Nothing can make a goodanimeharder to watch than a bad story arc. A lot of times, a series will be on a roll before suddenly putting out a new arc that’s subpar at best, and even if the story is quick to get back on track as soon as it’s over, the fact that the arc existed at all will still disappoint fans old and new.
Whether it’s an adaptation or an original story, keeping the quality of a work consistent from start to finish will always be a challenge, especially if an adaptation is forced to go into a filler arc, but in some cases, the drop in quality to such a degree thatmany arcs in anime will be so bad both visually and narratively that they’ll ruin the entire anime for some people. A few arcs of that poor caliber especially stand out, and each of them has, unfortunately, done nigh-irreparable damage to their respective show’s reputations.
The Majin Buu saga is the final arc of Toei Animation’sDragon Ball ZandDragon Ball, as a whole. Goku has returned to the realm of the living to fight with his friends in the World Martial Arts Tournament, but what was supposed to be just a fun day out quickly escalates into another world-ending threat as the Z-Warriors are roped into preventing the revival of the villainous Majin Buu.
Dragon Ball Z’s Majin Buu sagais divisive because of its lighter tone compared to previous sagas and for how quickly it abandoned the idea of Gohan being the protagonist to force Goku back into the role, and to many people, it resulted in one of the most iconic anime of all time ending on a low note. Opinions have softened in recent years, but overall, it’s still one of the most divisive entries into the franchise, by far.
The Doma arc is the story that encompasses the entirety of season 4 of Studio Gallop’sYu-Gi-Oh!Following Battle City, Yami Yugi was ready to embark on his quest to regain his memories, but before that could happen, he and his friends were forced to deal with the appearance of Doma, a group of duelists with the power to steal people’s souls seeking to destroy the world and start a new world order.
Season 4 being a year-long filler arc is one thing, butYu-Gi-Oh!season 4 is largely seen as a terrible arc for its inconsistent visuals, confusing story, and for how so many characters are arguably written out of character, most notably Yami Yugi and Mai. Recent access to the Japanese dub has allowed people to view season 4 with a more competent script, but even that isn’t enough to keep it from being so contentious.
8One Piece’s Long Ring Long Land Arc
One Piece Episodes 207-219
The Long Ring Long Land arc, better known as theDavy Back Fight arc, is one of the shorter arcs of Toei Animation’sOne Piece. In their latest adventure in the Grand Line, the Straw Hat Pirates run afoul of the Foxy Pirates and, thanks to Luffy’s impulsiveness, have to play them in the Davy Back Fight, a series of games where pirate crews bet their crewmates against each other.
While it was originally a short and inoffensive arc in the manga,theOne Pieceanime turned the Long Ring Long Land arc into one of the most hated arcs of the series thanks to how much it was stretched out with entire episodes of original content that added nothing to the story. It’s to the point that many people mistake the arc for a filler arc, and there’s no better statement of just how much people hate it.
The Bount arc is the first major filler arc for Studio Pierrot’sBleach. Following the Soul Society arc, things have gotten surprisingly peaceful for Ichigo and his friends, but that peace is quickly upended when they’re forced into a battle with the Bounts, a mysterious group of humans who feast on souls for immortality and have a mysterious connection to Soul Society’s history.
Not only did the Bount arc force fans to wait an entire year before getting back to canon, butBleach’s Bount arc was nothing but a chore to sit through because of its boring original characters and story that completely contradicted the overall world ofBleach.Bleach’s filler arcsare some of the most contentious in all of anime, and while some have their merits, it’s hard to find anything good to say about the Bount arc.
The Mu Continent arc is the final arc of Bridge’sShaman King. With no way to defeat Hao in a fight, Yoh and his friends allow Hao to become Shaman King and plan to kill him while he assimilates to the Great Spirit in the sunken continent of Mu, but they only have a short window to do so, and the priests of the Patch tribe, once their allies, are all standing in their way.
The rushed nature ofShaman King’s final arc is one thing, butShaman King’s final arc is largely disliked for not only letting Hao win, but for giving the impression that he was in the right and for never punishing him for his countless horrific acts.Shaman Kinghas had multiple sequels in both the anime and the manga, but for many people, the Mu Continent arc killed any interest in continuing the story.
The Fairy Dance arc is the second major story arc of A-1 Pictures’Sword Art Online. Several months after the SAO Incident, Asuna is one of several players who have mysteriously not woken up, but when Kirito learns that Asuna might be trapped in a new VRMMO game, Alfheim Online, he’s left with no choice but to return to the virtual world and uncover the truth.
Sword Art Onlinewas always divisive among fans and critics, and the Fairy Dance arc didn’t help with that, either, asSword Art Online’s Fairy Dance arc cemented that the series would never do anything to tone down controversial elements like Kirito being overpowered, harem antics, cheap fanservice, and uncomfortable moments of sexual assault that border of fetishism. It was the arc that solidified the anime’s controversial reputation, and after more than a decade, it’s never fully been able to fix that.
The Zero Requiem arc is the final arc of Sunrise’sCode Geass. After becoming the new emperor of Britannia, Lelouch slowly turned the world against him until he was killed by Suzaku donning his Zero persona. All of that was part of his Zero Requiem plan, however, as Lelouch hoped that by uniting the world in their hatred of him, he could usher in a new era of peace with his death.
Code Geassseason 2 is heavily divisive for its rushed pacing and often nonsensical story beats, and sure enough,Code Geassending with Lelouch dying in a convoluted plot most people agree would never work only cemented the poor quality of season 2 for many. TheCode Geassmovies have done a lot to fix the problems with the ending and season 2, as a whole, but even that doesn’t change how poorly the original series ended things.
In episode #26 of Madhouse’sDeath Note, Light finally managed to kill L and erase suspicion of him being Kira, but the story didn’t end there. Five years later, L’s successors, Mello and Near, have appeared to continue L’s legacy and uncover Kira’s identity, forcing Light into another game of cat-and-mouse even more intense than the last.
Not only do Mello and Near have the problem of being largely derivative of L’s character, thus making them not that interesting as a result, butthe arguably convoluted way Near defeats Light, coupled with Light dying in the end, resulted inDeath Notehaving one of the most contentious endings of an anime in the past 20 years.The ending for theDeath Notemangadoes a better job of playing into the story’s strengths, but for either medium, the common consensus is that the story should have ended after L died.
Season 2 of CloverWorks’The Promised Neverlandpicked up right where season 1 left off with Emma and Ray successfully leading most of their friends in their escape from Grace Field House. Using the clues and tools Emma gathered in season 1, everyone heads through the wilderness in the hopes of finding the mysterious William Minerva for help, and their quest to do so slowly reveals all the hidden secrets of their reality.
While the first season ofThe Promised Neverlandwas a great adaptation of the manga,The Promised Neverlandseason 2is infamous for its poor pacing, cutting out the iconic Goldy Pond arc, and for telling a far more contrived and less competent story than the manga. The second half of the manga was already contentious, but the anime barely made an effort to adapt it, and that effectively destroyed whatever goodwill the series still had.
The Endless Eight arc is the first major story arc of season 2 of Kyoto Animation’sThe Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. As the SOS Brigade’s summer vacation comes to a close, Kyon learns that Haruhi has trapped them in a time loop until she’s completely satisfied with her summer vacation, and unless Kyon can figure out how to make that happen, they’ll be stuck in the time loop forever.
The anime adapted the original “Endless Eight” story by essentially repeating the same episode eight times in a row, and as a result,the extreme repetitiveness of the Endless Eight arc was nothing but a turnoff that tankedThe Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’s popularity. Endless Eight is one of the biggest reasons why the anime is so thoroughly ignored in modern day, and that makes it an easy contender for theworst anime arc that completely destroyed a show for fans.
