Recently, a heated debate arose among members of a Reddit forum over an intriguing question: “What’s a popular anime that you just couldn’t get into after watching it?”. This discussion generated a wide variety of responses, revealing the various reasons why some viewers fail to connect with certain anime, despite their great popularity.

Among the series mentioned by users are titles that were critically and market acclaimed, but which, for some, simply did not live up to expectations.. The reasons behind this phenomenon are varied and complex.

One of the most common reasons mentioned is the discrepancy between expectations created by the anime's popularity and the actual viewing experience. When an anime is extremely popular, it tends to generate high expectations in new viewers.. However, these expectations are not always met, which can lead to disappointment. Viewers can expect impeccable storytelling, deeply developed characters, and high-quality animation, and when any of these aspects are not up to standard, disappointment can be heightened due to the expectations generated.

Another important reason is the variation in personal tastes. Just because a series is popular doesn't mean it aligns with every viewer's individual preferences.. Some users commented that while they recognized the quality of the animation and storytelling, they simply couldn't connect emotionally with the characters or the plot. Differences in preferred genres, animation styles, or even type of humor can significantly influence the perception of an anime.

The issue of prejudice against the popular was also highlighted. There is a tendency among some viewers to avoid or reject something simply because it has achieved a high level of popularity.. This phenomenon, sometimes called the “backlash effect,” is based on the idea that if something is enjoyed by the majority, it must not have the depth or quality that each person seeks in their personal choices. This type of bias can lead to a negative review before even giving the series a fair chance.

Media saturation and excessive advertising also play a role. When an anime is very popular, it is present everywhere: social networks, debates, friends' recommendations, etc.. This omnipresence can create a feeling of exhaustion before even starting to watch. In addition, the inordinate hype can inflate expectations to unattainable levels, resulting in a viewing experience that feels less satisfying compared to the expectation created.

• “Unpopular opinion. Honestly, I couldn't stand Komi Can't Communicate. I was tired of hearing people say she was so down to earth, when people with social anxiety would never be as popular as that girl. And the inability to speak is not the same as social anxiety either. A good example of realistic social anxiety would be Watamote“.
• “Nanatsu no Taizai, without a doubt.“.
• “Take a shot every time you read Jujutsu Kaisen in this thread.“.
• “Kanojo Okarishimasu, for several reasons.“.
• “I really can't enjoy any long shounen. I absolutely hate the tropes of over-explaining everything, as if the viewer can't understand without help. It feels like crappy writing, I've never heard of "show, don't tell".“.
• “I liked the way Hitorri Bocchi dealt with social anxiety. From the need to constantly make sure they are still her friends and remember her to the over-planning of unimportant things like their visit to her house. Plus, AnoHana sucks“.
• “Thank goodness someone else thinks Anohana was a melodramatic travesty. If you watched the movie when you were 10-13, I understand.“.
• “Who the hell thinks Komi-san is even remotely realistic? The entire series is completely absurd. I really don't understand the hype surrounding Vivy Fluorite Eyes Song. I thought it was good and finished it, but I wasn't thrilled with it.“.
• “One Piece, I have a life to live“.
• “I might get a lot of flak for this, but One Piece. A lot of people told me to watch it, so I watched like 20 episodes and never really got into it. “.
• “As a huge One Piece fan, I get it. A lot of fans tell people that they need to go through Arlong Park because “that’s where it gets really good!” But that’s over 40 episodes. No one should have to watch 40 episodes just to get to the “good part.”“.
• “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Even for an isekai, there's no stakes. The protagonist is OP right off the bat and never fights or faces any real threat. And five episodes in, I still haven't found a single character I care about. So if there's no stakes and no interesting characters, there's no point in watching.“.
• “Fire Force. Sure, the fire cat girl kept losing her clothes, to the point where I thought it was a satire of fanservice. But I didn't care. What bothered me was the guy with the fire sword. "Why am I losing? I'm using the sword with the wrong hand"... What? No, seriously, that's bullshit. How do you write all your characters to be so dumb that they would physically die if you left them unsupervised in the real world for more than two hours? That hurt, especially since the action was beautiful.“.
• “Hero of the Shield. The initial “this country hates the Hero of the Shield, but they can’t kill him” approach was interesting. But the character himself was so bitter that it was unpleasant to watch, and so OP that there was no stake in it. Not to mention he single-handedly started the slavery craze in another world.“.
• “Blue Lock. As someone who loves soccer, seeing them create a team of only strikers irritated me, no matter how petty the reason. Plus, I don't like sports anime. I got dragged into watching it and got all the way to episode 9 before giving up.“.
• “Demon Slayer, the cast is boring or a little annoying and the story is pretty dull. The animation ruined it for me. I didn't continue after the first season.“.
• “I couldn't watch Boku no Hero Academia because it took too long to get to the main plot and I'm impatient.“.
• “One Piece. They're going on something like 1100 episodes, but I couldn't stand it. I tried to watch a few of them and finally stopped after about 200 episodes. No one can say I stopped too soon.“.
• “For me, it has to be Demon Slayer. It has a strong start, but as the plot progresses and the characters become diluted, it is terribly boring and full of the most banal shonen clichés. I didn't bother watching it past the red light district arc, despite the incredible production and animation.“.
• “The Monogatari series. I managed to get to the end of the 9 episodes and found no reason to care about anything.“.
• “Naruto and One Piece. It's a very difficult task with so many episodes.“.
• “Just leveling, no doubts“.
• “I gave up on Jujutsu Kaisen on my first try, but when the second season came out recently, I gave it another chance and for some reason, I really enjoyed it. Who knows, maybe I wasn't in the right mindset on my first try.“.
• “I tried really hard to like Cowboy Bebop. I watched it all, but it felt like a chore. I know everyone loves it, but I just couldn't get into it.“.
• “Mine was Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's very slow and doesn't interest me much, although the opening is legendary.“.
• “I'll probably get crucified for this, but I couldn't get through Jojo's Bizarre Adventure because I really don't get what's so popular about it, I mean the action scenes are cool with the superpowers like the ripple and the bleachers and stuff, but other than that there's a lot of really ridiculous stuff that I just don't get, like the flashy outfits everyone wears? The constant sexual actions and innuendos? All the silly and crazy actions and decisions the characters make? I've seen a lot of ridiculous anime where I can at least understand where they're going with it, like Gintama and Food Wars, but Jojo's.... I don't get what makes it popular.“.
• “Demon Slayer, I tried to force myself to watch it twice and it was absolute torture, literally no original stuff, just recycled shonen tropes with good animation, I really tried to watch it but I couldn't, I was even about to try a third time but I decided to stop trying altogether.“.
• “Mushoku Tensei the fan-service literally makes the show practically unwatchable I can watch a good story but every episode there is fan-service, just disappointing.“.
• “For me, it was Shingeki no Kyojin. I tried to watch the commercials, I watched the whole first season thinking maybe there would be something at the end that would grab me, but nothing. So I gave up after the first season.“.
• “Re:Zero probably. I'm halfway through S2. I understand what people might take away from this, but I'm not one of those people.“.
• “Dr. Stone. The premise of the series is excellent, a series in which the characters rebuild humanity using science. That's why I love Ascendance of a Bookworm. But what turns me off about the series is the fact that it's shonen. The screams, the smiles, the logic of a clueless young man (ohh... I can't stand seeing my girl naked, so I'm going to dress her up before I revive her. I don't know how to revive her from a thousand-year dream!). I don't know what happened after that, because I dropped the series after a few episodes. What puzzles me is why this series has more than one season. I think it appeals to someone.“.
• “86: Eighty-six, I was just bored, I don't understand why he is so well liked and well rated. Maybe I wasn't in the right mindset, or maybe he's not my type? I didn't get to see the second part“.
• “I tried it with Bocchi the Rock! and liked it a little more, but I also don't think it was my type. But it had its good moments.“.
• “Serial Experiments Lain is the anime I liked the least. Excessively slow. I only didn't give it 1/10 because I liked the last episode and the art direction was interesting.“.
• “I couldn't get into Black Clover because the main character's voice was too deep and didn't suit him very well. Maybe he's going through puberty at the beginning of the anime? I'm not sure.“.
• “Mashle… None of the jokes were funny to me. It seemed very forced.“.
• “I tried to watch Steins;Gate about three times, but I couldn't get past the first few episodes. I should have liked it because I love anime that deals with time travel, but I found the story and characters boring.“.
• “Just Levelling… I wanted to like it, and I thought the first two episodes were great, but the middle and last episodes, where he just levels up, didn't seem that interesting to me. I preferred when he was interacting with others or in a group dynamic (I liked the story of the S-level hunter a little more), which is ironic because it's JUST Leveling.“.
• “To Your Eternity. It felt like they were killing people for the sake of killing people, and not because their deaths actually mattered, not even to the characters involved.“.
• “Mashle. Terrible premise, terrible character. I hated him. I watched two episodes and finished it.“.
• “I tried really hard and got this far (8 episodes) in Nichijou, but I finally gave up. I'm sorry, but I don't find this kind of humor funny. I don't think it's my cup of tea.“.
• “Soul Eater. Great animation - everything else I found unbearable.“.

Source: Reddit