Quality might be subjective up until a certain point, but the fact is:
- Ratings.
- Reviews.
And things of that nature are more logical and mathematical in nature, at least on the surface.
If we use this as the measuring stick for “worst anime genres”, it becomes a lot easier to provide a list of shows that fit the shoe.
We can also use opinions as a measuring stick as well and come to a conclusion to top it all off (based on what a lot of people think across the board).
Let’s talk about it.
WORST Anime Genres (Non Ranking Order):
Isekai
Isekai has one of the worst ratings when judging by sites like MAL, Crunchyroll, and sources of that nature.
You don’t even need ratings to prove that Isekai as a genre (technicalities aside) is one of the worst genres when judging by quality.
As a genre, it has become so popular that every year there are light novels being adapted with similar names to each other, similar plots, similar stories, and of course, similar cliches.
This has led to a bunch of adapted anime shows, very few of which are original in the Isekai space, to be mediocre, subpar, average, OK, good enough, or “better than expected”.
Very few of these Isekai series (ignoring shows like NGNL) are considered masterpieces by the wider community. Or the types of anime shows that are stellar with the best writing ever seen.
The genre lacks originality and good writing, with only a handful or more of shows that are worth their salt, while all the others are only memorable for the moment but are forgotten 6 months to 1 year after their release.
The genre has potential, but not many are doing a good job of showing it with the exceptions of shows like Ascendance Of A Bookworm, Eminence In Shadow, and other modern Isekai shows.
Ecchi
The Ecchi genre is an easy one to decipher on this topic. It’s ass, titties, booty, almost naked, and lots of lingerie and fanservice.
An anime genre like this may not have many shows to its name (over 300+ or so), but the average ratings in this genre according to MAL, CR, and similar platforms speaks volumes.
This is not the genre that scores 8s and 9s on average despite there being few genres that do, but even a 7 is generous for the ecchi genre.
Why is it judged to be a bad genre exactly beside the ratings?
- Double standards (women half naked is offensive to the fake outrage mob).
- Shallow writing (which can be true).
- Too much fanservice and not enough story.
- The story putting too much emphasis on cliches.
- Controversial content.
- Cliches getting in the way of the stories purpose (HSOTD).
- Lack of creativity.
Kill La Kill is one of the exceptions to this genre since it’s a solid series and creative at that. Same for shows like NGNL, Saekano, Panty And Stocking, and some other ecchi anime.
While To Love Ru is one of the OG’s in the ecchi space, it’s also one of the worst rated and is rife with all the reasons why people don’t rate the genre very highly.
NTR
This is self explanatory but in case it’s not, it stands for Netorare. This Japanese word translates to “Cuckold” in English.
The types of Hentai shows or erotica anime where cheating is common in the relationship, or the type of relationships where the guy does cuckold shit like watching their girlfriend get their backdoors smashed in by another man.
In all fairness, this is mostly hentai, manhwa, and those sorts of materials instead of anime specifically. And as we can see, it’s not hard to recognize why NTR is a bad genre when judging by quality or ratings.
This sort of genre could never be accepted by the wider community because of the morals and ethics involved, as well as the fact that cheating, infidelity, and cuckolding are the norm.
Hentai
Stream your favourite Hentai and play adult anime games when you gain access to the FULL library of content.
And then there’s Hentai as a genre. It’s one of the worst-rated of all time, and based on opinions alone it’s clear why the average anime fan doesn’t hold Hentai to a high standard where “quality” is concerned.
It involves topics like:
- MILF’s.
- Vanilla (wholesome hentai).
- BDSM content.
- Aliens, goblins, or monsters f*cking big tiddie women and so on.
- The use of r*pe as a means to get turned on.
- Every fetish known to man (elves, furry girls, big asses, massive tiddies, tentacles, etc).
- Harems of all kinds never seen in regular anime.
And everything in between that the imagination can stir up. If you can imagine it, it exists. But the nature of Hentai (it’s Japanese porn) means it’s dismissed and not taken seriously from a quality standpoint.
The word Hentai is so famous that even those outside of the anime community know it, and most who know the word are aware because they watch porn.
Or put another way, they use porn sites like pornhub and that’s where and how they’re introduced to the word “Hentai”.
This ends up skewing and deluding their view of anime and Japan as a whole, which is why so many stigmas and biases exist towards the anime community (from those who are obviously ignorant).
That aside, Hentai is more famous than every A-star celebrity and is more popular than all the biggest websites in the world, making it hard for it to not be noticed.
Harem
Harem as a genre speaks for itself. It’s similar to Ecchi, as well as Ecchi, but it’s in effect still different despite its close ties.
- A bland character (male character usually) does nothing special, and yet the girls flock to him.
- That same character may have special powers and this can be the source of his attraction.
- In a separate style of anime, it may be money, and this can be the magnet.
But in most of the harem shows regardless of how it’s written, the main theme is the character being a regular person who becomes the love interest of many girls, which creates a bland setting in general.
This is the reason the genre can be argued to be low quality in general, even if you don’t count the obvious reviews and ratings on various sites.
Opinions alone prove the point and that’s reflected in the ratings, reviews, and analysis style content about these style of anime.
Erotica
Erotica is an anime genre that’s a step up from your regular Ecchi, which I call “diet” Hentai. Though Erotica is more like the younger brother of Hentai making Ecchi the cousin.
A perfect example of the kind of shows you see in this genre are:
- Redo Of Healer.
- Ishuzoku Reviewers.
And various anime shows of a similar nature as far as nudity goes.
While Redo Of Healer is a revenge anime and is disliked for its controversial nature, an anime like Ishuzoku Reviewers in the Erotica genre is disliked and dismissed for the nature of its content.
Many anime in this genre aren’t anything special “in general” as I keep pointing out. There may be good shows but as is the case with ISEKAI and other genres on this list of the worst ones, too many have lower ratings on average compared to other genres in the industry.
Fantasy
Fantasy pairs well with Isekai and by extension, it is dragged down as far as average ratings and reviews. But it goes beyond that.
Fantasy shows also pair well with Ecchi, Harem, sometimes romance, action, Shounen, and others.
Fantasy as a genre is much better than any of the genres you could consider “one of the worst”, but it’s not better than comparable genres like Shounen, action, Seinen, and so on.
The massive amount of anime in this genre makes it naturally difficult for it to have high or good average ratings, opinions and debates aside.
Yuri & Yaoi
Yuri is girls love. Lesbians, kissing between them, relationships between them, and so on.
Yaoi is boys love. Gay men, gay relationships between men, and so on.
Sometimes there is an element of Ecchi to both or one of these genres. Sometimes there is a level of fanservice people may or may not like.
Other times the writing is inconsistent, or just plain bad and lacks character, flair, or anything that would make it interesting.
Stand-out shows are Bloom Into You (Yuri), or No.6 (Yaoi). There isn’t an overwhelming amount of these shows in each genre, but statistically speaking (and in opinions) it’s not favoured by too many on average.
That is as far as quality and ratings stand.
