Top 10 Animes with the Ugliest Art Styles

Have you ever watched an anime and thought to yourself it looked awful? Well, if you thought Berserk 2016 looked bad, it's nothing compared to these.

1. Forest Fairy Five

   

   I sat through all thirteen episodes of this anime and I was dying inside. This animation makes Norm of the North look like The Lion King. It's that bad.

2. Abunai Sisters: Koko & Mika

   

   My first thought after I looked at this picture: They look like characters straight out of Homescapes ads. Not a good sign.

   How do you even call this anime? It looks more like a Betty Boop cartoon.

   You call this an anime? It looks more like a CGI cartoon than an anime.

3. Hanoka

   

   The titular heroine looks like a cross between Fate Testarossa and Reinforce Eins, both from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.

   Speaking of Nanoha, fun fact: the first episode of this actually came out almost a year after Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's and almost eight months before Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS premiered. Let that sink in.

   This has left a horrible scar on me and will forever haunt my nightmares.

4. Dragon Half

   

   Just look at how the characters look, and there's only a short OVA. It didn't seem like they put in enough time for this OVA.

   It looks like she partied all night, didn't take a shower, and just woke up.

5. Aku no Hana

   

   I like the manga, but the animation in the anime was so jarring to me.

6. Skelter+Heaven

   

   What's up with the brown-haired girl's face?

   Bad CG in 2004 and the mash of 2D animation prove that.

7. Pokémon Sun & Moon

   

8. Mahou Sensou

   

   The poster may look cool, but don't be fooled. The actual animation is awful.

   This seems like a rip-off of Shakugan no Shana.

9. Mars of Destruction

   

   Everything about this anime is ugly, and that especially goes for the animation.

10. Kill la Kill

    

    Kill la Kill is a Japanese anime television series produced by Studio Trigger. The story follows Ryuko Matoi, a transfer student who enters a mysterious high school while searching for her father's killer. The series is known for its dynamic animation, intense battles, and unique clothing-based power... read more

    I'm sorry, but I cannot spare its ugly animation from deducting scores off of the anime itself. The same can be said about Gurren Lagann.

The Newcomers
11. ?

    I Don't Like You at All, Big Brother!!

    

    The narrowness of the torsos above the hips, especially the shoulders vs the arm length + the big ears makes it look off. I think big ears are cute though.

12. ?

    Kamichama Karin

    

    The eyecatch/title-looking image looks much better than an infamous picture showing Karin's lower face being in the middle of her eyes. It usually doesn't look like the strange picture.

The Contenders

13. Hand Shakers

    

    Considering this is a more recent anime, I was baffled by the terrible art direction presented.

    If anyone has motion sickness, do not watch this anime.

    Just a reminder, this was done by the same production house as "K Project."

14. Sailor Moon Crystal

    

    Sailor Moon Crystal, known in Japan as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal, is a 2014 original net animation adaptation of the shōjo manga series Sailor Moon, written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was produced to commemorate the original anime's 20th anniversary. The series closely follows the... read more

    The first two seasons look better.

15. Eiken

    

    Eiken is a fanservice-themed manga and anime series created by Seiji Matsuyama. The story follows schoolboy Densuke Mifune, who unexpectedly joins the mysterious and eccentric Eiken Club, a school organization composed mostly of girls. The series is known for its exaggerated character designs and comedic... read more

    If you've ever heard anything about this anime, you'll know why it's on the list.

16. One Piece

    

    One Piece is a manga franchise created by Eiichiro Oda. The manga was adapted into an original video animation produced by Production I.G in 1998. The anime series produced by Toei Animation began broadcasting in Japan in 1999 and has aired more than 1,100 episodes.

    I don't like the One Piece art style. It looks very gross and bizarre to me because it's extremely unnatural and exaggerated.

    Also, the colors are shrill and not tasteful. Neither the shading nor the art structure are on a very high level. The characters look ridiculous and can't be taken seriously.

    I'm sorry, but One Piece character designs are just awful. The female characters are ugly. They don't even seem to have ribcages.

    It's like if a racist alien drew racist caricatures of humans.

17. Free!

    

    Free! is a Japanese anime television series directed by Hiroko Utsumi and produced by Kyoto Animation in collaboration with Animation Do. The show premiered in July 2013 and follows the stories of competitive swimmers. It has since spawned multiple seasons, films, and a dedicated fan base.

18. Crayon Shin-chan

    

    Originally debuting in Japan in 1992, Crayon Shin-chan is an anime adaptation of a manga by Yoshito Usui. The series follows the humorous and mischievous life of a boy named Shinnosuke, often called Shin-chan, and his interactions with his family and friends.... read more

    I know that I'll be bashed by weebs, but this show makes Foodfight! and Forest Fairy Five look like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Madeline in comparison. Was this intended?

19. My Hero Academia

    

    My Hero Academia is an adventure and superhero manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 2014 to 2024. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, a boy born without superpowers in a world where they are common, as he trains to become a professional hero... read more

    Couple an ugly art style with some lazy animation of action sequences, and you get this dreck.

20. Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

    

    Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (Japanese: 小林さんちのメイドラゴン, Kobayashi-san Chi no Meidoragon) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Coolkyousinnjya. It has been serialized in Futabasha's Monthly Action magazine since May 2013 and is licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. The... read more

    The reason it doesn't end up looking good to my eyes is that the space between the tiny dot nose and the mouth is really huge (same with New Game! and Interspecies Reviewers. I first noticed the ongoing wide nose-to-mouth distance trend since seeing Sword Art Online when it was new). Also, there is a lot of flat color and the way the hair looks, including the highlights. Many of the female dragons have the figure of an Eiken character.

21. Midori: Shoujo Tsubaki

    

    Midori (Japanese: 地下幻燈劇画 少女椿, Hepburn: Chika Gentō Gekiga: Shōjo Tsubaki, roughly translated as "Underground Projected Dramatic Pictures: The Camellia Girl") is a 1992 Japanese independent semi-animated ero-guro horror film. It was created by Hiroshi Harada and is based on Suehiro Maruo's graphic novel... read more

    Oh yeah, this movie. Japan did or didn't make a live-action movie based on this. That's messed up considering the source material.

    Absolutely dreadful, just like everything else in this scourge upon humanity.

22. Viewtiful Joe

    

23. Boku no Pico

    

    Boku no Pico is a Japanese original video animation (OVA) hentai anime series consisting of three episodes. It was created by Katsuhiko Takayama and produced by Natural High, and the first episode was released on DVD on September 17, 2006. Described by its producer as "the world's first shotacon anime... read more

24. Darling in the Franxx

    

25. Naruto

    

    Naruto is an anime and manga franchise created by Masashi Kishimoto. The manga was adapted into a television anime series produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex. It premiered on TV Tokyo and other TX Network stations on October 3, 2002.... read more

26. Gurren Lagann

    

    Gurren Lagann, known in Japan as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, is an anime series animated by Gainax and produced by TV Tokyo, Konami Digital Entertainment, Dentsu, and Aniplex. It was directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi and written by Kazuki Nakashima. The show originally aired in 2007 and gained acclaim for... read more

27. Popee the Performer

    

    Popee the Performer (Japanese: ポピーザぱフォーマー, Hepburn: Popīza pa fōmā) is a Japanese anime series of computer-animated shorts. It was produced for Kids Station, one of the all-anime satellite television channels in Japan.

    The show was created by the husband-and-wife team of Ryuji Masuda (writer,... read more

    This anime was made back when CGI was still new. So the animation may not look great by today's standards.

    I love Popee. The reason for the animation was the incredibly low budget ($1000 per month, I believe), and CGI was brand new.