Hundreds of new anime hit the airwaves every year and with so much content to explore it’s easy to get caught up with the most popular success stories instead of the messier misfires that don’t last. Every anime fan knows about Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and Cowboy Bebop, but not all anime get to end on their own terms and fully finish their stories.
A number of factors can contribute to an anime’s cancelation whether it’s poor ratings, budgetary issues, or disagreements between the production studio and the broadcast network. However, a canceled anime is not always analogous to a bad anime. It’s unfair to completely write off these anime and even though they met early ends they’re still able to accomplish a lot and deserve to be seen.
10 Bubblegum Crisis
8 OVA
Bubblegum Crisis is pure ’80s retro bliss with its unique combination of the cyberpunk, mecha, and crime genres, with an engaging cast of female heroes. The Knight Sabers are a female team of mercenaries who use their powerful exo-suits to take on corrupt corporations in a futuristic Tokyo.
Bubblegum Crisis is a breath of fresh air – it balances the Knight Sabers’ personal lives with their grandiose crime fighting. Unfortunately, legal disputes and rights issues between the involved studios couldn’t be resolved and what was supposed to be a 13-episode venture was prematurely canceled after eight installments.
9 Rurouni Kenshin
95 Episodes
Rurouni Kenshin ran for nearly 100 episodes and it’s still largely viewed as the most iconic samurai anime. Rurouni Kenshin follows Kenshin Himura, a wandering samurai who seeks redemption for his past wrongs through aiding the helpless in the present. Rurouni Kenshin‘s first two seasons lay an excellent foundation that stays true to its source material, but season three gets lost in egregious filler that caused the anime to lose viewers and prematurely end.
There’s still far more good than bad in Rurouni Kenshin. Thankfully, there’s a modern reboot that will hopefully be able to tell the manga’s story properly, but also bring it to its natural conclusion without the same compromises that hindered the original.
8 Gantz
26 Episodes
Hiroya Oku’s Gantz is a vicious, violent, and unpredictable death game series that pits super-powered humans against unimaginable aliens. Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato are two high school students who upon their deaths wake up in a strange world where a foreboding black sphere, known as Gantz, tasks them with high stakes alien extermination missions. Gantz stood out through its extreme violence and nudity, which also gave it a controversial reception.
Divided into two “stages” of 13 episodes apiece, the Gantz anime only covers the first eight of the manga’s 37 volumes. The final five episodes tell an original story that compensates for the manga’s dwindling sales and the inevitability that a “Third Stage” wouldn’t be happening.
7 Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
76 Episodes
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is one of the strangest and most fearless gag comedy anime ever made. The shonen/comedy hybrid follows an afro-sporting warrior named Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo who looks tough, but his true strength lies in his unbelievable nose hairs. Together with an eclectic group of misfits, team Bo-bobo fight for the world’s right to keep their luxurious hair and not become bald disciples of a wicked emperor.
Nothing is sacred in Bobobo-bo and its outlandish antics eventually became the anime’s undoing. Steady complaints from Japanese parental boards about intense violence and inappropriate humor led to the anime’s early cancelation after 76 episodes. That being said, Bobobo-bo ends on the most ridiculous note possible and fully embraces its premature fate.
6 After War Gundam X
39 Episodes
Mobile Suit Gundam is a totemic mecha franchise that’s endured for nearly 45 years. After War Gundam X is set in the After War timeline, and follows a young mobile suit pilot who is determined to use the Gundam X to prevent another nuclear war from devastating humanity.
A heavy dip in ratings after the anime’s premiere led to a year-round schedule of 49 episodes getting reduced to only 39. That being said, this cancelation gets the series to focus on what’s important and the final episodes are by far the strongest. After War Gundam X is still a fun product of its time, even if its flaws are obvious.
5 Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
203 Episodes
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! creatively mixes a mafia crime drama with outlandish shonen staples when a young boy suddenly learns that he’s the unlikely heir to the Vongola crime family. Tsuna works together with the tiny and enigmatic mafioso, Reborn, who teaches Tsuna the ropes on how to build his own crime family and take out the competition.
Reborn! had huge sales as a manga and the anime produced more than 200 episodes. There are great characters, comedy, and surprisingly violent action sequences. Reborn! also isn’t afraid to tackle ridiculous ideas like a battle against God itself. Reborn! offers lots of content to enjoy, but both the anime and manga abruptly end with a lack of closure.
4 Gamers!
12 Episodes
There are some excellent anime that authentically explore the gaming subculture. Gamers! is such a sweet and heartfelt look into this world and the diverse people who play games for different reasons. Gamers! kicks off with a conflict when Keita Amano turns down Karen Tendo’s offer to join their high school’s gaming club because he isn’t interested in competitive gaming.
Over the course of 12 episodes, Gamers! highlights a wide range of video game genres and the sense of community that they build. Gamers! found tremendous international success, but a second season still never came together. The anime ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, which indicates that there were plans to adapt the rest of the series’ source material.
3 Battle Programmer Shirase
15 Episodes
Battle Programmer Shirase is an anime about an introverted freelance artist and computer hacker who uses his skills to aid others. Battle Programmer Shirase aired late at night and there are only 15 episodes that are 12 minutes apiece. Shorter anime sometimes struggle to connect and early reports that labeled this first batch of episodes as “Part 1” indicates that there were initial plans to continue the anime.
The most unusual element of Battle Programmer Shirase‘s cancellation is that the final episode originally aired with a thank you to those who made time for the series – even those overseas who were illegally watching it with fansubs – as well as an apology that the anime can no longer continue.
2 Speed Racer X
34 Episodes
Speed Racer is a legendary anime title and the original series from ’67 received a remake in ’97 that was titled Mach GoGoGo: Restart, or Speed Racer X, in American markets. Speed Racer X is a unique reimagining of the original series that retains the same high-speed action and emotional stakes, but progressively heads into outlandish sci-fi territory once Go Hibiki and his Mach 5 travel to the year 2555.
Mach GoGoGo: Restart was supposed to last 52 episodes, like the original, but was cut short at only 34. Its international run was even briefer with only 13 episodes being dubbed and it prematurely being pulled due to legal disputes regarding the American rights to the franchise.
1 Space Runaway Ideon
39 Episodes
Space Runaway Ideon is an important mecha series that’s notable for being Yohiyuki Tomino’s follow-up to the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The discovery of a three-part giant mecha – the Ideon – and remnants of an ancient alien civilization begins a tumultuous quest for knowledge and power that carefully unpacks the dangers of war.
Despite Space Runaway Ideon‘s cancelation, the remaining four episodes were actually modified and extended into two concluding feature films. This means that fans can still get closure from the series and these two movies end the anime on a more epic note than what would have been possible in standard episodes.