While anime is splendid most of the time, sometimes it can get a little boring and disappointing. While it does not apply to every anime, as a general rule, the longer-running anime tend to have more unpopular anime arcs.
The long-running anime have arcs that might get repetitive or overtly long which leads to disappointment among the fans. And here’s the list of all unpopular anime arcs of all time!
Some of the anime arcs can get quite tedious owing to their length and boring storylines. This makes them unpopular amongst the fans. Most of such anime arcs are filler like the Bount Arc from Bleach!
10Death Note – The Final Arc
Death Note is one of the most popular anime of all time. If you ask 10 people, 9 out of them would tell you that it is their first anime. It is a fresh and unique concept, and it is very well written…. for the first part.
However, after the death of L, it became immensely painful to watch mostly because L’s replacements weren’t good enough. Both Mello and Near weren’t nearly as smart as L and used underhanded tactics to take down Light.
Most of the fans dropped out after L’s death making it one of the most unpopular anime arcs of all time.
9Bount Arc – Bleach
The first arc of Bleach, Agent of Shinigami Arc was kind of boring as it mainly involved Ichigo dealing with minor Hollows and adjusting to his new soul reaper life. However, the next arc, which involved Rukia’s rescue was one of the best arcs of the series.
Fans were excited to see Ichigo fighting with iconic characters like Ikkaku, Kenpachi, and Byakuya. However, all of this excitement went to drain with the Bount Arc which was a significant step down from the prior arc. It was long, boring, and straight-up disappointing.
This mainly led to the downfall of Bleach since it never truly recovered from this blow!
8 Zoldyck Retrieval Arc – Hunter×Hunter
Hunter× Hunter can be regarded as the pioneering anime for the entire Shounen genre. It is really interesting and manages to keep you on your toes. However, this did not translate into the final arc.
The arc doesn’t tell us anything about the characters, nor does it have many cool moments. There was almost no point to this arc!
7 The Endless Eight – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Endless Eight was a super repetitive arc that kind of got lost without conveying any real intention. Instead of establishing the fact that the characters are reliving the same day over and over again, the story was dragged out for 8 long episodes.
This arc isn’t really worth a watch, so I recommend you guys skip it unless you are a die-hard Haruhi Suzumiya fan!
6Eclipse Celestial Spirits Arc – Fairy Tail
Fairy Tail is fairly long and has quite a few filler arcs, but they aren’t exactly known to be great. Some are watchable but Eclipse Celestial Spirits arc is the worst filler.
It majorly deals with Celestial Spirits refusing to respond after being summoned. It was an interesting concept; however, it wasn’t done well. It included bizarre storytelling and lazy writing.
Instead of focusing on relatively important points, like the relationship between Celestial Spirits and people summoning them, it focuses on some of the most unimportant things possible making it super painful to watch!
5Fullmetal Alchemist – Final Arc
Fullmetal Alchemist was an interesting anime following the story of two brothers: Alphonse and Edward who are looking for a way to resurrect their Deceased mother. However, this was all thrown under a bus when Ed randomly decides to make a sacrifice that doesn’t even make sense.
Like the dude literally chooses to save the life of a random group of soldiers over meeting his brother. This was one of the stupidest things Ed could have done and it was frustrating to watch such a great anime degrading into utter nonsense!
4 Soul Eater – Final Arc
Soul Eater was a super good anime series that had a unique setting and art style. It focuses on the story of Maka who wants to collect 99 souls to earn the ranking of a Death Scythe with her partner Soul. However, the final storyline just goes completely off the rails.
The final few episodes of the series completely abandon everything relevant to the storyline. It takes a complete ‘U-turn from the manga and the ending itself felt very contradictory to what was originally intended making it a highly unpopular arc.
3Dragon Ball Z – The Garlic Jr. Saga
Dragon Ball series is one of the longest-running series of all time and it is expected to have some filler due to the time inconsistencies between manga and the adaptation. However, one of the worst anime filler arcs is the Garlic Jr. Saga arc.
It is regarded as one of the worst anime arcs and for all the right reasons. This arc basically ignored all of Gohan’s development to that point and made him struggle against an enemy that shouldn’t have been a threat. This entire fiasco made it one of the most unpopular arcs of all time!
2Naruto: Shippuden – 4th Shinobi World War Arc
Naruto is one of the most popular anime of all time. However, it is also popular for the insane amount of filler episodes it showcases. While other anime have filler episodes, Naruto has filler ‘arcs’.
Out of all the arcs, the 4th Shinobi War Arc was the place where many fans gave up mostly owing to the length and flashbacks. It was repetitive and the arc also included a hell lot of fillers.
This eventually led to its downfall making it super unpopular. Unfortunately, however, the war arc has some of the best fights of the series and it would be a shame not to witness them. My suggestion, skip the filler and jump to the good part!
1 One Piece – Goat Island Arc
One Piece is full of unique plots and arcs which is the major reason why it was able to keep the excitement alive even after running for 12 years. The story adds excitement with every new arc revealing details little by little.
However, even One Piece has faltered with one of its arcs and it happens to be a filler so we can’t blame Oda. Goat Island arc was a relatively chill arc with no threatening villains.
Well, that’s not a problem but it doesn’t include any interesting details and my recommendation is to skip this arc!
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