Ever Watch a Series, Searched for More, and realize That You’ve Been Robbed of a Really Great Story?
The one thing that I have always, always, always hated as an anime fan is the motivation for the creation of anime in Japan. Oftentimes, anime is nothing but bait that publishing organizations (like Kadokawa) throw out to the masses in the hopes of driving up sales of manga or light novels. They make a season and then cut it off hoping that you’ve been hooked just enough where you’ll follow the fishing line back to the primary source material.
While that works in Japan, here in America (and I assume other nations as well – you tell me) we’re just not focused on literary works like manga and light novels. We’re a media focused society and we want to see anime! So, when a show cuts off after the first season with clearly more story to tell (or it’s obviously rushed) it feels like you’ve been robbed of a really good story. To most of us, when the anime is done, the story is done! It’s dead to us.
Here are FIVE phenomenal Fantasy & Isekai animes that are probably cancelled but should not be. All of these series are years old and seemingly have no hope of being continued.
The 8th Son Are you Kidding Me?
I’ll be the first to admit that the title of this one doesn’t sound too interesting. It seems like it was meant to hook the viewer a bit but in reality it really doesn’t do much. As you probably guessed our main character, Wendelin, is reincarnated from Earth into a family of eight children. Seemingly noble, his family turns out to be poor, desolate, corrupt, and on the brink of falling apart. The viewer gets to watch Wendelin cut his teeth on his own path and find his own success in life, learning magic, forming relationships, and gaining his own noble status. Despite the premise the story is actually well done and very entertaining to watch.
The first season ended in 2020 and since then no news about it has popped up since. This series definitely had more to tell and I was super disappointed that it didn’t continue. It didn’t even get a Blu-Ray; so this is one I’ll probably create on my own for my collection. Users on My Anime List (MAL) rated the series 6.27 out of 10 which I feel is a travesty of a rating.
How A Realist Hero Rebuilt a Kingdom
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt a Kingdom is a one of those Isekai anime series where the main character not only takes on the dangers of the world but also the real struggles of a kingdom. As you may have guessed our main character Souma is teleported into a world, randomly made king, engaged to a princess, and then told to fix the kingdom. Okay, you probably did not guess that. Either way, moving on, Souma starts to world build and pulls his kingdom out of poverty, deals with internal politics, and fights a civil war all to gain legitimacy for a job he really doesn’t even want. There’s a much larger story at play but we really don’t get into the big reveal until the end of Season 2. Clearly, Season 3 is where the final stage should have been set but since 2022 fans have heard literally nothing about this series.
Truthfully, I really liked this one. It’s one of those where I don’t mind re-watching it. I have both seasons on Blu-Ray in my collection. I want more. My Anime List (MAL) users rated it a 7.25 out of 10 which is a fairly decent rating as far as MAL goes. I guess I’ll keep waiting.
In Another World With My Smartphone
In Another World With My Smart Phone sounds like yet another ridiculous and lazy isekai that introduces random and stupid items into stories just to keep pushing the isekai genre forward. It’s not. This show was surprisingly wholesome, super fun, and had enough fan support where we even got a pretty decent abridged parody out of it. I loved it. Our main character Touya, well he gets killed accidentally in stupid circumstances by God, and to make up for it God puts him up in a new world with OP levels of strength and power. He’s going to go around basically unifying the regions, marrying about 9 different women (several of whom – such as Sushie – who seem a bit too young but we’ll let that one aside), and eventually he’s going to become a God. At least he would have if the story would have continued!
The last time we saw this series was in 2023 which means it isn’t a lost cause but given we’ve heard nothing about it since….it’s not looking too good either. There’s a lot more to cover in it’s source material and I’m really hoping the studio gets its act together and does something about it. My Anime List (MAL) users gave it a 6.12 out of 10 and I think that’s a shitty rating considering how good this one is. Honestly, I need to stop quoting MAL users.
Parallel World Pharmacy
As someone who spent a good deal of his life in various healthcare careers I can say I enjoyed this anime series even though I can admit it’s a pretty niche topic. As far as Isekai goes there’s not a lot of shows about medicine or pharmacies (there are some) but maybe that’s something that should change! Medicine is interesting, people! You hear me? Anyways, our young main character was a overworked doctor who died at his post and reincarnated in a noble and prestigious family of pharmacists in a fantasy world. His name is Falma de Médicis (I love the Italian Renaissance themes in this show by the way) and not only did he retain his memories of his past life he’s also graced by the Gods. Maybe a bit too much. He might be the reincarnation of a God. Don’t know. The story didn’t progress far enough.
Season 1, which is all we got, aired in 2022; saw Falma starting his own pharmacy, breaking away from the corrupt practices of noble doctors, and taking on a plague (a highly evil and sentient one at that!) to save the kingdom. I felt this story had a lot more to tell and should have. Even the whiners over at My Anime List (MAL) gave this a 7.28 out of 10 rating. Since 2022 there has been no word of a season two and with so much time past it seems unlikely.
Lord Marksman and Vanadis
I might be reaching back a tad far with this one but you know what? I just binged it the other day and I loved it and I was really, really, really upset to realize that in the 10 YEARS that have passed the studio has not put out a second season. Are you freaking kidding me?! Hell, I was still in the military when this was released back in 2014 but I missed this one. We didn’t have Crunchyroll back then. At least, I don’t think. I was taking a break from anime anyways.
So, this is a story about a young noble named Tigrevurmud who goes off to battle, loses, and gets picked up by the enemy. It just turns out that he’s a godly archer and she’s one of seven absurdly beautiful but very powerful Vanadis war maidens and it’s love at first site. Apparently. Anyways. The story moves on to him making allies, building a coalition force, basically fighting a civil war on his own side, and eventually becoming King and doing other things. Unfortunately, the studio rushed the entire source into one extremely condensed season, missing a lot of elements, and not even finishing the series before ending. I truly felt robbed with this one because it had so much potential and the studios obviously did not care. It was bait for the light novel. Yes, I bought this one on Blu-Ray. It arrived in the mail today. Our “critics” at MAL gave this series a 7.10 out of 10 review rating. It. Needed. More.
