Summary

Fantasy animenever runs dry of cool ideas to mix with other sub-genres and offers a fantastic experience to the audience. Sadly, there are many titles that, for one reason or another, have been axed,leaving fans eager to know what happens next.

Below are several axed fantasy anime that deserve a second chance. From a classic in Japanese literature with millions of fans to one of the best dark fantasy series ever made that was never renewed for a second run.

1The Heroic Legend Of Arslan

The Heroic Legend of Arslanis based on the novels of the same name written by Yoshiki Tanaka that narrates the story of Prince Arslan and his loyal general Daryun throughout sixteen volumes. So far, between the original OVAs comprising six episodes and two attempts of releasing a continuous serialization, different producers have managed to cover what happens between Volumes 1 and 6 of the light novels.

The latest iteration of the series came in August 2016, which has been eight years. The show didn’t have a bad reception, and the manga adapted by Hiromu Arakawa was one of the top sellers among all 2016 publishings. So then again,what happened withArslan Senki?Fans can only hypothesize that it had to do with budget, since the first season of the anime had twenty-four episodes, and the second only eight, and from there, no news about a possible continuation of the series. Sadly, fans ofThe Heroic Legend of Arslanwill have to wait in line to enjoy more of this epic tale of action and adventure.

2Altair: A Record Of Battles

A Historical Fantasy Anime That Deserves Another Season

Altair: A Record of Battlesis another historical fantasy seriesthat recently ended after seventeen yearsof continuous publishing. Meanwhile, fans of the manga keep wondering what happened with the anime that only had one season airing from July to December 2017. Curiously, the streaming rights for the series currently belong to Amazon, but it has been almost seven years since fans have received any updates about the continuation of the series.

Written by the controversialKōta Hirano, author ofHellsing(among other obscure series)Drifternarrates the adventures of several “heroes” from Japan summoned to another world to fight a war against the Black King, another summoned being who once advocated for mankind, but now wants to eradicate them from the face of the world. The series has a colorful cast of characters, which include the war-crazed Shimazu Toyohisa, the rafty though absolutely nuts Oda Nobunaga, and the legendary archer Nasu no Yoichi. They band together alongside an association of mages called The Oct against the Ends, led by the ominous Black King, and other Fallen Drifters who have banded together to destroy mankind.

Ever since its last episode aired in December 2016, fans have received no news about a possible continuation of the series. Considering that the show dealt with high levels of violence (though acceptable) it never went out of line likeHellsingdid. Sadly, the show also portrayed some controversial figures from history who participated in WW2, and also other religious figures like Jeanne D’Arc as irredeemable and corrupted villains, so that’s probably why there’s a lot of resistance from producers to give the green light for a continuation. The manga has also suffered several hiatuses due to the author’s personal issues. In addition, another reason why the show hasn’t been renewed for a second season is that there’s simply not enough material to work with.

In a world where market sales determine the continuation of a series or its axing,Yona of the Dawnmade it quite decently, with over 100,000 sales per light novel volume. Unfortunately, for a shoujo fantasy manga, this is not nearly enough to cover the costs of promotion/production of an animated series.

Adding to that, being launched during the 2014-2015 release window, it had to compete with series likeKILL la KILLandHunter x Hunter,among other earlier releases of 2015 likeKnights of Sidoniaand thePretty Cure All StarsOVA. The latter was aimed at similar demographics and thus, cut some of the hype thatYona of the Dawnneeded to be completely successful. It was not the right time, and producers fled from the possibility of following up the series.

Hardcore fans of isekai anime will know that there’s a limit on how many clichés can appear in one of these series before the audience decides it’s too much to keep watching. The main problem withIsekai Cheat Magicianis that the whole premise of the show is a big cliché, but sadly, it contrasts too much with an apparently serious setting and a mature subplot that gets ruined by the MC’s constant remarks on his overpowered skills. The whole show is an uni-personal monologue between Taichi, the male lead, and a world that couldn’t care less about his seemingly “cool” references to how his Cheat skills are great in a game-like world. Even Rin, the female lead, somehow puts up with this during the whole series, and it’s hurtful to watch.

The light novels are similar, but they get better and better with time, with Taichi and Rin taking the reins of their relationship in a somewhat predictable but still impressive way. This doesn’t happen until around the time the anime ends. Furthermore, the character of Anastasia, who was considered among the fan favorites and had a somewhat better relationship with the male lead, died horribly. While others believe the main attraction of the show is this cheesy and cliché “childhood friendship” eternal status between the protagonist, the audience was not impressed with the production and writing. Even less considering that they eliminated a lot of important developments of the first volume of the novels, which are shown in the manga series. So, it makes sense that this show was axed, though fans cannot help but wonder what would have happened if the production was a little more faithful to the source.

Drama, loss, friendship, love, and many other strong emotions are depicted in this masterpiece calledGrimgar,a series about people transported to another world, where everything goes to hell when the main leader of the group sacrifices his life to protect everyone. Then, a light amid all that darkness emerges in the figure of Haruhiro, who picks up the banner of team leader to ensure the survival of the group, putting aside his personal feelings and his fear to become a legend.

It is simply impossible to understand why such a good series never received a continuation, nor even a hint about a possible second season. The novels by Ao Jūmonji span over ninteteen volumes, and they’re still going strong in Japan, and being translated into several languages including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and German. So then, again, why there’s not a second season ofGrimgar of Ashes and Illusion? With production costs rising, and an overcrowded market, it is reasonable to guess producers might be reluctant to risk re-introducing the series to the audience. More so if fans take into consideration that a rushed production to make it to a reasonable release window is not possible without hurting the source material’s worth. If things calm down in the future, and the anime world becomes less hectic, then perhaps fans will be able to enjoy the continuation of Team Haruhiro’s tale.