Shonen anime is a genre of anime targeted at the demographic of boys aged between 12 and 18. Shonen anime features some of the medium's most groundbreaking and popular offerings, but not everything in this demographic is a classic waiting to be discovered.
Whether it's because of poor writing or animation, these shonen anime are so bad that they demand to be seen at least once. They would be great options when planning a screening with friends who also agree that these shonen selections have a lot of audacity to even exist.
10 The Promised Neverland Season 2 Is A Trainwreck Of An Adaptation
The unfortunate thing about The Promised Neverland is that it started out as a bona fide modern classic. Whatever goodwill the critically acclaimed first season built up was practically demolished on an episodic basis by the second season's second half, which dropped the ball so hard that it's hard not to laugh at the anime's fall from grace.
Watching Season 2 of The Promised Neverland barrel through more than 100 chapters while rewriting things for the worse makes for an oddly fun ride, if morbid — and this is more true for the manga's fans. Mediocre anime adaptations aren't anything new, but The Promised Neverland's failure of historic proportion is the kind that anime veterans can't ever forget.
9 Highschool Of The Dead Reveled In Its Schlock & Awe
There are countless anime that can be considered to be the animated adaptations of sleazy exploitation films, and Highschool Of The Dead is arguably the most mainstream epitome of this niche. Thanks to strict censors, Madhouse traded the manga's intense gore for ramped up fanservice and raunch — a decision that cemented the anime's current infamy.
As a zombie apocalypse, Highschool Of The Dead offers little ingenuity or originality. Instead, it ditches all pretenses of meaningful characterization and plot for unapologetic fanservice and over-the-top action. This lack of restraint more than makes up for the anime's schlocky priorities, and its fans couldn't ask for anything more.
8 Mahou Girl Site Pushed The Edgy Magical Girl Anime To The Extreme
Thanks to Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a host of edgy magical girl anime flooded the anime scene in the 2010s. One of the most extreme and infamous examples of this trend was Mahou Girl Site, which is best known for giving its lead magical girl, Aya Asagiri, a magical heart-shaped gun. To say that things go downhill from there is an understatement.
Mahou Girl Site rewrote the typical magical girl formula into a bloody battle royale in a way that the shonen demographic would enjoy, and it's all the better for it. For those who are fine with seeing an edgy shonen anime be as mean-spirited and merciless as it can be for juvenile nihilism's sake, look no further than Aya's descent into magic and gore.
7 Gundam Reconguista In G Plays Like A Gundam Spoof
On paper, it's easy to see why Gundam Reconguista In G looked like a surefire hit. The anime wasn't just the long-running Mobile Suit Gundam's way of celebrating its 35th anniversary, but the triumphant return of creator Yoshiyuki Tomino to writing and directing duties. Instead, the resulting anime came across as a saccharine parody of Gundam itself.
As good as Sunrise's animation was, Gundam Reconguista In G was a mess of illogical characters, needlessly complex world-building, unreasonable plot twists, and forced themes of optimism. It's better to go into Gundam Reconguista In G without trying to make sense of its labyrinthine events and just experience the ensuing emotional roller coaster without question.
6 Guilty Crown Is One Of The Most Ambitious Misfires Of Its Time
The best and worst thing about Guilty Crown was that it tried to accomplish too many things at once. In its sincere — if severely misguided — attempts at social commentary, Shu Ouma's quest to save Japan devolved from a typical power fantasy into an endorsement of authoritarian rule. In brief, anime veterans need to see this mess at least once.
Despite losing control of the plot and tone, Guilty Crown never wavered and ramped up its entertainment value with each passing episode. Even better, Guilty Crown featured the fan-favorite Dan Eagleman, a laughable yet lovable all-American stereotype whose limited screen time became the stuff of legend among the anime's ironic fans.
5 Valvrave The Liberator Is More Than Just A Mecha & Vampire Crossover
To most, Valvrave The Liberator is just that odd mecha anime that had vampires in it. However, there's a lot more to one of the mecha genre's weirdest and most fascinating guilty pleasures. Not only is Valvrave The Liberator a clear hodgepodge of stolen ideas and plots from better anime, but it's an almost incomprehensible collage of the most ludicrous plot twists possible.
Just when the idea of vampires riding giant robots may seem weird enough, Valvrave The Liberator upped the ante with plot twists like a 200-year long time skip, body-swapping, and ancient aliens just to name a few. It should be noted that Valvrave The Liberator ventured into some uncomfortable territory, but the fact it even tried only makes it more enjoyably bad.
4 Cross Ange Pushed The Envelope In The Worst Possible Ways
Cross Ange: Rondo Of Angels And Dragons has it all: ludicrous amounts of fanservice, excessive violence, plot twists that come out of nowhere, and animation of questionable quality. What makes Angelise's conscription in the war against the DRAGONs a shining example of camp is how ambitious it actually is despite its obvious limits.
Against all better judgment, Cross Ange: Rondo Of Angels And Dragons attempted to analyze injustices such as classism, racism, sexual violence, and so much more before cutting to a fanservice-heavy intermission of party games. The anime's themes and tone falling flat is already hilariously bad, but it's made better by just how bizarre the surrounding creative choices are.
3 Darling In The FranXX Is The Most Blatant & Ambitious Neon Genesis Evangelion Rip-Off
At the height of its popularity, Darling In The FranXX was heralded as Neon Genesis Evangelion's worthy spiritual successor. However, fans didn't expect their high praise to be taken so literally since Hiro and Zero Two's romance and fight for the future was an almost word-for-word copy of Shinji Ikari's battle against the Angels and his worst impulses.
Halfway through, Darling In The FranXX revealed the truths of its biggest mysteries, and the ensuing plot twists were just cribbed from Evangelion. Watching the anime fully commit to this thinly-veiled imitation without an ounce of self-awareness is audaciously admirable, and this guilty pleasure is made better thanks to Trigger's stellar animation.
2 Platinum End Is Future Diary, But With Even More Schlock
When Death Note creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata reunited for their own spin on the death game story, expectations were unsurprisingly high. The resulting anime, however, was anything but a masterpiece or even a decent watch. Instead, Platinum End was the typical edgy and immature death game anime, but cranked up to the extreme.
Not only is Platinum End's central battle for godhood needlessly convoluted with its vague moral and power system, but it also deliberately pushes the most controversial buttons for shock value. Thanks to these, plus one-dimensional characters and uninspired animation, Platinum End could very well be the zenith of lowbrow death game anime.
1 Arifureta Is The Most Shameless & Self-Indulgent Isekai Of The Moment
For the longest time, Sword Art Online was considered the epitome of everything wrong with wish-fulfilling isekai anime. That title found a new bearer in 2019 when Arifureta: From Commonplace To World's Strongest aired. As ridiculous and self-centered as Kirito's gaming adventures were, Hajime Nagumo's rise to the top put that all to shame.
In brief, Arifureta is an even edgier version of The Rising Of The Shield Hero. Not only was Hajime a weakling turned overpowered gamer, but he's a brooding anti-hero whose vindictive persona somehow landed him a harem. Combine this with awkward animation, and Arifureta is the perfect storm of the most juvenile power fantasies clichés out there.