There are expectations that people have whenever an anime adaptation, whether it be for a light novel, manga, or video game, is announced. For many in the anime community, the shows are a first glimpse into the source material, and with that knowledge, there's an expectation that there's effort put into utilizing the full potential of the anime medium to portray the characters, world, and plot beyond what the original source was capable of doing. This rings especially true for manga adaptations, where the drawings and dialogue already exist, and the anime can use its animation to bring these characters into motion; everyone who looks up a show based on a manga is expecting this going in, and it's understood that the studio will follow these unwritten expectations.

Unfortunately, and rather bafflingly, Gokushufudou doesn't do this. Gokushufudou decided, instead of being an animated adaptation of the source manga, to be a motion comic with an animation budget akin to a YouTube fancomic reading.

In every review, in every forum post, and in every conversation regarding this show you'll read, this point will come up because of how egregious it is. The animation is one of the worst I've ever seen from a professional studio, if it can be considered that; there's a ton of still frames where the only things that move are mouths, and most of the motion in this show comes from camera panning. Why anyone would want to make an anime where it emulates reading a manga, I do not understand, especially considering a manga already exists.

Outside of the art direction, the show does have its highlights, but many of them you would get from the manga as well, with the exception of sound. Kenjirou Tsuda particularly stands out in this regard, with his voice bringing Tatsu's character to life. The rest of the cast does their jobs well, able to pivot through the rapid-fire subversions of expectations that make up a bulk of the show's comedy with ease. As for the music and sound effects, they're rather passable; I wouldn't consider them the greatest, but even if the show were animated well I wouldn't consider it the low point of the show. It's almost as if the original plan for this was to make an audio drama and they decided to "animate" it so it could get on television and reach a broader audience.

However, outside of the sound direction, and because of the artstyle direction to emulate manga reading as much as possible, a lot of this show depends on what's been provided by the manga. Considering that this is Gokushufudou, which is an incredibly hilarious manga, I can see where they were coming from; the humor is very much there in the show as well, and this is an incredibly faithful adaptation, and many defenders of the show will say that if you ignore the animation, then the show is honestly very enjoyable, and I'd agree with them.

But why on earth am I ignoring the animation in an anime?

Many, many people, myself included, came into this show expecting so much more because of the quality of the manga and they wished to see the characters come to life through the magic of animation. The anime provided everything but that. The show subverted expectations, but unlike in the manga, it did so in the most unflattering way possible; disappointment was inevitable. This show is one of the very few times where it's clear just how much the anime is clinging onto its source material instead of expanding out and becoming its own thing, where it had the potential to be greater than the manga. Yet, I'm only grading it as high as I am because of things that already exist in its source manga.

Just read the manga. If you're watching the show, you're basically doing that anyway.