With the anime industry currently littered with adaptations, spin-offs, reboots, and
now sequels of older anime, you’d figure that some of the most well-loved deserve that
same treatment to fully complete their stories or at least provide a better conclusion,
than what we were originally given but life doesn’t always work that way.
We all know about those shows that end poorly, or not at all narratively.
Endings that just leave things hanging there unfinished, or perhaps finished but definitely
not in a satisfying way.
So today I wanted to take a quick look at 5 shows that, to me, are the worst victims
of this.
Ladies, Gentlemen, and others my name is Arkada and today on Glass Reflection 5 Anime that
NEED a sequel.
Let’s Jam.
[It's time to play GUESS THE ANIME!]
Spice and Wolf
If I were to tell you I loved a story about a wolf deity who travels with a merchant discussing
economics as they traverse across a fictional land, most of you would tell me it sounds
boring and move on.
Luckily, superficial premises don’t describe the quality of a series.
Spice and Wolf is one of the few anime that actually makes exposition interesting, and
for a subject as boring as economics, you know it’s good writing when they can make
the mundane seem captivating.
Under classical economic theory, an economy will always move towards
equilibrium at full capacity and full employment. Aggregate demand will adjust to full potential GDP
assisted by flexible wages and prices. Desired savings are kept equal to desired
investment by responses to interest rate changes.
I have a fine arts degree for a reason.
The secret to the success behind Spice and Wolf are the two main characters: Holo and Lawrence,
and it’s the juxtaposition of mild-mannered and calm against impulsive and sharp-tongued
that makes the interactions between them that much more entertaining.
Unfortunately, the second season stopped just around the time
they were entering the climax of the series, though I feel like stopped doesn’t really
do this travesty justice.
After spending an entire Arc away from the development of our main characters or the
plot between them that’s been slowly cultured since episode one, the show ends with our
duo calmly walking away from the city they spent the last several episodes in as parts
of it burns to the ground.
It gives off the impression that the story had finally gotten over it’s hiatus that
in spent in that town and was finally ready to get the show back on the road so that Holo
can reach her home in the north but that was as far as the animation took it.
Bunch of slop a few brief moments of what we’ve been waiting for and then WHAM go
read the Light Novel.
Though as bad as that ending was, there have been worse ways to end a show.
[GUESS THE ANIME PART TWO]
Panty & Stocking
Panty & Stocking’s ending is an example of having a show you really love, one with
funny and entertaining characters, one with an engrossing story, just shit all over-itself
for no other reason in the end except for the fact that it can.
The show itself is a jaw dropping, balls to the wall, most non-anime anime I have ever
had the pleasure of watching and it ends not with a bang, not even a whimper.
But a heel turn so unexpected, it warped everything into an alternate reality.
Gainax is a studio that was well known for its ludicrous and nonsensical endings, but
in all honesty this one takes the cake.
Sorry I think I got a little ahead of myself, this list is not a “worst endings ever just
freaking look at them their existence proves my point” list.
But a list of shows that need sequels.
Panty & Stocking doesn’t NEED a sequel in the traditional sense.
Its story is not one that requires closure for the most part.
It was largely an episodic experiment that boarded on themes far too risqué for almost
any other series before or since.
It needs a sequel because there is no other show like Panty & Stocking.
Not just in animation style, but in overall atmosphere and attitude.
There are other shows that have language you could make a fortune off of with a swear jar,
shows that are far closer to the boundary of Hentai then most others, but Panty & Stocking
has this unique air of personality to it that we just don’t have anywhere else.
And of course there’s also the fact that we’ve been trolled twice now.
First with the ending itself, which was a master work of trolling that aired near Christmas
no less, it was a wonderful Christmas present Gainax thank you, but then just last fall Gainax
West announced a “New Project” using panty and stocking.
Which turned out to just be a café in Kobe.
Yeah, really swell Gainax, real swell.
That Café is expected to close early May so perhaps if Gainax was just using it to test
the waters to see how profitable a return of the dirty mouthed angels might be, we’ll
find out soon enough.
Moving on.
[Guess The Anime PART THREE! This time in Japanese!]
Konosuba
Let’s rip off the band-aid.
I did NOT enjoy Konosuba season 2.
*Gasp* Shocking I know.
That’s not saying that the sequel was bad, but the experience was equivalent to biting into
overly sweet candy.
At first it tastes really good and you get addicted to it, but after the second,
third, and multiple helpings, you quickly get sick of it and later resent the aftertaste,
and sadly, that is how I felt about this sequel.
The key word Konosuba season 2 was missing was ‘progress’ and this affects both the
story and characters.
Kazuma is the same asshole, Aqua is still worst girl, Darkness loves getting abused,
and Megumin is secretly the lovechild of Michael Bay and his dynamite.
But beyond those simple descriptions, what is there beyond that?
Konosuba plays out to be an epic adventure quest, similar to the scale of Sword Art Online
or Log Horizon teasing a story of epic proportions.
However, this concept never really took off and proceeded to repeat the same thing, and
the frustrating part is there were... inklings of character development that could have taken
the anime to the next level.
This isn’t easy to say, considering that Konosuba was my pick of best anime for 2016, but it’s
important to note that with any successful prequel there comes the baggage and subsequent
problems the sequel must confront and later resolve.
In short Konosuba season 2 is enjoyable, but doesn’t go the extra length to truly become
a meaningful series beyond its repetitive hijinks.
Yes, that might have been the original intent, but when a series you like shows potential
of other routes that could be explored, you’re kinda left dragging because it was on the
verge of being great.
Hopefully, if a third season were to be made, some of the qualms I have with the series
can be resolved, but I’m not holding my breath on that.
Could it be because I had too unreasonable of an expectation for the sequel?
Perhaps, but it only reinforces my belief that I had more respect for Konosuba than
I think it had for itself.
[Guess the anime PART FOUR! Enter Crispin Freeman.]
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
THE FREAKING MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA.
Now this one, for a long time, I did not mind or care about.
The Disappearance film, while leaving one major plot thread open, ended on a note that
left me satisfied.
That said it’s been over 7 years since then.
Nagato’s spinoff series back in 2015 was a nice substitute for a while, but the itch
for more Haruhi burns, and it burns bright.
For me Haruhi was one of the anime that I watched back when I was really getting into anime
seriously.
Back when I was transitioning to something more than a casual watcher.
It had a quirk to it that most modern shows now, even 10 years after the fact have not
been able to re-capture.
I miss Haruhi as the unknowing whimsical god of the universe driven by boredom.
I miss Kyon’s and his boundless amounts of legendary snark.
I miss Mikuru getting thrown into embarrassing situations while Itsuki sits in the background
with that smarmy smile on his face.
You know the one.
I miss Nagato’s calm and cool composure to the insanity that unfolds around her, despite
the massive internal turmoil she ends up suffering from.
Haruhi back in the day was a landmark series because it was a perfect example of what anime
is and can be.
It’s wacky and off the wall but it can also be relaxed and sophisticated.
And it knew how to blend those emotions and feelings well.
With Kyoto Ani only adapting material that it owns the rights to (with some recent exceptions).
I know full well that the chances of more Haruhi is slim.
But that doesn’t stop me from pining for more.
[FINAL ROUND]
No Game No Life
This entry should be obvious to anyone who has watched the show.
The story of No Game No Life is not done, not by a very long shot.
After only 12 episodes we got left with a series that only just started to ramp up into
something that could be great.
Hell, the show ended so fast some of us got whiplash.
The structure of the series was set up almost like a tournament anime.
We had two main characters, challenged to series of games where the stakes got higher
and the rewards better and better.
They're thrown into a world where games are how decisions get made, arguments fought,
and power won.
All they have to do is keep winning.
But instead of a championship, with select athletes, their opponents are the entire populace.
Not only the populace, but the mystical beings that inhabit the world and even its previous
gods.
All in an attempt to one day face off against the current God, Tet, the god of games.
But we never see that championship fight.
Heck we never make it to the finals or even quarter finals.
The best we got was a crap ton of exhibition games.
Ones that detailed to us, the audience, and to the main characters how the world works.
All in preparation for the real fights to come.
But that’s it.
It’s a series that builds up to nothing but a sour ending that left me sad and frustrated.
This is something that Madhouse known for with their TV adaptations, and something they've done for a while.
Give us 13 episodes of something great that only hints at what could have been...and then that's it.
Recently they seem to be breaking away from this model, but the scars from before have
still yet to heal.
Now I know No Game No Life is getting a film later this year.
But by all accounts it seems to be a completely separate story.
A prequel, set in the same world but with a different main cast and a story that doesn't
resolve the cliffhanger that we got left with 3 years ago.
It might be good but, hell the poster look over designed to hell and back.
Like no one told the artist when to stop.
IT'S TIME TO STOP
It's time to stop ok!
Hopefully the film isn’t that way.
With luck, it might get popular enough for them to justify continuing the original story.
But as with most things on this list...
I don’t want to get my hopes up too much.
So here are my 5 anime that deserve a sequel.
Did any of yours make it to the list?
Or were there any that you wanted but didn’t make the list?
Let me know in the comments below.
As per usual, there will be links to various streaming sites in the description below if
you are interested in watching the shows mentioned, but if like me you get
the feeling that some of these stories may never continue properly and want some real
closure, then you might want to check out global.bookwalker.jp, if you haven’t heard
of it Bookwalker Global is the official digital seller of KADOKAWA, one of Japan’s larger
publishing companies and they just so happen to have digital copies of the english Light
Novels and Manga for several of the shows I listed here today, as well as others that
I haven’t gotten to yet.
Not all of the entries from today’s list are on there, but enough of them are that it’s worth mentioning.
As a special bonus to my viewers, there’ll be a coupon code in the description “grarkada”
in all lower case, that you can use for a discount on your first purchase, so feel free to check
that out if it interests you.
If not that’s fine too, I don’t rule your life.
and with that, I leave you. A thank you to all of my Patrons who make videos like this possible.
and a very special thanks to Joshua Garcia, Calhounboy, Siri Yamimo, Viktor Ekmark,
and Bing Thio, for donating already you guys are supremely awesome.
And until next time, ladies, gentlemen and others, stay frosty.