Blog Archive

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

The Missing Stars:


The easiest way to tell if a new season of anime should be made of a certain title is whether it has a * in my rankings, which means the original source is finished, but no #, which means the anime adaptation of said original source is as of yet unfinished.  There's little point in making a new anime season of a show if it will just move it from one cliffhanger to the next.  Only by reaching the ending is a show genuinely improved by being continued.  Which franchises are eligible for this elusive * but no # combo?

Sailor Moon -- (There's high hopes for this show, since Crystal is currently adapting the manga, this time the right way, as opposed to the failed last time.)

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni -- The anime quit halfway through, but the visual novels have been done for a while.

Da Capo -- Da Capo III is done, as is its sequel P.P.  The anime quit halfway though.

K-On! -- The manga includes college years, etc.  The anime just cuts off.

The World God Only Knows -- We're missing the pre-Goddess arc and the post-Goddess arc to this otherwise fine anime.

Dragon Ball -- Buu Kai is being adapted as we speak, but until the original Dragon Ball is remade this will never be a good show.

Ranma 1/2 -- 1/3 of this wonderful manga was never adapted by the anime.

Rurouni Kenshin -- Still missing Enishi.

Aishiteru ze Baby -- The anime cut out just before the manga ends.  So silly.

Usagi Drop -- This one's understandable.  The manga sucks immediately after where the anime stops.

Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka -- The other routes are missing.

Hikaru no Go -- The anime strangely ends right before the manga does.

Valkyria Chronicles -- The anime should have covered all of Valkyria 3.

Spice and Wolf -- This one's ridiculous.  The anime never even gets to the northern homeland.

Soul Eater -- The anime ending is filler.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle -- Understandable, the manga isn't even that good.

Flame of Recca -- There's some really great fights in the rest of this series the anime never gets too.

Gakuen Alice -- The anime ended where the manga virtually just begins.

H2 -- Same as Gakuen Alice.

Alien Nine -- Not that the manga ending is any more satisfying.

RG Veda -- Same as Alien Nine.

Nausicaa -- Same as RG Veda.

Akira -- Same as Nausicaa.

Negima! -- Same as Akira.  Except this manga is so good that even despite this drawback, they really should do an entire remake of the whole freaking series, this time done right.

In other words, the Fall Anime season should drop its current schedule and instead animate this:

Umineko, Da Capo, The World God Only Knows, Ranma 1/2, Rurouni Kenshin, Hikaru no Go, Valkyria Chronicles, Spice and Wolf, Flame of Recca, Gakuen Alice, H2, and Negima.  These are the 12 shows that most need more work, would benefit most from it, and are ready to actually be adapted.

While we're at it, we could throw in Rewrite, which is the only good work of art with no anime adaption at all, much less a mangled one like the ones listed above.  Add in Rewrite and we've got a baker's dozen of good new shows.

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