Anime and Manga may seem alike but there exists a great difference between those two words. Manga is a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels, typically aimed at adults as well as children. Whereas Anime is a style of Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as children. One thing that’s for sure is that manga mostly almost precedes anime. There have been many adaptations of popular manga to anime recently. Some have even gained great popularity while others have high received great critics as the anime has the worst adaption or some part of the original work was distorted. In the list, these are the top 15 Worst Anime Adaptations of Great Manga.
- Berserk
- Tokyo Ghoul
- Deadman Wonderland
- Sword Art Online
- Rosario + Vampire
- Fruit Basket
- Pupa
- Flower of Evil
- Dragon Ball Z Kai
- Black Butler
- Gantz
- Soul Eater
- Black Clover
- Erased
- Naruto
1. Berserk
Berserk is one of the most popular manga of all time. The anime adaption of the manga was quite a success and many fans accepted it. But the second season was quite a mess and as such considered the worst anime adaption of such great manga. The animations were terrible and the Author skipped many parts of the original story in the anime adaption.
2. Tokyo Ghoul
Tokyo Ghoul is a psychological thriller manga. What make the anime adaptation one of the worst was the fact that the original work of Sui Ishida which was focused on mind games, was transformed into an action thriller.
In addition, many parts of the storyline completely changed. For example, Kaneki becomes a member of the antagonist which was not part of the original manga.
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3. Deadman Wonderland
Deadman Wonderland tells the story of a young boy, Ganta Igarashi a middle school student who witnessed his entire school class be murdered by a strange “Red Man”. Later on, Ganta is blamed for the death of his comrades and sent to prison “Deadman Wonderland”.
One of the factors that made this anime one of the bad adaptations is the fact that the original theme(horror) of the manga becomes an action thriller. Equally, the anime series was just up to thirteen and ends leaving viewers in the dark.
4. Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online is an anime loved by many fans while hated by others. What mostly made the SAO a bad anime adaptation is that the characters, and battle sequences lost their original epicness making the anime just average.
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5. Rosario + Vampire
One of the reasons that made this popular anime series the worst anime adaptation was that the storyline was changed and the anime focus more on fan service rather than following the original work. Besides this, the characters only shared the same name as the manga the rest was just something else.
6. Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket of Natsuki Takaya follows a drama story of Sohma’s family, an isolated group that has a curse that makes them transform into the Chinese Zodiac.
This family equally suffers from rampant child secrecy, abuse and many others. However, a person in the name of Tohru Honda appears in their lives hence making many changes in the family’s life.
Well, that’s not the same case as that anime adaption as the storyline is completely different. Many characters lost their original motivations, and many plotlines were ignored. Moreover, important characters are never on the screens. Henceforth making it the worst anime adaptation.
7. Pupa
The Pupa anime concept is good but its execution is a complete mess. It follows the story of 2 siblings who get infected with the pupa virus.
However, for Utsutsu Hasegawa, it means having regenerative abilities while Yume becomes a flesh-eating monster. In order to protect his sister from the external world he was hide her and equally needs to feed her.
Unfortunately, the anime adaptation is something else. Not only does it fails to communicate the plot properly, but there are blur images in each horror scene.
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8. Flower of Evil
Flower of Evil uses a quite mysterious and weird technique to animate. If you see this anime you will better know where it’s in this list of worst anime adaptations of manga. Objects as well as characters are drawn on real life backgrounds. The visuals are completely unwatchable trust me if not you can still try watching it. But I highly discourage you.
9. Dragon Ball Z Kai
Dragon Ball Z Kai remains one of the worst adaptations of Akira Toriyama’s work. Many episodes were just completely shaved off. Most important arcs were not present and it’s just a fat disappointment that the original work was completely distorted, making it one of the worst anime adaptations.
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10. Black Butler
Black Butler manga by Yana Toboso was a masterpiece but we can’t say the same for its anime adaptation. The first season adaptation was quite acceptable but things moved from average to worst as from the second season. First of all, the entire story changed a new character that nobody asked for appeared on the screens.
11. Gantz
Not only does the anime fail to explain the mystery behind the Grantz sphere and its relation to the fate of the earth, but Kei Kurono appears on the screen with fewer character traits than in the manga. More so there are slow-moving scenes and characters stand around doing nothing for a long period of time. This animation got everything wrong
12. Soul Eater
Soul Eater anime adaptation of the manga by Atsushi Okubo is quite a mess too. The manga was good but Studio Bones could not maintain its goodness in the form of the anime series. What made it most disappointing is the ending with Snatch away the its essence
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13. Black Clover
The manga has received some criticism but the anime is some bullshit. What the manga does in 2-3 chapters, the anime takes 10 episodes to complete it. The characters repeat the same expository information at least 4 times in anime. The fights in general are very uninteresting and not very creative from a writing standpoint. And lastly, its pacing is perhaps the worst.
14. Erased
Yet another anime that could not maintain the manga’s originality. The original story of Erased has a pretty enthralling plot that deals with time travel. However, the anime adaptation feels completely different. Even the character development diverges from the original work.
15. Naruto
Personally, I love this series. It’s one of the best with outstanding combat scenes. But what made it a failure was the filler arc. People got bored watching endless filler arcs. Hence The anime could never keep up with the story of the manga.
Here ends our classification which one did you despise the most? Well, let us know in the comment. Animes are good but a slide failure can cost a lot. Animation is a great job and should not be taken lightly. Manga adaptations to anime are a good idea but adapting to keep the originality remains the best.
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