As you’ve noticed, I haven’t done a lot of tag post in a while. I’m sorry I don’t everyone. I either completely forget about them, I’m way too busy working on some other posts to do them, or I just get tagged so many times that I just can’t keep up with them. So luckily, this is a week where I am a little ahead of my usual schedule and can do one. This one. Well, this is going to be fun. Be prepared for some bad opinions just like the rest of my opinions on here. You have all been warned.
Before I get started, I just wanted to say think you to Mari and Ospreyshire for tagging me. They both run some fantastic blogs with interesting content. Mari does a great job with all sorts of interesting anime content and Ospreyshire runs Iridum Eye that covers content from all over the globe and Ospreyshire’s realm where he puts all his opinions and some of his creative works. He’s a busy guy doing a lot of things.
Ok, now time for some unpopular opinions. Oh joy. I’m sorry everyone.
Popular Series I Don’t Like:
Oh boy, this is going to be fun. There is a lot of series that a lot of fans enjoy that I just don’t click with? I don’t think any anime that I am about to say are terrible, but they just bounce off of me in terms of what they are going for. Those shows are things like Kaguya-sama: Love is War which I just didn’t get except for Chika, Bungou Stray Dogs Season 1, Sword Art Online, K-ON where I started skipping through episodes because of how bored I was of all of it, Re: Zero, and I can keep going on with some other shows but I think that’s enough.
Let me remind you in saying that I don’t think my opinions are good or are the end all or be all. Not every show is for everyone. I’m just going to run now.
An Anime Everyone Hates That I Love
I’ve thought about this for a little bit and had to go through my anilist and I suppose that I have to go through my anilist for some controversial ones. I think that I am one of a few people that I know who liked the original FMA depending on who you talk to. I don’t think it’s perfect at all, but it had a lot of ideas in the second half that had an on and off execution. I like that it tried to do unique things with a source material that wasn’t theirs. I’m a weirdo though.
A Love Triangle Where They Didn’t End Up Who I Wanted
I guess I don’t really care too much about love triangles these days. I could say Kana in Waiting in the Summer, but I’m going to go with the galaxy brained thing and say all love triangles should turn into OT3’s now so we don’t have to deal with the drama.
OH WAIT. Nana and Nana should have ended up with each other in Nana because that would have solved so many problems in the series. Then again that’s not the point of the show, isn’t it?
A Popular Genre You Hardly Watch
Oh, there is a lot of shows where I have barely digged into any shows. Sports anime, Idol anime because anything with Shoji Kawamori and Symphogear, Slice of Life, and such. It really depends on how the shows are handled. I am trying Love Live! Sunshine!! now, but if it doesn’t go the way that I like it then I might just drop it.
A Beloved Character I Don’t Like
There is quite a few characters from the shows that I listed before, but to add fuel to the fire a little more, Bam from Tower of God is boring as sin and I do not get why people like him at all. To push this further, I have not been liking Deku from My Hero Academia for a while now because he literally steals heroic arcs from other characters like him because the mangaka wants him to win more then the others. At least that is from season 4 and another reason why I don’t like that season as much as the others besides how horribly paced it is.
Did I mention that my opinions are awful and shouldn’t define other people’s opinions recently?
A Popular Anime I Can’t Get Into/Not Interested in Watching
Konosuba, Rascal Doesn’t Dream of a Bunny Girl Senpai, the Monogatari series, anything cynical that thinks dumping on things or concepts is somehow smart, things with humor which involves digging too deeply into mean spirited humor and insulting people beyond just playful gestures, romance anime that only focuses on romance instead of actual building characters and chemistry, and so many other things. In general, I will try out almost every anime out there with the threat that I will drop it if I don’t like it. I’ve tried out a lot of the list I presented here and I hated all of them so fast I had to drop them to keep my sanity intact.
Once again, have I mentioned how bad my taste is recently?
A Popular Anime That You Prefer Over The Manga?
I don’t really read a lot of manga, so I can’t get a major or the best answer here. I don’t think that the OG Dragon Ball is as popular here as Z, but after reading through the manga I don’t think I like it as much as the anime? The anime added so much more to the material that just elevates by giving characters much more time to think and breathe in such interesting ways but doesn’t slow the show in anyway. This is a post that will come out in a few weeks though.
Nominations
I’m not going to tag anyone specifically. If you want to do this, go ahead? I hope I haven’t upset too much of you. I’m sorry about my bad opinions.
Mechanical Anime Reviews 
Think I’m gonna do this for fun!
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Have fun if you do.
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Now, I think I might have to do this, too!
• I didn’t like Kaguya-sama either, and K-On was just okay to me. So, I understand the disconnect with those shows.
• YES! I was a hardcore shipper of Nana and Hachi!
• Not a fan of Deku either.
Interesting post 😄
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If you feel up to it and thanks 🙂
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Wow, that was a fast turnaround! I definitely enjoyed your list. I predicted the original FMA on your list and I got it right. Come to think of it, I just remembered your Snafu review and how you had a disdain for shows that think they’re so smart by dumping on other concepts in a very cynical fashion. I do share that belief. I just hope I haven’t done that with my reviews, posts, or creative works even though I have made some stealth and overt potshots before.
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Yeah, you predicted some things accurately.
And don’t worry, you are fine. 😁
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I guess so. Haha!
Thanks. I do wonder if I ever overdo it because sometimes my inner cynic pops out.
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Interesting opinions – you’re the first person I’ve met that doesn’t like Konosuba, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War or Full Metal Alchemist. Great list!
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I do like fma. It’s in a category where I say so.
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Yikes! Ignore that part then. Thanks – sometimes I read too fast!
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It’s ok 😊
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I will do one as well soon.
Sound like a fun post
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Have fun if you do!
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Is original FMA not liked anymore? I grew up with that series. I have a lot of teenage nostalgia for it haha. Even though I think Brotherhood is the better series overall, there were a lot of things that I think the original FMA actually did better (the Shou Tucker arc was way more brutal, and Lust has much more depth and an actual backstory).
I admit I liked the Bunny Girl anime but it’s kind of a guilty pleasure lol. The main character is a douche and Mai is selling herself short by going out with him 😛
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Yeah, the original is dunked on a lot because of Brotherhood being better.
I think that’s ok.
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Yeah, I’m not necessatily a fan of overly cynical stuff either, although I don’t really feel like “Rascal” quite fits in that box. Sakuta is more like a character who tries to act cynical but has too much empathy to really mean it, and he doesn’t automatically assume the worst of people the way, say, Hachiman does.
I also like FMA prime.
Mind if I take a stab at the questions here in the comments?
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Sure, go ahead.
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I like the original FMA too. Of course, the manga/Brotherhood had the better overall story, but the early story is so much stronger there. Plus I like how they incorporated things like the 4-koma strips into the series (like the miniskirts declaration).
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Right? Like, the first one is just as much of a labor of love as brotherhood.
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Right, here are my thoughts on these.
Popular series I don’t like: Madoka Magica. It’s superbly crafted, but while I didn’t exactly hate it, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much I enjoyed many of the earlier shows that influenced it (like Nanoha), or the later shows that were influenced by it (like Yuki Yuna). I also feel like its “trailblazer” reputation is somewhat overblown just because of the average western otaku’s appalling ignorance of pre-Madoka magical girls besides Sailor Moon (I’ve even seen fans try to claim that it “invented” dark magical girl which, no. Just no.). I pushed through it once, but every time I’ve tried to rewatch it, I’ve never been able to get past episode 4 or 5 before I lose interest.
Anime everyone hates that I love: Aokana. Well I wouldn’t say I “love” this series, but I definitely enjoy it more than most people seem to. It did something very rare and controversial among VN adaptations by effectively sidelining the bland self-insert dude and just making the VN’s main heroine the MC instead. Self-inserts are a pet peeve of mine anyway, so for me that was great and I wish more adaptations had the guts to do the same. Unfortunately the typical otaku’s attitude (that adaptations must always hew as close to the source as humanly possible right down to the tiniest detail) heavily discourages that sort of creativity, and Aokana’s dismal Blu-Ray sales weren’t going to change anyone’s mind.
Love triangle I lost on: Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura. That one stung more than I’d like to admit.
Popular genre I hardly watch: Isekai. There are plenty of proto-isekai like Escaflowne and Rayearth that are classics, but the modern fantasy RPG-influenced version of the genre that gets recycled every season does almost nothing for me. I can count on one hand how many I’ve watched all the way to the end, and I don’t even bother trying most of them anymore.
Beloved character I don’t like: Erina Nakiri from Food Wars. I wouldn’t have minded her as much if she was just a pure antagonist, but it was obvious from day 1 that the story was set up for her to eventually redeem herself and become the love interest, especially when she was topping every popularity and shipping poll anyway, and that just made me dislike her even more. Surprise, surprise, the arc that started her path to “redemption” is the same arc where I completely lost interest in the series.
Popular anime I can’t get into: Gintama. It always kind of pains me to see this franchise dominating the top 30 on MAL’s top anime list, because I tried it and it’s so not my sense of humor that I wouldn’t have kept watching it if the cast came and performed it live in my living room.
Popular anime I prefer over the manga: K-On. It still amazes me how Naoko Yamada teased such a great series out of such a thoroughly mediocre 4koma (sorry that you don’t care for it, but I love K-On; it’s special to me for multiple reasons). Also shout out to Angelic Layer, which not only translated well to anime format as an action show, but the tweaks they made to the plot really made for a better and more affecting story, IMO.
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I’m with you when it comes to Isekai. It boggles my mind how it became a genre since stories involving trapped in another world aren’t new even in the context of anime.
About Madoka…Ooh, that’s a controversial opinion, but I do agree with you about otaku over-hyping the impact of the magical girl genre. Thank you for calling out the people who think it invented the “dark magical girl” aesthetic. I watched Shamanic Princess and that came out in the 90s which fused dark fantasy with magical girl elements in an atypical fashion.
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Funny thing is that the original Tron is still one of my all-time favorite movies, and Escaflowne was the series that made me an anime fan. So obviously I don’t have any issues with the “trapped in another world” concept itself. There’s just something about the modern anime take on it that with very exceptions doesn’t work for me.
Yeah, Shamanic Princess is a great example. That’s definitely a series more people should watch. Also Nanoha (as mentioned) and Mai Hime are clearly in its DNA – right away I saw callbacks to both those shows in Madoka’s first episode (Urobuchi’s admitted to studying Nanoha before he wrote Madoka’s script, but not the others).
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Nanoha has really Influenced a lot of shows and it’s so sad it’s not available anywhere.
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Sure thing. I’m not saying “trapped in another world” stories are bad on principle. I certainly enjoy some of them, but it seems to be cliche in anime as of recently.
You know Shamanic Princess? Awesome! Not many people know about that anime. Yeah, I heard Nanoha and Madoka were both directed by Shinbo. I could see some of Mai Hime’s influence (well, the serious parts of Mai Hime).
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I’ll try this for fun too!!!
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Oh no. Have fun.
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I didn’t really like Rascal either, although that may mostly be because the focus of anime like Rascal and SNAFU, from my (admittedly shallow) understanding of them, is how the guy is snarky (which can be hit-or-miss) and how attractive the girls are (which…is not my wheelhouse).
I guess I should’ve seen Deku coming from your comments about BnHA 4.
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I have only seen a third of FMA:B so it’s hard for me to compare, but I think I prefer FMA (which I have finished at least).
For one, FMA has more Hughes, so it’s hard for ‘…Brotherhood’ to compete for me in that regard 😀
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Oh, yeah were in the rough patch of Brotherhood. No wonder 😁
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It’s been interesting to see the differences in adaptions, along with what the second team kept the same.
(Where I am now, Ling has just arrived and so I can feel the scope of the series about to widen… but other shows keep stealing my attention away :D)
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I’ve got too many Unpopular Opinions to count to be honest. I don’t like some of the big genres that are super popular in mainsteam so they tend to bunch together. For example, I don’t care for Zombies or Vampires and as a result I don’t like The Walking Dead, Most Dracula films, Attack on Titan, etc. I’ve yet to find the media that could make them really interesting for me
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That’s fair. Not everything is meant for everyone.
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