There was once a time when anime would end on unsatisfying cliffhangers and never receive further seasons. Production companies did not see the value in continuing an anime and preferred to use the medium as indirect marketing to influence fans into buying the manga instead.
That hasn't been the case in recent years. Now, more than ever, the anime industry is greenlighting sequels and new seasons for anime that fans had given up hope of ever seeing again. These miraculous returns have been true passion projects and a joy to see return, and many of them were impossible to predict.
10 Anime Fans Were Begging For Spice And Wolf To Return
Spice and Wolf had two seasons during its original run, but like many other anime around that era, it ended on an unresolved cliffhanger. Anime communities have been begging for the return of classic anime like Spice and Wolf, and earlier this year, that wish finally came true.
A new Spice and Wolf project is on the way, 15 years after the original season began. It's been far too long, but fans can't wait to reunite with Holo the Wise Wolf. It's been confirmed that this project is not a continuation of the beloved series, but rather a reinvention of what's already in place.
9 No One Saw An Urusei Yatsura Reboot Coming After Such A Long Time
Sometimes an anime returning is surprising because of how it ended. For Urusei Yatsura, it's because it's been over 36 years since the original anime finished. That's a huge length of time, and so it's perfectly understandable for fans of the original series to have moved on and not expected a revival.
A whole new generation of anime watchers is about to experience the unusual tale of Ataru Moroboshi and the alien Lum. It's hard not to wonder about how well this rebooted premise can work in modern times.
8 There Was No Reason To Expect The Devil Is a Part-Timer! To Make A Comeback
Isekai anime are extremely common, but reverse isekai — not so much. A reverse isekai, as the name implies, is an anime where characters from another world are transported to Earth. In The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Sadao Maou and his loyal general Shiro Ashiya find themselves lost in modern-day Tokyo, and, hilariously, end up working at this story’s version of McDonald’s, MgRonald's.
The Devil Is a Part-Timer! is a refreshing story with strong characters and comedy, but it's one that was cut short at only a single season worth of episodes. After nine years, anime fans are finally about to see this group of misfits once again.
7 Bleach Will Finally Adapt The Last Arc Of Its Story
The original run of the shonen-hit Bleach ended in 2014. However, fans of the series knew that there was more manga to be adapted, and there was confusion over why the anime was not going to finish adapting the story.
It took a decade, but fans of Tite Kubo's stylish action series can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is set to begin in October 2022, and it will finally bring a conclusive end to Ichigo Kurosaki’s story which began almost 18 years ago.
6 Classroom Of The Elite Has Two New Seasons Coming To Fix Its Mistakes
Classroom of the Elite changed some significant plot points from the light novels it was adapting in its singular season. That caused fans to worry about how a hypothetical sequel could work if it ever happened.
Miraculously, however, the story of these high school teens in a dangerous school is set to receive not one, but two brand new seasons that will continue the story of the beloved light novels. It remains to be seen how the story will or won’t be changed to get Classroom of the Elite back on track.
5 Trigun Will Be Reborn With 3D Animation
The story of Trigun and its protagonist gunslinger, Vash the Stampede, has been over since 1998. Predicting a return for the classic anime would've been impossible. And yet, studio Orange has announced that it is bringing the classic anime back with a new 3D story called Trigun Stampede.
Studio Orange is behind some fantastic 3D anime such as Land of the Lustrous and Beastars, so there is reason to believe that it could create a compelling 3D reimagining of Vash's otherworldly tale.
4 My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Gave Fans The Answers They Were Waiting For
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU tells the romantic misadventures of the pessimistic Hachiman Hikigaya and the women in his life. Viewers were left on edge after the second season cliffhanger that delved into a potential love triangle.
Yet, the source material was finished, and so no one expected to ever see the ending adapted in anime form. Against all odds, that is exactly what happened five years later. The final season was a fitting end for the story that fans had given up hope of ever seeing again.
3 Nomad: Megalo Box 2 Had No Reason To Exist, But It Proved Its Worth
Some anime sequels are surprising because of the length of time it took for them to happen. Nomad: Megalo Box 2 is surprising because viewers of the original series, Megalo Box, had naturally assumed that the story was complete once it finished airing in June 2018.
It didn't feel like a sequel that was necessary, but in April 2021 Nomad: Megalo Box 2 came out of nowhere, took a darker direction to add even more depth to its characters, and fully earned its place as a justified sequel.
2 Chihayafuru Was The Most Unlikely Sports Anime To Receive A Sequel
Sports stories in manga are lengthy, and that often means that very few anime adaptations reach the end. Chihayafuru isn't just a sports anime — it's a sports anime based on a niche Japanese card game called karuta. It also has some romantic elements.
Yet, six years after its second season, Chihayafuru fans found out that Chihaya Ayase’s karuta adventure was going to continue with a third season. Despite the gap between seasons, Chihayafuru didn't miss a beat and provided real character development to the core cast.
1 The Wait For Re: Zero Season 2 Was Excruciating
Re: Zero's dark subversion of isekai tropes created many fans in a short time frame. Despite how popular it was, and how much of a money-maker the franchise was for publisher Kadokawa, fans went years without the hope of a new season.
Part of the reason for the lull in Re:Zero content could have been to let the light novels progress enough so that there would be enough content to adapt, and it paid off. After almost four long years, Re: Zero Season 2 arrived, and it expanded upon everything that made the first season so special.