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It also applies to manga, but some strips can get lucky. Yoshihiro Togashi announced that he was resuming work on Hunter X Hunter after a long hiatus. Even Berserk will be continuing, despite the passing of its creator Kentarō Miura. But not every manga gets that chance. Unlike the aforementioned series, these unfinished shonen manga are unlikely to make a comeback.
6 Id- The Greatest Fusion Fantasy
This one’s a little different as it’s a manhwa rather than a manga. Id- The Greatest Fusion Fantasy was a strip by KIM Daewoo and A.T Kenny through BookBox. Based on the novel of the same name, the story is about Ye Chun Hwa, aka ‘Id’, as he gets pulled from his world into a realm of dragons, elves, and other fantasy creatures. He forms a party with Irlina the Elf, Reindelph the Dwarf, Grey the Warrior, and others to fight off the Fragments of Chaos, and learn more about his past.
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The manhwa was popular enough to get reposted across the internet, which was probably part of the problem. The strip’s publishing company went bankrupt in 2009, bringing the comic to an end after eight years. It’s been on a hiatus ever since. A.T Kenny went on to work on other projects, though he has expressed interest in bringing Id back. Fingers crossed it gets to make that comeback.
5 Bastard!!
Sometimes a work’s title sums it up completely. Bastard!! recounts how, long ago, the land of Metallicana was under the thrall of the wizard Dark Schneider. He was defeated, but, to avoid death, he used his magic to seal himself in the spirit of a young boy called Lushe Renren. Years later, with Metallicana torn up by the Four Lords of Havoc, the High Priest orders his daughter Yoko to reawaken Dark Schneider and bring the world back to order.
Kazushi Hagiwara’s tale of murder, mayhem and heavy metal references has been running on and off since 1988. It even got popular enough to get a 6-episode OVA in the early 90s (where Dark Schneider was voiced by Darran Norris, aka Cosmo from The Fairly OddParents). The series has been on hiatus since 2010, though there is a 24-episode ONA planned for release in June 2022. Like Schneider, Bastard!! may reawaken once more.
4 Fujimi Lovers
AKA Undead Lovers, Yuna Takagi’s mix of shonen action and romance had a curious premise. As a kid, Jun Kōno fell in love with his classmate Rina Hasebe. As soon as she accepted his love, however, she disappeared without a trace. No one else could remember her either. It was as if she never existed beyond Jun’s memories. Years later, she turns back up at his high school, only she’s a little different now.
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Regardless, he keeps falling for her, and she keeps disappearing as soon as he confesses. The manga was meant to show how he’d break the cycle of reboots and keep Hasebe alive. On the face of it, Chapter 12 makes for a nice, bittersweet ending. Except its last page ended with the phrase “End of Part 1.” That final chapter came out in February 2014, yet Part 2 sadly has as much chance of reappearing as Kōno’s lost love.
3 Red Sprite
Red Sprite takes place in a world where transport is fueled by a new source called Thunder-cores. Alongside creating longer-lasting cars, buses, and trains, they’ve brought back airships in a newer, more viable way. Tatsu Frampt, an orphan from the slums, dreams of flying his own airship one day. Then his orphanage is attacked, leaving him as the only survivor. He sets off to avenge the deaths of his friends and realize his dream.
Created by Tomohiro Yagi, the strip started right around the time Bleach ended. Fans thought it could help fill the gap that Tite Kubo’s flagship series left in their hearts. Red Sprite looked like it had potential with its steampunk One Piece premise but was canceled after only 3 months and 14 chapters. It got an ending of sorts, though it’s a very rushed affair that leaves itself open. It suggested Tatsu had more foes waiting in the wings to strike. Instead, they’ll stay there forever.
2 High School of the Dead
High School’s tale of high school students fighting off zombies came in right around the time zombie media was anywhere and everywhere. Daisuke and Shōji Satō’s combo of horror and fanservice branched out into a cult classic anime and a light novel in the early 2010s. It even got an album of all its different ending themes by the band Kurosaki in 2011.
Sadly, the series began to wind down when Daisuke Satō fell ill in 2008. He passed away 9 years later in 2017. After Satō’s passing, Shōji decided to end the series and work on his other series, Triage X. Without its main writer, High School lost its heart, and it’s unlikely to be restarted anytime soon.
1 Phoenix
Here’s an old-school one that still hurts the oldest otakus. Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix was his follow-up to Jungle Emperor Leo (aka Kimba the White Lion). It was an ongoing series of short stories about reincarnation, hence the name. The manga was split into different chapters that alternated between the distant past and the far future. For example, ‘Dawn’ had ancient Japan’s Queen Himiko looking for a way to attain eternal youth, while ‘Future’ had the remnants of humanity trying to avoid its inevitable end in 3304.
The series did get multiple adaptations, from OVAs to feature-length anime, and even a live-action film in 1978. Tezuka considered Phoenix to be his life’s work, and, unfortunately, it ended with his life. He started work on the strip in 1954, and he kept drawing it until his death in 1988 at the age of 60. He left behind one completed chapter, ‘Sun’, and unreleased, unfinished drawings on what would’ve been the next chapter. No one beyond Tezuka’s family and close friends know what could’ve been next, or if that work would’ve been the official conclusion to the series.
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