This was the hardest challenge to do. Unpopular anime generally don’t make a lot of attention, and don’t warrant my attention. However, I have found one that is unpopular and deserves to be. If you have been reading my salty challenge you know that I hate anime that seems to exist to pander to children  and my disdain for CG anime you won’t be surprised at my choice.

SD Gundam or Superior Defender Gundam Force, according to My Anime List, SD is ranked 8432nd and popularity is 4673 with a score of 5.49. Gundam is one of the most storied anime series of all time, focusing intergalactic conflict and complex issues like war. It generates billions in revenue a year and Gundam’s were even on the postal stamps.

“Get ready for Gundam like you’ve never seen it before! …Really cute and tiny!“

—Toonami Promo

SD is a CG anime, because it’s for kids it watered down compared to other Gundam series. The Gundam’s by the way are sentient (think and talk), they aren’t piloted (clearly too small for that) making it hard to take them seriously. The “small form” of the Gundam’s were used to sell “capsule toys” and the sales of merchandise for SD was greater than the other series. Less serious, SD focused more on humor and was popular with young children.

Anyway, I think you can see why SD Gundam earned it’s unpopularity. I think a quote from a fan reviewer on Myanimelist, sums it up best:

I have never written a review before, but Superior Defender Gundam Force has inspired me to do so. You see, I generally like anime. I find it difficult to hate or even dislike an anime, because I know that there is a fandom for it out there and that a few sad, lonely, animators worked hard to make it.

But I can’t say that about SD Gundam Force. If Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam showed us how awesome U.C. can be, Gundam Force shows us the depths of human depravity. I stumbled upon this blight on the anime world when a local video store was having a sale and my friend bought episodes 10-12 for a dollar. As it turns out, a dollar was asking too much.