Kimi ni TodokeWhy is this so popular? The characters are bland, the romance is pathetic, and the plot is miniscule, uninteresting and vague. The art's not even that great--mostly just medicore (except for the chibis, which are intolerably annoying). Who could actually bring themselves to care about them? I slogged through ten chapters waiting for it to get better (since there must have been
something that everyone liked to much) but I didn't see any improvements. At all.
Lovely ComplexWell, the plot runs around in circles and never goes anywhere. The same with their relationship. It seemed like every time they showed indications of liking each other, they'd wake up the next day like it never happened. And the art is dreadful, I couldn't get used to it at all. I found the humor rather weak and the characters themselves failed to draw me in, mostly because of aforementioned circular plot, which also stunted any character development or growth.
Hot GimmickI have to question the mental health of people who enjoyed this series. The main character is in an abusive relationship and decides she can fix it by marrying the bastard?! WTF?! And seriously, all the guys are complete assholes--at one point I was rooting for the guy who tried to gang-rape her simply because he didn't suck as much as her other potential suitors. Plus the main character herself is a whiny, indecisive little bitch who likes to get pushed around and treated like shit, apparently.
Desire ClimaxMy reasons for disliking this are almost identical to my reasons for not liking Hot Gimmick. Again, the guys are all assholes who abuse her and she can't decide which one is the biggest bastard (which she will inevitably choose anyway). In addition, this series feels the need to insert a plethora of random smut scenes where the guy forces himself on her. Rape, anyway? Sexual harrassment? Oh, and not to mention the fact that this series is riddles ridiculous plotlines.
KarnevalI suppose it's a bit questionable as to what category this series falls under, but it's tagged as Josei and it seems rather female-oriented. Anyway, I'm not sure what the draw is for this series. I admit that I liked the first few chapters, but I've long since lost interest. The art is very pretty, though not pretty enough to explain its inexplicable popularity. The plot is mysterious and undefined, and (as far as I can tell) going absolutely nowhere. The setting is boring and generic and the characters are shallow and lack personality or charm. Also, Tsukumo is strangely popular (among fans) despite having the worst character design of the entire series and no personality whatsoever. Why?
Hana to AkumaThe characters lack any charm, individuality, or personality. The concept is cliched and over-used. The setting lacks any originality. The art is sub-par. The dialogue reads like a cheesy romance novel dumbed down for 5-year-olds to enjoy. And there's the vaguely creepy loli-factor. Even if she's not a child, she sure looks and acts like one.
Perfect Girl EvolutionThe art is dreadful. The girl is always in that annoying chibi mode and the guys are HIDEOUS. They're deformed and freakish looking with their eyes bulging out like that and their faces narrowing in like a weasel. The characters themselves were boring and stereotypical and there's NEVER any character development or growth and it looked as if the relationship was going to crawl along, judging by the meager number of chapters I endured. The humor was weak and uninspired.
Anything by
SHINJO MayuThe females are all complete, utter morons who don't even deserve the air their waste with breathing (especially since none of it going to their brains) and who lack the coordination to walk and blink at the same time. The males are all meglomaniacs (with the occasional egomaniac variant) who enjoy random smut scenes with their idiotic female counterparts, who are too dumb to realize they're being raped or abused. The plots are always sidelined for smut and every single character has the same personality as the one from every other series of her's. Also, the art is rather unattractive. The girls are all supposed to be "plain" despite looking exactly the same (or sometimes better) than the "pretty" girls and the guys are all super-smart, super-handsome, super-strong and drawn like deformed frog-monkey hybrids.
There are quite a few others I'm not fond of but can't think of right now.