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Anime, much like other creative mediums, can capture the spirit of a decade, turning some series into timeless classics. The 2000s, in particular, marked an era of transition for many industries, with anime taking bold steps and making significant creative leaps. This decade gifted us with unforgettable series such as Paranoia Agent, Samurai Champloo, and Death Note. It also saw the rise of popular shonen series like Soul Eater, InuYasha, and Bleach.
These standout shows helped define the 2000s, giving it a unique identity. However, not all releases from this period were met with acclaim. Some anime series misfired, failing to capture audiences and instead contributing to the era’s less favorable reputation. These titles are often remembered not just as the low points of the 2000s, but as some of the weakest offerings in anime history.
Particularly in the romantic comedy arena, the “harem” subgenre often fell into clichés, relying heavily on superficial fan service rather than investing in meaningful character development or engaging narratives. A prime example from this period is Kanokon, a 12-episode series released in 2008. This anime struggled with a problematic premise, failing to deliver the depth and creativity seen in its more successful contemporaries.
Kanokon Embodies The Laziest Aspects Of Regressive Rom-Coms
Romantic comedies that embrace anime’s “harem” subgenre aren’t inherently flawed, but there are plenty of titles that opt for low-hanging fruit and shallow fan service in lieu of compelling characters and dramatic storytelling. Kanokon is a 12-episode anime from 2008 that spins its wheels over a problematic premise.
Kouta Oyamada is an innocent high school student who transfers to a new school where he’s immediately coveted by a fantastical kitsune fox girl and a wolf spirit. Kanokon happily indulges in many hormonally-charged and awkward situations between this trio of characters, but it’s a romantic comedy that in the end never feels romantic or especially funny.
Rampant Production Issues Diminish Musashi Gundoh’s Impact
Musashi Gundoh is a fascinating misfire that had the right ingredients to be a success, right down to being created by Lupin III mastermind, Monkey Punch. Musashi Gundoh is set in an alternate version of feudal Japan where Musashi battles Ayakashi monsters with an unconventional means of martial arts that combines gunplay, called “gundoh.” Unfortunately, 2006 was one of the most oversaturated years for anime and Musashi Gundoh was left to work with limited resources and budget.
Accordingly, Musashi Gundoh‘s 26 episodes are plagued by egregious production problems that result in lackluster animation, an out-of-sync sound design, and jarring backgrounds that are made out of live-action photographs. Musashi Gundoh has found a bit of a cult following where fans celebrate its embarrassing aesthetics, but even this type of “so bad it’s good” crowd is limited.
Itsudatte My Santa! Champions Holiday Cheer Over Originality & Entertainment
Anime has a very interesting relationship with Christmas that’s fueled some entertaining and unexpected projects that have become holiday classics. Ken Akamatsu of Love Hina fame tried his hand at Itsudatte My Santa!, which fails to conjure the right style of Christmas cheer. All that fans are looking for is a fun, playful Santa subversion, yet Itsudatte My Santa! overstays its welcome and becomes coal in one’s stocking over a proper holiday season surprise.
Mai, a young girl who is a Santa-in-training, tries to spread holiday cheer to a lonely boy on Christmas Eve. There’s a sweet nature to all this, but it comes across as a derivative A Christmas Carol knockoff. The anime’s Christmas messaging is overpowered by disappointing visuals that lack any interesting flair and two-dimensional characters.
Ice’s Dystopian Wasteland Is Too Distant & Indecipherable
There are some interesting ideas at the core of Ice — a three-episode OVA from 2007 — that scratches the same itch that’s explored in dystopian stories like Children of Men or even The Handmaid’s Tale. Ice is set in Tokyo’s future during a period in which all men have died and women are headed in the same direction. The survivors are put in a difficult situation in which they can either accept humanity’s inevitable extinction or find a way to use bioengineering to fight the future.
Ice‘s problem is that it’s too fast-paced and doesn’t spend the necessary time to establish the rules of this world. Ice‘s rushed storytelling and forgettable visuals don’t do it any favors. However, the voice cast is also filled up with members of the idol group, AKB48, who lack the necessary experience and talent.
The Cosmopolitan Prayers’ Magical Girl Angle Is At Odds With Itself
The Cosmopolitan Prayers, also known as CosPrayers, is a quirky take on the magical girl genre. Koto Hoshino finds herself in an alternate dimension, fighting against evil alongside other “Cosprayers” after she accidentally imprisons the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu. The Cosmopolitan Prayers only has eight episodes that are 12 minutes apiece. This doesn’t allow for much depth and it explores the most basic magical girl tropes.
It often seems like the anime is also more interested in putting its female characters on display than it is in actually empowering magical girl messaging. The Cosmopolitan Prayers has two more installments, Smash Hit! and Love Love?, that experiment with existing characters in new contexts. They’re both more encouraging than The Cosmopolitan Prayers.
Master Of Martial Hearts Is Full Of Pointless, Problematic Combat
Master of Martial Hearts, also known as Zettai Shougeki: Platonic Heart, is a five-episode OVA that’s based on a video game. The anime’s non-existent story where Aya Iseshima, a high school student, must suddenly battle against other girls in a tournament to win the Martial Heart, makes sense for a video game. It doesn’t work in an anime where there’s a greater emphasis on story and character development.
Master of Martial Hearts comes across as a poor excuse for cosplay-centric combat that’s rich in fan service and embarrassing archetypes. There’s no attempt in the anime to justify or explain its mayhem, which gives the audience little incentive to care. What’s even stranger is the anime’s aggressive finale that’s rich in vengeance, death, and cruelty that feels very out of place.
Eiken Collects Anime’s Worst Impulses Into A Barely-Coherent Club
There can be a place for rampant fan service in an anime when it’s properly justified. Eiken, on the other hand, is completely removed from any sense of reality and creates flimsy reasons to degrade its characters. Densuke is a fresh student at the Zashono Academy, which has a cryptic group known as the Eiken Club.
The Eiken Club embarrassingly submits to the male gaze and the anime doesn’t even try to find a grander plot to hold everything together. Eiken represents the worst things that audiences presume about anime. It’s insulting that this shallow series tries to toe the line with romantic comedy. Eiken is only two episodes long, but that already feels like two episodes too many. It’s an embarrassing chore at even this short length.
Generation Of Chaos Gets Lost In A Threadbare Story That’s Poorly Produced
It’s very common for there to be synergy between video games and anime, but these disparate pieces still need to stand independently on their own. Generation of Chaos is an OVA that pulls from the first title in the Generation of Chaos RPG franchise. This OVA introduces the audience to the franchise’s fantastical world and Chiffon, a legendary monster trainer who can no longer rein in these creatures.
Generation of Chaos is too indebted to its video game source material to the point that the anime OVA feels like a lazy afterthought to help boost game sales. Everything about this anime screams low budget and a rushed production schedule. Poor animation is paired together with unnatural performances and an awkward musical score that pulls the audience out of the experience.
Mars Of Destruction Is Infamous For Its Many Mistakes
There are bad 2000s anime and then there is Mars of Destruction, an OVA that’s widely considered to be the worst anime of all-time. Mars of Destruction plays like a cheap and derivative knock-off of Neon Genesis Evangelion, yet without any of the complexity or substance. Earth is attacked by extraterrestrial creatures known as Ancients, who can only be injured by a new advanced weapon — the MARS suit.
Mars of Destruction builds to a flimsy conflict where psychologically troubled soldiers fight for their planet, but a lack of characterization, poor visuals that have aged even more poorly over time, and illogical plotting all sink Mars of Destruction. It’s a bad title that the audience loves to mock, yet it lacks the entertainment factor of other series that are in on the joke, like Ghost Stories.
Tenkuu Danzai Skelter+Heaven Offers Generic Sci-Fi Action With CG Slop
Tenkuu Danzai Skelter+Heaven depicts a radical war between mysterious monsters and an all-female team of soldiers who fight with powerful mech-suits. Skelter+Heaven distills an entire war into less than 20 minutes, which results in an inexplicable storyline that’s too fast-paced and sparse to connect with. The mech-suits, monsters, and action are all generic, while poor CG visuals and detached voice acting hurt the anime’s reputation on an aesthetic level.
The only reason that Skelter+Heaven is technically worse than Mars of Destruction is that there are less amusingly awful moments in Skelter+Heaven. It’s just uninteresting. It’s unlikely that anyone would independently praise Tenkuu Danzai Skelter+Heaven and consider it to be anything more than a gratuitous and unsuccessful promotion for a forgotten video game.