New Movies – 10 Hyped Anime Movies That Disappointed Fans
There’s a level of austerity associated with anime movies that separate them from series. There’s a much smaller group of voices that are putting out anime feature films, but it’s led to some amazing auteurs rising out of the process. There’s only a fraction of anime movies that come out each year in comparison to how many series get released, which also turns each anime movie into much more of an event.
It’s easy for high expectations to build up over certain anime films and a lot of the time these projects follow through and are satisfying, but there are also occasions where these cinematic endeavors pale in comparison to what the fandom was looking for.
10 Blood: The Last Vampire Doesn’t Draw Fresh Blood From Its Premise
There is plenty of subject matter that’s overdone in anime and vampires are definitely well-trodden territory at this point. There’s not much new to say on the topic of hybrid vampire hunters and often what makes a project stand out will be the level of precision that’s applied to the action sequences and violence.
Blood: The Last Vampire is produced by Production I.G., which typically does strong work, but this endeavor falls short. The animation and action are lackluster and Blood: The Last Vampire becomes a forgettable vampire feature.
9 Gintama: The Movie Squanders A Major Opportunity
Gintama is a rare exception of an anime series that somehow remains consistent and even improves over the course of its 350+ installments. There are three Gintama anime movies, the last of which acts as the series’ big resolution.
The first effort, Gintama: The Movie, is just a retelling of the anime’s Benizakura arc and besides a cute intro and conclusion, it’s recycled content. Gintama: The Movie functions as an excellent gateway tool for someone that’s never seen the series, but the dedicated fans that anticipated this cinematic effort were somewhat let down with the reused material.
8 The Cat Returns Defies The Expectations Established In Whisper Of The Heart
The Cat Returns is a surprisingly deep story about independence and freedom, courtesy of Studio Ghibli. The movie looks at a fable-like narrative where a girl named Haru rescues a cat from getting road-killed, only to learn that he’s a mystical Cat Prince that she’s now betrothed to marry in the Cat Kingdom.
The Cat Returns is a good movie, but it also functions as a spin-off of Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart, which caused unreasonable expectations. The Cat Returns is a very different kind of story, but still a satisfying evolution of Whisper of the Heart’s world.
7 Ponyo Falls Short Of What Audiences Were Expecting From Miyazaki
Ponyo is a brilliant movie that on any metric should be considered a success, but the difficulty with it is that Hayao Miyazaki’s work is so groundbreaking and consistent that unrealistic expectations are established for his upcoming projects. Ponyo is a moving story about Ponyo, a goldfish princess that longs to live on the surface instead of the sea, with dramatic repercussions accompanying this decision.
Ponyo is a delight, but it does feel reminiscent of Miyazaki’s past works and generic in the way that fairy tales are. It’s a nuanced work that audiences were not expecting at the time.
6 Dragon Ball Super: Broly Is A Shallow Swan Song
The Dragon Ball series has an interesting reputation with its feature film content, which for the longest time was looked at as non-canonical extra material. Dragon Ball Super: Broly marks a change of pace and it’s specifically designed to bring Broly, a former movie-only character, into Dragon Ball Super’s continuity.
In this respect, Dragon Ball Super: Broly satisfies, but it’s still a very by-the-numbers Dragon Ball feature that works well in the moment, but is relatively empty in retrospect. The film also loses some impact since the preceding Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ have already gotten the audience excited.
5 Trigun: Badlands Rumble Wastes The Return Of A Legendary Character
Trigun is an excellent anime series from the ’90s that effectively balances action with moving melodrama through an excellent protagonist, Vash the Stampede. 12 years after the anime’s conclusion, a follow-up movie was announced, Trigun: Badlands Rumble.
After a decade without Trigun content, there was a lot of anticipation over this movie. Badlands Rumble is set before the end of the Trigun anime, which forces the story to essentially be filler. Vash and company engage on a reckless hunt for a dangerous bounty hunter. It’s fun to get the gang back together, but it’s a largely forgettable return for Trigun.
4 Children Who Chase Lost Voices Recycles Makoto Shinkai’s Greatest Hits
Makoto Shinkai is an absolute master of storytelling. Children Who Chase Lost Voices in that respect is far from a bad movie, but it’s Shinkai’s follow-up to 5 Centimeters Per Second, which was so acclaimed that it inevitably set up audiences for disappointment.
Children Who Chase Lost Voices looks at a girl who gets transported to a mystical world courtesy of a crystal radio. It looks incredible, but the story feels derivative of Shinkai’s past works and the characters are relatively shallow, even if that’s the intention. It’s a film that becomes flawed in the larger context of Shinkai’s filmography.
3 Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna Ruins Its Reunion
The Digimon franchise has existed in many different iterations, but the most amount of affection is reserved for the characters and story from the original first two Digimon Adventure series. Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna jumps in on the reunion/sequel trend and uses the title’s anniversary to deliver one last adventure with the original characters.
Last Kizuna feels bloated and uneventful, but it’s at least better than Digimon Adventure tri., which ostensibly does the exact same thing. There’s nostalgia to appreciate, but for a second attempt at this story, it still falls short.
2 Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence Delivers A Shallow Story For A Big Sequel
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence came out in 2004, nearly a decade after the original movie and expectations were high for Mamoru Oshii’s cyberpunk sequel. The original feature film is a masterpiece and the sequel looks gorgeous and raises some fascinating ideas, but it’s a fairly shallow story in comparison to its predecessor.
The narrative about sex robots that rebel against their masters also isn’t that original. As a small consolation, there are still Ghost in the Shell projects that continue to happen as series and movies and so the universe is alive, well, and continues to take risks.
1 Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo Throws Out The Script & Goes For Broke
Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most challenging anime series of all time and Hideaki Anno’s quartet of Rebuild films have somehow turned into an even bigger item of discussion. These movies were designed to retell the events of the series in four condensed features, but the stories started to widely veer from the source material.
The third installment, You Can (Not) Redo is the most egregious offender here and while its decisions may receive justification in the highly anticipated Evangelion 3.0+1.0, the majority of fans were let down by its bold, confusing new direction.
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New Movies – 10 Hyped Anime Movies That Disappointed Fans
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