Shoujo is a genre you either love or hate. Compared to action-filled shounen aimed at young boys, shoujo is aimed at young girls. Many subgenres cover a wide array of plots from magical girls who save the world from destruction to a cheerful young girl whose hugs cause the opposite sex to transform into a zodiac animal.
Because there are so many different shoujo out there, many plots have been reused and recycled. Many have also created fandoms around them ranging from bad to just plain toxic to defend each aspect of the shows. It also led to many of them garnering fans who loved to hate them. For this list, we're going to be using the IMDb user ratings to rank the worst shoujo anime of the decade.
10 Phantom In The Twilight (2019) - 6.5
Who doesn't love a supernatural reverse harem? Phantom in the Twilight is animated by Liden Films, the studio who brought you that one anime where they all break out into song in the middle of an amusement park. Set in modern-day London, Ton Baileu is an 18-year-old girl who moves with her friend, Shinyao Mu, to study after graduating from high school.
The world is inhabited by Shadows, supernatural entities born from fear and anxiety. Ton happens to wander into Cafe Forbidden, a store that only opens at night, and meets her new harem: guardians who protect the boundary between humans and Shadows. This harem also happens to be a collection of vampires who inevitably fall in love with her charm.
9 3D Kanojo: Real Girl (2018) - 6.3
Hikaru Tsutsui is labeled as an otaku by his peers, these insults mostly coming from his female ones, and has caused him to hate what he calls "3D Girls." That's until Iroha Igarashi is assigned to clean the pool with him. As Hikaru and Iroha interact, she falls in love with him, despite Hikaru disliking her for being the personification of everything he disliked in 3D Girls. However, Hikaru begins to fall in love with her as well and they decide to go out—the only stipulation being she has to move away in 6 months.
3D Kanojo is not a bad show by any means, but it isn't anything special, either. For the shoujo genre, it's rare for a male to be the main character. Many had complaints about the animation quality, slow pacing, and the decisions Hikaru made throughout the series.
8 Ao-Chan Can't Study! (2019) - 6.2
Ao-chan was destined to be unlucky the moment she was born to a father who writes lewd romance novels. Ao tries not to associate with any of her classmates, especially boys, because of her father's occupation. Although she's a top student, she has a conception all boys are perverts and wolves until Takumi Kirijima tries to befriend Ao.
Although she tries to avoid him, his relentless pursuit causes Ao to get into embarrassing situations, and she slowly begins to develop feelings for him, as does Takumi. Ao-chan Can't Study is 12 minutes per episode, which many fans disliked. The comedy purely consists of dirty jokes many may not be able to laugh about. That doesn't stop most to jamming to the opening, though.
7 Anonymous Noise (2017) - 6.1
Anonymous Noise is either hated or loved. There are also fans split between whether Yuzu or Momo should win Nino's heart, with the majority leaning towards Yuzu. Nino, who holds a resonating voice, sung for years with the hopes of reaching Momo so he could find her when he returns. This habit has caused Nino to wear a mask because if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to resist the urge to sing.
Some complained of Nino's ear-bleeding voice and others over why she would like a boy who pushed her away. Either way, Anonymous Noise is a romance/music anime that many couldn't get into.
6 Brothers Conflict (2013) - 6.0
Many who have watched the anime are unaware, but Brother's Conflict was originally a light novel series created and written by Atsuko Kanase in 2010. The story centers around Ema Hinata, the daughter of a well-known adventurer, Rinatro Hinata. After her father remarries, Ema gains 13 stepbrothers and moves in with them. Yes. A single girl moves into a house with 13 boys, and her father doesn't think anything is wrong. Because they're family—obviously.
Along with her talking pet squirrel who only Ema can understand, she grows closer to her new stepbrothers until they each want to grow even closer, and not in a familial way. The title enough is to make most watchers cringe about the plot and have them focus their attention on something else much more wholesome.
5 Dance With Devils (2016) - 5.9
Get ready for more vampires boys, because this list has loads of them. Handsome boys, musical numbers, an overprotective cousin who loves his sister a little too much and cooks in a frilly apron. What more could Dance with Devils have? It tells the story of Ritsuka Tachibana, a girl who finds herself entangled in a conflict between devils and vampires.
They believe she's the key to discovering the location of a forbidden grimoire that will give them world domination to whoever grabs it first. She also wears a rosary to "mask the scent" of the grimoire because that's a thing. No matter how many catchy musical numbers they sing, Dance with Devils was unable to sway the hearts of shoujo fans.
4 Diabolik Lovers (2013) - 5.3
Diabolik Lovers tells the story of Yui Komori, a 17-year-old who is very devout because her father is a priest. After her father moves overseas for work, she was told to move into a mansion people claim is haunted. As soon as she walks in, she finds herself attacked by Ayato Sakamaki and soon discovers he's one of 6 vampires living in this mansion.
Diabolik Lovers panders was originally an extreme S&M drama cd only released in Japan. Most who watched couldn't get behind the abuse Yui received and the stupid decisions she made such as not killing one of the vampires after he gave her a silver knife and told her to stab him.
3 First Love Monster (2016) - 5.1
First Love Monster was interesting, to say the least. It tells the story of spoiled rich girl Kaho Nikaidou who falls in love with Kanade Takahashi after he saves her from getting hit by the deathly anime truck. Kaho falls in love with him, and they begin to date. Sounds fine? That's until it's revealed that Kanade is just a tall 5th grader.
Although Kaho breaks up with him, she soon realizes she can't help but love him, and they continue their relationship. A high school girl and an elementary school student are dating. That fact made a lot of people cringe, as well as the indecent jokes and old looking children.
2 Glasslip (2014) - 5.0
Glasslip is an original anime created by P.A. Works that follows Touko Fukami, a girl from Fukui Prefecture who is the daughter of a glass workshop owner and dreams of becoming a glass artisan. It also follows her four friends. Though the plot is refreshing, the execution is horrid. When Touko focuses on glass, she can see images from the future.
We're soon introduced to Kakeru Okikura, an aloof student who has a mysterious connection to Touko. Most were left scratching their heads each week as the characters would chase chickens all day or try to connect the dots to the love square amongst each character. Although animated beautifully, Glasslip was wasted on a non-existant plot and bland characters.
1 NTR: Fabricated Trap (2017) - 4.6
NTR: Fabricated Trap is an anime many hated when it first came out solely on the supposed plot. It follows two high school girls, Yuma Okazaki and Hotaru Mizushina, who each have a boyfriend but secretly cheat on them with each other. That's it. That's the plot. Many have bashed NTR for being a cheap thirst trap for yuri audiences.
Hotaru's boyfriend Fujiwara is also suggested to be physically abusive. With this many problems, it's no wonder NTR is considered the worst shoujo anime of the decade. Here's hoping the next decade will bring more shoujo manga that is written in more thoughtfully.