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Anime and hype usually work well together, as hype is often necessary to sustain momentum for an ongoing series. Trailers, cast and writer interviews, and even convention appearances all help to maintain the hype for something upcoming or an anime's next season.
The problem begins when all that hype is used up in the first season and the second season is unable to match that standard. While there are several famous examples of such anime, key among them being The Promised Neverland, others may be surprising given the current hype level for them.
This article will list 10 anime which had their hype entirely drained by their second season or story arc.
Disclaimer: This article is subjective and contains spoilers for all the anime listed.
10 anime like One Punch Man that had their hype destroyed by the second season
1) The Promised Neverland
The Promised Neverland is considered one big wasted opportunity that killed its own momentum. While the first season gave anime fans a surreal horror affair with orphans escaping demonic feeding, the second season was touted as an absolute betrayal of the first due to a major tonal shift.
Tonal shifts in horror are not uncommon with sequels. For instance, the slow and claustrophobic horror of the original Alien is replaced with action horror for Aliens, and the sequel is considered better than the first film. The tonal shift with The Promised Neverland echoes this sentiment, but fails to do justice to it owing to a number of issues.
The problem with The Promised Neverland, then, becomes a flurry of other issues like the pacing going too fast, the ending where Emma goes back to the demon realm, and the major condensing of multiple chapters into single episodes.
2) One Punch Man
Sometimes the animation for the second season is such a downgrade compared to the first that it completely dissolves any hype the anime might have. The animation for One Punch Man being downgraded was a major complaint that most fans of the anime had due to everything looking cheaper or fights coming across as a little too flashy to really get the point across.
However, various inside sources at J.C. Staff revealed that One Punch Man season 2 was a rush job because they weren't given enough time to work on it. Likewise, they did everything in-house as opposed to Studio Madhouse, who commissioned outside artists.
The anime's story was still considered fairly solid, and likewise some of the animations were considered better than the first season. Still, some anime fans are hoping Studio MAPPA will pick it back up.
3) Attack on Titan
Let's be honest, no fan of any media likes a long and toturous seeming hiatus between seasons. The actual contents of Attack on Titan's second and third seasons are not to be thrown under the bus, as they are incredibly solid story continuations and broaden the anime a bit.
The problem was the literal five-year hiatus between seasons 1 and 2 of the anime that completely halted any forward momentum Attack on Titan had. By the time season 2 started, most anime fans had moved on. Those that stayed, however, continued to enjoy the series even through another year and some months between seasons 2 and 3.
That's not to say Attack on Titan hasn't regained that anticipation and staying power. It's just that the hiatus was so long and the manga had significantly advanced since then, that most people chose to either read the manga or moved on to other anime.
4) Boruto: Naruto the Next Generations
Boruto is another one that's slowly redeeming itself. For a while there, however, it seemed like the anime was forever resigned to filler arcs after it adapted the movie's story. There were plenty of problems that people had with the series beforehand, but the constant filler didn't help matters.
Some were also not particularly enthusiastic about the next generation, nor what they considered awful parenting from Naruto, Sasuke, and others. Hype isn't just action after all, there's the story and characters to consider.
While the Boruto manga is going a much better route, the anime is only currently slowly but steadily catching up. By this time, most people have resigned the anime to trash status, but with the upcoming break and part 2 already in the making, it can be said that the anime is on its way to winning the audience back, slowly but surely.
5) Yu Yu Hakusho
The problem here is not the second season. In fact, the "Dark Tournament Saga" is probably considered the best arc of the Yu Yu Hakusho anime. The problem in general is that it's hard to maintain any hype past the Dark Tournament Saga for a variety of reasons.
The Dark Tournament had a heavy sense of buildup and payoff to it, and the saga's afterward didn't quite feel as well developed. There were so many plot threads that came out of nowhere: Yusuke's demon blood, King Enma's crimes, the entirety of the ending arc that feels rushed and somehow too padded.
This left most fans feeling as though Yu Yu Hakusho had a great start and an amazing middle, but things slid downhill after the Dark Tournament.
6) Bleach
Here's an unpopular opinion: Bleach had run out of hype way before either Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, or Naruto. Aizen was considered Bleach's top tier villain who couldn't be replaced, though many attempts were made like Ulquiorra Cifer. As a result, the story itself ground to a halt following Aizen's death.
The fact that the show ended on a very anti-climactic filler villain really didn't help matters. The problem with Bleach's hype dying was very simple: it became Dragon Ball Z with swords.
When Bleach ended, there was no sense of real continuity - the whole anime had turned into an increasing series of fight scenes that always escalated Ichigo to some newfound level of previously unforeseen power, and it died quickly thereafter as a result.
7) Seven Deadly Sins
Speaking of anime that dropped any and all hype after its second season, Netflix's Seven Deadly Sins has received a mocking moniker of "seven deadly frames" for the animation quality going downhill in its second season. This is a backstage problem that requires some explanation: Due the lukewarm reception of one of the movies, studio A01 pictures dropped the anime to work on Sword Art Online and another Fate series.
Studio Deen then picked it up. However, they were stretched too thin themselves, so they outsourced the animation work to a studio named Marvy Jack.
It was supposed to be a collaboration between Deen and Jack, but apparently Jack did most of the work. The result was an incomplete mess that somehow made even American 80s cartoon animation look incredible by comparison, and the hype nosedived quickly thereafter.
8) Death Note
This is probably not a huge surprise for many who understand how Death Note lost much of the hype when part II aired and finished. For those that don't, here's a quick summary: The epic rivalry between L and Light practically defined Death Note.
The two were anime versions of Sherlock Holmes vs. James Moriarty, each moving and countering in rapid succession. The twists and turns fascinated the audience to a great degree. When L finally died in the conclusion of the first part, many thought the series would end with Light's victory.
In retrospect, many people still wish the series ended in Light's victory because Death Note's second part is entirely underwhelming by comparison. All of the hype got sucked out when L died, leaving only confusing subplots, Mello and N being almost carbon copies of L, and more than a few contrived twists to make Light lose.
9) Psycho Pass
When Psycho Pass originally aired, it was considered great. A grungy, almost cyberpunk neo-noir thriller, Psycho Pass raised a lot of questions in a surveillance state: Questions related to privacy, fame, totalitarianism, and identity were all brought up in season 1. Even the movie continued that trend.
Season 2, however, was considered a major flop and a waste of time by many. There were too many contrivances, betrayals, unlikable characters, the Sibyl System causing a massacre, and our heroes being set up to fail, all of which soured what could've been a very good thriller.
While the series got a third season and a movie sequel to the third season, many people hated the second season and the fact that the characters and events were completely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. They wound up dropping the series in droves.
10) Gen:Lock
This was a mecha anime series starring many big-time celebrities and voice actors like Michael B. Jordan, Monica Rial, Dakota Fanning, and David Tennant. They all put in grade A performances as characters locked in a war between two distinct political factions: the Democratic Polity and the Fascistic Union. The first season ended on a high note, with Team Gen:Lock uniting as a team.
The second season decided to up the ante by making everything more gruesome and adding s*x scenes, killing off main characters, queerbaiting in two different ways, and derailing nearly every other character arc by either killing them or making them into hostile jerks. The animation was stiffer, and the mecha action was severely reduced.
There's more to the second point, of course. Several managers at Rooster Teeth knew what was going on and did nothing about it, according to former employees. The second season is considered a dismal failure compared to the first, and an utter ruination of a great idea for a mecha series.
Thus concludes a list of 10 anime whose hype was completely wrecked by their second season. If you can think of any other names that saw a major drop in hype by their second season, let us know in the comments below!
