As much as I believe that there’s an anime out there for everyone, there are still some anime to avoid. Like, sure, most anime have some redeeming quality. I hate on Guilty Crown plenty, but even I can admit that its initial animation was impeccable at the time. But, just like with every medium out there, there are some anime that should’ve never seen the light of day. Hell, they should’ve never left the boardroom. 

Okay so, here’s the stuff that makes me want to avoid an anime: Gratuitous NSFW content with no actual build up or lore, gore simply there for shock value and horribly written characters that are clearly just there for some form of fetishization. And you’d think that no one would greenlight an anime that has all that and then some, right? Like, where’s the profit in that? But if the Boku No Pico meme is anything to go by? Everything is possible. 

Honestly speaking, I’ve never been the type to shy away from darker anime. There are so many that have taken themes of assault, abuse or abandonment and made something genuinely thought provoking. Like, Neon Genesis Evangelion has a lot of triggering content, but it works in the story’s strengths. But the same can’t be said for these listed anime that you absolutely should be avoiding, in another round of Get Ranked!

5. School Days

School Days has been infamous in the anime community for more than a decade. And boy, there are plenty of reasons why. 

Makou Itou is your average high school kid who shares the train to his school with his crush, Kotonoha Katsura. But sadly, he’s too shy to actually approach her. But he keeps a picture of her that he took secretly in his phone as a lucky charm. Except that gets discovered by Sekai Saionji, another one of his classmates. However, instead of ratting him out, Sekai decides to help Makou instead. And so, cue the worst portrayal of a love triangle I have ever seen.

No, because why is everyone in this show an absolute scumbag? And they are only teenagers too! There’s rampant cheating, a truly dislikable main protagonist and even murder! Pick your poison, I guess.  

4. Happy Sugar Life

Happy Sugar Life wins the award for ‘the most misleading title’ on this list. Because holy hell, everything is not daijobou here. 

If you were someone like Satou Matsuzaka, I can understand feeling hollow a bit. I mean, the poor girl’s entire reputation in high school is the fact that she fraternizes a ton. She plays around, and everyone knows that. But it means nothing, until it does. Satou meets Shio Koube, and deems it love, because of course. And so, she proceeds to kidnap Shio and forces her to live together with her, sharing everything. This means she’ll go to any length to keep this illusion of a happy domestic life going, and I do mean any. 

I get how you can create something with characters that are all different flavors of psychotic. And I love me a pink-haired Yandere! But the grooming is far too graphic and there’s no actual meaningful payoff to all the suffering.  

3. Pupa

You know what, I’ll give Pupa this: It doesn’t have the weird ‘Onee-chan~’ schtick with its two main characters. And that’s about it, the rest of it is still garbage. 

Which is sad, because the actual premise was promising. After being abandoned by their abusive parents, Utsutsu Hasegawa is just trying to stay afloat for his little sister, Yume. However, a wave of red butterflies that suddenly appear bring devastation with them, leading to the spread of a virus only known as ‘Pupa’. This virus turns Yume into a cannibalistic monster who is constantly hungry, but Utsutsu gets away with just some neat regenerative powers. However, to satiate his sister’s hunger and keep her safe, he turns to do things that will haunt the pair forever. 

Like, at last they don’t make the whole ‘feeding myself to my freak-of-nature sister’ thing incestuous. But the show is pure shock factor, with the censorship diluting even that. They aren’t sugarcoating it, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

2. Redo Of Healer

Look, I’m all for revenge fantasies. The Rising Of The Shield Hero has similar themes and it’s pretty popular, right? But Redo Of Healer gives even that a run for its money because genuinely, what the hell? 

The story follows Keyaru, our promising protagonist whose proficiency in healing magic paved the way to a bright future. But instead of his talents being nurtured, he was abused and assaulted for years, all for it to lead nowhere besides him being used and forgotten. But thanks to a spell, he rewinds time to take revenge – using the same tactics used against him. 

I understand the need for revenge and how that could be interesting. But Keyaru is downright villainous in his second chance. Like, the guy was ready to massacre an entire village, complete with a maniacal laugh. There’s just no way to justify his actions, you know?

1. Conception

If you’ve ever heard of this anime, you’re liable for financial compensation for the brain damage it caused. Because what even is Conception? Like, how depraved do you have to be to come up with something so tacky?

Like I don’t even want to summarize it, because it’s right there in the title. Conception starts out with some good ol’ cousin lovin’, since our hero Itsuki managed to get his cousin, Mahiru, pregnant. But if that wasn’t chaotic enough, the pair gets Isekai’d to Gravania, a world which is overrun by Impurities that have hindered something called the Stars. To save Gravania, Itsuki is made the Chosen One™. This means he has to meet the ‘Star Maidens’ so that they can make the ‘Star Children’ that will fight the Impurities and be Gravania’s salvation.

‘Have babies to create a personal army’ is definitely a new one for Isekai. But even there, it ends up being so generic and bland, which somehow makes the whole thing worse. Like, what do you even want me to say here? Conception is not even worth the hate-watch!

I know there are so many more anime out there to avoid, but I can’t go through the mental distress watching all of them will cause me. Like, I took one for the team here. Do not ask me to suffer more. 

But hey, if you have any recommendations, do your fellow weebs a solid and sound off below!