We say it here all the time: Not all anime is created equal. And while there will be fans for every series since everyone has different tastes, there are those series that either make you regret watching them at the end due to the ending or how things have played out throughout the series or you drop it halfway. That is what this article is for! Welcome to the worst anime of Summer 2017.
1. Isekai wa Smartphone Tomo ni
Mochizuki Touya was killed by accident. Oops. To make it up to him, God is going to reincarnate Touya into a different dimension and give him two wishes. Touya wishes to be equipped with a physically capable body and keep his smartphone. With just that, Touya ventures to a new world full of magic and adventure. He’s in for a whole new experience in this second life with his smartphone.
Isekai wa Smartphone Tomo ni was a much anticipated series this summer. I had heard of it in all of the light novel articles and people love the light novels, so I had somewhat high expectations. Unfortunately, Isekai wa Smartphone Tomo ni failed utterly in execution. The anime comes off as a generic harem anime with girls who are all annoying and very obviously vying for Touya’s attention. Touya reminds me of the main character of Infinite Stratos with his obliviousness at times, then he just irritates me when he pretends not to understand. There is no drama in Isekai wa Smartphone Tomo ni because Touya is more overpowered than every single shounen protagonist combined. He just doesn’t break a sweat. Touya can literally do everything and anything. All of these aspects combine make about half the reasons why I don’t recommend Isekai wa Smartphone Tomo ni to even my worst enemy.
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2. Gamers!
Amano Keita is asked to join the gaming club one day when he runs into the club’s president, Tendou Karen at the local game store. Karen sees Keita’s passion for video games and immediately brings him to her club where she, and fellow club mates, invest their time in competitive gameplay. However, Keita’s not quite about that. Then there’s Hoshimori Chiaki who loves gaming but just doesn’t care for Karen’s club either for her own reasons. Following Chiaki is Uehara Tasuku who’s a cool guy with a cute girlfriend, but secretly loves video games as much as the rest. Unfortunately, this closet otaku life doesn’t suit Tasuku. Tasuku’s girlfriend, Aguri, does not like video games at all but she loves Tasuku. With this strange bunch, we are going to get a romcom with all of the awkwardness and misunderstandings as an anime full of gamers falling in love can get.
Gamers!...*sigh* If you didn’t read the synopsis or look at the genre tags, you probably started watching this and loved it before being sorely disappointed really fast. That’s what I did. Big mistake. If I had gone into this expecting a romcom, I’d at least think Gamers! was mediocre at most. Instead, I was led to love Karen only to have her disappear on and off. I was made to hate Chiaki and yet, she takes up so much airtime. Then all of these frustrating misunderstandings are completely ridiculous. I know people who had similar sentiments as I do. I feel very frustrated that while this anime started off so strongly about gamers, it quickly dissipated and the plot could have been about any awkward teenager. Each episode has been painful towards the end and I’m so glad it’s over because I cannot take any more misunderstandings!
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3. Konbini Kareshi
Mishima Haruki is best friends with Honda Touwa. They attend school together at Aokisora and they both are interested in a particular girl. While love doesn’t seem to be sparking so easily, Konbini Kareshi is all about Touwa and Haruki and how the two pursue their love interests in their own way. It won’t be an easy path—they’ve both got their own troubles—but they’ll meet people along the way that may share their pain as well.
Despite being called Konbini Kareshi, I think the anime kind of deviates from the central setting of a convenience store. There’s an employee at the convenience store they always go to who secretly roots Touwa and Haruki in their romantic interests but overall, I kind of forget that this is supposed to be about a convenience store. Maybe other people don’t as it does show up often enough, but mostly, Konbini Kareshi is all about relationships. Two really stiff relationships that border along shoujo cliché. Oh, and let’s throw in a random relationship here and there that doesn’t get real resolution but mixes up the plot. Yeah, as far as romance goes, Konbini Kareshi failed that category this season. It was painful sitting through it but my load was much lighter after dropping it.
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4. Koi to Uso
Koi to Uso is about the declining birthrate in Japan. With no other choice, clearly the government is shortsighted, they make it so that all teenagers are matched up with a member of the opposite sex for one purpose alone: reproduction. Supposedly happiness is guaranteed and there is a low divorce rate. Yukari Nejima confesses to his love Misaki Takasaki one night. The clock however strikes twelve and it is his sixteenth birthday. Game over. He gets notified via his phone who is partner is, which is Misaki! However the message is all dirty and corrupted and his phone dies. Then, two government officials approach him, tell him it was a mistake, and that his new wife is a girl named Ririna Sarada. Yukari now has to figure out how to balance his feelings for Misaki, which he should reject, with how to handle his new assigned wife, whom he should accept.
To say that this plot gives swiss cheese a run for its money is no joke. There are so many plot holes that the rushed band-aid of an ending is flat out horrible. They tried it with this series. From a bad pacing, to a government that makes threats somewhat only to never follow through with them, to a gay character who is supposedly important but gets zero reconciliation, to a main character that is not even likeable in the least, Koi to Uso is one giant trainwreck. OH! And not to mention as well that we did not even get a single update about Misaki’s partner. For people who say “Oh you need to read the–” No. I will not read the source and I do not care. We were completely bamboozled by this anime. I want my time back!
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5. The Reflection
Years ago there was an incident where many people died and a strange green light and smoke spread all around the world. Those who survived were given powers if they were hit by the light. Some became superheroes and some became villains. However, the thing that both have in common is that they are struggling against each other.
To say that this was a bad anime, is not even close. Truly, it must have been the crushing mantle of having Stan Lee’s name and creative force behind it that destroyed The Reflection. This was so boring and unappealing, that I had to drop this series. I am amazed that I started, but I digress. The characters were flat, there was so much dead space where no one talked, and just… what the plot even was, I cannot recall enough to tell you. That is how quickly my mind is dumping that memory. The music was actually pretty decent, save for that horrible song Sky Show. I didn’t realize that I could loathe and dread something until I heard that song more than once. The art was alright too since it was so different. However, the problem was that the story had no idea what it wanted to do. Next!
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6. 18if
18if tells the story of our main character in a world where when girls fall into a deep sleep, they can become witches of their own dreams and become trapped within them. Their mind is alive, but the body rots in a coma. Thus, the main character has to take a journey into each girl’s mind in order to save her from herself. However, can he solve it?
This was another show that got the chop when I realized that I was playing games on my phone while not paying attention to the anime as it played. Normally, I think that episodic anime don’t deserve the bad rep they get. However I don’t even think watching 18if once a week shows enough or gives you enough time to dispel all of the confusion surrounding the anime. The characters were forgettable and it was almost as if no one even tried. While Koi to Uso straight up lied to us about the story, 18if needs to figure what story it is that it wants to tell. It just goes to show you that anime adapted from games really are a 50/50 shot. They will either turn out like this–an insult to your intelligence–or they will turn out like one of the AOTS, Princess Principal.
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Final Thoughts
Thanks for reading this article. These are the six anime that we personally found to be the worst of the season. If one of these is your favorite, then great! If not, then that is fine too. We all have different tastes, but for one reason or another, these anime just rubbed us the wrong way completely to stand out for all of the wrong reasons. What were your worst anime of the summer? Let us know below!
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