10 unfinished anime series that left fans wanting more

Few anime moments are more disheartening than watching a series ‘end’ just as the story reaches full momentum. Over the past two decades, numerous promising anime adaptations have built a season or two of anticipation, only to halt just short of delivering the payoff that eager viewers were awaiting.

Production-committee politics, creator health, bankrupt studios, and simple market realities can all bring a series to a halt, leaving fans with theories, petitions, and lingering impatience. Regardless, whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer searching for your next binge, these unfinished anime gems are still worth waiting for.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's opinions and is listed in no particular order.

10 must-watch unfinished anime series

1) Hunter × Hunter (2011)

In Hunter x Hunter, Gon Freecss leaves Whale Island to join the Hunter Association and ultimately find his enigmatic father, Ging. This 148-episode anime adaptation covers the Hunter Exam, Yorknew City, Greed Island, the sprawling Chimera Ant war, and the 13th Chairman Election.

But it stops there, years before the manga’s Dark Continent voyage or the brutal Succession War now unfolding on printed pages. Creator Yoshihiro Togashi’s on-again, off-again health issues have put the manga on hiatus for long stretches. He returned in late 2022 with ten chapters, before another pause in December that year.

Until a new season emerges, unresolved threads - Kurapika’s quest for vengeance, Hisoka’s rematch ambitions, and the Kakin royal bloodbath - remain confined to the manga. Meanwhile, Hunter × Hunter anime-only fans revisit the election arc, hoping another set of episodes might one day arrive.

2) Nana

Two women with the same name - romantic free spirit Komatsu Nana or “Hachi,” and punk vocalist Ōsaki Nana - share an apartment, cigarettes, heartbreak, and the invisible weight of looming fame.

This unfinished anime adapts roughly the first half of Ai Yazawa’s slice-of-life manga, ending just as relationships fray and Hachi learns she is pregnant with Takumi’s child. In the print version, tragedy soon strikes the band, but the Nana manga froze at chapter 84 in 2009 when Yazawa fell ill.

Fans still flock to message boards at every faint rumor of the author’s recovery, with Nana often regarded as the patron saint of unfinished cliff-hangers. The hiatus now spans more than a decade, yet streaming numbers prove the story’s magnetism hasn’t faded.

3) Deadman Wonderland

Wrongly convicted middle-schooler Ganta Igarashi is shipped to a theme-park prison where inmates battle for viewers’ thrills, and for life-extending antidotes to the poison laced in their collars. Its gladiatorial attractions turn survival into a televised spectacle, forcing competitors to weaponize their own blood.

This series adapts roughly the first 21 chapters of the manga in only twelve episodes, stopping before the Mother Goose system and Shiro’s full backstory come into focus. An OVA, Red Knife Wielder, offered a morsel of lore, but when Manglobe shuttered in 2015, the prospect of a continuation became far less likely.

4) Highschool of the Dead

Highschool of the Dead (Image via Madhouse)

Set in the present day, a zombie outbreak erupts during roll call, propelling Takashi, Rei, Saeko, and other classmates into a splatter-movie sprint across Tokyo.

Amid expert gunplay and unapologetic fan service, the unfinished anime (plus the beachside OVA, Drifters of the Dead) ends with the survivors driving off in a Humvee, leaving a lingering feeling of “to be continued” that, sadly, never will be.

Author Daisuke Satō’s death in 2017 sealed the manga’s fate at volume 7, leaving the school gates forever half-open. With no writer to chart the escape route, fans can only imagine how long the Humvee would have lasted on the blood-slick streets.

5) Btooom!

Reclusive gamer Ryōta Sakamoto wakes up on a tropical island where contestants lob real bombs called BIMs, exactly like the online shooter he once dominated, under constant drone surveillance. The unfinished anime covers only the opening conflicts, climaxing with Ryōta and Himiko securing a makeshift raft.

Meanwhile, the Btooom! manga finished in 2018 with two divergent endings, “light” and “dark,” revealing the corporate conspiracy and endgame battles that anime-only viewers may never see animated.

Both conclusions pull no punches, charting wildly different fates for the island survivors. Yet, neither has graced television screens.

6) No Game No Life

Step-siblings Sora and Shiro, unbeaten online under the tag 'Blank,' accept a challenge from another-world god Tet and are whisked to Disboard, a realm where every dispute is settled with games.

The 2014 series dazzles through twelve episodes of technicolor chess, word gambits, and political poker, laying groundwork for high-stakes confrontations with the Eastern Federation and the Old Deus.

A prequel film, No Game No Life: Zero (2017), adapts volume 6, but chatter about a second season grows quieter each year, reduced to hallway memes like “Maybe 2027.” Meanwhile, light-novel sales remain strong, making the silence all the more puzzling for fans.

7) Noragami

Stray god Yato dreams of one day having millions of worshippers, but spends his days doing odd jobs for five-yen offerings. Alongside spirited human Hiyori Iki and troubled shinki Yukine, he stumbles into conflicts among gods, phantoms, and long-buried grudges.

Studio Bones’ anime covered the manga’s early arcs and returned with a second season titled Noragami Aragoto, adapting the Bishamon arc and parts of Ebisu’s story. But the adaptation halts before delving into the darker Heaven vs. Yato Father conflict and the series’ emotionally heavy endgame.

Noragami manga concluded in February 2024 with its 27th volume, but anime-only fans remain stranded mid-journey, still praying Yato might get one last season.

8) RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne

RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne (Image via Xebec)

Immortal private detective Rin Asōgi survives everything, from assassination attempts to a plunge off Tokyo Tower, while unraveling mysteries tied to the psychotropic “Time Fruits” and the cosmic Yggdrasil they sprout from.

At every turn, bullets and blades make little difference to a woman who simply wakes up again, file in hand. This six-episode OVA series spans 65 years of chronology yet still leaves the metaphysics of immortality and of Rin’s rebirth mysteriously open.

With no source manga and no sequel in sight, the end of this unfinished anime feels more like a question mark than a period.

9) Air Gear

Delinquent Ikki Minami borrows a pair of Air Treks - motorized rollerblades that bend physics - and catapults from street scrapper to soaring Storm Rider.

The 25-episode 2006 series, as well as the three OVAs, deliver gravity-defying showdowns yet bow out before Ikki challenges for the Sky Regalia or uncovers the history of Sleeping Forest.

Sports-shōnen fans annually predict a modern reboot, but until one arrives, the anime remains mid-air. With 37 volumes, only manga readers know that what awaits is an aerial arms race of storm-level tricks and emotional bruises.

10) The World God Only Knows

The World God Only Knows (Image via Manglobe)

Dating-sim savant Keima Katsuragi is forced by runaway demon Elsie to conquer real girls’ hearts so that stray spirits can be exorcised.

Season three’s Goddesses Arc ties up one rescue mission, but the manga continues for another few volumes, diving into the Vintage conspiracy, Keima’s erased memories, and an unexpectedly poignant endgame.

Manglobe’s bankruptcy in 2015 greatly reduced the chance of a fourth season, trapping anime-only fans right before the final difficulty spike. The loss stings all the more because the forthcoming arcs are widely hailed as the author’s greatest work.

Conclusion

From airborne rollerblades to political Nen chess matches, each unfinished anime on this list proves that an incomplete story can punch just as hard as a finished one. The silence left by canceled seasons and indefinite hiatuses becomes its own canvas, inviting theories, fan fiction, and rereads that keep communities vibrant.

If any of these series were to return, the applause would celebrate not only the resolution of long-standing cliff-hangers but also the years of dedication fans have invested while waiting.

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About the author

I am an expert article writer and data analyst with two years of experience in the field. In my free time, I enjoy watching a lot of anime, movies, and web series. Currently, my favorite anime is Naruto.

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Edited by Janhavi Chauhan