Anime gets categorized into different genres, such as horror, romance, and comedy, but there are also broader demographics that take age and gender into mind. Seinen series are stories that are geared toward the older male demographic and contain mature material that’s too intense for shonen content.
There are some exceptional seinen series to come along in the past few decades. That being said, it’s always disappointing when an anime with a compelling premise quickly squanders its potential or becomes derivative of other series. Unfortunately, there are far too many cases of promising seinen anime that go off the rails.
10 Tokyo Ghoul
50 Episodes
It’s never fun when a highly-acclaimed manga receives a subpar anime adaptation that rushes the narrative or, even worse, completely changes the story. Tokyo Ghoul is one of the most elaborate versions of this, with each season taking a wildly different approach, some of which tell anime-original stories, while others scramble to rush through the now-disjointed events of its source material.
So many audiences were drawn into the conflicted tale of Ken Kaneki, a human who receives a ghoul blood transfusion and becomes a pivotal figure between these two worlds. Kaneki’s dark journey can’t make up its mind, and it fumbles its war.
9 Elfen Lied
14 Episodes
Elfen Lied is one of the most depressing seinen anime ever made. Two optimistic young adults, Kouta and Yuka, find an amnesiac girl who goes by Lucy but is actually a member of a powerful humanoid mutant species, the Diclonius. Lucy struggles to understand her psychic powers, which often lash out in violent and fatal ways.
Most series like Elfen Lied would end in some form of redemption or greater understanding, but if anything, the series underscores humanity’s hopeless, stubborn nature. There’s a version of Elfen Lied that could reflect the same values but in a more palatable nature.
8 Terra Formars
30 Episodes
It’s a tragedy that Terra Formars didn’t connect with audiences and become one of the biggest anime sensations of the 2010s. A team of scientists travels to Mars to look at the results of a team from five centuries back who used cockroaches to spread algae across the planet in an effort to colonize it.
Now, these cockroaches have evolved into insect-humanoid warriors who want revenge. Terra Formars creates fascinating foes with these evolved cockroaches, as well as these humans’ decision to splice their DNA to also benefit from these insect powers. Unfortunately, all of it just feels silly rather than generating the level of tension that Terra Formars desires.
7 Hellsing
26 Episodes
Vampires are some of the most popular monsters in anime, and the medium feels specifically suited to push these blood-sucking monsters to even more frightening and exaggerated places. Hellsing and its follow-up, Hellsing Ultimate, reinvents the standard Dracula mythos as Alucard leads an enlightened army to take down vampires and other supernatural threats.
Hellsing has a stylized look that works for it, but it ultimately feels redundant and derivative of other subversive vampire series. Alucard’s mission gets increasingly watered down, and the series’ big finale feels clumsy rather than climactic.
6 Black Lagoon
29 Episodes
There are some thoroughly entertaining anime that center around mercenaries, outlaws, and veritable pirates who aren’t afraid to cross certain lines if it means a big score. A lot of these series skew toward younger audiences, but Black Lagoon is a seinen anime where a small team of smugglers fulfill odd criminal jobs and routinely break out in elaborate gunplay.
Black Lagoon establishes fun characters and a strong starting point, but it doesn’t build enough steam with its loose goals. It wouldn’t be hard to reinvent this series with a more motivated version of the Lagoon Company.
5 Goblin Slayer
12 Episodes (Ongoing)
Anime is filled with fantasy series that lean into established stereotypes, only for its humble heroes to prove that they’re somehow special. Goblin Slayer pairs a warrior and a magical priestess in a dark world that’s full of dangers. Goblin Slayer begins with an extremely aggressive premiere that quickly burns bridges with its audience.
It’s hard for Goblin Slayer to recover from this early and gratuitous character assassination that hangs over its head for the rest of the season. A second season is set to premiere in 2023, but the anime’s remaining fans aren’t counting on a miracle when it comes to the rehabilitation of Goblin Slayer.
4 Drifters
15 Episodes
Drifters has one of the coolest premises of any anime, which makes it so frustrating that it’s a seinen series that came, went, and is barely known by the mainstream anime community. The strongest warriors from history, which includes the likes of Rasputin, Joan of Arc, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Oda Nobunaga, get ripped from their timelines to fight against a deadly threat in a fantasy world.
There’s such promise in all of these eclectic historical figures working together. That being said, Drifters spins its wheels and doesn’t go deep enough into its war.
3 Record Of Ragnarok
27 Episodes (Ongoing)
Record of Ragnarok pits a council of nearly omnipotent Gods against humanity’s strongest in a tournament that will determine if mankind will be rendered into extinction or be deemed worthy of survival. This action-heavy angle conditions audiences for endless combat, but Record of Ragnarok has felt repetitive and lethargic in its execution.
There’s still the potential that future episodes of Record of Ragnarok could get it back on course. However, it still feels like diminishing returns at this point, and it’s let down its premise.
2 Erased
12 Episodes
Murder mysteries have never been more in fashion, and it would come as no surprise if a reboot of Erased were suddenly announced. Erased combines a tight cat-and-mouse mystery with wild sci-fi concepts like time travel and special powers.
It’s hard not to be invested in Erased when it begins with its alluring concept where an adult travels back in time and occupies his younger self in an effort to stop a serial killer whose crimes have carried on into the present. Erased becomes an emotional character study, but it fumbles its ending and doesn’t make the most of its dozen episodes.
1 Berserk
49 Episodes
Berserk is one of the most celebrated seinen manga that’s set a high mark when it comes to vicious dark fantasy series. Berserk benefits from a grim world and a terrifying juggernaut protagonist, but it’s Kentaro Miura’s artwork that’s really Berserk’s secret weapon. Both Berserk anime adaptations, from the 1990s and the more recent effort, ultimately don’t do Miura’s story justice.
The lone wolf warrior who wants revenge against a former friend who’s turned to darkness isn’t exactly original. However, the heightened nature of Guts, his gargantuan blade, and the exaggerated demon dangers that this fantasy world throws at him are all solid.
