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The Reasons an Anime Cliffhangs


Beocat

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So, we all have anime we enjoyed right up to the last episode...hoping anxiously that it would be continued, only to learn....it was never meant to be. Other than lack of sales, there are a surprising number of reasons for a series to die off. Here are just a few that come to mind.  Consider some of your own favorite series that suddenly ended for seemingly no reason at all.

 

1.  Sometimes, the author is sick or dies.  The series that immediately springs to my mind here is Kaze no Stigma. A wind mage and fire mage, cousins with a sordid history involving who would take over as head of the family,  are brought together again...drama and comedy ensue of course. The anime cut off right at a critical time. (No spoilers so I'll stop there) We never actually find out what becomes of everyone, if the romance actually works out...just when things start to smooth out for the pair the story ends. ~sighs~ Well, the author, Takahiro Yamato, actually wrote the series while he was suffering from Leukemia and was unable to complete it before his death. It is sad to consider when watching it now how he struggled to write it while he was dieing. Now, this is not always the end of a series. In non-anime, there have been instances in which another person, usually a close friend who also is an author, takes over the work and sees it to completion (Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series for instance). I actually have never seen this happen with anime (does not mean it hasn't!). Another that comes to mind is Recovery of an MMO Junkie where the author went on hiatus due to an illness. We can only hope for her recovery.

 

2. Can't we all just get along?  Well, sometimes, the studio and the author simply have different opinions on how the work should be conveyed. In His and Her Circumstances, for instance, the studio wanted to focus primarily on the comedic aspects of the story whereas the author simply wanted the romance and the comedy to be equally given. The disagreement over how the story should be conveyed was likely not a diplomatic one (as one could note the final few episodes of the only season are a train wreck). I can only imagine the author's trust in animation studios was utterly destroyed.

 

3.  If you want that tax money, you'll have to catch me first!  Yep...I don't know if he actually broke the tax law in Japan on purpose or if it was all a big accounting error (I'm going to go with accounting error...regardless, it wouldn't stop me from reading and watching his works!). Log Horizon was put on hold during a difficult time in the author's life as he dealt with Japan's Tax Collectors snd accusations of tax evasion. I think we can all feel some compassion for his situation. Thankfully, it appears he has started writing again so for this one, we may actually see a new season come out in a year or two.

 

4.  Natural Diasasters end good stories. Yona of the Dawn fell victim to this one. A huge earthquake in Japan forced the author to go on an indefinite hiatus. I admit, when reeling from a huge disaster, you do tend to be more concerned with where your next meal will come from and helping your community rebuild and rehome it's people.  That is not a bad thing. I understand.  While recently the author has restarted writing, it is unknown if the anime will be picked up again after so long by the studios. I hope it will be made but...who can say?

 

5. Miracles take a lot of work!  Haha, sometimes, an author starts a family and takes time off to raise the little ones. This happened with the author of Otome Yokai Zakuro. Now, while she has stated her intentions to return to writing as soon as she can, we all know the enormous energy dump that children can be (and where one happens a second sometimes follows a year or two later).  It is a miracle of life and I'm happy for her...just wondering how good a season two could be... For those of you Ouran fans who haven't seen this, the lead male reminds me of Tamaki, albeit far more likable and forgivable. It is a beautiful romance for anyone interested.

 

Well, for now this is my list. Feel free to add on your own list of reasons and lost anime. I'm sure I've missed some as I wrote this out tonight and I certainly won't pretend to know them all either.

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I'd say @awesomedude20 s point six is pretty valid too. Sometimes an anime was never meant to be continued but just maybe the first arc which ends with a cliff hanger a la "read the manga/LN". This is usually pretty great for the mangaka whose works get pushed by this. 

And, I think, from the very start its probably not possible to keep producing to an on going anime when the auhtor might not be sure when he/she's going to finish it or for how long the manga will go on. And, it might be better for the anime industry to just pump out adaptations of various mangas/LN and see which anime gets famous and then continue the ones that did - no reason to create semi popular anime when you can just adapt the first few volumes of a different manga/LN.

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This is very comprehensive gotta say I am impressed. That provides a little incite at least for those series you mentioned. Far as the practices go this is a very common thing across this industry, and not just for anime, and certainly not just in Japan. Though in Japan it seems to be a unique form of varsity when you consider a few things. In Japan one's creation tends to be a bigger deal to them then in other places simply because they tend to be brought up far more humbly then most western cultures.

Also in Japan shows as well as anime relay very much on overall opinion rather then ratings which laregly governs shows premiering in the west. Both systems have their flaws. Though despite all this thats been mentioned there is no question in my mind that the Japanese system for deciding a shows popularity is a better method. 

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@leinwandname I don't know. I think this is a valid (yet tragic) point. Sadly not all of us will read the novels or manga. Ending on a cliffhanger is just bad form to me. Still, I think of this list as a list that sees an end to the source material as well as the anime. When the author stops writing, for whatever reason, both the anime and the source material will come to an end. As a writer myself, I can empathize with the reasons they have had to put their passion for the story on a back burner.  

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Would another one (don't know if this was said or not) be, if the series suddenly has a high decline of viewers? I want to say Rosario + Vampire was one of those series that just suddenly quit because it lost most of it's viewers (don't know why, maybe the heavy fan service, not sure).

On ‎12‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 8:11 PM, Beocat said:

So, we all have anime we enjoyed right up to the last episode...hoping anxiously that it would be continued, only to learn....it was never meant to be. Other than lack of sales, there are a surprising number of reasons for a series to die off. Here are just a few that come to mind.  Consider some of your own favorite series that suddenly ended for seemingly no reason at all.

 

1.  Sometimes, the author is sick or dies.  The series that immediately springs to my mind here is Kaze no Stigma. A wind mage and fire mage, cousins with a sordid history involving who would take over as head of the family,  are brought together again...drama and comedy ensue of course. The anime cut off right at a critical time. (No spoilers so I'll stop there) We never actually find out what becomes of everyone, if the romance actually works out...just when things start to smooth out for the pair the story ends. ~sighs~ Well, the author, Takahiro Yamato, actually wrote the series while he was suffering from Leukemia and was unable to complete it before his death. It is sad to consider when watching it now how he struggled to write it while he was dieing. Now, this is not always the end of a series. In non-anime, there have been instances in which another person, usually a close friend who also is an author, takes over the work and sees it to completion (Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series for instance). I actually have never seen this happen with anime (does not mean it hasn't!). Another that comes to mind is Recovery of an MMO Junkie where the author went on hiatus due to an illness. We can only hope for her recovery.

 

2. Can't we all just get along?  Well, sometimes, the studio and the author simply have different opinions on how the work should be conveyed. In His and Her Circumstances, for instance, the studio wanted to focus primarily on the comedic aspects of the story whereas the author simply wanted the romance and the comedy to be equally given. The disagreement over how the story should be conveyed was likely not a diplomatic one (as one could note the final few episodes of the only season are a train wreck). I can only imagine the author's trust in animation studios was utterly destroyed.

 

3.  If you want that tax money, you'll have to catch me first!  Yep...I don't know if he actually broke the tax law in Japan on purpose or if it was all a big accounting error (I'm going to go with accounting error...regardless, it wouldn't stop me from reading and watching his works!). Log Horizon was put on hold during a difficult time in the author's life as he dealt with Japan's Tax Collectors snd accusations of tax evasion. I think we can all feel some compassion for his situation. Thankfully, it appears he has started writing again so for this one, we may actually see a new season come out in a year or two.

 

4.  Natural Diasasters end good stories. Yona of the Dawn fell victim to this one. A huge earthquake in Japan forced the author to go on an indefinite hiatus. I admit, when reeling from a huge disaster, you do tend to be more concerned with where your next meal will come from and helping your community rebuild and rehome it's people.  That is not a bad thing. I understand.  While recently the author has restarted writing, it is unknown if the anime will be picked up again after so long by the studios. I hope it will be made but...who can say?

 

5. Miracles take a lot of work!  Haha, sometimes, an author starts a family and takes time off to raise the little ones. This happened with the author of Otome Yokai Zakuro. Now, while she has stated her intentions to return to writing as soon as she can, we all know the enormous energy dump that children can be (and where one happens a second sometimes follows a year or two later).  It is a miracle of life and I'm happy for her...just wondering how good a season two could be... For those of you Ouran fans who haven't seen this, the lead male reminds me of Tamaki, albeit far more likable and forgivable. It is a beautiful romance for anyone interested.

 

Well, for now this is my list. Feel free to add on your own list of reasons and lost anime. I'm sure I've missed some as I wrote this out tonight and I certainly won't pretend to know them all either.

Yeah I found out the reason why it took so long for another manga volume to be released for my favorite manga series, Loveless was because the author was severely sick and she wasn't sure if she was going to actually continue on with the manga or not. I guess she decided she would which I'm quite happy about.

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I detest cliffhangers. When a series starts, i now make sure to play it safe and wait until i'm sure its finished if i know it will be a longer series. Unless it's a show i started watching unaware it was gonna be longer. You never really know when production will just be cut one day. When that happens your left fuming because of a unfinished plot. I can't count how many times i was left furious because a particular show simply stopped production. Your on season 2 of an amazing plot but oops. The linguistics have put you out in the wind waiting for a story that never finishes. Screw that.

I believe you shouldn't start a story if you won't finish it. Its unfair to those that put their time and effort into it.

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