For as far as the anime industry has come and how much bigger it seems here than even 10 years ago, Rotten Tomatoes is there to give us a sobering perspective of how far we still have to come in the West. To prove this, let's compare two movies. On one hand, we have Weathering With You by Makoto Shinkai, probably the second biggest name in anime here next to Hayao Miyazaki. It'll likely be the largest anime movie to come out this year—it has 82 verified reviews. On the other hand, we have another animated film called Wonder Park that came out last year. Never heard of it or saw an ad for it. 102 verified reviews.
The film which has the fewest verified reviews on this list has FIVE, and there are a ton of anime movies that didn't even hit that threshold. And since this list is ordered by the critic's score, this isn't so much the worst 10 movies of the decade, just the worst out of what the media saw. Heck, half of these movies are fresh, so if nothing else, you might have at least five movies to look into.
10 Patema Inverted (2013)–Critics: 73%, Audience 80%
Rounding out our list is Patema Inverted which is darn near 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. Patema Inverted follows the story of a princess named Patema, who lives in an underground series of tunnels. One day, she enters into the forbidden zone of tunnels and falls down a bottomless pit.
She finds herself in a nation called Aiga, a place where physics is inverted. Patema quickly makes a new friend named Age who seeks to protect her from his government and help her uncover the secrets of their two very different worlds.
9 Pokémon The Movie: The Power Of Us (2018)–Critics: 71%, Audience 68%
The 21st movie in the Pokémon series is also the highest-rated one on Rotten Tomatoes. This story follows Ash and Pikachu on their journey to a Fula City for the generically named, Wind Festival. The Wind Festival honors Lugia who extinguished a large forest fire that threatened the town many years ago.
Ash and Pikachu must help save the day after a Pokémon catching contest threatens to expose the hiding place of the Mythical Pokémon, Zeraora. In order to stop this, a local woman named Harriet steals the city's eternal flame, cutting off the city's ties with Lugia and putting the city in danger of another large fire.
8 Giovanni's Island (2014)–Critics: 71%, Audience 85%
Also submitted for an Oscar nomination, Giovanni's Island is based on a true story. Taking place around the end of WW2, Giovanni's Island is the tale of a Russian invasion of a Japanese island called Shikotan and the unlikely friendship of Junpei and his brother Kanta with a Russian girl named Tanya.
Giovanni's Island is directed by Mizuho Nishibuko, director of the oft-forgotten 90's OVA classic, Video Girl Ai. With seven verified reviews, this film is another surprise on the list considering it never received a theatrical release outside of Japan.
7 One Piece Film: Gold (2016)–Critics: 67%, Audience: 81%
Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates return in One Piece Film: Gold, the 13th movie in the series. The film follows the Straw Hats as they arrive in Gran Tesoro. When some shady activity causes Luffy to lose some bets, the crew refuses to pay up. The following scrap results in Zoro being taken, requiring the crew to pay up or Zoro will die.
Despite coming from a storied franchise, this One Piece film only has nine verified reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. It is also only one of two One Piece films even earning a score on the site, the other being the most recent and 14th film in the franchise, One Piece: Stampede. So, at least it's trending in the right direction.
6 Napping Princess (2017)–Critics: 65%, Audience: 53%
To give an idea of how far the anime industry is from being mainstream, this is technically the fifth-worst film of the decade, is fresh, and was submitted for Oscar consideration. It's got a ways to go.
Napping Princess is a sci-fi fantasy following Kokone Morikawa and her friend Morio as they use Kokone's dreams to help discover clues surrounding the disappearance of her father. This film is brought to us by director Kenji Kamiyama, who was also the screenwriter for another entry on this list, 009 Re:Cyborg. He's also directed Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Eden of the East, so he does have some major clout.
5 Fireworks (2017)–Critics: 41%, Audience: 71%
This 2018 movie comes courtesy of acclaimed director Akiyuki Shinbo, who is responsible for such works as March Comes in Like a Lion, Madoka Magica, and the Monogatari series.
Fireworks had the unique distinction of having tremendously well-done CGI at times and horrendous CGI at others. This tale of teenage, summer love takes a rather interesting path on the concept of time travel but has a bit of a muddled ending. This movie is on Netflix if you want to give it a shot—there are definitely worse ways to spend a slow Saturday afternoon.
4 Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side Of Dimensions (2016)–Critics: 40%, Audience: 62%
This is shockingly only the third film in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. This film takes place six months after the end of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. The Dark Side of Dimensions was the last film released in the franchise and there has been no word of a new film in the works, so this could be it for the original cast.
The film features Kaiba trying to put the Millennium Puzzle back together and bring Atem back, thus ensuring another tremendous showdown of versus Yugi. A mysterious person arrives and halts Kaiba's progress, beating him in a dual and stealing two of the pieces.
3 Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You! (2017)–Critics: 33%, Audience: 64%
One of the most popular and influential video games and anime of all time. A movie that went viral because of the infamous "talking Pikachu" scene. Nine verified reviews.
This two-hour film explores and gives new depth to the beginning of Ash and Pikachu's adventure together. It's also the first entry into an "Alternate Timeline" of the Pokémon franchise as this film extends well out of the Kanto region. It also sets Ash and Pikachu down on the path to find, battle, and catch Ho-oh. And, well, it's Ash so only 66% of those things happen.
2 009 Re:Cyborg (2012)–Critics: 23%, Audience: 42%
This is easily the most random title that managed to sneak its way onto the list. 009 Re:Cyborg is a 2012 retelling of a 1960's manga by famed manga writer and artist Shotarou Ishinomori. The plot follows nine cyborgs who are rebelling against their creators who wish to use them as weapons.
It's a fairly well-known property in Japan, spawning multiple anime series, manga, movies, specials, and collaborations, but isn't well known in the West at all. It also didn't garner a theatrical release, so 13 verified reviews is shocking, especially considering our next film.
1 Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016)– Critics: 12%, Audience: 68%
Considering how poorly each Final Fantasy movie has been received, it's bewildering that this franchise keeps pumping them out. And according to Rotten Tomatoes, this is the worst one by far.
One of the main complaints about the movie is its story, and since it's supposed to be an adaptation of the video game, and that doesn't bode well for the original property. Thankfully, one of the most well-received aspects of the film is its splendid CGI; however, that does prompt the question, is this movie just a cutscene with tremendous voice talent?