We’ve all experienced at some point that something we loved remained unfinished and will never continue. It’s the expression fans of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ are starting to wear, and one that followers of ‘Firefly’ or ‘Freaks and Geeks’ once rehearsed well. But if there’s a group of people who know all too well what it’s like to lose hope of their favorite work returning, it’s the otakus, who live day by day with the cancellation of their beloved manga for one reason or another. In fact, some of the most well-known ones in history will never have a conclusion. Let us tell you the story behind five of them!
‘X’ (Clamp)
For eleven years, from 1992 to 2003, the group of mangakas Clamp (‘Card Captor Sakura’, ‘Chobits’) took to culminate their masterpiece, ‘X/1999’, compiled in 18 volumes. Or that’s what we would say if… it had ended. In March 2003, the mangakas decided to distance themselves from the work and take some time to think about how it could conclude, and that’s how we have been for twenty years. Both the anime series and the movies had to come up with their respective endings, which will have to suffice. To add salt to the wound, it’s supposed that only three volumes were left to finish the story. Painful.
‘Phoenix’ (Osamu Tezuka)
For me, one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of comics is ‘Phoenix.’ It was the work that accompanied Tezuka throughout his entire life: it began in 1954, and its last episode was published in 1988, just before his death. After his passing, nobody dared to touch a single line of this inconceivable and immortal manga that spans across all eras of humanity (after all, it deals with reincarnation). Even though it lacks an ending, if you have the opportunity, take a look at it: you won’t regret it.
‘Vagabond’ (Takehiko Inoue)
From 1998 to 2015, Inoue focused all his efforts on this fantastic martial arts and samurai story that spares no violence and brutality. That hasn’t stopped it from becoming one of the best-selling manga of all time… even though it lacks an ending, and there’s no sign of it coming. Considering how ‘Slam Dunk’ ended, we know that Inoue isn’t particularly good at bidding farewell to his characters, but leaving them hanging is just too much… especially since in 2009, he stated that ‘Vagabond’ would conclude within a couple of years. Since then, the series has been plagued by hiatuses, some lasting a year and a half. However, eight years later, fans have lost all hope of seeing how it ends, especially now that Inoue has ventured into directing with ‘The first Slam Dunk.’
‘Berserk’ (Kentaro Miura)
It’s curious how ‘Berserk,’ a magnificent work that began in 1989, only concluded 22 years later with the death of its author at the age of 54. At that time, it was assumed that the manga, which already had 41 volumes, would not continue. However, Kouji Mori, the friend who helped him create the entire story, episode by episode, insisted on finishing at least the ongoing saga, and the manga was resumed as an epitaph to Miura. It remains to be seen if after 2023, any new chapters will be published or if it will remain incomplete forever.
‘Nana’ (Ai Yazawa)
Indeed, ‘Phoenix’ is a masterpiece, but nothing pains me more than ‘Nana,’ the manga that Yazawa conceived after ‘Paradise Kiss,’ which became a true revolution in adult shojo. With 21 volumes published over 9 years, it told the parallel stories of two women named Nana in Tokyo and introduced time jumps that only raised more questions… questions that will never be answered due to the health issues of its author. She hasn’t been able to maintain the pace required by weekly magazines since then. In light of what happened to Miura, it’s not a bad idea for her to ease off the accelerator. It’s better to have a living mangaka than a finished manga.
