Updated March 24, 2022 6.2K votes 2.4K voters 44.2K views
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Vote up the anime follow-ups that are awful enough to tarnish the reputation of the whole series.
It's always exciting to see your favorite show get a second season, but joy can quickly turn to dismay if it ends up being awful. Anime with bad second seasons are worse than series that end on unresolved cliffhangers. If a show is canceled before its time, fans can spend the rest of their lives imagining a thrilling conclusion that never was, but there's little to be done about a subpar second attempt.
Some horrible follow-ups fail to expand upon previously established lore, which usually results in a lot of asinine wheel-spinning. While the first season of Psycho-Passpresents some fascinating philosophical questions, Season 2 is basically a rehash of old ideas, so there's little there for long-time fans to enjoy. Other series, such as Rurouni Kenshin, fail because they stray too far from the original source material. Not every great show needs a follow-up, as more content leaves additional room for failure.
The second season of Darker Than Blackisn't a hit with fans. Instead of answering some of the major questions posed by the first season, Season 2 goes off in a completely different direction. New characters dominate the screen, and most of the old favorites are either dead or nonexistent. Besides that, the first season paints Hei as a total badass, while the second season reduces him to an alcoholic who abuses his children. Not exactly a fitting end for a fan-favorite.
The anime community has mixed feelings aboutSword Art Online, but most agree the first season is far superior to the second. Season 2, AKA the Fairy Dance Arc, undoes many of the good things set in place early in the series. Asuna, the show's heroine, starts off powerful enough to stand beside Kirito in battle, but in the second season, she's reduced to a helpless coma victim who needs her boyfriend to save her. To make matters worse, her consciousness exists in the virtual world, where she's being held captive by Nobuyuki Sugou, a creep who constantly feels her up despite her aggressive protests.
Additionally, the way Kirito defeats Sugou is totally ridiculous. Out of nowhere, he's granted "admin privileges," which allows him to destroy the ultra powerful Sugou with little effort. Then there's the whole "Kirito's sister is randomly in love with him" thing, which adds nothing to the show save a general sense of ickiness.
One major source of tension in Black Butlercomes from the question of whether or not Sebastian is going to get to eat Ciel's soul. In the second season, another demon named Claude swoops in and takes Ciel's soul for himself. This is unsatisfying for viewers who were hoping to see Sebastian achieve his goal, and also for fans who wanted to see Ciel come out unscathed. Worst of all, the story doesn't even go anywhere, as Season 2 is largely composed of filler and fan service.
The second season of Death Notehas its good points. The opening and ending themes are amazing, and there are some genuinely fascinating moments involving Light's descent into madness. However, for some fans, the second season fails to reach the heights achieved by the first. The new antagonists Mello and Near aren't as richly developed as L is in Season 1, and the whole thing feels tremendously rushed.
While Season 2 does manage to stay faithful to some aspects of the original manga, it compresses and cuts a ton of vital plot points, and the resulting story doesn't always make sense. The series is about elaborate schemes and mental warfare, so viewers need to be able to follow along, yet without reading the manga, it's hard to know what's really going on.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is routinely praised, and for good reason. If Haruhi ever gets bored, she can destroy the planet, which is an excellent way to generate tension, and the animation is top-notch. It's an overall excellent show, except for the "Endless Eight" incident, which was the subject of serious controversy for anime fans.
The "Endless Eight" are a series of eight episodes in the second season that all tell the exact same story. It starts with a Groundhog Day style plot where Kyon is forced to relive the same day 15,000 times until he can break the repetitive cycle. For some reason, the creators decided it would be a good idea to subject viewers to a similar experience. The episodes do have slightdifferences, which might intrigue extremely dedicated fans, but for your average viewer, the whole saga feels like a disappointing waste of time.
While the first season ofPsycho-Passtells a thought-provoking story about a dystopian future, the second season doesn't do much to enhance the original premise. The villain, Kirito Kamui, seems like a watered-down version of the Season 1 antagonist, Shougo Makishima. Both want to take down the Sibyl System, a mysterious program that identifies potential criminals and kills them if they're deemed threatening.
Makishima's methods are well thought out and generate a constant feeling of suspense, while Kirito's do not. To be fair, it's hard to maintain tension after the Sibyl System is revealed to be bogus at the end of Season 1, but a lackluster new villain does not help.
