Controversial Anime by the Years

This could be interesting. See what I can recall...

1992
-Midori: Shoujo Tsubaki- One of the few anime in Japan to actually be banned in the country due to its rather graphic violent and sexual content running afoul of censorship laws, among which includes the titular young heroine of the film being raped and abused by the circus performers she joins up with.

1995
-Neon Genesis Evangelion- The more mature content from Eva in its early-evening timeslot led to controversy from advertisers and broadcasters. Let's not also forget the choice of ending for it that led to enough fan hatred as such where director Hideaki Anno and Gainax received hate mail and death threats.

1997
-Pokemon- Has a number of controversies related to it. Major ones that come to mind are the infamous Electric Soldier Porygon episode that aired only once on Japanese TV and was barred ever since due to triggering seizures in 685 children, and Beauty and the Beach that features Jesse and James of Team Rocket entering a bikini competition where the latter wore a bodysuit with inflatable boobs. The latter episode was aired only a couple times in America, but removed the offending scene in question.

1998
-Kite- This controversial hentai OVA originally had several versions released of it in America due to its graphic sex scenes with teen female lead Sawa. A general release version removed nearly all the anime's sex scene, which was then followed up with a Director's Cut version that restored most of the sex scenes yet removing any that depicted a younger Sawa being raped. A completely unedited version was eventually released years later.

2006
-Death Note- The series earned controversy when news reports popped up of children and teens creating their own Death Notes based off the show's premise and getting arrested or expelled from school depending on how serious the actions were taken as a threat. Some countries like China and Russia even outright banned the series from release in the country due to concerns of the influence that the anime's premise would have on its younger population.

2007
-Kodomo no Jikan- Its lolicon content led it to be subjected to varying degrees of censorship for TV broadcast. Some broadcasters chose not to air it due to current events when it got out the vice principal of a Japanese elementary school had possession of child porn.
-School Days- The final episode was not aired on most Japanese TV stations due to a real-life event where a Japanese teen killed her father with an axe. The one station that did, AT-X, winded up having to censor the episode due to some of its scenes closely resembling the real-life event.

2008
-Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 - The infamous Endless Eight arc, where the same events were played out over half the series with only minor differences in clothes and camera angles played out in many of the episodes.

2012
-Yosuga no Sora- The final story arc of the series depicting the male lead and his younger sister developing an incestuous sexual relationship with one another.

2013
-Oreimo Season 2-

All I will post for now. Likely know of more from yester-year. Just need to jog my memory of it.

I'll explain my reasons then

2018
Goblin Slayer - first episode had rape which came a lot of various Youtube and social media response. The anime came out during the #MeToo movement which is sort of bad timing. Plus, Crunchyroll (not sure it was only Crunchyroll) didn't add the graphic content warning.

Devilman Crybaby - for its violence and sex which has fans asked whether too much is too much. Netflix's controversial use of it to push its platform to stream content that you wouldn't seen on TV. Keep in mind, Devilman Crybaby and Aggretsuko are only on Netflix. While praised for being unique, its animation and ending polarize old and new fans. I have to admit sometimes the animation looks really ugly and at some points, it looks stylish.

Pop Team Epic - I believe someone on social media who was staff remark how it wasn't an anime given its content. That provoked the creator. Can't find the article. Found something else instead that's controversial www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2018-06-08/pop-team-epic-manga-creator-twitter-account-suspended/.132645 With Pop Team Epic, it was a very unconventional anime. With comedy, the farthest and weirdest things are parodies and deconstruction. Pop Team Epic took it further and just did memes.

2019
The Rising of the Shield Hero - with new sites like Kotaku, Polygon taking gender political stance, there were issues way before the anime started on social media. This anime came out during the #metoo movement Not everyone was pleased with the false rape claims and the usage of slavery

Was Berserk controversial at its time

I should have known Neon Genesis Evangelion was bad due to its ending.

If I included manga, Bleach and Naruto manga had controversies with their rushed endings. Fans burning books

Taka: Nothing with the 1997 TV anime adaptation since many older anime fans hold it in high regard, though its content was toned down a good deal from the manga.

The 2010s TV anime, on the other hand, are quite derided by fans for the rather underwhelming visual presentation and subpar storytelling in comparison to the manga.

Okay I found it

www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2018-01-16/masaaki-yuasa-responds-to-critic-poor-review-of-devilman-crybaby/.126497

Hence why I made this thread a long time ago in response

animevice.boards.net/thread/12105/polarizing-winter-anime-devilman-crybaby

Have a few more to chip in for this before I hit the hay:

2006
-Boku no Pico - While Kodomo no Jikan pushes the envelope with its lolicon content, Boku no Pico crosses that line into full-blown hentai with its focus on shotacon yaoi with young boy Pico being in a sexual relationship with young adult Tamotsu.

2009
-Dragon Ball Z Kai - This case of controversy's more to do with things behind-the-scenes. It was discovered that series music composer Kenji Yamamoto had plagiarized nearly all music he composed throughout his entire career, among which included DB Kai. Toei terminated him and reruns of the episodes winded up having their entire soundtrack changed as a result.

2013
-Flowers of Evil - Many fans didn't take too kindly to the anime's choice of animation style in the form of rotoscoping.

2016
-Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear - Got enough backlash over its rather mean-spirited ending.

2018
-Sword Art Online: Alicization - Controversy stirred over one episode in the series featuring two female characters being sexually assaulted.

More I can think of...

1987
-Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend- A hentai OVA series infamous for its tentacle rape scenes, the OVA originally underwent heavy censorship during a limited theatrical screening here in the states during the 1980s.

1988
-Violence Jack: Evil Town- Part of a trilogy of OVAs adapting Go Nagai's Violence Jack character, this OVA faced heavy censorship and even banning in some countries due to the many scenes depicted of women being graphically raped.

1989
-Angel Cop- Had some controversy over some elements of its plot being considered anti-Semetic when it's revealed that Jews are responsible for affecting Japan's government. This was censored in American releases of the OVA to have Americans be responsible for the conspiracy.

2001
-Earth Maiden Arjuna- An early 2000s anime focused on environmental awareness and the disconnect of human communication, the series had an episode not air on Japanese TV due to focusing on teen pregnancy and sexuality.

2004
-Koi Kaze- Granted the show's focus on a believable depiction of an incest relationship between siblings certainly ruffles feathers. But a full episode of the series dealing with divorce was not aired on Japanese TV due to the social stigma of it within Japanese society. The episode was eventually streamed online and later released onto video.

2008
-Shigofumi: Letters of the Departed- Some episodes of the series were censored or removed from airing on some Japanese channels due to dealing with controversial subjects like teen suicide and parental abuse.

Taka: Outside Funi, Interspecies Reviewer was removed from several other streaming sites and Japanese TV channels due to how risque its content was compared to other anime titles when it came out.

El_Directo: Wouldn't really for me. Yeah, it's pretty violent content-wise. But I don't recall it raising a fuss among certain audiences, networks, or streaming sites.

Old Man Dream,

Oh yeah, it did. I forgot to add the whole MyAnimeList scoring thingy where people jacking up the score in protest.