#5-Hellsing
This is a curious one.
When the first Hellsing Anime dropped back in 2001, only two volumes of
the Manga had been released. It would be
a little under a decade before all eventual 10 volumes were completed. At the time, however, the original series
only covered those first two volumes before going an entirely separate route to
continue the tale. This meant only
sparse teases of the Millennium group; no Pip Bernadante and the Wild Geese;
and no apocalyptic final showdown between Alucard and Alexander Anderson. Instead we got a long dormant demon named
Incognito and a rather lackluster final battle in the Tower of London that
failed to live up to Hellsings true potential.
Years later, Hellsing Ultimate would come along and give us a ten
episode OVA that was far more faithful to the source material. Not that the TV Anime is truly horrible
(great soundtrack and visual style and a great US voice cast). But why not wait til the Manga was either
finished or halfway done to attempt an adaptation?
#4-Berserk
The original 90’s Berserk Anime ends on one of the most
horrifyingly nightmarish cliffhangers of all time. With their ex leader Griffith having sold his
soul to darkness, the Band of the Hawk is ruthlessly slaughtered by hordes of
Demons. Unspeakable things happen to
their beautiful second in command, Casca, and even the titular Berserker, Guts,
doesn’t get off scot free. Sure Guts and
Casca survived the ordeal but only barely and for a long time there was no
continuation in sight. The Manga was
(and still is) going strong. In fact,
Berserk is probably the only Anime on this list to have two Anime adaptations
that ended well before the Manga. The
two season resurrected series wrapped last year and there has been little new
about whether or not it will continue.
Considering the lackluster reception to the new series (especially the
God awful animation), it wouldn’t shock me if it was another couple of decades
until Guts returns to slay demons once again.
#3-Fruits Basket
Fruits Basket’s first Anime is a beloved Anime classic
and was many fans first introduction to the adorable and
heartwarming/heartbreaking world of Tohru Honda and the Sohma Clan. What might’ve caught many viewers (including
me) off guard was that the Anime didn’t end on a definitive final note. In fact, the finale is probably the weakest
part of the show overall, dealing with Tohru helping Kyo deal with a magical
curse that turns him into a monster and a rater intense encounter with Sohma
Overlord Akito. Several members of the
Sohma Clan never appear in the first Anime as the conclusion is around the 6th
volume of the Manga. Luckily, Fruits
Basket is back with a brand new adaptation that will hopefully move past Book 6
and go right to the end of Vol. 23 (or 22, really Vol.23 was just a useless
epilogue, I still stand by that).
#2-Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist was a juggernaut of an Anime title,
up there with Bleach and Code Geass as one of the most popular of the entire
2000’s decade. It would be hard to
believe that the Manga was still going on while that original Anime was running
because, unlike other Anime titles some could think of, when the Anime veers
way from the source material, it still comes up with a rather endearing and
powerful story and retains the strong themes of brotherhood and sacrifice. Of course, the Manga still had a long way to
go when the 2003 series wrapped up in 2004, and then had a more “definitive”
conclusion with 2005’s Fullmetal Alchemst: The Movie-Conqueror of
Shamballa. Eventually, FMA would get
it’s true story told by popular demand once the manga concluded. And there are plenty who argue that Fullmetal
Alchemist: Brotherhood is the superior of the two titles. Sounds like a fun debate but I’m kind of
neutral.
#1-Bleach
Jeez Bleach, what
happened to you? When it came stateside
in 2005, Bleach was poised to be the next big action Anime, in the same vein of
Dragon Ball Z. And for a while, it was
attempting to do that in spectacular fashion.
But then the show just kept going on, and on, and on, and on…and it never
stopped for a long time. One would think
that’s because it takes a while to adapt a 74 Volume Manga, and it does. Except Bleach ended its 366 episode run in
2012 not even 2/3s of the way through the Manga. The Manga went on for another 7 years before
concluding itself in 2019. Half of the
Bleach Anime’s combined runtime is spent on filler arcs that were aired to give
the Manga more time to come up with central story material. Sure that approach worked for Naruto
(somehow). But Bleach never came close
to ending it’s Anime run before its source material and there’s no sign of it
starting up anytime soon. Did Bleach
just run out of steam? Does anyone care
about it anymore or want to see the rest of the Manga adapted? We may never know and that would be a sad
fate for this once proud Shonen Champion.
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