Best Anime Never Made
Tucked away in the corners of anime history are any number of projects that never got released, never made it to the actual production stage, or were otherwise lost in some form. Sometimes it was lack of money; sometimes, lack of opportunities; sometimes just being the wrong project at the wrong time. What's more, Western fans rarely hear about such failures: the language barrier, and the general lack of reportage about such things has kept many such misses in the dark for a long time.
Here's a look at some of the most significant anime that went missing in action, from many creators and companies well-recognized for their other work.
Legendary director Akira Kurosawa -- he of Seven Samurai, Rashomon, and an astonishing number of other masterpieces -- was in the last few years of his life when he considered this animated production that would have been an expansion and re-working of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale Masque of the Red Death. Kurosawa's version, set in turn-of-the-century Russia, involves many of the same plot elements but a markedly different execution. Kurosawadid complete a screenplay for the project before his death in 1998, and it almost came to fruition in 2010, but for various reasons never got off the ground. Maybe someday it will.More »
The original Bubblegum Crisis was infamous amongst anime fans for being an aborted endeavor. The two studios that were jointly producing the series, Youmex and Artmic, became embroiled in a nasty legal dispute (possibly due to the series not selling as well as hoped in Japan), and the last five of thirteen episodes were never created. Instead, a decade or so later, an entirely new 26-episode TV series, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, was produced. (It was co-funded by ADV Films, a now-defunct but then-major distributor of anime in the U.S.)More »
If any one film on this list seems like it should have happened, this is it. Hayao Miyazaki would have been the perfect director to adapt Astrid Lindgren's long-beloved series of children's books, which mix whimsy and derring-do in their adventures about a caarrot-haired girl who doesn't care about the world's rules. Nothing remains of this project except for a few storyboards Miyazaki himself created, one of which can be seen here. Despite being pitched on the idea via those same storyboards, Lindgren's estate refused to allow the project to move forward. From what we can tell it was their loss.More »
After the release of the original Kiddy Grade (compare prices on the original at the above link), a sequel was planned which would have starred the heroines from the original, Eclaire and Lumiere, in an all-new set of adventures. Nothing came of it, unfortunately -- instead, a spinoff series entitled Kiddy Girl-and (pronounced "Kiddy Grand") went into production, which leaped forward 200 years and starred an entirely new cast of characters. A shame, because Kiddy Girl-and had a far dippier tone than its predecessor and didn't acquire anywhere nearly the same level of attention.More »
This one has a happy ending. Leiji Matsumoto, creator of a whole slew of interconnected anime and manga properties -- Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamamoto (aka Star Blazers in English) -- wrote the screeplay for his epic space opera OZMA some thirty years ago, but was unable to get the series produced until 2012, as a 20th-anniversary production for Japanese broadcasters WOWOW. The Viki online streaming service has since picked it up for a worldwide audience.More »
In 2005, the first slated anime adaptation of Tow Ubukata's novel trilogy Mardock Scramble was under way, under the umbrella of then-beleaguered anime studio GONZO. Most notable was the involvement of character designer Range Murata(Shangri-La, Last Exile), who had developed character sketches and design work that have since been compiled in his collection Prismtone. Unfortunately, that iteration of the project fell apart in 2006, at least in part because of the studio's financial difficulties.
Fortunately, the project as a whole didn't die. King Records and animation studio GoHands later resurrected the film trilogy, albeit with a different team of artists at the helm. It's interesting to look at Murata's designs and imagine the kind of product that might have resulted, but the film we did get is absolutely nothing to complain about.More »
You could write a book about what happened to The Sentinels, producer Carl Macek's ambitious 65-episode follow-up TV series to Robotech (his reworking of the Japanese series Macross into an English-language property). In fact, there is just such a book, shown here, which goes into detail about the three episodes that were animated before the plug was pulled, no thanks to toy manufacturer Matchbox withdrawing their financial support from the project. The project was eventually recycled into a feature film of the same name, and several novels written for the Robotech franchise go into some detail about the storyline that would have been used in the new show.More »
Of all the titles on this list, this one may well be the most heartbreaking to include. Director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent) had commenced work on this film -- about three robots who take a road trip together -- but in 2010 discovered he was gravely ill with pancreatic cancer and might only have a couple of months to live at most. However, before his death in August of that year, Kon left behind detailed direction instructions and a full set of storyboards that indicated how the film ought to have been completed.
Masao Maruyama, Kon's longtime producer/collaborator and head of Studio Madhouse, has vowed to complete the film, but no timetable was given and production has since been suspended about a third of the way through due to financing difficulties. The question of whether or not one of anime's brightest lights (however briefly it burned) will have his final work completed and released still remains unanswered.
Russian literary legend once Leo Tolstoy collaborated with Yuri Vasnetsov to create their own picture-book version of the fairy tale of the Three Bears. Originally published in 1935, the resulting book inspired Hayao Miyazaki to prepare a short film based on it. In the end, the film was not made, but an exhibit in the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo showed off details about the film from the perspective of its creators. The exhibit was closed in May of 2008.
Here's a look at some of the most significant anime that went missing in action, from many creators and companies well-recognized for their other work.
1. Akira Kurosawa's The Masque of the Black Death
Legendary director Akira Kurosawa -- he of Seven Samurai, Rashomon, and an astonishing number of other masterpieces -- was in the last few years of his life when he considered this animated production that would have been an expansion and re-working of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale Masque of the Red Death. Kurosawa's version, set in turn-of-the-century Russia, involves many of the same plot elements but a markedly different execution. Kurosawadid complete a screenplay for the project before his death in 1998, and it almost came to fruition in 2010, but for various reasons never got off the ground. Maybe someday it will.More »
){kind=link}
2. Bubblegum Crisis (The Final Episodes)
The original Bubblegum Crisis was infamous amongst anime fans for being an aborted endeavor. The two studios that were jointly producing the series, Youmex and Artmic, became embroiled in a nasty legal dispute (possibly due to the series not selling as well as hoped in Japan), and the last five of thirteen episodes were never created. Instead, a decade or so later, an entirely new 26-episode TV series, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, was produced. (It was co-funded by ADV Films, a now-defunct but then-major distributor of anime in the U.S.)More »
3. Hayao Miyazaki's Pippi Longstocking
If any one film on this list seems like it should have happened, this is it. Hayao Miyazaki would have been the perfect director to adapt Astrid Lindgren's long-beloved series of children's books, which mix whimsy and derring-do in their adventures about a caarrot-haired girl who doesn't care about the world's rules. Nothing remains of this project except for a few storyboards Miyazaki himself created, one of which can be seen here. Despite being pitched on the idea via those same storyboards, Lindgren's estate refused to allow the project to move forward. From what we can tell it was their loss.More »
4. Kiddy Grade II
After the release of the original Kiddy Grade (compare prices on the original at the above link), a sequel was planned which would have starred the heroines from the original, Eclaire and Lumiere, in an all-new set of adventures. Nothing came of it, unfortunately -- instead, a spinoff series entitled Kiddy Girl-and (pronounced "Kiddy Grand") went into production, which leaped forward 200 years and starred an entirely new cast of characters. A shame, because Kiddy Girl-and had a far dippier tone than its predecessor and didn't acquire anywhere nearly the same level of attention.More »
5. Leiji Matsumoto's OZMA
This one has a happy ending. Leiji Matsumoto, creator of a whole slew of interconnected anime and manga properties -- Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamamoto (aka Star Blazers in English) -- wrote the screeplay for his epic space opera OZMA some thirty years ago, but was unable to get the series produced until 2012, as a 20th-anniversary production for Japanese broadcasters WOWOW. The Viki online streaming service has since picked it up for a worldwide audience.More »
){kind=link}
6. Mardock Scramble (The Original Version)
In 2005, the first slated anime adaptation of Tow Ubukata's novel trilogy Mardock Scramble was under way, under the umbrella of then-beleaguered anime studio GONZO. Most notable was the involvement of character designer Range Murata(Shangri-La, Last Exile), who had developed character sketches and design work that have since been compiled in his collection Prismtone. Unfortunately, that iteration of the project fell apart in 2006, at least in part because of the studio's financial difficulties.
Fortunately, the project as a whole didn't die. King Records and animation studio GoHands later resurrected the film trilogy, albeit with a different team of artists at the helm. It's interesting to look at Murata's designs and imagine the kind of product that might have resulted, but the film we did get is absolutely nothing to complain about.More »
7. Ninja Scroll Burst
Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Ninja Scroll was a seminal '90s animated theatrical feature, and a major entry point for many in the U.S. into anime fandom. What even few of the fans know is that a sequel had been slated for production, Ninja Scroll Burst. All that remains of this project is a trailer, included on the newly-remastered Japanese Blu-ray Disc edition of the film. It was never developed into a full-blown film.More »
8. Robotech II: The Sentinels
You could write a book about what happened to The Sentinels, producer Carl Macek's ambitious 65-episode follow-up TV series to Robotech (his reworking of the Japanese series Macross into an English-language property). In fact, there is just such a book, shown here, which goes into detail about the three episodes that were animated before the plug was pulled, no thanks to toy manufacturer Matchbox withdrawing their financial support from the project. The project was eventually recycled into a feature film of the same name, and several novels written for the Robotech franchise go into some detail about the storyline that would have been used in the new show.More »
9. Satoshi Kon's The Dreaming Machines
Of all the titles on this list, this one may well be the most heartbreaking to include. Director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent) had commenced work on this film -- about three robots who take a road trip together -- but in 2010 discovered he was gravely ill with pancreatic cancer and might only have a couple of months to live at most. However, before his death in August of that year, Kon left behind detailed direction instructions and a full set of storyboards that indicated how the film ought to have been completed.
Masao Maruyama, Kon's longtime producer/collaborator and head of Studio Madhouse, has vowed to complete the film, but no timetable was given and production has since been suspended about a third of the way through due to financing difficulties. The question of whether or not one of anime's brightest lights (however briefly it burned) will have his final work completed and released still remains unanswered.
10. Studio Ghibli's Three Bears
Russian literary legend once Leo Tolstoy collaborated with Yuri Vasnetsov to create their own picture-book version of the fairy tale of the Three Bears. Originally published in 1935, the resulting book inspired Hayao Miyazaki to prepare a short film based on it. In the end, the film was not made, but an exhibit in the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo showed off details about the film from the perspective of its creators. The exhibit was closed in May of 2008.
Source...