Top 5 Overhated Anime

We are a community. A community of pillow-brandishing, waifu-arguing weirdos with an unhealthy obsession with Chinese cartoons, but a community nonetheless. So, understandably, we like to do things as a community, whether that be jump of the veritable bandwagon of a single show and discuss it, love it or hate it. But while that's all fun, proper dissection of anime can get lot underneath the flood of pure unhampered communicant momentum. Suddenly, if any given anime fan has an opinion that doesn't quite flow well with this momentum, it can make that fan feel a little vulnerable and uncomfortable, because if that fan would voice that opinion publicly, it would surely be met with a barrage of conforming extroverts who think people care about their stupid opinions(and before any smart-ass points it out, yes, I think my stupid opinions matter as well), harassing that fan with how what they think is wrong from whatever the community as a whole agrees with at that time.
So understandably, most people(who aren't trolls begging for attention) tend to stay silent when their thoughts don't match the gigantic wave of the communities', and that's especially true when the communities' opinion falls on the negative spectrum, because especially on the Internet, a bunch of people who are angry about something are usually a lot more vocal than a bunch of people who love something. I'm pretty sure The Asterisk War is the anime communities' bunching bag right now, and don't get me wrong, I think it's garbage as well, but if anyone out there actually made a coherent and thoughtful post or video explaining their love for the show, it would probably be met with a onslaught of hateful comments. But, that's my job today anyway.
     Hello people of "The Wired", my name is Quan, I hope you're staying warm this chilly winter, and welcome to a new Top 5. Today, we're counting down the top five anime that I personally think have been overhated by the anime community as a whole; unfairly chagrined by popular opinion, and perhaps deserve a second chance. Just so there's no mistake, these five anime I'll be talking about aren't ones I particularly find good, but I do think they far from deserve the hate they've gotten over the last few months or years. These anime will be listed by a mix of how popular they actually are(and by extension, how much hate they've received), and how subjectively bad I actually think they are. Okay, right, I've gotten the rules out of the way, let me just adjust my flame-suit and... let's get started.


5. Kyoukai no Kanata

Honestly, this is one I sort of don't understand. Whenever I hear anybody really talking about Kyoukai no Kanata, it's usually followed by a heavy sigh or small insinuation of how disappointing it was as a whole, which I honestly can't really get my head around. It's like whenever this anime is brought up, a cloud of negativity falls upon the conversation, and everyone dismisses it until the subject has changed. Look, I have a whole review of Kyoukai no Kanata(obvious plug is obvious) explaining its perks and faults, but that's fine for me, since I just consider it a competent, well-animated fantasy-action-comedy; but I haven't many other people who are willing to admit that they liked the anime.
     Well, I liked it, and I think you should too. I liked the show's steady character chemistry between the main couple as their interaction passed back and forth between the lines of "just-hanging-out" and "actual-serious-relationship-building". I liked Kyoto Animation's absolutely gorgeous supernatural aesthetic that brought an identity to a somewhat empty fantasy world. Hell, I even liked filler episodes; episode 5 of Kyoukai no Kanata, which had literally nothing to do with the plot, even now after devouring the entirety of comedic masterpieces like Nichijou, remains in my opinion one of the single most funniest episodes of anime I ever seen. My point being, Kyoukai no Kanata has a lot to like, and it bothers me when none of that is given credit, since those of us who actually stuck around of the original show's rather crappy ending got a sequel movie that basically fixes the anime's remaining faults. If you're one of the people who gave up on Kyoukai no Kanata after an episode or two, I implore to give the show another chance, because it does have things to offer, and it would be unfair to lump in with the anime which don't.
   

4. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

Mahouka is an anime I feel was largely criticized because there were two bad aspects of it that the haters clung onto, so to save time, let's just address both of those criticisms now, shall we? Yes, we can all agree the incest sub-plot is annoying and unnecessary. Yes, we can all agree that the main character Tatsumi is one of the most unfairly overpowered anime characters that has existed since Haruhi Suzumiya, which renders every single fight involving him completely devoid of tension. If you have a problem with either of those things, well then, that's completely justified. But here's what I say to that: ...so what?
     Mahouka has faults I'll admit to, but you know, it's kind of hard to find anime that don't have at least a couple of flaws, and I don't think Mahouka's are enough to overshadow all of the things it does right in regards to story-telling and world-building. It's, dare I say it, an actually pretty good unique and interesting take on the "magical-school-genre" that took its pretense of magic created by science and applied it to one of the coolest magic systems I've ever seen, even if the meaning did sometimes get lost in the confusing terminology. Most of the character are reasonably developed, at least to the point where they feel like real people instead of archetypes, and the animation provided by Madhouse gave the series some rather impressive fight scenes. When you compare the positives and negatives, I'm sorry, I honestly do think that Mahouka had a lot to offer, and if a season 2 is ever released, I'd be reasonably excited. 

3. Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace

I very recently did a review of the anime Mekaku City Actors (second obvious plug is obvious) on this blog, which another anime that probably would have made this list if I literally just hadn't talked about it in great detail only a little while ago. The point is, in that review, I spent some time talking about why I always prefer bad anime that are interesting to mediocre anime that aren't, and that's the camp I feel Game of Laplace falls into. I won't lie, of all the shows on this list, Laplace is arguably the worst written, because it took very serious psychological such as murder and ended up trivializing them through its unrealistic writing, leading to an anime that was supposed to capture the darkest corners of the human to become something more that represented cartoonish sociopaths that didn't like really seem like really people at all.
     Despite that, I make the argument that Game of Laplace very rarely managed to talk about interesting things, and I especially enjoyed how these ideas were communicated both dialouge and the crazily unique visuals which I loved, and I think I can chose a few bright moments when clarity was reached, and the anime actually became rather enthralling despite the shitty writing. That's why it's on this list, if Gatchaman Crowds insight hadn't been airing that same season, Game of Laplace was likely the most thought-provoking anime of Summer 2015, and that's something I feel needs to be addressed and respected.


2. Akame ga Kill

It's entirely possible that the only reason that I like Akame ga Kill and wish to defend it here is some sort of ironic obligation just to spite to spite the people who claim it to be one of the worst anime of 2014. See, I started watching this show once it had already completed airing, in the midst of the swirls of the anime's anti-hype and infamous reputation, and by the time I had basically binged-watched all 24 episodes, I sort of loved it. See when you hear an anime is bad enough over and over, you sort of just prepare yourself for the worst, and when said anime is, dare I say in my own humble opinion, a stupid but still competent shounen, you find yourself in an awkward position where the anime actually ends up being a lot better than you expected.
     I find myself focusing on the positive aspects of this show(the lack of plot-armor, the unpredictable direction, the second half etc.) rather than the negative, which is a little unfair I know, but that also probably comes from the negatives being pointed out so consistently by everyone else that I can't really help but bring up the argument that I found in order to counter those claims. I'm not saying by any stretch of the animation that Akame ga Kill is good, not by a long shot, but I don't really understand why this particularly anime was the punching bag in 2014 when there was much worse shows that aired that same year. There's many other anime that are deserving of more hate, and many of those that were't critically attacked by the community like this was. Find those anime, hate them, I don't care. But lay off Akame ga Kill for now, because if you look at the stitches that make up its purpose for being and what it achieves to that end, I think you'll find it really isn't as bad as everyone would have you believe.


1.  Sword Art Online/Sword Art Online II

Oh, get over it, yeah, SAO is my number one choice. So bite me. If you want to rant about how sh*t this show is and about how many things it did wrong, feel free, I won't stop you, in fact I'll probably agree with you on most of the points you make. But here's the reality: this has just got out of hand.
     If I remember, when this Sword Art Online was first airing way back in 2012(which geez, seems forever ago now), opinions were mostly split on it, with one side defending its "quality" to the bitter end, and the other calling it the most disappointing anime of 2012, which to be fair, it kind of was. Now, I'm not quite sure when it shifted to what the common ideal opinion is right now, but seemingly ever since the premiere of Sword Art Online II back in the summer season of 2014, Sword Art Online has been endlessly bashed, for being, from what I personally experienced from watching it, a dumb, fun anime to watch, even if it didn't quite know it itself. I said as much in my review of it(third obvious plug is also obvious). So why must this hate-train keep running?
     Look, in only a year, it'll be half a decade since the first season aired, yet almost every day I see new comments, reviews, and the such that proclaim Sword Art Online to be "the worst animu evar". That's... completely not true. I get people like to hate on things that are popular, and like it or not Sword Art Online was extremely popular, a mixture of probably unintended circumstances like it being very approachable for new members of the medium, many of which were gamers attracted by the show's premise, as the rest were drawn in like moths to a flame by the pretty colors provided by A1 Pictures. I just don't think it's worth it. In my mind, Sword Art Online is nothing more than a harmless dumb-fun show to pass the time, and maybe 10 years from now, all of who were fighting over it will laugh about how the community got all riled up by this mediocre show of all things. So can we all just move on already? Please. Like it or not, this franchise isn't going anywhere since it's such a money-maker, and it's not likely to get any better or worse, so harping on it on this point really doesn't matter in the slightest, because its not worth the time or energy required.
     Also, worst thing ever? Really? Really? If you don't like Sword Art Online, that's fine, I understand, but please, there are plenty of worse things you can hate without me stopping you in the slightest. I mean, Sword Art Online is a masterpiece compared to things like Pupa or Diabolik Lovers. And if you really want to see the bottom-of-the-barrel, Mars of Destruction is always waiting for you.  *sigh* ...I need a lie down.

Goodbye for now guys.


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