In the world of anime, only the most popular series tend to get sequels. There's new series coming out all the time--whether that series is an adaptation of a new manga, light novel, video game, or a completely original anime series. There's plenty of series with the potential for a new anime, so getting a sequel is already a privilege. That makes it so much more frustrating when a sequel comes out and completely wastes the success of the original.
And yet, that happens quite frequently in the anime world: a series everyone thought would be a great follow-up winds up disappointing everyone. Ultimately, there's nothing left to do for fans but move on, but that doesn't stop those failures from sticking with fans for years to come.
10 One-Punch Man Season 2 Felt Rushed In Production
By all accounts, the second season of One-Punch Man is better than the first when it comes to plot. The second season makes the universe more compelling, which is important when the main character is never going to be challenged by any of his opponents. But while the first season was made by Madhouse, the second season was done by J.C. Staff. While JC Staff is capable of some incredible series, One-Punch Man was clearly done as a last-minute project because Madhouse was busy working on other projects. One-Punch Man season two suffers for it, even if it’s more engaging from a story perspective.
9 Dragon Ball Super Spent Too Much Time Adapting The Films
Dragon Ball Super was what the fans had been waiting for for years. Not only was Dragon Ball back, but Akira Toriyama was at the helm. Everyone was eager to see what this new series would become when it launched, only to very quickly be lulled into boredom by wasting the first 20+ episodes adapting the films that everyone had already seen. In the end, Dragon Ball Super only served to remind fans of all the flaws the original series had.
8 Dragon Ball GT Changed Characters Like Vegeta, Goten, & Trunks
Everyone wanted more Dragon Ball Z, even after Akira Toriyama had been telling stories with the characters for roughly a decade. And since Toei thought they could do it on their own, they kept telling stories without Toriyama’s direct involvement.
What happened were comical things like Vegeta growing a mustache and Goten turning into a girl-chasing dork. But worst of all was Trunks, who went from the cool character he was in the Cell Saga into someone who was barely worthy of holding Goku’s Power Pole with the way he was constantly getting batted around without ever getting real focus.
7 Macross II Was Created By A Completed Different Group & Wasn't Well-Received
Macross II is such a mess. Rather than being produced by Studio Nue and supervised by Macross creator Shoji Kawamori, this was instead worked on by a completely different group. It takes place decades into the future after the original Macross, and is actually a sequel to the Do You Remember Love? movie. This show wasn’t well-received, and the only thing it helped do was keep Macross from attaining a higher profile in the West.
6 Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Made Huge Changes To Fan-Favorites Like Orochimaru & Shino
Naruto ran for over a decade on television and had 700 episodes of stories about the knuckleheaded ninja. It makes sense to tell stories about the character’s son--or at least, it should have. Instead, fans were confronted with the knowledge that some of their favorite characters were turned into a joke. Shino is just a glorified homeroom teacher, while Orochimaru is attending PTA meetings. Though Boruto had an incredibly hype opening, nearly 200 episodes later, fans still have only gotten slightly closer to it.
5 Digimon Adventure 02 Prioritized The 01 Crew
The other Digimon sequels aren’t so bad. And Digimon Adventure 02 isn’t bad for the reason people think. It’s not bad because of the new cast of characters they added, even if most 01 fans aren’t big fans of Davis and Veemon. It ruined the original because by giving the 01 crew a sequel, it prioritized that cast above any other. Now it’s impossible to do a Digimon series without comparing them to the first Digidestined, and even now the current Digimon on the air is a remake of the original.
4 UQ Holder Is Difficult To Follow From The Fifth Episode On
UQ Holder is a follow-up to the series Mahou Sensei Negima--at least, it’s supposed to be. It starts out as a straightforward adaptation of the manga series, but because it only has 13 episodes, it goes off the rails at around the fifth episode.
From there, it's only managed to drag the original series down. The last episode is entirely nonsensical to anyone that hasn’t read the manga of both series, and since neither series has been adapted properly, it’s entirely possible they’ll never get the chance now.
3 Angel Heart Got Rid Of A Major Part Of The Original Series
Angel Heart was a follow-up to the original Weekly Shonen Jump series City Hunter. The show followed Saeba Ryo after he lost his long-time love interest Kaori to a car accident. But when Kaori has her heart transplanted into another woman, this woman finds she still has Kaori’s memories as well. There’s nothing wrong with Angel Heart, but it angered fans so much that they got rid of a major part of the original series. The show was eventually declared an alternate continuity even though it was meant to be a sequel.
2 Yashahime Confirmed A Problematic Couple
Yashahime has been received fairly well by Inuyasha fans, but it’s not perfect. The show is meant to take place years into the future and follows the children of all the original members of the main cast. The only problem is that in doing so, it confirmed the worst suspicions of some fans: that Sesshomaru eventually married Rin, the young girl he’d been essentially raising for a large portion of the series. That was one of the most skeevy pairings the creators could have done, which turned off a lot of fans.
1 Z/X Code Reunion Doesn't Continue The Successful Storyline Of The Original
The original Z/X: Ignition series punched well above its weight class considering it was all about kids. The series was set in a world where Earth suddenly had to deal with invasions from five opposite timelines, with only a handful of people with partners from those timelines able to actually defend the world. The sequel doesn’t continue that story at all, instead opting to do a cute-girls-doing-cute-things sort of series and locks viewers out of a good ending.