Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. A lot goes into making a manga or anime successful. So you would think that a creator would have a special love and appreciation for the characters and the story they’re creative, right? Wrong! There are some occasions where a creator will outright hate certain aspects of their work. Whether that be a character, an anime adaptation, or the entire series in general. It’s a sad thing to hear but for these 11 creators, there was just something about their work that irked them the wrong way and in some cases led to the downfall of their series. I’m Nitsuj and these are the Top 11 Creators who hated aspects of their Anime/Manga.
#11. Jujutsu Kaisen
Gege Akutami is a strange man who values his privacy. Not much is known about him other than the fact that he’s a bit unhinged. Don’t believe me? Well the guy outright admits that he hates Gojo. That’s right, the most beloved character in the series is hated by the author who he says is just an overpowered character who takes away all tension in the story. Because Gojo is the strongest, readers developed a mindset that whenever Gojo arrives everything would turn out alright. He’s like Superman saving the world at the last minute. His hatred for Gojo was so high that he actually said the story would be easier to write once he was sealed. Now some fans believe that he’s joking, hence why it’s so low on the list, as he’s been known to lie a lot and even his editor said that Gege is basically Gojo in real life. If it is a lie then well played you unhinged bastard.
#10. Dragonball Z
Akira Toriyama created one of the most influential mangas of all time that inspired a whole generation of writers who would go on to send the industry to global heights. However, he had a few issues writing some characters but it was nothing he truly disliked or hated. He did grow to hate the series as a whole because his editor wouldn’t let him end it. Originally, Akira wanted to end the series after the Freiza fight, but his editor convinced him to continue the series with the Android/Cell arc. Then eventually the Buu arc followed by more arcs years later. While I understand his frustrations, you can’t argue with the results. The series grew in popularity and is still fondly remembered and watched even after his death. This is one of those rare situations where the editor knew there was more to milk from this series and it was a huge success instead of a flop.
#9. Apothecary Diaries
Natsu Hyuga’s romance/drama feels like a Chinese soap opera your mom would watch, but is honestly a really good story with well-written characters. However, there’s one character who Natsu herself doesn’t like, Jinshi. Originally, Jinshi was supposed to be a one-time character. He was never intended to be the main male character. But Natsu was forced by her editors to include him in later chapters in order to bring in money. It’s frustrating, but Natsu has found a way to make it work so props to her for maintaining a professional attitude.
#8. To Love-Ru
Saki Hasemi’s series is still regarded as one of the all-time best harem mangas out there and the one that I feel influenced a lot of harem mangas today. While Saki hasn’t publicly admitted it, the one character he holds resentment for is Haruna, the main love interest of series protagonist Rito. Saki based Haruna after his wife at the time who decided to be a bitch and not only cheated on him but held their daughter hostage for a large sum of money in the divorce settlement. Rather than drag this character through the mud, Saki instead just wrote her out of the story. Haruna barely makes any appearance or gets focused on in the second half of the manga and is instead replaced by Momo and Yami as leads. With Haruna being based off his wife I honestly believe that the goal was for her to win Rito at the end, but thanks to real life circumstances those plans were burnt to hell and the series had an unconcluded ending where everything was left in the air. Thanks a lot, bitch.
#7. Yu Yu Hakusho
Ahh~ Yu Yu Hakusho. Despite my love for Hunter x Hunter, Yoshihiro Togashi’s hit manga is what I consider peak 90s. So many lovable characters come from this series except for one character, Keiko. Yep, Yoshihiro disliked the love interest of Yusuke and if you’ve read Hunter x Hunter you can understand why. Yoshihiro likes to push the envelope of what a shonen story can be and Keiko is the one character who plays it safe. She’s not a bad character but she’s your typical female protagonist in a shonen story. She has no interesting traits, memorable moments, or pushes the envelope to what a female protagonist can be in a shonen story. She’s just there to be Yusuke’s girl and that’s a shame because I really do think Yoshihiro could have done more with her and he knows it. She’s a constant reminder of his failure to push the envelope.
#6. Evangelion
There’s a lot that’s been said about Hideki Anno’s magnum opus, Evangelion. It’s a masterpiece of anime. It’s pretentious trash that’s overrated. Whatever your thoughts may be, you can’t deny that the series was memorable. Thanks in large part to the visuals and characters. However, there’s one character who Hideki pretty much didn’t care for, Rei. Despite arguably being the most recognizable character from the anime, Hideki admits that he didn’t care that much for her as much as Asuka. It shows as the writing for Asuka was done way better than Rei’s writing. Favoring one character over another is nothing new nor is it bad, most if not all writers do it and it’s a shame as it could have led to some interesting scenes exploring Rei’s character. Speaking of Hideki. Join me at number 5.
#5. His and Her Circumstances (Kare Kano)
The shoujo manga written by Masami Tsuda was quite the underrated hit during its run from the mid-90s to mid-2000s. While Masami holds no ill will toward the manga, she despises the anime which was directed by Hideki Anno. Fresh off the heels of Evangelion, Hideki brought his style of directing to this series that he showed off in Evangelion. This resulted in a lot of questionable animation choices that received kickback from the producers at TV Tokyo who were afraid of this becoming another Evangelion situation. This led to quite a few arguments with Hideki leaving production at one point only to come back. However, the one thing that angered Masami the most was the way Hideki handled the story. Masami felt that he took creative liberties and focused more on comedy than he did the romance and after watching a few episodes I see where she’s coming from but if you’ve read the manga you would know that the story gets a little crazy. Still, viewers admitted that they did like this adaptation despite its questionable choices and focus. That’s Hideki syndrome for ya.
#4. Gunslinger Girl
Yu Aida’s manga about girls being used as assassination tools was another underrated anime. Madhouse brought the manga to life and even made fans call it one of their all-time favorite anime. However, Aida was not a fan of the anime despite signing off on a lot of stuff. He felt the anime was too depressing and dark, so when the second season came out 5 years later and under a different studio, Aida took a more hands on approach and made the anime more colorful and the characters less depressing. Fans were not happy about this. They liked how dark the first season was and how it fleshed out the characters who we weren’t sure if what they were doing was entirely good, bad or a necessary evil. Each girl had a story and mental struggle they were dealing with that made them unique. You could honestly dedicate a whole anime to a girl and it would still be interesting to watch. Aida truly didn’t know what made his series such a hit and needed the help of those who did to make it a success. The same could be said for George Lucas and Disney during the prequels and sequels.
#3. Spy x Family
The wholesome spy family adventure is considered one of Shonen Jump’s most popular works currently being published. This is mostly thanks to the lovable fake family the Forgers. Everyone loves and cares for this fake family except for one person, Tatsuya Endo. The author has gone on record saying he has no emotional investment in the members of the Forger family. Not caring what will happen to them in the slightest. This is mostly due to the fact that Spy x Family isn’t entirely the manga he wanted to see gain popularity because he wrote it when he was in a slump. His previous works were either rejected or barely got any attention, so he wrote this with the sense of appealing to the masses and essentially abandoning the kind of story he wanted to write and centered around characters he has no attachment to. This is very concerning considering these are the main characters the author is talking about, but I think apart of him really does care deeply about these characters and wants to see them have a happy ending. You don’t work on something for 6 years and not develop some attachment to it.
#2. Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
It’s scary when someone tries to destroy their own creation. The Gundam series is the most well-known mecha series of all time with series creator Yoshiyuki Tomino at the center of it all. When they make a giant moving statue of your work in real life you know you’ve created something special. However, Victory is the one series he holds a deep disdain for. Tomino was in a very bad place during the production of Victory. He was battling depression and forced to work through it while having suicidal thoughts. Bandai at the time was also in the process of purchasing Sunrise and during the transition period they ordered Tomino to make a lot of production changes in order to better market the anime. So in an act of rebellion, Tomino decided to make Victory a marketing and financial failure all in the hopes of killing the Gundam franchise. Ultimately, his plan failed as Gundam would continue to this day, but he succeeded in making Victory a financial failure as this is one of the lowest selling shows of the franchise. It’s an anime that he fully rejects to this day and has urged everyone to look for what’s bad in the anime when the Blu-ray was released saying that’s the only good thing the release is for.
And number one. . .
#1. Prison School
Similar to Victory’s situation without the depression and studio takeover. The only difference is Akira Hiramoto succeeded. Prison School became a big hit during the 2010s thanks in large part to the anime done once again by Madhouse who brought their A game. The anime opened the doors for a live action and stage adaption for the series which was very impressive at the time. Akira was hoping to ride this wave of success and get readers to check out his other manga, Me and the Devil Blues, which focuses on the life of famous Blues singer Robert Johnson. This was a passion project of Akira and something he felt was better, but readers unfortunately didn’t share his sentiments and dismissed the manga saying they liked Prison School more. Angered by this, Akira just straight up ruined Prison School out of spite giving us an ending that made no sense and slapped readers in the face. This ending was so bad that it’s rumored the reason the anime won’t continue is because of the way it ended. While Tomino tried to destroy his franchise, you could argue that he wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Akira was in the right frame of mind and knew what he was doing. What could have been one of the greatest mangas of the 2010s was ruined all because of the author’s pettiness and the fans suffered for it.
And that’s my list. If I left any out let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.