For once, we're gonna look at the negative. This week's poll was suggested by our member anandparera. Out of the given choices, which aspect are you most frustrated with in a series? (And I bet someone will complain of no "Other" or "None" choices.)

Edit: For the choice "Bad / weak endings", that also includes the series having no ending at all, including being canceled, axed, rushed, hiatus, etc.

You can submit poll ideas here (and try to keep them manga/anime-related):
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: What is your favorite event of the 2012 Summer Olympics?
Choices:
Archery - votes: 953 (9.1%)
Athletics - votes: 792 (7.6%)
Badminton - votes: 381 (3.7%)
Basketball - votes: 548 (5.3%)
Boxing - votes: 154 (1.5%)
Canoe/Kayak - votes: 107 (1%)
Cycling - votes: 99 (0.9%)
Diving - votes: 396 (3.8%)
Equestrian - votes: 188 (1.8%)
Fencing - votes: 300 (2.9%)
Field Hockey - votes: 69 (0.7%)
Gymnastics - votes: 2307 (22.1%)
Handball - votes: 153 (1.5%)
Judo - votes: 263 (2.5%)
Pentathlon - votes: 47 (0.5%)
Rowing - votes: 71 (0.7%)
Sailing - votes: 41 (0.4%)
Shooting - votes: 140 (1.3%)
Soccer (Football) - votes: 703 (6.7%)
Swimming - votes: 976 (9.4%)
Table Tennis - votes: 151 (1.4%)
Taekwondo - votes: 325 (3.1%)
Tennis - votes: 265 (2.5%)
Triathlon - votes: 46 (0.4%)
Volleyball - votes: 677 (6.5%)
Water Polo - votes: 104 (1%)
Weightlifting - votes: 100 (1%)
Wrestling - votes: 80 (0.8%)
There were 10436 total votes.
The poll ended: August 18th 2012

And gymnastics wins? That was unexpected for me... I will refrain from speculating why people chose that.

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

Unfortunately 'sudden unrealistic event in otherwise good manga' wasn't included, so I went with the 'bad drawings' instead. There's quite a lot of crappily drawn Shoujo and Josei around...

Yep.
I really hate the deux ex machina in manga, it's lazy story telling. I guess that could be lack of originality.

I was really torn here. If I could I would have voted for Bad/weak endings AND Uninspiring/lame characters AND Lackluster plot AND Lack of originality. Many Manga titles (especially those for the Shounen demographic) seem frequently plagued by the combination of all of these. So much so that when I find a title with only two of these failings out of four, I feel like I've found a masterpiece. But then again Manga is about the visuals as much as the storyline for me, and thankfully the average artist seems to be a lot better equipped than the average writer.

I honestly think bad endings are the largest factor in overall ruining a series for me; be it an open ended ending, a broad ending, or rushed ending, they just really ruin an overall series for me. I liked School Rumble, as an example, a lot but other than arcs and events I remember I don't recall the ending since it left no impression on me. The list goes on for many a series I have read but long forgotten about given the poor endings.

Edit: I was also reminded of Air Gear, this series had a lot of potential in the beginning and then eventually became so abstract and pointless and trying to be something extremely unique and different only to fail. The last few chapters were unbearable and here's my rendition of it.

Yeah two good examples there of poor endings. I think it's because of the way that Manga are created that leads to so many of these. Simply put, when you write a novel, you create the whole thing in one go for publication, so if the story was weak at the end, It'd never find a publisher. Manga, on the other hand, simply has to have a good start to find a publisher, and the story will often be dragged on ad infinitum if it is popular enough, or wrapped up hastily if not. This method of production must make it very difficult to create an overall complete story.

I think there ARE a few writers out there who really have the big picture in their head when they start, and the determination to put their foot down when it comes to pressures from the publishers, but I think the keyword here is definitely 'few'.

I usualy cant relate at all to the characters
that in time makes it boring
and i drop it

an awful series i read atm is the Elminster series by ed Greenwood
Elminster is this extreamly powerfull wizard who can do pretty much whatever he wants
and if he for some reasons should fail or die...a goddess steps in and resurrects him/helps him
and not only that
he murderers everyone he deems evil...when it would have been better to take out the top in the evil organization since most of the badguys usualy work out of fear and would not have acted in this way if they would have the chance of a diffrent life
and he fucks with all the girls he come across
even his goddess

to name some manga
akumetsu
he is a deranged psycho who hurts ALOT of ppl...even if he have "justice" on his side he just goes overboard

InuYasha have lots of dangerous murderers in the goodguy team
they usualy kill and eat humans but now since they help the good side...they are good

the To Aru novels
accellerator
an evil massmurderer who gets retconned into a good guy...and the goodguys accept him right away

Toriko
a manga about killing and eating [endangered] [nonaggresive] animals for fun

hunterxhunter
have some of this shit going on too
just kill animals for sports
not1 oppose this

bad writing is part of it...but i just cant relate to murderers and those that abuse animals

bad endings . too bad theres no ' all of the above' option

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| One Punch Man | Noblesse | Nanatsu no Taizai | Gun x Clover |

Lack of originality. So many plots are the same. Some don't even have plot! And I feel you see this among all genres, but I think shoujo and shounen are the worst offenders.

Last edited by TKS at 10:22 pm, Dec 30 2013

For me, it's a tie between bad endings and lack of originality. Sometimes, it's so frustrating when the plot is predictable and the characters are stereotypical... wait that's another pet manga peeve! Oh well- reading manga is still my favourite hobby!

I've voted "lack of originality", but by that I meant one extremely specific flow: kindergarten level of romantic. Nosebleeds instead of erections, grabbing a feel is like an unclimbable mountain, and simple kiss meaning end of the world(and usually the manga as well).

uninteresting characters

The only deal breaker for me is characterization. It's impossible to be completely original, what a story needs is characters (this includes backstories) that really pull you in

This is why I hate shoujo, not because it's "romance" but because 99% of the MC's are pathetic brainless high school girls who've only got their "dream" of having a boyfriend in mind, and THE WHOLE PLOT IS ABOUT THIS

what kills me is when manga just goes on and on and on without advancing the plot much. Bleach and even some OP arcs really have trouble with this sometimes. I felt like the entire mermaid arc was 10 times as long as it needed to be. they were all 100x as strong as everyone else. they should have just trashed the mooks and left in a few chapters not taken months to do so.

I'd have to go with the top three as the main reason that makes a manga bad. Though if I had to choose one it would be Lackluster plot.

If a manga has been axed or rushed the author should at least make the effort to make the ending good, for those that enjoyed the manga. Kagami no Kuni no Harisaguwa perfect example of a bad/weak ending.
Lame main characters are mainly in Harems and fan-service type manga which I don't enjoy at all, so I don't read them. If a manga I read turns into a Harem or goes for random fan-service I tend to drop it. I don't really understand why people really enjoy these types of manga but I guess that's what the majority enjoy.
If a manga has lackluster plot it basically, to me, ain't worth reading. Especially if the plot takes forever to develop.