I wish this was anime specific but I think we all know the feeling when a show, game, anime, movie series, hell even maybe a YouTube series that you love gets stuck in hiatus hell seemingly never to be finished. I mean frankly, it hurts. It sucks to get invested in a world and be constantly set up or teased for more and it never comes. After a stretch of watching anime that left me scarred from just randomly ending with no continuation in sight. I pretty much swore off any anime that wasn’t a complete adaptation. Which is somewhat kind of hard to find.
The worst offenders
Gangsta
Gangsta is an anime that has a lot of interesting stuff in it. Specifically the world and the characters. While I didn’t think it was amazing, it was pretty good and it had me engaged. So for the last episode to just end the way it did leave more than a bad taste in my mouth. The way the last episode ended wouldn’t even cut it as a mid-episode break to commercial let alone the last episode of the season! Our main character flying out of a building from an explosion then a close-up on his face and a fade to black. No plot threads tied up from the current major arc that it was in. No resolution at all. And no signs of a second season. Gangsta has the single worst ending I’ve ever seen in any media.
Braves of the six flowers
This anime is in the same vein as Gangsta but I enjoyed it more so it hurts even more. Rokka no Yusha has the Akira problem where for the most part it tells a complete story. But the framing of it and all signs point towards it being the beginning of something larger. This anime is the first arc of a very large story. The whole mystery plot is a detour from what our characters were supposed to be doing in the first place. So when they solve that mystery it’s all fine and dandy. Except, they leave off on two (not one, TWO) major cliffhangers on the last episode. To this day I still think about the answers to those cliffhangers and ponder upon starting the LN to find out. But mostly out of pure pettiness and spite I will never. I will still recommend this show to anyone cause I love this genre and I think outside of the cliffhangers the show is really good. But damn did it leave a sour taste in my mouth.
Patiently Waiting for More
Dorohedoro
I reviewed Dorohedoro last year and I loved it. It was my anime of the year. The only reason I’m not more upset about the way this anime ended was that it was confirmed a while back that season two is coming.
Noragami
Noragami got two good seasons and ended on a good note. It just kind of felt like there was more story to be told. Part of that is definitely due to me knowing that the LN has more content. It’s been a while since season two but I wouldn’t be shocked if season three came sooner than later.
Seraph of the end
Seraph of the end got two good seasons and ended season two with a lot of questions unanswered and a lot of interesting stuff looming on the horizon. I would love to get a season three and a conclusion to this series because it’s honestly underrated. At the time I write this nothing has been officially confirmed and that’s a shame, yet I still hold out some hope for another season.
Drifters
This one hurts. I watched Drifters earlier this year and I had a lot of fun with it. Sadly, it’s been seven years since it first aired, and it still lacking sufficient content for a second season. While the end of season one promised us season two, I have no doubt it will come out. But when? Who knows.
There is more!
Thank the anime gods that in recent years some anime that fans thought would never be given another season has been officially confirmed and some have already started airing again. The most prominent examples of this are World Trigger, Devil is a Part-Timer, and Bleach. I for one never thought I’d see the final arc of bleach adapted yet here I sit less than a year out from it airing and a few weeks after a brand chapter after 10 years. World Trigger season two started airing last year and Devil is a Part-Timer Season two got announced months ago. It’s a great time to be a fan of those respective series. Especially Bleach though. Bleach Fans are eating real good right now. Despite my feelings towards the last arc, I can’t lie and say I’m not excited to see some of those hype moments animated.
The bright side of it all
The bright side of it all is that anything can happen. If the popularity and fan outcry are there and studios and committees see the demand then hey, any of the series above could easily make a comeback. But sadly it feels like that’s a pro and con. Ultimately giving hope to popular series while those with not as big fan bases have way less of a chance of getting a continuation. I truly hope I can come back to this post years from now and say that everything I listed above got fully adapted. There are some truly very good to great shows that I listed and some that I didn’t but still relate to this that I think to deserve a full good (keyword here) adaptation. No telling what’ll happen so I keep my expectations tempered but stay hopeful.
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I feel like you missed the point of Rokka. The way I saw it, the show was never supposed to be about them fighting the big bad. It sets you up to think it will be, but as soon as they get trapped there’s a huge tonal shift (illustrated perfectly by the change of opening) and the show is no longer about the big standard fantasy plot happening in the background. Maybe the main story does continue in the light novels but the way I see it the anime was a very cut and dry game of deception, with the cliffhanger in the last episode being there mostly for comedic purposes.