< Dethroning Moment of Suck (Darth Wiki)
Dethroning Moment of Suck (Darth Wiki)/Anime and Manga
Keep in mind:
- Moments only, no "just everything he said, " "The entire show, " or "This entire season, " entries.
- No contesting entries. This is subjective, the entry is their opinion.
- No natter. As above, anything contesting an entry will be cut, and anything that's just contributing more can be made its own entry.
- Explain why it's a Dethroning Moment Of Suck.
- No Real Life examples, including Executive Meddling. That is just asking for trouble.
- No ASSCAPS, no bold, and no italics unless it's the title of a work. We are not yelling the DMoSs out loud.
- Haruhi Suzumiya:
- Episode 2 (Chronologically) of Haruhi Suzumiya. The SOS Brigade needs a computer, so what does Haruhi do? She forces the president of the Computer Club on Mikuru's breast and takes a photo. She threatens to tell everyone that it was a gang rape. Want to know the worst part? Haruhi got away with it. I officially stopped watching the series after that. I don't care if Haruhi is god, someone should have smacked her across the face (Kyon actually could have, but nope, he was too busy being a tool. It's worse in the light novel: he was the one taking the photos.)
- In The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, the whole "Mikuru is my toy!" incident. For me, not only was the moment overblown with melodrama, but the end of the first novel implied that Haruhi would start getting better, so why reset her development to have her be an even bigger Jerkass than ever before and have Kyon dislike her again? Some have never forgiven Haruhi for this. I love the character and think that the author just turned alot of people off of her by writing this. Which probably wasn't the intent, so it would've been better if it just hadn't happened.
- For those who need a reminder of what went wrong, a whole argument sparked between Haruhi and Kyon over her telling Tsuruya to spike Mikuru's drink with alcohol. Haruhi still wanting to film the kissing scene, even though Mikuru was too drunk and Kyon opposed it, didn't help, but what made her an even more Jerkass than normal was her audacity to state the above. The whole event not only showed Haruhi at her absolute worst (cruel and selfish), but also Kyon at his worst: he reacted by trying to punch Haruhi (Itsuki stopped him) and declaring that "anyone who refuses to listen needs a good beating before they'll learn!" No matter Haruhi's behavior, Kyon acted in the wrong way. The only one who was sufficiently mature to apologize afterward was Tsuruya.
- In the second season of the anime, Endless Eight... as originally aired between June and August 2009. Fans were stoked to watch a long-awaited second season of Haruhi, only to realize the Endless Eight episodes went through the same beats again and again every week. The outraged reaction was so infamous that it became a meme. Watching it now is an interesting test of endurance, but the fact that the whole arc took eight episodes out of fourteen is a shame.
- Berserk's ending, if only for how it was timed: just when the saga was getting started in the Manga.
- To me, it was the fact that the coolest scene in the series happens immediately after the series ends. They couldn't give us 5 extra minutes?
- Akira's ending, for the same thing.
- The Mahou Sensei Negima anime's ending, for doing the same thing.
- Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko for the same thing. Is Erio an alien or not? What exactly does Yashiro know? Who does Makoto end up falling in love with? Who knows! They ended it at visual novel #3 of 8 total, with literally no questions answered.
- Video Girl Ai also for the same reason. The anime ends with Ai disappearing, and never comes back, leaving Youta devastated. Though this ending is incredibly tragic, the manga keeps going, and Ai is not actually lost forever.
- Elfen Lied's anime ending. Not that it was bad, far from it. In fact, the ending could have been good if another season was planned ahead and made. But no, Elfen Lied had to be cancelled for whatever reason after only 13 episodes and after the story wasn't even finished. What makes it particularly bad is that the anime gave Lucy more depth than the manga; instead of being a sadistic psychopath who enjoys killing, Lucy instead kills those who provoke her and even then she doesn't enjoy killing (unless you count her torture of Nana when they first met but even then Lucy warned her not to provoke her, and in the end, Lucy regrets her decisions).
- The kiss. Just...the kiss. Lucy actually has the gall to kiss the boy whose family she cruelly and horrifically murdered and whose life she's ruined? And said boy actually kisses her back? Pretty much forgiving that monster? And even if we ignore that she did the above for a moment, wouldn't it still be better for him AND her if he puts the poor crazy girl out of her misery instead? But no, he looooves her too much.
- The final battle in Gundam Seed Destiny, a one sided Curb Stomp Battle, that has ZAFT getting their asses kicked and hardly scratching the Three Ship Alliance. It ruins the characters of Rey, Talia, and Shin.
- The absurd love story between Shinn and Lunamaria? Sorry, was I supposed to cheer for such a poorly done, nonsensical and Strangled by the Red String relationship? I don't care what people say about Shinn and Stellar, at least that pairing had a logical base instead of "Shinn, you killed my sis and my boyfriend... HOLD ME!".
- The duel between Kira and Rey. What the hell was that about? They were freakin evenly matched before their little argument on their ideology! All it took was one (cheesy) line from Kira, and Rey was basically one-shot killed immediately after that. Sure, in-battle chat is always a constant in Gundam battles, but that scene almost tainted that concept as a way to force your opponent into submission. You don't win fights with heroic speeches!!
- Neo. Freaking. Roanoke. More specifically, from Episode 33-ish onwards. Up to that point he'd been a fairly typical Mysterious Masked Man - kind of a less crazy and better-dressed version of his predecessor Rau Le Creuset. Then they made him Mwu La Flaga, who in one of Gundam Seed's most memorable moments had sacrificed himself to save the lives of his teammates by throwing himself into the path an antimatter weapon that had literally vaporized the entire cockpit block of his mobile suit...with no explanation. To add insult to injury, the finale recycles that entire scene again, minus the Heroic Sacrifice part.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 finally had this after they had a Time Skip and jumped for about 9000 sharks. Where do we begin? Well, for one thing, they killed Wang Liu Mei and Hong Long without shedding any backstories that they terribly needed in order for them to be well rounded characters... and secondly? They threw Nena's redeeming actions in episode 13 out of the window, reintroduced her as a psycho bitch again and then got her killed (yes, it's well deserved, but still.) Pretty sure there will be more dethroning moment, but this troper can only quote The Angry Video Game Nerd: "What were they thinking!?"
- I was willing to cut the second season of Gundam 00 some slack for a long time, thanks to its great battle animations. I forgave them their poor handling of turning sociopathic Designated Heroes into real heroes. And making antagonists eviler than forty Hitlers (after the morally ambiguous first season, mind you). And turning Graham into a fucking joke. And turning Soma Peiris into Marie. And turning Colonel Smirnov into a wuss. Making Louise go stark raving mad and turning Setsuna practically invincible with a God Mode upgrade (after which the series had almost no interesting battles) started to stretch it. But the final drop was Deus Ex Machina of episode 24, which must be seen to be believed. A word to authors: Instrumentality-like magic is not a good way to resolve personal conflicts and main characters going all Super Saiyajin and single-handedly turning imminent defeat into victory is not only an overused trope, but also isn't really appropriate for "realistic" series.
- The revelation of Schenberg's plan being to evolve humanity into a new species by bombarding them with GN particles. Not only does it make a complete mockery of the series attempt to be realistic (a group of people are willing to spend 200 years and trillions of dollars following a guy whose plan is entirely based on theories) but the series claim that all wars are caused by misunderstanding is ridiculous. It shows that no one on staff has any understanding of current events, world history, or Japan's history. The entire thing doesn't even take into account the effect it would have on different culture or religion. The worst part is that it presents Celestial Being as right and anyone who dares stand against them as evil and misguided. Its like if Durandal was the hero of Gundam Seed Destiny.
- The Gundam00 movie, Awakening of the Trailblazer. Putting the fun action scenes aside, the movie is filled with ideas that have potential being tossed aside, like Saji practically doing nothing worth the viewers time even though he wants to help, new character Descartes dying off early without getting any kind of character development, and the movie ending with no one knowing what has ultimately become of most of the characters, how they're fairing, etc. Because to the makers, showing us the ultimate resolutions of the characters fans love is no where near as important as beating them over the head with their obnoxious anti-war message, complete with an unnecessary Albert Einstein quote.
- The Curb Stomp Battle between Suzaku and the three "aces" of Britannia in Code Geass, basically the ultimate example of Informed Ability. Not only does it make Britannia look like a pile of shit, but it makes the Black Knights look like a pile of shit for not being able to destroy them.
- How stupid do they expect us to be in order to accept the overall ending to R2? (Granted, given the amount people who ate it up, I guess they're not wrong) The war between Britannia and Japan was over resources, not hatred, racism, or all that other puppy-hugs social worker bullcrap. Lelouch focusing the world's hatred on him and then planning his own demise doesn't mean anything to the ultimate reason anyone was fighting in the first place unless his corpse suddenly makes the sky rain Sakuradite. Britannia was only treating Japan like third-class citizens to try and vindicate to their own people why there was any reason to invade and take their resources. But so we can have a feel-good sappy ending and suddenly try to do some bullshit savior motif with the most obnoxious anti-hero ever, suddenly we're expected to believe that everyone loves each other because Lelouch was the worst person ever. Uh, no? Ozymandias did something similar in Watchmen over 20 years before this was considered "clever" - at least Alan Moore was smart enough to realize that some overly elaborate Thanatos Gambit like Zero Requiem would only stop the fighting for a very, very short time. It's only a matter of time until either nation wants more resources, but why even acknowledge that when there's Lelouch circle-jerking to do? Totally insulting to the viewer's intelligence. Never mind that they never even explain what the hell is going to happen to all the other nations that are dominions of Britannia - apparently the only nation whose freedom matters is Japan. Self-centered, much?
- And while we are all pissed, let me bring in one of the most obvious topics to the table: Euphemia's genocide. So, Lelouch looks at her and says "Hey, now that we have world peace, I wanna show you my powers! LOL, if I wanted to, I could make you kill millions and become a monster in the history books!" And then, his Geass went off. So after she literally took a gun and started shooting all of the Japanese around her, Lelouch gave her a bullet for her troubles and I left the series for good.
- Seconded. It was a'prime example of They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot. If the world peace plan had actually been allowed to happen, and then somehow get devastatingly crushed, it would have been really interesting, and it would have given Euphemia plenty of Character Development to go through in response to her dream being dashed like that. But no, she gets cruelly Stuffed Into the Fridge instead and the plan never really gets off the ground. Gaaah!
- The Black Knights deciding to join Schneizel after learning the truth of Lelouch's past in R2 should definitely qualify, if only because it makes them all come across as treacherous and stupid, and, in the case of Ohgi, completely hypocritical. The fact that all of them get happy endings while Lelouch, the guy who made them what they were and led them to victory after victory, dies does not help one bit.
- How stupid do they expect us to be in order to accept the overall ending to R2? (Granted, given the amount people who ate it up, I guess they're not wrong) The war between Britannia and Japan was over resources, not hatred, racism, or all that other puppy-hugs social worker bullcrap. Lelouch focusing the world's hatred on him and then planning his own demise doesn't mean anything to the ultimate reason anyone was fighting in the first place unless his corpse suddenly makes the sky rain Sakuradite. Britannia was only treating Japan like third-class citizens to try and vindicate to their own people why there was any reason to invade and take their resources. But so we can have a feel-good sappy ending and suddenly try to do some bullshit savior motif with the most obnoxious anti-hero ever, suddenly we're expected to believe that everyone loves each other because Lelouch was the worst person ever. Uh, no? Ozymandias did something similar in Watchmen over 20 years before this was considered "clever" - at least Alan Moore was smart enough to realize that some overly elaborate Thanatos Gambit like Zero Requiem would only stop the fighting for a very, very short time. It's only a matter of time until either nation wants more resources, but why even acknowledge that when there's Lelouch circle-jerking to do? Totally insulting to the viewer's intelligence. Never mind that they never even explain what the hell is going to happen to all the other nations that are dominions of Britannia - apparently the only nation whose freedom matters is Japan. Self-centered, much?
- I have had friends who swore off My-HiME because of the pointless, inappropriate Panty Thief fourth episode. In some cases their viewership was saved by jumping straight to the Growing the Beard moment. In others... irredeemable.
- The ending, a dark depressing series, where nearly the entire cast is either dead or insane, and then everyone comes back to life, everyone's mental trauma is gone, and everyone including Nagi, and Shizuru are instantly forgiven. Way to ruin the entire series in one episode, Sunrise. The worst part is that the entire thing is played for laughs, the troublemaker becomes a Nun, and Shizuru's actions are portrayed as comedy. If you don't have the balls to kill people off than don't try to make a dark depressing series.
- And let's not forget Alissa being alive and well again as well, even though there is no logical reason that the Get-out-of-afterlife-free card the rest of the cast got would apply to her, and in fact hadn't been shown to come back until she simply walked into church. If I were Mai or Natsuki, I'd have called the hospital to see if their respective mothers were alive and well again as well, as it wouldn't have amazed me anymore at that point.
- The ending, a dark depressing series, where nearly the entire cast is either dead or insane, and then everyone comes back to life, everyone's mental trauma is gone, and everyone including Nagi, and Shizuru are instantly forgiven. Way to ruin the entire series in one episode, Sunrise. The worst part is that the entire thing is played for laughs, the troublemaker becomes a Nun, and Shizuru's actions are portrayed as comedy. If you don't have the balls to kill people off than don't try to make a dark depressing series.
- For me (and for many other Italian fans), the lowest moment of Mai-Otome was the 8th OVA special, where Mai tells Natsuki how she disappeared. Not only does it make Mai look like an idiot for getting lost in a forest she should know very well - and, lest we forget it, she's a trained Otome! - but it also felt to many like a silly excuse to write Yuuichi out of the continuity, pander to his haters who just wanted him gone, and somehow pair up Mai and Mikoto. In fact, when reading the Mai-Otome manga, I was glad to see that Yuuichi actually has a substantial role there, even as a posthumous character, and is/was married to Mai.
- As one of the handful who took My-HiME's bizarre ending in stride, I almost gave up on Mai-Otome at around episode 20. Lots of animation issues (and to think, the previous series rarely ever had such problems), Arika as a mopey mess, "that" Tomoe/Shizuru kissing scene, Natsuki still being treated like a Butt Monkey...and twenty episodes in, and still no Mai (even though all of the other major HiME characters had shown up in some capacity at that point). Ow, ow, ow, ow.
- In the manga version of Flame of Recca. Mikagami Tokiya. Drugged by a minor villain so easily. So much for being a genius!
- Yu Yu Hakusho: the low point for the manga was when much of the Three Kings Saga builds up how powerful Yomi is and that he could be planning to take over all three worlds, only to turn the fight against Yomi into an anticlimax when Yomi apparently gives up on his ambition after Yusuke starts the Demon World Unification Tournament, and reduces the fight against Yomi to the opening moves.
- For me, it was way before that: Yusuke vs. Rando. Are you honestly telling me that he won through SHEER luck? Don't get me wrong here - I know that luck is a factor in any conflict... but it's ONE factor; any anime who has the character surviving through luck also has it winning through effort/intelligence/etc. In this case, Yusuke only won because he had algae inside his ear (not by his own planning, mind you; it simply got stuck there). Nope, no strategy, no willpower-that-defies-biology... just algae. What a cheap victory, Togashi.
- Episode 97 "Departing Living World" is where I lost my interest in Shizuru when she beats up Kuwabara for not going to school. As a fangirl who loves Kuwabara, I sometimes like Shizuru because of her Cool Big Sis personality. However, I would've likened Shizuru more if it weren't for the Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male) she inflicted on her baby brother. The way she treated him in that episode would make South Park's Shelley Marsh feel ashamed of what she always done to her little brother Stan. Yes, I know these abuse are meant to be Played for Laughs, but the way Shizuru treated Kuwabara was where Kuwabara's desire to never fight with women probably comes from seriously makes me want to write an angry letter to the anime director, Noriyuki Abe, demanding him to please remove that scene of Shizuru abusing Kuwabara permanently.
- In Bleach, while Starrk's end was disappointingly sudden, he's technically second to "0 Espada" Yammy Rialgo. That reveal is in an of itself a Dethroning Moment of Suck for this series- I thought the spoiler with it was a joke, especially since Yammy had seemed quite weak and incompetent until then and the Espada ranks go from 1 to 10.
- Ulquiorra's battle with Ichigo, which had huge amounts of hype for practically the whole arc with his parallels to Byakuya driving it up more. And after waiting ages after start for the fight to really begin, it managed to somehow become the single most shining example of everything that is wrong with Bleach fights since the SS arc began. Right after Ulquiorra releases it begins a complete beatdown, followed with an expected but still incredibly annoying Plotkai in order for everything to be turned COMPLETELY around, and now it's Ulquiorra getting his ass kicked. This even after he'd released again, effectively shooting any semblance of making an accurate powerscale during that battle to hell. Worse still, it even added in DBZ style energy clashes, which effectively made it rank second in the worst overhyped battles I've ever seen. And don't even get me started on that ending. Suffice to say there's a reason there are so many Wall Banger examples made of this entire fight, and practically the entire ending, is a pretty damn good clue why.
- Like the person above, the Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra fight was my moment, but for somewhat different reasons. I was really looking forward to that battle, and it was utterly disappointing in every aspect possible, but especially in the way Orihime's role was dealt with. I was hoping against hope that Ichigo was actually dead (or at least permanently out of the fight) so that Orihime could live up to her determination not to be protected by Ichigo anymore and start protecting him, but of course she fell miserably short, becoming a broken record who could only repeat Ichigo's name. What? What happened to her powers that could supposedly defy the will of God if she got determined and Character Development? What happened to the girl who slapped her captor for talking badly about her friends even though he could have killed her quite easily? I was hoping for something along the lines of Riza Hawkeye-esque Berserker Tears and a pain-fueled attack against her tormentor and the one who had just killed the boy she loved. Instead, I get a desperate girl screaming for a dead man to save her, and Ichithing responding to Strawberry-kun's Chronic Hero Syndrome in order to curbstomp Ulquiorra in an utterly boring, pointless battle. This isn't about her pretty white dress; it's about portraying one of the heroines, who has endless possibilities as a unique and powerful character, as a wishy-washy mess who doesn't even attempt to live up to her own goals. Great job, Kubo. You're on your way to becoming just as bad as Naruto when it comes to ruining potentially great female characters.
- I'm not 100% sure where to put the precise moment, but for now, I'll put it when Yamamoto's powers got sealed by Wonderweiss. At that moment, I realized that the series has become nothing more than "shocking" plot twists, Aizen had become a Villain Sue to the point that he doesn't even need the freaking hygoukou (however the fuck that's spelled), the Espada (all of them!) were massively over-hyped, and that Ichigo is somehow expected to win against Aizen, despite the fact that Yamamoto's raw power, Urahara's intelligence, and even a Urahara/Yoruichi/Isshin team isn't able to bring him down.
- The aftermath of the fight against Aizen when it finally ends. The only permanent injury the good guys suffered (besides Ichigo losing his shinigami powers, but I have a feeling he'll get them back) is Yamamoto, who's missing an arm, and even he's walking around as if he lost nothing (keep in mind that this is a day after the fight). And Hiyori got sliced in half and they can completely heal her, yet they can't bring back Yamamoto's arm? This is never explained. Also, we never even got to see the rest of Kenpachi and Byakuya's fight against Yammy. We're just told that it was easy.
- In Fushigi Yuugi Nakago, a Complete Monster of the first order, goes to heaven after his death, despite never showing a trace of regret or sympathetic traits. We get treated to his angsty childhood flashback, we get the reason behind his Disproportionate Retribution, and we're supposed to feel bad for him as he dies. "Oh, poor baby, sure he was raping dogs left and right, and wanted to commit genocide, but he was doing it because the bad, bad king killed his mommy and raped him. He was a good guy after all..." Puh-lease, Watase. Give me a freaking break.
- The whole "Tasuki tries to rape Miaka" situation, complete with the reveal that it was More Than Mind Control and he had secretly been in love with her for ages. I mean, seriously? At that point in the series the number of male characters falling obsessively in love with Miaka and/or sexually assaulting her was already nearing laughable proportions, and this was just like the unholy combination of both.
- Which will happen if you're watching the Compressed Adaptation that was the anime, because having read the manga first, I was dissapointed at how much of the manga's Character Development, as well as development of Train's Railgun and Sven's Bullet Time for each character was removed in place of Filler.
- I love Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Still, in the second movie, Gainax crossed the line when they altered the Antispiral torturitng Nia scene. In the series, it was only a little creepy. In the movie, however... He destroyed her clothes, and started grabbing with Naughty Tentacles and straddled her while she called out for Simon in fear! Way to go Gainax. You literally raped my favorite character, and still kill her in the end. Cheez.
- I've had more fun watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann than any other anime, namely because of how the show takes Refuge in Cool. But there was one scene that I felt was gratuitous: Rossiu's reveal to his father that their religious text was nothing but a bunch of gibberish that they were misinterpreting. There wasn't any given reason for the show to have a Take That against organized religion, especially considering the age group that the show was initially intended for.
- The last five minutes of the last TV Episode retroactively piss all over the point of the show (which was supposed to be about hope of some sort, right?), and manages to Up to Eleven (fitting, given the show) in subverting it. First off, Nia dies, even after that was a perfectly good chance to save her but it wasn't taken for some bullshit reason. Boo. And then the Distant Finale manages to make everyone (save Viral, Boota and Leeron, though the first is justified) look like they just let themselves go and they aged horribly (Rossiu and Simon pretty much lost all their good looks in their middle age), Yoko got it even worse (and her face isn't even shown, mostly because it most likely probably looks like her badly aged figure, and the dark, dreary colors in most of the scenes really give one a feeling of hope. As if one's gut needs more punches, Viral has a wife (but he can't have kids and he'll outlive her, which is just cruel given his circumstances), and Simon is essentially robbed of one final chance to be awesome and pretty much admits he's useless. And, as the cherry on top, the above could've been cut and the show ended as Simon was walking into the distance after the wedding, and the hope and optimism would've been retained, but some jackass added five minutes of the deplorable crap outlined above, and it pretty much retroactively poisoned all the awesome I watched in the last 27 episodes.
- I've had more fun watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann than any other anime, namely because of how the show takes Refuge in Cool. But there was one scene that I felt was gratuitous: Rossiu's reveal to his father that their religious text was nothing but a bunch of gibberish that they were misinterpreting. There wasn't any given reason for the show to have a Take That against organized religion, especially considering the age group that the show was initially intended for.
- Despite being a mostly excellent show (in this tropette's humble opinion), the penultimate episode of Overman King Gainer contains a very infuriating moment - when the Overdevil possesses Gainer and Gauli, their respective love interests Sara and Adette both try to make them snap out of it through a True Love's Kiss... but it turns out, only Adette manages to, while Sara fails and gets possessed as well. Now, the common Hand Wave is that Gainer and Sara had gotten distant, and that's why Sara's kiss didn't work on him... but then, Fridge Logic kicks in: Adette and Gauli barely had any interaction before declaring their love to each other, and furthermore, only 2-3 episodes before, Gainer and Sara had had a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming / Ship Tease moment together in King Gainer's cockpit. So, exactly, why are we supposed to believe that Adette and Gauli have a stronger, more significant connection? The whole thing felt like it was only done for the sake of cheap drama, and to make sure the series lasted another episode (because when Gainer came back to his senses, the Overdevil got Curb Stomped)...
- In Fullmetal Alchemist's climax, some parts of the underground fight right before they move above ground. For instance, May really didn't add anything to the plot by being there. She did something important above ground, but underground it seemed like she was there just to make Al look good (by shielding her from Father's attacks). I know she helped guard against Father's attack from the ground, but I see no reason why Hohenheim couldn't have done that in addition to blocking the attack from the ceiling. There's also when Ed defeated Pride with Kimblee's help. I know most people thought of it as a CMOA, but it just felt like an Ass Pull to me.
- For me, it was Greed's 2nd death in the manga. It just felt like nothing more than a major Ass Pull, especially since Greed had just gotten a major dose of Character Development in the previous chapter when he stated he wanted friends above anything else. Oh, and just to rub salt in the proverbial wounds, they let Pride live...but use the flimsy excuse of "Amnesia". Why couldn't Arakawa just pull a Scanners and make it ambiguous as to whether or not Greed was still inside Ling at the end instead of killing him off?
- I'm just going to say I absolutely agree with you. Those were both definite Ass Pull moments. However, since the series was basically done at that point, it didn't ruin the series. But the Second Greed/Greedling was my favorite character at the time (and still is), so I'm a bit miffed with Arakawa for that one.
- The show's worst moment for me was, often considered a Crowning Moment of Awesome, Alphonse sacrificing himself to restore Ed's arm and the subsequent fight with Father. To me it looked like a huge contrivance for the sake of drama and allowing the protagonist to land the final blow on the Big Bad. Father in his shambling, deprived of Philosopher's Stone state was no danger to anyone. There were more then enough strong characters standing around to take him down, even without getting close to him, like Roy or Mei, who instead seemed to be content just cheering for Ed. Hell, even a regular soldier would do, as proven by the fact that Father didn't manage to retaliate against Ed's blows even once. But no, we had to have forced dramatic tension and then a boring Curb Stomp Battle. Fortunately, this didn't manage to ruin the great series for me, because it ended soon after that.
- The fact that Scar's real name was never revealed is a huge DMOS for me. Not only was this one of the biggest mysteries of the series, and one that the fandom in large wanted to know the answer to since, well, since Scar first appeared. But, Hiromu Awakawa herself said that she would reveal Scar's real name at the end of the manga. Guess what? She didn't!? His real name isn't revealed in the actual manga, it's not revealed in any footnotes, it's not even revealed in any side material. If that's not a slap in the face to the fandom, I don't know what is.
- For me, it was Greed's 2nd death in the manga. It just felt like nothing more than a major Ass Pull, especially since Greed had just gotten a major dose of Character Development in the previous chapter when he stated he wanted friends above anything else. Oh, and just to rub salt in the proverbial wounds, they let Pride live...but use the flimsy excuse of "Amnesia". Why couldn't Arakawa just pull a Scanners and make it ambiguous as to whether or not Greed was still inside Ling at the end instead of killing him off?
- Queen's Blade shift in to Cerebus Syndrome territory cause Shizuka to die for Tomoe to get stronger, only to be beaten by Reina and not coming back. It just came out as a giant middle finger to Shizuka and Tomoe fans where in a world where the female cast's plot armor is much thicker and durable than their clothes. Shizuka is the only one who isn't brought back by Deus Ex Machina, many fans didn't like that at all.
- Kimi no Iru Machi A Town Where You Rage. The way the relationship between Haruto and Yuzuki ended is understandable given the circumstances, however the issue this troper took was with Asuka, the Tsundere that Haruto met while in Tokyo and pursuing Yuzuki to learn why she broke up with him. Asuka's Dere comes out IN FORCE after Kazama dies to the point that everyone in the series, including two of the girls that were previously pursuing Haruto suddenly decide to Ship Asuka as the perfect girl for him even though it has only been a few months since he got the double whammy of Kazama dying and he and Yuzuki deciding to stay away from each other. Cut to a time skip of two years later and what has happened to them? Haruto has basically stayed the same as he was at the beginning and all of Asuka's previous flaws are gone to the point of she really is just his girlfriend, and nothing more.
- Digimon Adventure 02 has the most anticlimatic and unsatisfying ending in all the anime I have ever seen. Talking the Monster to Death at its worst, by using the Chosen Children's "power of hopes and dreams" (dreams which, by the way, had never even been mentioned until then), and followed by a nonsensical Where Are They Now ending in which all the Digidestined have clone children, all with clone Digimon of their own. At least this travesty of a season was followed by Digimon Tamers.
- This troper is surprised this hasn't got more vitriol against it. In particular, the main characters' hopes and dreams have nothing to do with their personalities at all. Matt, the angsty Lancer who was in a budding musician in a teen band? An astronaut! Joe, who's Character Development in the first season revolved a great deal around realizing that forcing himself to be a doctor because his dad wants him to isn't right? Guess who's wearing a stethoscope! Yolei, the perky and somewhat hyperactive girl who was probably the smartest female in the main cast? Someone's a housewife! And Davis--main protagonist of the second season, who led the effort to save two worlds from an abominable evil--ends up running a noodle cart. A fucking noodle cart. Do you respect your characters at all Digimon?!
- They seemed to respect Ken at least, since his profession as a police officer with Stingmon (detective in the dub) is largely liked by fans (for good reason - it fits his character to a T). The rest, though, are complete and utter cock-and-bull - is it any wonder that so many people call Discontinuity on the Distant Finale?
- Digimon Frontier was a decent series at first. Not as good as the others, but was still a decent enough show. Until they brought in the abomination known as the Royal Knights saga. Not only were the remainder of the cast sans Takuya and Koji screwed over, due to Takuya and Koji's transformation taking away all their spirits (Which was really unfair to Kouichi as he only got to use his spirit for about three episodes before this), but then those same people were smashed into the ground by The Royal Knights, who effortlessly beat them in the same method for eight episodes in a row (and they were very obnoxious characters, at least in the dub). And yet this wreck had a DMOS within it! The final battle where the heroes are defeated even quicker than before. This just destroyed the entire series for me.
- The dub of the last episode of Digimon Tamers screwed up the emotional scene between Henry and his dad as the Digimon had to leave, it made it so that it seems Henry would forever resent his father when the original Japanese had Johnu telling Henry that he doesn't deserve his son's forgiveness but Henry assures his dad that he does forgive him.
- Manwiththeplan: The Grand Finale of Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Leaping Through Time is worse than the ending of 02 and the Royal Knights arc of Frontier put together. It turns out that all the past Digimon heroes coming together was overglorified Fan Service for the anniversary of the franchise, since they're all rendered useless by the final battle. Taiki, the hero of the past Xros Wars seasons, gets knocked out by a cheap shot from Ryouma and Astamon once Ryouma reveals he's working for Quartzmon, so he gives his goggles to Creator's Pet extraordianaire Tagiru, in order for him to take his place. Then Astamon is revealed to have been Quartzmon all along, something that was barely foreshadowed and causes Ryouma to make a Heel Face Turn because he realizes Quartzmon was using him all along. (Uhh, weren't you concioussly choosing to help Quartzmon anyway, Ryouma? Shouldn't your partner digimon being Quartzmon all along make things more convieniant?) The past heroes then all give their power to Tagiru so he fights the final battle wih Quartzmon alone. It gets to the point where Quartzmon has Xrossed himself with the entire earth and has absorbed the souls of every living thing, so it's up to Tagiru to save the universe on his own, making him an outstanding example of a God Mode Sue and Black Hole Sue. And his motivation in all this? "Defeating and hunting Quartzmon will make him a true superstar?" WHAT ABOUT ALL YOUR FRIENDS, LOVED ONES, AND THE WHOLE WORLD YOU SELFISH LITTLE SHIT? And after Quartzmon is defeated, the series ends abrubtly with no true sense of closure and a few things left hanging too! So basically, They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot in order to show off this flat, unlikable character reminiscent of a self-insert fanfic Mary Sue, and secured Young Hunters place as the worst Digimon series ever.
- Futakoi Alternative is a pretty good show that starts as an over-the-top action-comedy, quickly drops the action, then shifts to character drama. Surprisingly, it somehow manages to do all of this very well. And then the end of episode 10 pretty much ruins the show. The preceding episodes are intensely dramatic, melancholic, and realistic, with decreasing amounts of comedy. The end of episode 10 marks the reversion of the show to action-comedy, and it comes literally out of nowhere. This is Mood Whiplash at its finest; the dark nature of the preceding story arc makes the over-the-top-ridiculous action seem very, very out-of-place, while the over-the-top-ridiculous action makes the dark, realistic drama (which at this point still needs to be fully resolved) impossible to take seriously.
- Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water was one of my favorite anime, and while I have problems about the Island arc, I found episode 31 to be really good (It progresses the story, gave more development to the title character and introduces the Red Noah). But that's not why I put it here. The three next episodes (AKA The Africa Arc) were, for me, a three part Big Lipped Alligator Moment where 1) it introduces a second Love Interest who was already fiancé to someone else (which was never explained or lampshaded), 2) derails the character of Nadia where not one episode ago she says that Jean was more important to her than her Blue Water, 3) derails the character of Grandis to fall into the same trap who ruined her family in the first place (with the same person to boot) and 4) gave us a BLAM Episode where Jean tries to express his love for Nadia in form of a song. The only thing it gave us is a closure to Grandis' character arc (which is pointless after all).
- I concur. The Island/Africa arc is genuinely terrible, but those three episodes were the worst. They're even disregarded when the show gets back on its feet again. And yes, the way they destroyed Nadia's character was absolutely unforgiveable; they also did quite a bit of damage to her in the island arc by having her be psychotic and idiotic. (Stealing food from her friends? Smashing cans with boulders? Kissing Jean while he's stoned and expecting him to remember it? HELLO! This is SO not like Nadia's character in the first 22 episodes!) It's no wonder Anno disowned ten of these twelve episodes.
- The worst part, IMO, is in episode 23 when Nadia said Grandis, Hanson and Sanson are evil and deserved disappear in the sky in episode 21. WHAT. No only that Out of Character for Nadia since she was friendly with Grandis in many episodes, but at this point of the series they did more heroic things than Nadia.
- Darth Josh: In one episode of Crayon Shin-chan, Hima kept bothering Mitzi. However, she crosses the line when she damages a magazine her mother's trying to read. Instead of punishing Hima, Mitzi hits Shin for no reason. What the fuck? Why hasn't she been arrested for child abuse yet?
- It's probably because Mitzi thought all the crayon doodles drawn in her magazine were Shin's doing. Either way, that ending is still not justified!
- Nani: In Death Note, L's death was this for me. Sure, it was a turning point for the series and brought it into a whole new arc (along with a time skip), but not only did it cause about half of the fan base to stop watching and reading the series, but they tried to correct it (at least, this is how I see it) by bringing in Mello, Matt, and L's Expy Near. So, they technically never got rid of L, which made his death totally pointless.
- In the chapter of One Piece where Ace died, Luffy was making such a cartoony and goofy face while it happens, that it's hard to take seriously.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica Episode 3. The major Wham Moment of the episode, you know the one. Mami getting decapitated and devoured. After the series spent the last two and a half episodes pretending to be Lighter and Softer than it really is, this moment arrives for the sake of pure shock value. Not only was three episodes too soon to care about this character, but up until this point, said character came off as ignorant and Holier Than Thou.
- I agree that this show felt stupid and pointlessly dark, but the one thing I really liked in it was Kyouko. That's why the ending of episode 9 annoyed me so much. So she starts the show as somewhat psychopathic, but one single Wham! Episode - which she really has no excuse for being blind-sighted by, considering everything she already knows - causes a complete change in her personality, to the point where she seems completely focused around Sayaka. This all culminates in her suddenly deciding to kill herself to beat Witch!Sayaka, rather than, oh I don't know, asking Homura for help! Why is she suddenly worth dying for when you can't have known her for more than two weeks? This was where the show officially lost that last shred of interest I had in it, because if that is what passes for good writing in this series...
- Ore no Imouto pleasantly surprised me by not being the tasteless incest anime I expected. The only moment in the anime so far that made me facepalm came during the climax of episode 4. Kirino receives a package from Saori, unaware that there's an eroge game inside. Knowing what's inside thanks to a call from Saori herself, Kyosuke barges in and steals it before she can expose her secret to her two friends. A chase and struggle ensues, ending with the two falling over and Kirino's shirt somehow flying all the way up, with Kyosuke's hand conveniently on her chest, just in time for said two friends to see this. These kinds of Accidental Pervert moments were never convincing, or entertaining.
- Episode 263 of Detective Conan had the infamous scene where Heizo struck Heiji for "getting in the way." First, everyone objects to it (even Kogoro, who has no problems striking children), but then everyone just calls it "Tough Love." Umm, no. Tough love is smacking your children for doing something stupid. What Heizo did was full-blown child abuse. The chief of police more than anybody should know that striking your children until they bleed is abuse.
- The ending to the Shugo Chara manga. Peach-Pit, thanks for telling your audience that you care more about pairing up your characters than wrapping up the story up in any way.
- Stewyworks333: Despite the manga adaptation of Breath of Fire 4 being well-done, and leaving in much of the gruesome violence that was cut out of the American version, you'd think that we'd get to see Yuna's beaten to a bloody pulp, after all the shit that he did to everybody in the game. What ends up happening, he teleports away in the exact same way as the original game, getting away with all the shit he caused. What the fuck, Capcom? You managed to fully do the storyline, that was planned the entire time, including Fou-Lu decapitating Soniel in a huge geyser of blood. And you still decide it wasn't necessary not change what was the most anticipated thing, Yuna getting his just desserts?
- Gun X Sword chickening out and revealing Michael and Fasalina survived in the audio drama. Congratulations, you've managed to commit serious Karma Houdini in the name of fan wankery and retroactively ruined one of my favorite series!
- I love Descendants of Darkness, but the Devil's Trill arc ended on a sour note for me. The basic point of the story was to keep Hijiri and Kazusa safe from a demon that wants to kidnap Kazusa and take Hijiri's eyeball out. At the end of the story, a fierce battle is raging and Hijiri caught underneath a collapsing pillar. Kazusa is the last thing he sees, having left the room they were hiding in when he told her not to. He then wakes up in the infirmary and it turns out that the Demon is dead! Well that's a load off everyone's mind! So he asks if he can take Kazusa home. What do Watari and Hisoka tell him? They pretty much just say "Oh yeah, she died. She pushed you out of the way of that pillar and was crushed under it"...What!? You guys tried and succeeded at protecting her and she still freakin'dies!? This makes the whole. Arc. Completely. Pointless! The dub made it even worse by giving Watari a mercilessly cheerful tone of voice when he says "Kazusa died! ^_^" and Hisoka delivers his line with a cruelly unsympathetic monotone. Yeah, let's all pick on Hijiri when his best friend and my my favorite character just died. Oh, and to make matters worse, the anime version totally brushes off the fact that the eight year old they were trying to protect just died. while deaths in this series are usually treated with sympathy, no one seems to care that Kazusa is dead! When she's back as a shinigami it's all over shadowed by Hijiri. When Hijiri receives a gift basket from his three friends after his concert, who does he thank? Not Kazusa! Just Hisoka and Tsuzuki! I love bishies as much as the next Yaoi Fan, but still, give your best friend some credit, wouldja? Especially since she saved your freakin' life! God.
- In Ranma ½, the "out of order" sign rising up from the Japanese Nannichuan at the end of that story arc. Obviously, Failure Is the Only Option where a cure for Ranma's curse is concerned, but comedy or not, an "out of order" sign is an Ass Pull taken Up to Eleven. Regardless of the fact that the "quest" was pretty bogus and Parodied many tropes, it should have still ended in a real reason why the cure was fake - even if that reason was humorous, it should have made sense. It also highlighted the series' increasing reliance on the Reset Button to maintain Status Quo Is God.
- Don't get me wrong, I love FUNimation's Gag Dub of Axis Powers Hetalia and I gush at the dubbed accents of every nation, especially Germany who happens to be my favorite character. But one thing that pushed me into writing this entry is the dubbed short "Let's Play Soccer!" in episode 48. Basically, Germany is trying to read, but Italy continues to interrupt him by asking to play soccer. Then, Italy starts to bat Germany's hand between his own hands (to imitate a soccer ball) and suddenly makes a strange gesture. And what does Germany respond back in aggravation? He shouts at Italy, "Are you vanting me to gas you?!" Excuse me for a moment... the character Germany, as we all remember in the original Japanese Hetalia canon, would! Never! Say! Such! Thing! Look, FUNimation, aside from the fact that your dubbing/distribution company is based in a bigoted U.S. state -that is, y'know, Texas-, I praised you for replacing 4Kids' horrible bowdlerized dub of One Piece with your accurate uncut dub and for giving me the hilarious gag dubs of Crayon Shin-chan and Sgt Frog. But when you combined the character Germany with All Germans Are Nazis stereotypes, you're not only offending some several Hetalia fans who are probably Jewish but you're also destroying the reputation of Germany fans, including me. Thank god the Gag Dub script was toned down in later Hetalia dubbed episodes.
- You think that's bad? What about Germany's comment to South Italy earlier in episode 7? Basically, Romano (South Italy) is constantly trying to get Germany's goat. At one point he says that he's "got something for [Germany]". Germany's response? "Great. Vhat is it, another Jew?" Okay, wow. Just...wow. That...I don't even need to explain why that's offensive. I will give them points for historical accuracy (yes, in real life Southern Italy did provide Nazi Germany with prisoners), but that doesn't excuse the offensiveness of the so-called "joke".
- AustinDR: So far, Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni has been good. The short stories were great and the characters Marie and Higanbana were interesting. However, the chapter involving Nonomiya is, in my opinion, the worst chapter. Why? Well, I explain from the beginning. A boy named Nonomiya is blamed for the destruction of school equipment in which a girl named Yoko inadvertently blamed him for. He spent his day trying to find the "truth" to who blamed him. When Higanbana refreshes his memory about Yoko, he decides to take vengeance. How? By taking stalker photos of her, that's how! He is shown to very much enjoy taking the photos of her. Soon, the entire school go against, and make her their play toy. Things get so bad that she kills herself and her soul is eaten by the Principal Youkai. The DMoS in question is that if someone ever does you wrong, humiliate them, turn their friends and every else against him/her, and they would ultimately commit suicide. Though, he doesn't remember the guilt because the Principal erases his memory of the stalking. Still, this is so far the absolute worst chapter in the manga.
- As far as I'm a huge fan of Space Dandy, episode 7 "A Race in Space is Dangerous, Baby" never existed; we never found out who won the race. I understand that Gainax Endings can always happen in every bizarre anime, but this one was just ridiculous!
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