Top 10 Anime That Offended the Most People

This one couldn’t even get a trailer out without causing all kinds of fuss. To be fair, though, the premise is enough to raise more than a few eyebrows. It’s your classic tale of grief: Keisuke is a good-natured family man whose life is turned upside- down by the death of his wife. Only, in “TsumaSho,” she gets reincarnated… in the body of a ten-year old. You can probably guess why people were disgusted. While the final product is actually more heartfelt than problematic, looks are extremely deceiving, especially when it comes to first impressions. So, many didn’t even give “TsumaSho” a chance.

For most normal, well-adjusted individuals, discovering your little sister writes big-brother smut would be enough to hide away in your room and never come out. Kyosuke, on the other hand, doesn’t just accept Kirino’s extracurricular stories. He helps bring them to life. “Oreimo” fully commits to its taboo romance without a shred of shame, subtlety, or asterisks. Yes, they’re blood related. Yes, they know it’s wrong. And yes, they go all the way. Naturally, “Oreimo” drew the ire of a lot of viewers. But, when your entire show revolves around siblings going to town together, what else would you expect?

In what may be a world-record, the very first scene of the very first episode of the very first season of “Goblin Slayer” already had folks up in arms. On paper, there’s nothing wrong with establishing the namesake monsters as genuine threats. The issue is that “Goblin Slayer” did so through aggressive and over-the-top sexual violence. It crossed more than a few lines, and had many first-time watchers swearing it off for good. That was probably for the best, since “Goblin Slayer” has a bad habit of getting its point across with gratuitous violence, much to the chagrin of its remaining viewers.

On principle, the idea of a horned-up college guy literally renting a human being is a bit of a tough sell. Add in some very spicy bedroom scenes, and you have a recipe for all kinds of online drama. Rather than an untraditional meet-cute, some felt “Rent-A-Girlfriend” came off as a weird sexual fantasy. And, as Kaz’s after-school escapades intensified, so did the viewer's criticism, especially when more girls joined his ever-growing repertoire of scantily-clad partners. Even though “Rent-A-Girlfriend” explores themes of genuine connection in an online world, the highly questionable setup was simply too much for some watchers to swallow.

There’s parody, there’s satire, and then there’s whatever the hell “Hetalia: Axis Powers” is. It tries to recontextualize classic historical events with humor, but majorly falls on its face due to one irrevocable mistake: the characters are countries. Or, maybe it’s more accurate to say the characters are walking, talking stereotypes meant to represent countries. There’s America, Germany, Japan, Korea, and over 60 more. The incredibly hollow portrayal of these nations had whole governments speaking out against “Hetalia: Axis Powers.” For a show with episodes that are only about five minutes long, causing that kind of hubbub is honestly impressive.

Taking the magical girl trope to new, ridiculous depths, this show does, in fact, feature a lot of gushing over magical girls. It’s just the R-rated kind. Using her newfound witch powers, Utena Hiiragi lives out her scandalous fantasies on the three, glittery heroes who protect their town, subjecting them to all kinds of strange and downright uncomfortable fetishes. A large swath of people who tuned in found “Gushing’s” content way too out-there for a mainstream anime. But, as if that wasn’t bad enough, all of Utena’s poor victims are underage. Given all that, “Gushing over Magical Girls” will probably only be remembered for the wrong reasons.

Revenge tales can be empowering and gripping in the right hands. In the wrong ones, they end up like “Redo of Healer.” In his quest for vengeance, main character Keyaru goes so far, the show becomes difficult to watch at points. Mostly because the violence is the whole show. The time-traveling story is just an excuse to depict some of the most messed up scenes ever animated. Fans took issue with its unhinged content as early as the first episode. But, little did they know, it only gets worse and worse from there. These days, there’s precious few fans left to defend “Redo of Healer.”

In this banned manga, a third-grade classroom becomes a standoff of carnal desire when the young Rin develops an aggressive crush on her teacher. Aoki doesn’t do very much to shut her down, if you catch our drift. Later, when the unnerving story became an anime, Japanese broadcasters had some major audience pushback to contend with. Overseas watchers can forget about the anime. The backlash was so severe, even the manga struggled to get published outside of Japan. It seems Rin and Aoki’s relationship has ticked off just about every single potential viewer imaginable - and for good reason, at that.

Despite the brand’s commitment to remaining family-friendly, Ash Ketchum’s journey hasn’t been all gym badges and sunshine. PETA and other animal rights advocates were there day one berating the series for its emphasis on battling. To make matters worse, “Pokemon” has occasionally struggled with cultural sensitivities, such as its original depiction of Jynx, or the time Ash put on blackface to blend in with some Passimmian. Then there’s the whole Porygon debacle, and Brock’s inability to take “no” for an answer when a pretty girl’s involved. No matter who you are, “Pokemon” has probably done something to make you mad at one point or another.

There’s a very strong reason it took almost fifteen years for this movie to get a home release. No one wanted to expose more people to it than necessary. While the story of a young girl joining a circus sounds fine enough, “Midori” quickly shows its hand with a series of unsettling, gross, and full-on stomach-churning moments. Many felt the grotesque things done to the title character should never be portrayed onscreen. Let alone in a movie with such detailed imagery. Even now, “Midori’s” relentless narrative has kept the masses in agreement: this is a movie that never should’ve seen the light of day.




Have you seen any of these scandalous series’? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!