While series like One Piece and Dragon Ball won’t ever be in fear of being canceled, thanks to the characters becoming fan-favorites of the anime community, some other franchises aren’t as lucky. Throughout the many decades that anime has been airing on the screen, not every series has had the brightest of futures. There have been more instances than we can count of anime that were canned, but plenty of these series deserve a second chance. For this list, we picked seven of the canceled anime series that could use a comeback in some form or fashion.
Some readers might see this as something of a cheat, since the Berserk franchise would return with new movies and the now infamous 2016 series that garnered two seasons in total. While the two seasons took place following the events of the Eclipse, and thus acted as something of a sequel to the original 1997 series, we personally would love to see OLM take another crack at bringing Guts and the Band of the Hawk to life. To this day, OLM is still working on the Pokémon franchise in Pokémon: Horizons, documenting the journey of newcomers Liko and Roy, making for quite the departure from Guts’ bleak story.
To date, Berserk has had quite a few manga chapters that have yet to be animated in any form or fashion. There are years of stories and arcs that haven’t been brought to the screen, and we’ve been crossing our fingers to one day see Kentaro Miura’s works brought back to life. The original show only received one season, and while it would most likely look much different than the first season, seeing OLM return would make for an amazing comeback.
First arriving in the pages of Shonen Jump in 2001, thanks to creator Norihiro Yagi, Claymore became an anime series with one season in 2007. Brought to life by anime powerhouse studio Madhouse, the original story had to end years before the conclusion of the manga, meaning there are plenty of stories revolving around Clare and her fellow Claymores. The original anime adaptation covered the first eleven volumes of the manga, and with the entirety of the manga run ending with twenty-seven in total, there are plenty more battles to bring to life.
Much like Berserk, Claymore is a world fit to bursting with demons and certainly had no issues in highlighting just how ghastly the creatures could be. Unlike Guts, who is entirely human, Clare is half human and half Yuma, giving her a leg-up that the Black Swordsman doesn’t have in his brutal conflicts. With Madhouse still animating up a storm with series like Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, hopefully, the production house might make a comeback to Yagi’s dark tale.
Another entry from Studio Madhouse, No Game No Life did receive a strong fan following from anime enthusiasts, presenting a world of challenges for its two gaming protagonists. Originally introduced as a light novel series in 2012 from creator Yuu Kamiya, the story focuses on siblings Sora and Shiro as they find themselves dragged into a world that almost feels tailor-made for their skills. The world known as Disboard has many of its conflicts resolved via game, putting the brother and sister in a good position to help out this new world. The light novel and manga series continue to release new chapters to this day, meaning there’s quite a bit for Madhouse to cover should it ever return.
Unfortunately, a renewal has yet to be confirmed, and the reasoning behind the original cancellation has yet to be revealed by Madhouse. While there are various reasons that many believe the production house might not have continued with No Game No Life, the franchise’s creator is still hoping for a second season, even ten years following the anime’s cancellation. Specifically, Kamiya stated on their social media, “I have been asked: ‘Will there be a second season of No Game No Life?’ so many times from all over the world, that now I can even know what they are asking me even without having to translate it. The answer is always the same: I, as an author would also like to know.”
We’re not just picking all the anime made by Studio Madhouse for this list, and we’re honestly shocked to discover how many were brought to life by the production house. Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor could use a resurrection thanks to the rampant popularity of Netflix’s Squid Game, which Kaiji holds quite a bit in common with. The titular character finds himself dragged into a game of life or death, thanks to doing any and everything to alleviate the debts owed. Much like Squid Game, many of the games are made for children but have deadly results for the participants.
The original anime adaptation arrived in 2007, receiving a second season in 2011 titled Kaiji: Against All Rules, but there are still quite a few stories that could arrive in the anime. The manga from creator Nobuyuki Fukumoto first started in 1996 and has continued releasing chapters to this day, garnering an amazing ninety-one volumes. This means that “Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji” even has a leg-up on One Piece’s Straw Hat Pirates, but not in the anime department. There are far more Kaiji-centric stories that could be animated and ride the wave of “childhood death games.”
Finally, an anime not brought to life by Studio Madhouse, but it is quite the death game. Gantz first arrived on the anime scene in 2004, garnering twenty-six episodes before calling it quits with the Studio Gonzo anime. The series follows protagonists who are given a new lease on life following their deaths, but unfortunately for them, their shot at returning to the land of the living is quite the ordeal. Fighting against bizarre alien creatures and using weaponry and armor that are often difficult to comprehend, the franchise would gain movies and spin-offs to further the brutal world.
Gantz was created by mangaka Hiroya Oku, who didn’t pull any punches when it came to the world that lasted from 2000 to 2013. With its lengthy run, there are quite a few battles that have yet to hit the screen, making it a perfect series to resurrect in the future. Considering how dark the subject matter can be, it would be interesting if things had to change from the page to the screen for a potential comeback.
When it comes to original premises, Deadman Wonderland stands tall as having a story that few other franchises could imagine. Following a massive earthquake that devastated Japan, the young protagonist Ganta Igarashi finds himself framed for a crime he didn’t commit, sentenced to pay for his crimes in the titular location. Having to perform as part of this amusement park of death, Ganta tries to clear his name while staying alive in this unbelievable predicament.
The series received twelve episodes and a special in 2011, but that was hardly enough to tell the full story of the original manga, which ran until 2013. The original anime ends on quite the cliffhanger, no less, as Ganta might have discovered the man responsible for killing his classmates, and thus, anime viewers never received the true ending of Deadman Wonderland for themselves.
The third Shonen series of the Dragon Ball/One Piece crossover, it’s amazing that Toriko had nearly one hundred and fifty episodes, but never received a proper anime ending. The story follows a “gourmet hunter” who searches the earth for food to make his masterpiece, having superhuman abilities to do so. The original anime series ran until 2014, following its 2011 start, but the manga ended two years following the final episode’s release, meaning there are still some big moments to cover.
The manga does a solid job of wrapping Toriko’s story, and perhaps, a movie might work best at covering the moments for the anime. Toriko can often be lost in the conversation when it comes to heavy-hitting shonen series, but it definitely has earned a grand finale considering its run.
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