Some anime have stories so compelling, characters so layered, and worlds so rich that they deserve the bestanimation studiosJapan has to offer. But not every gem gets the polish it needs. Whether due to tight production schedules, underfunded studios, or questionable creative choices, several otherwise brilliant anime have ended up looking rushed, awkward, or outright unfinished.
This list isn’t about bashing these titles, it’s about recognizing their potential. Each entry here features astory worth telling. But what connects them is a shared disappointment: their animation couldn’t keep up with their narrative ambition.
These anime could’ve been so much more if they had simply looked as good as they were written.
6The Seven Deadly Sins
When Studio Changes Break Sacred Bonds
The Seven Deadly Sins
The Seven Deadly Sins started as a promising adaptation of Nakaba Suzuki’s manga, following Meliodas and his band of legendary knights framed for treason against the Liones Kingdom. The first two seasons,animated by A-1 Pictures, delivered solid animation that complemented the fantasy adventure story of Elizabeth’s quest to clear the Sins' names and save her kingdom.
The series took a devastating turn when Studio Deen took over for season three, “Wrath of the Gods.” Fans immediately noticed the jarring drop in animation quality during crucial fight scenes. The infamous Escanor vs. Meliodas battle, which should have been a climactic showcase of raw power, instead became a slideshow of still frames and poorly choreographed sequences.
What makes this particularly painful is how rich the source material remains. The story explores themes of redemption, sacrifice, and the burden of past sins through characters such as Ban’s immortal love for Elaine and King’s complex relationship with his responsibilities in the fairy realm. Meliodas himself carries the weight of being the Demon King’s son while trying to break free from a cycle of reincarnation that has cost him Elizabeth’s life countless times.
A War Epic Derailed by 3D Experiments
Kingdom is a political war drama rooted in the history of China’s Warring States period, and at its core, it’s about one boy’s dream to become the greatest general under the heavens. The story pulls you in with large-scale military strategies, betrayals, and philosophical clashes between warlords who each have their own sense of justice.
But when the anime adaptation premiered in 2012, fans were blindsided by the overuse of stiff CGI models. Every battle scene, crucial to the soul of the series, was rendered with lifeless, expressionless 3D puppets. The movement was janky, the facial animations nonexistent, and even the dust clouds felt copy-pasted.
It was unfortunate, because Kingdom had the substance to rival shows like Attack on Titan or Vinland Saga. Fortunately, later seasons switched studios and styles, opting for traditional 2D animation, and the series finally started to reflect the energy of its source material. But for years, Kingdom was known less for its strategic brilliance and more for how it felt like watching a history documentary done in outdated game engine graphics.
A Soulful Reboot That Faded Frame By Frame
There’s no shortage of tragedy in Dororo. A boy born without limbs, eyes, or even skin, Hyakkimaru, roams a war-torn Japan, slaying demons to reclaim pieces of his stolen body. Alongside him is Dororo, a street-smart orphan who gives the series its emotional weight. It’s a story about identity, revenge, and the cost of regaining one’s humanity.
MAPPA and Tezuka Productions co-produced the reboot in 2019, and it started strong. The first episode was stylish, haunting, and visually sharp, particularly in how it portrayed Hyakkimaru’s fights without eyes or ears. But as the season progressed, the cracks started to show. Animation shortcuts became apparent, with choppy sword fights, off-model faces, and missing frames plaguing even major episodes. It didn’t help that many scenes reused static backgrounds and awkward camera pans to mask the lack of fluid movement.
It was frustrating because Dororo had some of the best writing of the year. The pacing, character arcs, and episodic morality plays were beautifully adapted from Osamu Tezuka’s manga. But the art simply couldn’t keep up, especially by the time Hyakkimaru’s conflict with his brother Daigo came to a head. The emotional payoff remained, but it was dimmed, like watching a masterpiece through a fogged window.
3One-Punch Man
From God-Tier to Barely Average
One-Punch Man
When Season 1 of One-Punch Man hit the scene in 2015, it shook the entire anime landscape. With Studio Madhouse and animator Shingo Natsume at the helm, every fight was cinematic. Saitama vs. Boros is still referenced today as a gold standard for action animation. Viewers loved how the visuals elevated the satire, making every overpowered punch feel earned and exhilarating.
Then came Season 2.
J.C. Staff took over, and everything slowed down, both literally and figuratively. Animation quality dipped noticeably. Saitama’s fights became mostly off-screen or covered in smoke and speed lines to avoid animating full sequences. Genos' battles, once full of kinetic energy, were reduced to basic effects and awkward still frames. The camera angles became flat, the backgrounds lifeless, and even the sound design suffered.
The biggest blow was that One-Punch Man Season 2 covered the start of the Monster Association arc, one of the manga’s most intense stretches. It introduced Garou, a compelling anti-hero with his own twisted sense of justice. But instead of dynamic showdowns, fans got budget cuts, awkward pacing, and limited choreography.
2Initial D
When Racing Became a PowerPoint Presentation
Initial D is one of the most iconic street racing anime ever made, especially among car lovers and Eurobeat fans. The show combined real-world car physics, drifting culture, and underground racing into a high-adrenaline experience. It followed Takumi Fujiwara, a tofu delivery boy whose skills on the mountain roads of Mount Akina made him an unsung legend.
The passion behind the series was undeniable, but its animation struggled to keep up, especially in the early seasons. While the hand-drawn character moments were serviceable, the races relied heavily on primitive CGI. Cars slid like bricks on ice, tires barely moved, and the drifting often looked like someone dragging a 3D model across a flat background.
The jarring contrast between 2D characters and 3D cars made it hard to stay immersed. That said, fans stayed because of the storytelling.
A Legendary Story Butchered by CGI
Kentaro Miura’s Berserk is one of the most revered manga of all time. It follows Guts, a wandering mercenary scarred by betrayal and tormented by fate. The themes are heavy, revenge, trauma, ambition, and the characters complex, especially the chilling dynamic between Guts and Griffith.
The 1997 anime adaptation is still praised for its ability to capture the tragic arc of the Band of the Hawk, despite its limited budget. But when the 2016 sequel aired, fans hoped to finally see Berserk get the adaptation it deserved. What they got instead was a disaster.
The animation used a janky CGI hybrid style that made every movement feel rubbery and broken. Faces warped mid-scene, the action sequences were slow and floaty, and the infamous “horse demon” scene became a meme for all the wrong reasons. Even quiet character moments were ruined by dead-eyed models and poor lip-syncing.
The tragedy wasn’t just technical. Miura’s storytelling, rich with existential struggle, moral ambiguity, and raw human emotion, was buried under a production that felt rushed and careless. The anime became infamous as one of the biggest letdowns in adaptation history.
