Top 10 Hardest Anime To Watch

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Hardest to Watch Anime.

For this list, we’ll be looking at the anime that are so cringey or depressing that they’re downright brutal to sit through.

Have you watched any of these? Let us know in the comments!

There’s a lot of charming will-they-won’t-they anime out there. This isn’t one of them. Instead, this show can be proud that nothing may ever top the sheer weirdness of its meet-cringe. It follows the reliable Suzuka, who’s only real defining trait is how exceedingly bland she is. Oh, and she writes stories about getting with her brother. Don’t worry, it gets worse. When Yu finds out, he isn’t just okay with it, he actually encourages the hobby. Appallingly, the only thing uglier than this concept is the series’ animation quality. The characters are stiffly drawn and frequently off-model, which is just another red flag that this egregious romance doesn’t deserve a second date.

Over the years, there have been a lot of voices behind the mic of Goku and the Z-Fighters. While, usually, there’s some artistic merit to each interpretation, it’s hard to call this anything but bad. The Malaysian English dub features one of the absolute worst localizations a series could ever receive, to the point it borders on parody. But, unfortunately, this is no joke. The grating voices, nonsensical name changes, and absurd line delivery don’t just disrespect the source material, but make it genuinely difficult to enjoy. It’s pretty much like endurance training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber: tough, exhausting, and goes on for way too long.

When the middle-schooler Kasuga steals the gym clothes of his crush, he ends up in a dangerous blackmailing relationship with a different kind of lovebird. But don’t let the premise fool you, this isn’t romantic. It’s quite possibly one of the most messed up love stories to ever be animated, and that’s without even touching upon the visuals. As opposed to traditional animation, the director decided to utilize rotoscoping, which traces over live-action footage. The uncanny results make any attempt at charm deeply uncomfortable instead. At least it seems the creepiness was intentional, but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant to watch.

Unless you’ve got self-confidence to spare, this is more of a cautionary tale than a comedy series. Few shows manage to tap into the awkward energy of early high school quite like this. Though, the results may make you wish it hadn’t. Tomoko Kuroki’s lack of social skills land her in an endless cycle of social nightmares guaranteed to make you cringe. Not a day goes by without her publicly making a fool of herself, and the secondhand embarrassment quickly becomes too much to endure. The situations Tomoko finds herself in are scarier than most horror anime, and it’s not even a close contest.

Good news: even though this feature’s runtime is only a scant nineteen minutes, it’ll sure feel like there’s a lot more. The bad news? It’s because the film is a boring, plodding mess that’s more agonizing than entertaining. The truly horrible animation eliminates any sense of danger, tension, or intrigue. If anything, it’s hard to resist laughing at the action sequences that seem to have more bullets than frames of animation. It’s further let down by poor voice acting and all-too familiar plot beats, making for an impressively mediocre twenty minutes. But, at least it’s somewhat enjoyable if you embrace how insanely bad it is.

Once you hear this is from the creator of “A Silent Voice,” you know what you’re getting yourself into. This is the story of a mysterious being slowly learning what it means to be human, including all the heartbreak, disappointment, and challenges that comes with it. Its unflinching portrayal of life is nothing short of beautiful, but that authenticity also makes it difficult to digest at times. There’s no real words to describe the feeling of watching the born-again Fushi truly understand death and grief for the first time. But, the show works because it acknowledges the thin line that exists between depressing and therapeutic.

Even though this film is animated, what makes it a near-masterpiece is how astonishingly real it feels. Through the eyes of the six-year-old Gen, the story conveys the tragic aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. The historical bend gives the harrowing tale an enormous amount of emotional heft that can’t be replicated by mere fiction. The survival and hope Gen finds is all-but mandatory viewing, and yet, it’s hard to recommend to those who are faint of heart. The film never shies away from the cruel realities of its backdrop. It’s all the better for it, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy viewing by any means.

This anime should come with a barf bag, and not just because of its hideous character models. The dizzying camera is enough to make even the strongest stomach squirm, especially since the atrocious 3D looks bad even when it’s not in motion. After one episode, it’s all-too-obvious that none of the main staff had worked on anime before. Even when the show does use traditional animation, it doesn’t look as if they tried to blend it with the rest of the show’s aesthetic at all. CG anime are already a bit of a tough sell, and this certainly won’t be swaying any skeptics. That’s assuming anyone can make it through without getting nauseous.

It’s something of a badge of honor that, even though this movie is hailed as one of the greatest Japanese works of all time, it’s tough to finish. Not because of a lack of quality, but because it tells its story too well. Seita and Setsuko’s struggles during the Second World War are masterfully brought to life by an excellent script and outstanding score. The story is as beautiful as it is heart-wrenching, to the point it’s practically impossible to make it to the credits with a dry eye. But, the heartache is worth it to experience a story that’s powerful in every sense of the word.

In under three minutes, this short manages to disturb, frighten, and confuse its audience. Usually, all at once. Honestly, it may be hard to find anything in the entire industry as off-the-walls as this surrealist short. The plot - if you can even call it that - is about the titular daughter, Sayuri, who’s next in line for a bizarre ceremony. And, really, that’s all we want to say, since the actual content is too absurd to repeat. The eclectic character designs are bad enough, but the terrifying voiceover and uncomfortable close ups somehow make it even worse. Though it’s short, it's certainly memorable, and not in a good way.