by The theatrical pre-release of the latest Gundam TV anime, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuX -Beginning-, was released on January 17, 2025, and became a huge hit.
This work is a hot topic due to the collaboration between Hideaki Anno’s Khara and Sunrise. It has been decided that it will be broadcast on the Nippon Television Network from April 8 of the same year (every Tuesday at 24:29). Speaking of Khara, they have also announced plans for a new theatrical anime film based on Space Battleship Yamato (broadcast since 1974), and it has been revealed that they are aiming to start production in 2025. Gundam and Yamato are super popular contents that led to the popularity of anime in the Showa era, and even now, more than half a century later, sequels and spin-off works are being produced.
However, did you know that both works were “canceled” at the time of the broadcast? In the Showa era, broadcasts were mostly done yearly, and many works were canceled, which at first glance seems inexplicable. Let’s look back at some Showa anime that were so famous that we were surprised and asked, “Why?” *This article contains the core content of each work.
The real challenger wasn’t competing programs or ratings.
First, let me introduce the unusual reason why the anime “Haikara-san” (hereafter “Haikara-san”) was canceled. It is a romantic comedy set in the Taisho era, depicting the love between 17-year-old tomboyish girl Hanamura Benio and young lieutenant Ijuin Shinobu.
The original work is a manga by Yamato Waki, which has been serialized in “Weekly Shonen Friend” (Kodansha) since 1975. It is a very popular girls’ manga with a total circulation of over 12 million copies. The anime version of “Haikara-san” began airing on TV Asahi on June 3, 1978, but ended on March 31, 1979, with 42 episodes. From here on, there will be significant spoilers about the work. In the final episode, “Ah! Taisho Romance”, the lieutenant supposed to have died in battle appears as Marquis Mikhailov.
Still, compared to the original work, it is a somewhat unfinished ending. At the time, popular anime such as “Space Battleship Yamato 2” was broadcast on Nippon Television, and “Manga Nippon Mukashi Banashi” was broadcast on TBS. Some fans whispered, “The show was canceled because the competing programs were too strong.”
However, according to the original author, Waki Yamato, the TV broadcast of the 1980 Moscow Olympics was decided to be in the anime time slot, which was the reason for the cancellation. At the time, Waki Yamato was not involved in the anime production, and he was told that “we can only continue for three more episodes.”
Still, the story (of the anime) had already been written up to the middle of the original work, and “no matter how good the original author is, there is no way to wrap it up.” Benio faced any difficulty, but she could not win against such a significant event on a global scale. It was also sad that Japan ultimately did not participate in the Moscow Olympics. After that, “Haikara-san” was made into a live-action movie starring Yoko Minamino in 1987, and the theatrical anime was released in “Part 1 and Part 2” in 2017 and 2018. Nearly 40 years have passed since the anime was canceled, but it has been properly concluded.
