Anime adaptions are at times forced to adhere to rigid and unforgiving time constraints. These restrictions often cause several series to feel rushed or inaccurate to the source material. Tokyo Ghoul is a classic example of a popular manga with a poorly regarded anime. The series’ main criticism is largely the anime’s rushed pacing.
Unfortunately, certain anime series are forced to condense massively written works into a single season. When Deadman Wonderland was abruptly canceled, many characters and their arcs were outright removed from the anime. The process of pacing can completely make or break a franchise. Many popular anime suffer from inconsistent pacing and are forced to rush fans’ favorite arcs.
10
Solo Leveling Sacrifices Character Development For Flashy Action
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Solo Leveling is one of the most popular anime currently streaming. Yet, the anime makes several slight changes to fit into the series’ lack of episodes. Many minor moments featuring other characters are notably absent from the anime. This decision was likely made to focus on the heavy action the franchise is known for.
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10 Solo Leveling Details Only Manhwa Readers Know
Solo Leveling stands out as a manhwa-based anime, thrilling fans with stunning animation while keeping key details exclusive to readers.
While this change has mostly benefited the anime, it has been slightly controversial among fans of the manwha. The anime ignores several key pieces of lore from the Demon Castle arc in favor of the usual epic battles. The change has been mostly well-received but calls into question the longevity of the anime. Without integral lore, Solo Leveling won’t build a cohesive story.
Solo Leveling
- Release Date
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January 7, 2024
- Directors
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Shunsuke Nakashige
9
Deadman Wonderland’s Cancelation Forced It to Wrap Up Quickly
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Deadman Wonderland is a notably short anime with an interesting premise. The underrated shonen anime covers Ganta Igarashi’s journey to handle his false imprisonment and new powers. The season begins with a bang but slowly peters out as the series attempted to find a satisfactory ending. Unfortunately, since the anime was canceled prematurely, it only covers twenty-one chapters of the manga.
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The series’ short coverage caused many of the fans’ favorite characters and arcs to be removed from the anime. This caused the manga’s audience to dislike the adaption overall. Deadman Wonderland remains an interesting peak into a nearly forgotten shonen anime era. Yet, the franchise is unlikely to receive another adaption anytime soon.
8
Attack on Titan Rushing Through an Already Devastating Ending
Streaming on Crunchyroll
The ending of Attack on Titan is widely considered one of the most devastating in modern anime. However, the series’ ending still feels rushed compared to its manga counterpart. Eren’s shift in personality and motivations feels more jarring in the anime, which has caused many to misinterpret his character. His actions remain inexcusable.
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Anime like Attack on Titan and Steins;Gate remain renowned for their ability to shock anime with their plot twists and turns that no viewer expects.
Since the series had been slowly building to its mind-blowing conclusion, the showrunners cut a few corners to make the anime more digestible. Although these adjustments robbed certain characters of more development, like Annie and Reiner, they ultimately made the ending more memorable. The anime’s purposeful abrupt focus on the rumbling made many fans just as confused as Eren’s former friends.
7
Tokyo Ghoul Crams An Entire Manga Into Two Rushed Seasons
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Tokyo Ghoul is one of the most popular manga, but the same cannot be said for its anime adaption. The Tokyo Ghoul anime is widely known for unsatisfactorily rushing and bumbling through its source material. Aside from rushing single arcs, the unpopular anime removes the entire middle of the story. This removal caused many fans to stop watching the show entirely.
Although Tokyo Ghoul has a fair number of other issues, like poor animation, it mostly suffers from its pacing. Like many other rushed anime, it is forced to condense a huge manga section into a single season. This has caused both the anime and the franchise’s reputation to suffer. Many fans hope that the series will receive a faithful anime adaption.
Tokyo Ghoul
- Release Date
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2014 – 2018
- Network
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Tokyo MX
6
Soul Eater Delivered a Generic Ending to a Spectacular Shonen Anime
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Soul Eater is one of the most interesting anime of its period. It had fantastic world-building and an interesting cast of characters. However, the anime’s focus on the ending seemed to change how the entire story was focused. Although the anime had always focused on Maka and Soul to a degree, they became the titular main characters toward the end.
As Asura grows stronger, the supporting cast seems to grow weaker. They continue to assist Maka and Soul on their journey to defeat Asura, but it feels like a completely different anime. What was once an anime series about great cast of characters in an interesting world transformed into a generic shonen anime during its final arc. This change was mostly caused by the finale’s rushed pacing.
Soul Eater
- Release Date
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2008 – 2008
- Directors
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Takuya Igarashi
- Writers
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Akatsuki Yamatoya
- Franchise(s)
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Soul Eater
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is often called one of the most faithful anime adaptions in history. Yet, few have seen the original series that created the need for the reboot. The original Fullmetal Alchemist not only omits scenes from the manga but becomes completely different early on. Many consider the original adaption to have better character development but worse pacing.
The original Fullmetal Alchemist caught up to the manga relatively quickly. This caused both iterations to differ widely from one another. Aside from missing important arcs like the Central City arc, the story is almost completely different. The initial adaption even wraps up with a movie that leaves Edward Elric trapped in another world.
Fullmetal Alchemist
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Vic Mignogna
Edward Elric
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Aaron Dismuke
Alphonse Elric
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Rie Kugimiya
Riza Hawkeye
4
The God of High School Crams An Entire Webtoon Into 1 Season
Streaming on Crunchyroll
The God of High School anime adaptation is the result of shoving an entire Webtoon into one season. The anime has some great animation and voice acting. Yet, it struggles with its overtly rushed pacing. Aside from skipping the King and Goh Ryu Hwan arcs, the anime is all over the place and misses much of the story.
The unpopular anime proves that great animation cannot make up for a rushed and nonsensical plot. If the anime had been given the proper space and time allotted it could’ve been life-changing. Unfortunately, the showrunners decided to unnecessarily condense the source material instead of covering a portion of it. This change ultimately proved the franchise’s downfall.
The God of High School
- Release Date
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July 6, 2020
- Directors
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Sunghoo Park
3
Berserk Has Yet To Receive a Proper and Faithful Anime Adaption
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Berserk is probably one of the hardest anime to adapt because of the dark nature of the manga. Yet, the 2016 series suffers mostly from its pacing besides its poor animation. The newest Berserk adaption serves as a continuation but is missing almost the entire Black Swordsman arc. This revision is just one decision that led to the series ending prematurely.
To add to the missing key arcs of the story, the latest Berserk adaption ended before it could conclude the story. Although much of Berserk’s content is difficult to cover, it shouldn’t be overtly excluded. Several fans still hold on to the hope that the franchise will be rebooted once again. A reboot isn’t likely anytime soon.
2
Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Original Final Arc Ends Too Quickly
Streaming on Netflix
The ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion was so rushed that the original creators had to make a tie-in movie. The original ending happened almost completely out of nowhere and had many fans left shaking their heads. Despite being an otherwise critically acclaimed anime, the ending needed a lot of work. Thankfully, the movie does a much better job of wrapping up the story.
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Neon Genesis Evangelion is the best-case scenario for a rushed adaption. Despite having a relatively rushed ending, the movie fixes many of the anime’s last mistakes. The new ending proves that the showrunners cared for the audience’s opinion and attempted to give them the finale they desired. The End of Evangelion is just that.
1
The Promised Neverland Season 2 Doesn’t Live Up to the Series’ Amazing Beginnings
Streaming on Crunchyroll
The Promised Neverland Season 1 is a truly fantastic anime adaptation. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the second season. The anime’s most recent season seems to completely deviate from the manga and remove popular and important arcs. The Goldy Pond arc is many fans’ favorite part of the manga, yet it was left out of the anime.
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From Berserk to The Promised Neverland, these anime series prove to be the worst place for newbies to start.
The Promised Neverland proves how being unfaithful to the source material can negatively affect an anime. This is truly heartbreaking considering the series had such a strong start. Overall, the franchise’s poor second season has probably prevented any chance of additional seasons since the manga has ended.
