Top 10 Most Controversial Anime Episodes Ever

“Darling in the Franxx” (2018)

If you want to see a character’s popularity and likeability plummet in the blink of an eye, then you need look no further than the time that Ichigo forcibly kissed Hiro and confessed her love to him, just as he was about to chase after Zero Two. Let’s just say some people did not react very favourably to this act, and would use the hashtag #Bitchigo on Twitter to show their frustration. In fact some would take it to an even more extreme degree, sending death threats to the series producer Yuichi Fukushima. All this for a show that has since been mostly forgotten.

“Sword Art Online: Alicization” (2018-19)

Just when you were out of the woods, just when the visual splendour of this series was about to make us forget about Alfheim Online, this happens. Much like what happened with Oberon, the show pulled something of a faux pas by using this scene as a throwaway plot point to demonstrate that the bad guys are bad and they do bad things. The scene would be censored for international streaming and even more so for the American TV broadcast on Adult Swim. Author Reki Kawahara would later state that he has since moved on from this sort of plot device and won’t be using it again in his future works.

“School Days” (2007)

We don’t deny we got some major morbid delight from watching Makoto get stabbed by one of his many, many lovers after she discovered that he had cheated on her with one of the other poor saps that agreed to mount his extra-curriculum. Too bad that on the day that this abysmal series was about to end an actual murder took place with some shockingly similar circumstances surrounding it. What to do in the face of such a moral conundrum? Delay the episode and post replacement footage of a nice boat to avoid any controversy. Yeah, you can see how that worked out great.

“The Seven Deadly Sins” (2014-)

This one hurts. This one really hurts. We were so ready to forgive the dumpster fire aspects of this series, including a shocking start to the third season with weird censorship of blood, just as long as they gave this monumental fight between two sins the respect it deserved in adaptation. They didn’t. Instead they dishonoured the Lion Sin of Pride by reducing the reveal of The One into a “meh” moment, while the physicality of the fight was totally ruined due to the animation being of such poor quality. Escanor deserved so much better than this.

“Overlord” (2015-18)

In hindsight, Bone Daddy Ainz fully embracing his role as the big bad of this fantasy world isn’t all that surprising. We’ve seen him viciously kill off his opponents before and use the NPCs of the world as his tools on numerous occasions. Apparently, some fans weren’t so convinced, and were outraged to discover their precious skeleton was now full on chaotic neutral, willing to lead innocents to their deaths for his grand amusement. That, or they just couldn’t handle the scene with the carnivorous cockroaches.

“The Rising of the Shield Hero” (2019)

Such a shame that many chose to not give this masterful isekai the time it deserved because they weren’t too keen on the opening episode. While the subject of false rape accusations and slavery are indeed brought up, many are in agreement that the way the series handled such subjects was both mature and narratively vital, since the slander thrown against Naofumi sends him spiralling to the very bottom, making his eventual rise into a true hero all the more spectacular. Not that the protestors would get to see it, since some maintained their displeasure to the very end.

“Pokémon” (1997-)

The pocket monsters are no strangers to controversy. However, out of all their unfortunate exploits, nothing can really top the time they set a new Guinness World Record for the most amount of epileptic fits caused at once. A scene featured in this cyberspace based episode saw Pikachu cause an explosion with a strobe effect, which resulted in many children an adults all over Japan having epileptic seizures among other ill effects. The show would be taken off air for four months and would change Japanese animation practices. Ironic that such a forgettable episode would have its name cemented into the public mainstream because of such a terrible mistake.

“Goblin Slayer” (2018)

Oh boy. This one was something, wasn’t it? Granted, if audiences had known what they were in for and a convenient mature tag had been put in place, then maybe there wouldn’t have been such a huge backlash against this dark fantasy’s opening episode. Say what you will about the overall quality of the series, the sudden and brutal death of a group of adventures at the hands of an evil bunch of little green mutants certainly got people talking. That and the not so tactless implications of sexual assault against its female characters. You could see the rage train coming from a mile away.

“Neon Genesis Evangelion” (1995-96)

Congratulations Evangelion, you did it. You managed to enrage your fanbase to such an extent that you succeeded in earning yourself that rarest of distinctions that only a select few series gain when their watchers become obscenely irate; death threats. Yeah, the folks over in the land of the rising sun lost the plot a bit when they discovered the end of the show was just Shinji caught between a mental breakdown and a philosophical reflection, complete with major budget cuts. It’s not exactly what we had hoped for, but it is memorable in its own kind of way…we just wish others had seen it that way. This unpopular ending would later be rectified with the release of “End of Evangelion”.