was just because they were ahead of their time or they were irredeemably bad right from the get-go.
10 A Certain Scientific Accelerator – Index Failed To Expand (Again)
A Certain Scientific Index has the weird problem of being constantly outshone by its spin-off series Railgun. Time and again, Index tried to step out of Mikoto Misaka’s shadow but it kept falling short. This was the case again with A Certain Scientific Accelerator, which stars Mikoto’s Level 5 rival Accelerator and her clone Last Order.
Accelerator was billed as Index’s dark and edgy side, as it followed the titular anti-hero during his redemption arc. While Accelerator isn’t half bad, it was underwhelming enough to not inspire strong reactions from new viewers while only making franchise fans wonder when Railgun will return.
9 Stars Align – Canceled Midway Through Its First Half
At the height of the sports anime boom, the soft tennis-centric Stars Align was a sleeper hit. The anime had the makings of a hit sports drama not unlike Haikyuu!!, especially with its cast of well-rounded tennis players plus a story that balanced their athletic and normal lives. Unfortunately, Stars Align was prematurely canned before it could even connect with audiences.
Star Align was meant to be 24-episodes long but for unspecified reasons, the production committee abruptly canceled it in the middle of the first 12-episode cour. This explains the weird finale that was more crowded and rushed than fulfilling. Director Kazuki Akane wants to finish the story properly and has promised to eventually find a workaround.
8 Interspecies Reviewers – Barely Made It Past Episode 1
Interspecies Reviewers is a fantasy adult comedy where the heroes grade and rate the women they sleep with, regardless of mythical race. The premise alone is enough to get negative press, and that’s exactly what happened to the anime. It wasn’t long before Interspecies Reviewers was pulled off the air, denying it the chance to grow in any significant way.
Despite and probably because of this controversy, Interspecies Reviewers still became an underground hit, even scoring an upcoming DVD release from Right Stuff. While Interspecies Reviewers enjoys a cult following, it’s highly unlikely that it will ever return to television screens and streaming services in the near future.
7 Cutey Honey – A Long History Of False Starts
Cutey Honey is a nostalgic favorite that codified the magical genre as it’s known today, which makes its inconsistent history strange in hindsight. The original 1973 anime was canceled after its liberal use of nudity for transformations and comedy drummed up controversy. Similarly, its Original Video Animation (OVA) successor – 1994’s New Cutey Honey – only aired 8 of 12 episodes due to production difficulties.
The same fate befell its reboots, remakes, and even a live-action movie. These did well enough but never clicked. Honey Kisaragi’s heroic adventures as an ass-kicking magical girl may have been groundbreaking for anime, but they could never stay long enough in the spotlight to establish a solid franchise and following.
6 Berserk (2016) – A CGI Stain On A Classic’s Legacy
Berserk is one of the best dark fantasies ever made, which makes it most recent anime a shame. Despite Studio 4C’s Berserk: The Golden Age Arc being received well, the movie trilogy underperformed financially, leading to the rights’ move to GEMBA and Millepensee. This all but ended Berserk’s resurgence in the 2010s while tarnishing the revered manga’s reputation as well.
Berserk (2016) was so poorly made and received that it remains a laughing stock in the anime community today. Adding salt on the wounds was that this was the first time that the Conviction and Hawk of the Millennium Empire arcs were adapted, giving a terrible first impression for some of the original manga’s more well-known events.
5 F-Zero: GP Legend – The Reason Why Nintendo Doesn’t Make Anime
Those wondering why Nintendo doesn’t adapt more of its games into anime need look no further than F-Zero: GP Legend. Released in 2003, this anime was meant to be an updated introduction for Captain Falcon of SNES fame to a new generation. Unfortunately, GP Legend bombed and killed two birds in one Falcon Punch.
Not only did this failure end the F-Zero games’ production, but it also killed Nintendo’s interest in making more anime. Any anime-related plans it had that weren’t the already successful Pokémon were quickly scrapped, and this mandate seems to be in place even today. As for Captain Falcon, he hasn’t been seen anywhere beyond the Super Smash Bros. line-ups.
4 Victory Gundam – The Gundam That Nearly Killed The Franchise
Like every Mobile Suit Gundam anime, Victory Gundam was made in the hopes of becoming a smash hit that would sell tons of model kits. Instead, Uso Ewin’s tour of mobile suit duty was so depressing even by Gundam standards that it tanked TV ratings, demolished interest in the original Universal Century, and, worst of all, had the lowest merchandise sales in Gundam history.
To save the suddenly at-risk franchise, the producers pivoted Gundam away from the Universal Timeline and prioritized cool Gundams over everything else. The change paid off and while Gundam eventually regained ground and even revisited the Universal Century, Victory Gundam remains ignored by fans and creators alike – so much so that it didn’t receive an English dub or DVD release for years.
3 The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya – Bad Luck & A Time Loop Buried An Anime Icon
This is more of failing to maintain a franchise than establish one, but Haruhi’s downfall was so meteoric and unprecedented at the time it bears mentioning. Aside from the polarizing second season and its infamous Endless Eight arc falling short of expectations at best, Haruhi’s growth and franchise potential were hindered by countless outside forces.
Some of these include an inconsistent light novel/manga release schedule that weakened fan interest, Kyoto Animation’s shift to making original anime instead of adaptations, Haruhi’s biggest executive supporter Atushi Ito getting demoted, and many more. All these led to Haruhi fading into obscurity and being abandoned by its creators, despite its once massive popular footprint.
2 EX-ARM – Declaring War On Sci-Fi & Losing In Embarrassing Fashion
With an incredibly so-bad-it's-good trailer that dared to challenge the entire sci-fi genre, EX-ARM was dead on arrival. Ignoring the derivative story that's indistinguishable from literally any disposable ‘90s cyberpunk OVA, EX-ARM is just ugly. EX-ARM was directed by Yoshikatsu Kimura and animated by studio Visual Flight and if it wasn't obvious, the two have no experience in digital anime.
It’s obvious that the creators were so confident in EX-ARM becoming the next Ghost in the Shell, but their hubris struck back in laughably awful ways. Following the universal ridicule plus allegations of homophobia due to a censored and/or poorly animated kiss, it’s highly unlikely that EX-ARM's intended franchise will continue, let alone get mentioned again. The only reason why EX-ARM isn’t number one is that it’s still airing and its overall failure has yet to be determined.
1 Gundress – The Biggest Flop In Anime History
Based on some notes and sweet character and mecha designs from Ghost in the Shell creator Masamune Shirow, Gundress was an overly ambitious attempt to create a brand new sci-fi multimedia franchise. Despite being an original property, Gundress risked it all and had tons of supplementary material (like manga, audio dramas, and video games) made in the event that the movie hit it big.
However, production was such a nightmare that Gundress was released incomplete in Japanese cinemas, with pencil tests left as is. Audiences were promised a VHS tape of the complete movie, though few if any availed of this promo. After losing millions of dollars, the producers sued animation studio Orca. Unless EX-ARM says otherwise, there’s currently no anime bomb as big as Gundress.