On The List of Transcendental Anime
Garzey's Wing (dub) is an amazingly incoherent personal project by the creator of Gundam paired to one of the worst dub efforts ever released commercially. The end result is pure comedy and the highlight of this list. Next to this in terms of hilariously awful dubbing are the nine Dragon Ball Z movies dubbed by AB Group, aka the Big Green Dub. These were versions comercially produced for the UK market, because it can only be surmised that AB Group, a French company, still holds a grudge against England. Dark Cat (dub) is another title of this sort but ranks lower on account of not being as consistently funny and actually having a grating voice.
Black Lion (dub), Sukeban Deka (dub), Baoh (dub), and Mad Bull 34 (dub) are all works with cheesy and fun stories with dub work that enhances their camp value. They also all lean on the highly violent side. Not outright trainwrecks like Garzey's Wing but definitely notable. Angel Cop (dub) is kind of the same, but more inconsistent. Some eps are great, some not, so you're better off focusing on the other titles here.
Street Fighter 2 V is largely an unintentionally funny mess, but it starts stronger than it can sustain, although the end is amusing. Consider this a low priority entry.
Musashi Gundoh is an animation trainwreck. All of the polish you'd expect from any remotely self-respecting production is completely absent. Coloring errors, line art errors, continuity errors, excessive looping, and so on. Basically the Yashigani ep of Lost Universe's original TV broadcast stretched into a full series.
Kenya Boy is a 1984 anime adaptation of an old 1950's manga depicting a young boy's adventures after being separated from his Father in the land of Kenya and having to learn to survive on his own. This movie resists being grouped with other titles on this list, simply because it can either be seen as a hilariously inept animation effort, being the first attempt at animation by the director of Hausu with co-direction from the man who would later direct Hermes (later on this list), an acid-laced safari as told by people who have clearly never been to Africa, or a cringe-worthy time capsule of Japanese jingoism and African stereotyping. You see, once you know a boy is Japanese, you don't need to hear anything more.
Mars of Destruction is relatively short, but impressively bad for its running time. Some call it the worst ever, but that claim is highly disputable and some parts are silly enough to be pretty funny. Take note that the reception to this title is highly variable even among those who enjoy the majority of titles on this list. ICE doubles down on the apocalyptic incoherence, adds obviously cut-rate CG, and, chances are, makes you feel like you've been incredibly trolled by the end.
School Days is an anime tragedy depicting the rise and fall of a harem protagonist. This show takes several episodes to get going, but once it does it starts moving at an exponential rate. Shuffle actually transitions from the most boring harem ever to a widespread sanity failure over the second half, but doesn't quite have the guts to follow through to the extent it should. Considering you still have to slog through the dreadful first half, this is a low priority entry. Black Rock Shooter TV makes better use of your time, and the process of building tension until it utterly destroys any suspension of disbelief is fairly rapid. This collapse transforms the entire show into comedy and deserves mention here even taken alone. Blood-C is better produced and constructed than the preceding three shows, but still shares quite a bit in common and the degree to which it gleefully indulges in misanthropy earn it a spot on this list.
Earth Girl Arjuna is an overproduced attack on modern society in the form of what Mamoru Oshii would do with a magical girl show. Many of the issues it brings up are actual, legitimate concerns, but the way it addresses them has little basis in scientific fact or thinking and does a disservice to environmentalism by doing so. The soundtrack is one of Youko Kanno's best. Bagi, The Monster of Mighty Nature is a film by the great Osamu Tezuka in much the same fashion, but focuses on the supposed horrors of recombinant genetics while actually arguing the opposite of what it sets out to do. Kinda dull in parts, though, so it's probably best taken as proof that even Arjuna was first done by Tezuka.
The Laws of Eternity, Rebirth of Buddha, The Golden Laws, The Laws of the Sun, Hermes: Winds of Love, and The Mystical Laws are all films bankrolled by the Japanese cult Kofuku no Kagaku, or Happy Science. If you enjoyed the Scientology episode of South Park then you should enjoy these films, as they eventually get just as insane if not moreso. Basically, if you ever wanted to see Thomas Edison as an archangel or Hitler leading an army while riding a giant elephant in Hell, look no further. As it happens, these films also feature really high production values. If you're able to find the dub version of these films, watch it, but given their limited availability you may not have a choice.
Code Geass is the original trainwreck anime. What starts as a legitimate mecha show with royals fighting for power and shades of Death Note eventually collapses under its own weight leaving you with a singularity of awful writing and "fuck it" direction.
Finally, Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito goes where no other show dares to go. Every episode is an experiment in new and exciting ways to be awful. Character design? Camerawork? Plot coherence? Lighting? Purpose? Think of any measure of objective quality, and at some point this show will stomp on it. However, this show still tastes of pure love, reminiscent of the best pancakes in the universe.
Titles omitted but on The List have not been viewed by the author.