Everyanimefan has a series they once fell in love with but which, on a rewatch, doesn’t live up to their nostalgia.Tastes change as much as people do, and a show which resonates at one point can easily fail to resonate at another. Some series are products of their time, and others might be best suited to a particular stage of life.
It’s easy to take potshots at beloved series likePokémonorYu-Gi-Oh!, designed to appeal to younger viewers without prioritizing things older fans tend to want (like character development, emotional depth, or narrative consistency, for example). But where things really get interesting is the bevy of series that earn countless die-hard fans on a first watch,without having the ability to live up to a rewatch. The anime below come from a wide range of genres, but they have one thing in common: somehow, they’re less enchanting down the line.
For many Western fans, it was easy to watch anime likeDragon Ball ZorPokémonas children without the awareness of “anime” as a specific kind of media.Death Note, on the other hand, is targeted at teenagers and young adults, and for countless people, it was a gateway to the world of anime proper. The series follows the exploits of Light Yagami, who comes into ownership of a notebook (courtesy of his shinigami partner, Ryuk)capable of bringing death to anyone whose name is written within—subject, of course, to certain constraints.
Light launches a covert massacre targeting the very concept of criminality while evading detection by international investigations led by the prodigal detective L. In the process, he weaves together as many traps as he effortlessly sidesteps. In today’s world especially, though,the show’s meditations on the righteousness of justice and vigilantism fall flat—and are flattened on their own by the one-dimensional focus on criminals. Meanwhile, the show’s most memorable moments are seductive during a first watch, but predictable afterward. Finally,Death Note’s controversial second half doesn’t wear well after one’s first exposure to its narratives and twists.
Centering on Tsukune Aono, a boy who winds up at a supernatural high school full of monsters and entangled with vampiress Moka Amashiya and a harem of monster girls,Rosario + Vampirewas (alongsideFamiliar of Zero) one of the springboards for the modern harem ecchi genre. Countless fans have found themselves enamored withits playfully perverse blend of romance, comedy, and supernatural action. It might sound like a series targeted at a male audience, but the series has always attracted a diverse range of readers.
Unfortunately,the series' popularity precedes itself, leading a lot of people to pick it up as a first anime and enjoy its uniquely original voice. In hindsight, though, the anime is particularly dated—there’s not a lot in the way of character development, the romance feels immobile, the action feels canned, and the jokes feel stale. Even from a sex-positive standpoint that isn’t afraid of ecchi or fanservice, there are deeper cuts thanRosario + Vampirethat scratch the same itch better. Many swear by its manga, saying the anime ruined the story—fans would do better to visit the manga long before revisiting the anime.
Sword Art Onlineis recognized asone of the first isekai to gain popularity while integrating MMORPG gaming elements. Kazuto Kirigaya, called “Kirito”, is brought into a virtual reality MMORPG calledSword Art Online, where he also meets the series' primary love interest, Asuna Yuuki. Over time, things take a turn for the nefarious, as it’s revealed people are unable to log out. The series compellingly thrusts along through numerous plot lines as the relationship between virtual reality and the real world is explored, chased through their psychological and social implications with stunning action and gripping romance.
SAOis a must-watch isekaifor fans of the genre, if only because itprovides experience and grounding for many of the tropes and narratives that dominate isekai stories today. However, as solid as it is,it’s also notthatgreat. The pacing and writing are hit-or-miss, the plot errs toward the melodramatic, the sci-fi dabbling with (then-future) VR technology feels suitably anachronistic given the series' 2002 debut, and Kirito can be a grating character to watch altogether.
Fairy Tailis many fans' first introduction to shōnen beyond the genre’s conventional entries—Naruto,Bleach,Jujutsu Kaisen, and the like. The series follows the titular Fairy Tale wizard guild, with special attention paid to Natsu (in search of his adoptive father, a dragon named Igneel) and Lucy. With anintoxicating blend of action, comedy, and fanservice in a habit-forming shōnen format,Fairy Tailexplores the backstories of its characters and interrogates its own world in much the way its obviousOne Pieceinspiration might indicate.
In the process, the series has acquired quite the loyal fan-base.Fairy Tailexists in a strange space; it’s for a long time beena widely available shōnen that’s also different, fun, and doesn’t take itself too seriously—while also having some killer action, a fair amount of drama, and just enough tension to demand the viewer watch the next episode. Nonetheless, the series lives best in nostalgia. Its pacing leaves a lot to be desired, its characters are underdeveloped, and whileFairy Tailcould theoretically survive a second viewing, it definitely wouldn’t survive unscathed.
Elfen Liedis a series taking place in a world where humans live side-by-side with Diclonii (plural of Diclonius), who look mostly the same except for a few key physical differences. Its main character is Lucy, a Diclonius who escapes a research facility and is taken in by humans Kouta and Yuka.The trio endure countless efforts at Lucy’s recapturewhile the series explores concepts like discrimination, abuse, and existential concepts like identity and alienation.
Elfen Liedis a unique anime that has garnered a great deal of recognition, but it also doesn’t always live up to its hype. At the very least, there’s a philosophical strain (in the direction of Bataille, for the curious) that embraces artistic transgression;Elfen Lied’s gore, violence, and nudity aren’t automatically points against it. In fact, they’re much better handled in the manga, straddling its far more eloquent exposition of the series' world. The anime, on the other hand, is hamfisted to the point of taking the manga’s vitally delicate themes andtransposing them into a register of “edginess” likely to be dismissed by viewers. The anime can’t sustain the repeated meditations the manga demands;Elfen Lied’s punch is its demise.
Crafted with love,Angel Beats!is set in a post-life high school where, before they’re reincarnated, people who have had hard lives have to overcome the circumstances of their deaths and trauma. It offers a compelling blend of adolescent intrigue with emotional stories and some militant resistance to the very purgatory within which the characters find themselves suspended. As everybody’s individual circumstances unfold and the characters in its world come together,the series sets viewers up for a final punch at the end.
Angel Beats!hits hardest the first time. It’s a train ride through a pseudo-anthology of tragedies that builds up to a moment that hits hard—but definitely hardest the first time. In review, it’s a disorienting jumble of different things—musical performances, comic relief, and underdeveloped expositions of character backgrounds—that doesn’t serve itself well enough. It can survive a nostalgia viewing only because it’s short enough not to stop watching it halfway through. Nonetheless, with the wow factor of the first watch faded to the background,Angel Beats!’s more insidious and fundamental problems surface.
Few anime are more thoroughly hyped thanSteins;Gate. The anime revolves around Rintaro Okabe, an 18-year-old chuunibyou who roleplays as a mad scientist trying to discover time travel with his ride-or-dies, Mayuri Shiina and Daru. It’s all fun and games until they accidentallyactuallydiscover time travel through a convoluted hacked-together process involving microwaves and email. As its narrative unravels through heartbreaking twists,Steins;Gatetraverses massive conspiracies, dystopian futures, and the trauma of seemingly inescapable tragedy.
If it sounds great, that’s because, through a certain lens, it is.Steins;Gate(and the accompanyingSteins;Gate 0) are mind-blowing experiences on the first watch, keeping the viewer so busy with its drama and emotional suspense thatthey don’t have the time to really think about what’s in front of them. Rintaro’s personality is distractingly off-putting, its characterization is rickety across the board (and sometimes offensive, arguably), andother anime like Re:Zero sound Steins;Gate’s emotional resonances far better.
The Future Diary, orMirai Nikki, plays with a concept that a good deal of other anime would adopt: a battle royale where the stakes are control over the universe. A shy, frankly bland boy named Yukiteru Amano is brought into a game to decide the next heir to the universe alongside 11 other players, accompanied by the deceptive yandere archetype Yuno Gasai protecting him. With the series' central “gimmick” being a cell phone turned into a “Future Diary” that can predict the future up to 90 days,The Future Diaryis propped up by an interesting foundation and loaded with twists and turns.
Unfortunately, likePlatinum Endand so many others that have attempted the mythic battle royale premise,The Future Diarydoesn’t exactly hold up on a second watch. It hardly holds up on the first. With its explosive and enthralling central plotline, viewers are drawn along on its journey through every emotional eruption. Unfortunately, with a story full of plotholes and less-than-stellar writing, even its most interesting characters—like the aforementioned Yuno—are underserved. Once the mystique and twists fall away,The Future Diarycan’t live up to its own hype, living on as a good story that has attracted hordes of fans, but not one that can keep them.
