It’s hard to deny that right now is an amazing time to be an anime fan. Shows like One Piece are finally finding competition in terms of popularity, epic franchises like Star Wars are getting anime series, and it’s easier to stream shows more than ever thanks to services like Crunchyroll, Funimation, and RetroCrush.
Still, not everyone is happy with the current anime scene. Reddit user miguegrCR posted to /r/anime asking “What is something you hate in anime?” and got a staggering 800+ responses. While most seem straightforward, not everyone seems to agree, inspiring fierce debates on the post.
Many anime fans despise recap episodes and consider them filler with one user named baquea putting it, “they’re pointless and everyone, including the creators, knows it.” Still, not everyone agreed, pointing out various specific examples like Avatar The Last Airbender‘s episode ‘The Ember Island Players’ and the hilarious Re:Creators episode ‘The Usual Way, the Way Back.’
One of the biggest complaints about shows like Naruto, Dragon Ball, and Food Wars was heavily mentioned, with other battle shounen fans also being fed up with characters saying the name of their attacks before using them — with one notable exception. “I don’t care what you say, United States of smaaaaaaash is an amazing scene and I will tolerate no naysayers!”
Fanservice has always been something highly debated within the world of anime. Many users directly pointed to Fire Force as an example with whyamiforced2 saying, “It’s actually a pretty good fighting shonen but it’s broken up by moments of outright perversion that have no humor value and add absolutely nothing to the show.” With the most recent chapter of the manga discussing fan service and slut-shaming, it will be interesting to see if fan opinions change.
Other anime mentioned as egregious offenders included Steins;Gate, Strike Witches, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, and Seven Deadly Sins. Many fans also cited an overused anime trope where characters trip and suddenly find their hands firmly groping someone.
Many also mentioned the over-sexualization of underaged characters or “lolis” but weirdly, those comments were some of the most controversial on the entire post. Others also pointed out that various incest angles in anime were creepy and overdone.
Of course, other users got just plain weird with it giving some truly eyebrow-raising responses.
It seems like everything from isekai being overdone to characters singing at all is enough to get anime fans up in arms to defend their opinions. It just goes to show that studios have a giant audience of viewers and need to create unique experiences to please them all.
Source: /r/anime
