Although sequel seasons ofanimesgenerate great expectations, since viewers are eager to know the continuation of the story, sometimes they may differ from the creators' intentions.Many sequels can be disappointing and cause the decline of the franchise by damaging the fans' perception of the seriesand even leading to a subsequent abandonment of any plan to continue the projects.
However, many times,sequels make the difference between a regular work and a masterpieceby showcasing improved animation quality, solid narrative, direction, and character development and becoming even more successful than their predecessors. Because of this, there are times when fans should watch a sequel as soon as possible, while others present many reasons to skip them and better hold onto the feeling of the original anime without tampering with it with a negative experience.
10Worst: Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It r=1-sinθ
Animated by Zero-G; Based on the Manga Series by Alifred Yamamoto
The first season ofScience Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove Itwas praised due to its unique approach to romanceas the protagonists seek to analyze the incomprehensible feeling of love from an entirely logical and analytical point of view. This resulted in fun tests that put the quirky protagonists in hilarious and awkward situations that made the series a truly enjoyable watch.
Although this dynamic continues for most of the second season ofScience Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove Itbecoming repetitive,the anime falls out in its last episodes with a dark and unnecessary storylinethat not only betrays the essence and lighthearted tone of the series but was resolved in the most convoluted and bizarre way, turning it into just an unsuccessful attempt at shock value that only diminished the series and made it hard to recommend.
Fruits Basket: The Final Seasonis the shorter installment of the series with only 13 episodesbut has masterful direction that knew how to properly develop not only the main trio, Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki, but also its secondary characters by giving them their time to shine and exploring their past, regrets, hardships, and dreams.
Fruits Basket Has the Best Couple in Anime, and It’s Not Even Close
Fruits Basket’s best couple is a true inspiration, providing not just entertainment, but meaningful lessons on how to properly love another person.
This season perfectly balances its comedy with the most dramatic moments, revealing the truth behindthe Sohma Curseand conveying its main theme of forgiveness and the importance of valuing the time spent with others. This way,Fruits Basket: The Final Seasonnot only lived up to the previous seasons but also delivered the perfect ending to the story, becoming one of the highest-rated romance anime of all time.
The Devil is a Part Timeris known as one of thebest comedy anime, but its second season was a lackluster continuationthat failed to keep fans interested. Airing almost a decade later,The Devil is a Part-Timer Season 2was affected by the loss of interest following the ending of the original light novel, but mostly due to the change of studio from White Fox to 3Hz, which brought a change of art style and a downgrade in animation quality.
Additionally, even though the first part has serious moments, these become the major focus in the second season, despite the biggest appeal of the series being the funny scenes where the characters have a cultural shock and try to adjust their lifestyle to pose as regular humans.This season also brought a change in the character’s dynamicswith the introduction of Alas Ramus, which wasn’t well received by many viewers.
Clannad: After Storyis a sequel that explores the adult lives of Tomoya Okazaki and Nagisa Furukawa, having a lesser focus on secondary characters, during the ten years that follow the end of the first season. After Story intensifies that fantastic atmosphere of the anime in addition to being much more complex and emotional than its first part, revealing the meaning of the parallel world that is shown throughout the series.
After Watching Many Amazing Romance Anime, This Series Is Still My Favorite for One Simple Reason
To this day, Clannad is still my favorite romance anime because of how realistic it is in its portrayal of love and life.
This second season perfectly shows the growth of the characters and is a classic anime with beautiful animation that has withstood the passage of time. Furthermore,Clannad: After Storyis the reason the franchise stands out fromother romantic comediesand is a must-watch for any viewer who isn’t afraid of drama, presenting a guaranteed tear-jerking ending that won’t leave anyone indifferent.
While the ending of the first season strays from the manga, making a sequel difficult without a retcon,Black Butler IIfeatures an original story introducing a new master and demon pair, the Earl Alois Trancy and his butler, Claude Faustus. However, this season is divisive among viewers since it doesn’t share the same atmosphere as the manga, and the new antagonists aren’t as charismatic orpsychologically deep as Ciel and Sebastian.
Furthermore,Black Butler IIshowcased an excessive use of fanservice and changed the tone of the story, removing the dark humor that characterizes the series and helping balance the more obscure moments. Additionally, the season leaves plot holes and confuses viewers with an unexpected and unsatisfying ending where Ciel becomes a demon and Sebastian is bound to him for eternity. Because of this,it’s better not to acknowledgeBlack Butler II’s existence and instead watchBook of Circus, the faithfully adapted and more interesting sequel that connects with the rest of the story.
Mob Psycho 100 - Season 2
Althoughthe first installment ofMob Psycho 100was highly regarded, its second season cemented its status to one of thebest shōnen animes, being a visual marvel and the highest point in the franchise. The experimental animation that characterized the first season was taken to the limit with the inclusion of many artistic resources that gave more dynamism and fluidity to the fights and were a feast for the eyes.
I’ve Watched a Lot of Anime, But Mob Psycho 100 Stands Above the Rest For a Simple Reason
Although I’ve been a lifelong anime fan, no other series blew me away as much as when I watched Mob Psycho 100, and it’s due to an unexpected reason.
But beyond the technical aspects,Mob Psycho 100 IIfeatures real-life issuessuch as low self-esteem, insecurities, and loneliness, in addition to giving more development and depth not only to Mob but also to Reigen, who proved to be much more than just the comedy relief of the series.Mob Psycho 100 IIis simply a masterpiece season that exceeded all fans' expectations and that any anime fan should watch.
Although the first season ofTokyo Ghoulcaptivated fanswith a strong ending that had given evolution to its protagonist Ken Kaneki, this development was unfortunately wasted in its next season. The second season, titledTokyo Ghoul √A, was the beginning of the adaptation’s declineas Studio Pierrot took too many creative liberties, featuring an original story, facing many production issues, and ultimately wasting the potential of the series with a poor composition.
Tokyo Ghoul Root Ahas few things to praisebesides its amazing opening and ending sequences with beautiful art that captured the feeling of tragedy of the series, as the anime became erratic and confusing since the adaptation only included condensed fragments of the original story, deviating from the manga to the point of having an original finale. Moreover, the following sequel,Tokyo Ghoul: Re, discarded the previous changes and adapted too many chapters in only 24 episodes, resulting in quite a disappointing adaptation that is best for fans to avoid and read the manga instead.
Attack on Titanhas become one of the most influential anime of recent times, and there is no doubt that the second part of its third season had a lot to do with that. This installmentcovers the Return to Shiganshina arc, one of thebest arcs in shōnen manga, featuring the stunning fight with the Beast Titan and one of the greatest speeches in anime history, but its standout moment is how the Survey Corps finally uncovers the secret in the basement of Eren Yeager’s house.
Filled with epic fights, plot twists, and tragic moments,Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2brings an end to a long-developing mystery,surpassing fans' expectations by completely redefining the series from the fight with the Titans for survival within the walls to a much bigger scale and being remembered by many fans as the best season of the franchise.
After a highly successful season that featured one of the best-crafted and intriguing arcs in shōnen,The Promised Neverlandfailed with a disappointing continuation. Following the controversial final arc of the manga,The Promised Neverland Season 2was motivated to make changes to the source material in an attempt to improve the story. However,this adaptation was radically different from the manga,skipping one of the most interesting arcs of the story, Goldy Pond, eliminating beloved characters and essential events from the anime.
I Know Bad Anime, But the Downfall of The Promised Neverland Still Hurts to This Day
Not every anime that releases can be amazing, but The Promised Neverland is a sad story of a series that was great, and then self-destructed.
These changes not only lower the stakes and much of the explicit violence of the manga, but also affect the development of many characters, such as Emma or Isabella, causing their subsequent decisions and actions to lose justification and taking away the impact of the series. The result wasthe most infamous follow-up season in anime history, where even the scriptwriters didn’t want their names on the credits.
One of the greatest comebacks of an anime more than a decade after its ending,Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warfinally does justiceto one of the big three shōnenby giving it the adaptation it deserves and developing a proper conclusion to the series by covering the final arc of the manga by Tite Kubo.
This sequel brought back one of the biggest initial conflicts of the series between shinigamis and quincys in a frenetic and intense way, far away from the problems of pacing and excessive fillers of the original anime and showcasing an excellent animation while also improving the story of the manga thanks to the author’s involvement in the project. This way,Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood Warhas not only renewed the interest in the franchise but has also satisfied fanswith impressive fights that have only scaled over its three seasons with no sign of stopping.
