Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Last week, we took a look at the best anime reboots out there so it only seems fair that I take a look at the worst. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. Not every reboot out there gets the same treatment as Hellsing Ultimate and FMA: Brotherhood. Some of them are lucky just to get their table scraps. For every good reboot there’s a bad reboot that didn’t get the attention, care, and respect it deserved. I’m Nitsuj and these are the Top 11 Worst Anime Reboots.
#11. Dirty Pair Flash
Dirty Pair follows the story of two space heroines. It was a hit in the 80s with the buddy cop dynamic of the two characters. Bringing them back in the mid-2000s sounded like a good idea with Flash meant to be set in an alternate universe while paying homage to the original. It didn’t work out. While the novel went over well, the anime not so much. These new versions of the characters felt like parodies of the original. Instead of Yuri being the smart one, she’s now thirsty and letting the world know how cute she is. Kei is now a tomboy obsessed with guns and has the IQ of an egg. On top of that, they made them 17. Who hires 17-year-old girls for police work? Especially, these two idiots. The appeal of Yuri and Kei in the original was that they were mature, smart, and independent women who took their seriously despite causing trouble. In the end, the overall anime was meh and could have been better if they handled the heroines correctly.
#10. Shaman King 2021
Shaman King is often regarded as an underrated shonen story that didn’t get the attention it deserved. Even though the original anime didn’t follow the manga fully and looked dated even by 2001 standards, fans are very fond of it. The anime was funny and featured a good cast of characters with a unique and interesting premise. Fast forward to 2021 when a new Shaman King anime debuted and fans were excited at the prospect of a true adaptation of the beloved series. While this one followed the manga more closely, the subpar animation and rushed pacing of the anime made this season a total letdown for fans. It’s a real shame because you can tell there were some good parts scattered throughout the anime. I like how they got a majority of the original VAs to come back, followed the manga more closely this time, and expanded on characters and plots the original anime left out. While not a complete disaster this is an anime that could have been done better. And the less said about the spinoff the better.
#9. Sailor Moon Crystal
Sailor Moon played an important role in popularizing anime in the West and set the standards for magical girl animes. When it was announced that a reboot was coming in 2014 that would be a more faithful adaptation of the manga, fans were excited. What we got was a disaster. While the anime follows the manga more the characters outside Sailor Moon really don’t have much of a personality and the animation is just awful. I don’t know what they were going for but this animation is awful even by bad animation standards. It really felt like the director, producers, and animators didn’t care about this anime. Like they were all assigned to this anime and just wanted to get it over with. No effort was put into it. No excitement, no respect, and no admiration for the source material. The good news is the third season would get a new director and animation style that was better and reminiscent of the 90s anime, and the characters got more personality this time around. A shaky start but a good finish.
#8. Blood-C
The second anime in the Blood franchise tries desperately to continue the legacy of its predecessor. The original was a gory masterpiece of storytelling and vampire slaying. This reboot unfortunately doesn’t have that. With only 12 episodes to tell its story, the depth of this leaves much to be desired and its cast of characters not as interesting or memorable as the original. While the anime has its merits such as good monster designs this is not the best way to experience this series and should be skipped over in favor of watching the original.
#7. Sorcerous Stabber Orphen
The original anime came out in 1998 and was definitely a product of its time. While the story was dated by today’s standards, back then this fantasy adventure was considered one of the best. When it was rebooted it had two things working against it. First off, it came out in 2020. A bad year for everyone, don’t care who you are. Second, the story was told in a way that didn’t appeal to a modern audience. The remake lacked the heart of the original much like Sailor Moon and delivered a forgettable experience that went unnoticed by everyone. Say what you want about the original but you can’t deny that everyone working on it was enthusiastic about the project and was giving it their all. You can’t say that about the 2020 version.
#6. Dragonball GT
One of the most important animes of all time. Dragonball has had a number of reboots over the years but the one that everyone considers the worst is GT. Not only was this anime airing after the great DBZ series that everyone loved but the anime made the dumb decision to turn Goku into a kid again as a way to return Dragonball to its roots and go on adventures again. NO! Nobody wanted to return to the past. We didn’t want to see Goku become a child again, we wanted to see the story keep advancing toward the future with more serious villains, action, and stories to keep us entertained. DBZ shifted the series in a serious direction that everyone loved and wanted to see continue. Instead, GT treated the audience like children and gave us nonsensical stuff that wasn’t entertaining. Thank God Super came and booted GT from the series to return the show to greatness once again.
#5. Cutie Honey Universe
An iconic anime character from 70s, Cutie Honey would have a number of reboots in the 90s and early 2000s. My introduction to her being the 2004 3-part OVA series directed by Hideaki Anno himself. The latest reboot came out in 2018 and was a huge disservice to the series. This anime was weird and given what this series is about that’s saying something. It was all over the place. Character motivations are stupid, the animation is wonky, the story is corny, and it’s just a terrible reboot of an otherwise great series that deserved way better than this. I don’t even know what to call this. If you’re looking to get into Cutie Honey skip this anime and just watch the OVA series or the ones from the 90s.
#4. Digimon 2020
Back to 2020. Oh. . .joy. What once started off as a knock-off of Pokémon became its own thing complete with multiple adaptations and reboots over the years. However, the one that makes this list is the reboot of the first Digimon anime. When Toei announced they were doing a reboot of the original Digimon I was ecstatic and at first it started off very well. But as time went on it devolved into shit. While Tai and Agumon got more attention and character development the rest of the cast got no development at all and became weak characters. The villains got downgraded and even episodes that would try to focus on other characters would get eclipsed by Tai and Agumon busting in and stealing their thunder. Rather than improve on everything we loved about the first season this reboot managed to squander everything and gave us what I consider to be the worst season of Digimon. Fitting that it came out in mankind’s worst year.
#3. Negima!?
Negima!? was a questionable series. Using only the core concepts of the manga, this anime takes the train to crazyville and gives us an original story that gets crazier with each passing episode. The only thing more bizarre than its story was the animation. Done by Shaft, the anime goes for an avant-garde look that made the anime unwatchable in my opinion. The series was so unrecognizable that I wasn’t even sure if I was watching the same series half the time. It’s like watching a studio lose its mind while on drugs. I have heard there are people out there who like this anime and hey, good for them. But this was a shitty anime in my opinion that makes the original anime which is crap look better by comparison. That’s how bad this adaptation was.
#2. Saint Seiya: Knights of The Zodiac
Saint Seiya is an iconic series in Japan that never really took off here in the West. Though, not through a lack of trying. There have been multiple attempts at introducing the West to this beloved series and all of them have sucked. The worst of the bunch has to be Knights of The Zodiac. This was a Netflix exclusive meant to introduce anime fans to the series and it was bad. First off, it was CGI and like most CGI animes the showrunners overestimated their abilities and gave us a very awkward-looking series that wouldn’t even pass as a low-budget game and received backlash from fans. On top of that, the story was awful and made little sense. Even longtime fans of the Seiya series didn’t know what to make of this series. All these elements combined spelled disaster for the series and rather than help build up the legacy of Saint Seiya it instead harmed it. With reboots like these, it’s no wonder the series never caught on in the West.
And number 1. . .
#1. Berserk (2016 & 2017)
I mean, what else could it be? The original anime had its fair share of issues but there’s no denying that it was Berserk and had good moments. This adaptation on the other hand had no moments worth praising. Fully CGI these two animes are an embarrassment to one of the greatest mangas of all time. The animation is a shit show with choppy character movements and poor keyframing that results in characters flipping from one pose to another for no reason. Camera work is terrible and the anime was directed by a guy who is outside of his elements and really has no idea how to adapt this story or work with CGI. I’ve heard from fans that the 2017 version is better but it’s still a shit show in my eyes. It’s a horrendous series that has no business existing and spits in the face of Kentaro Miura’s work and dedication to giving us one of the greatest mangas of all time.