Highlights
- Not every popular anime series gets a second season, but those that do must be truly special and have strong viewership, manga sales, and merchandise profits.
- Some anime series that deserve another season include Another, WataMote, Highschool of the Dead, Trinity Seven, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
- Yona of the Dawn and Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls have loyal fanbases and should continue to be adapted to reach their conclusions.
In the modern landscape of the anime industry, most series would be lucky to even get adapted from a manga, even if it is quite popular. When it comes to getting a second, third, or even fourth season, that series must be doing something truly special to warrant this kind of treatment. Not every series can be a Demon Slayer or My Hero Academia, so nowadays, most are grateful to just get one.
While every series can't get another season, there are so many that deserve it. Of course, saying an anime deserves another season is subjective, but when the viewership is there, the manga sales are good, and the merchandise sales are profitable, sometimes that still isn't enough. So here are a few series that well and truly deserved another season.
7 Another
The story of Another follows Koichi Sakakibara, who is transferred to class 3-3 of Yomiyama North Junior High after returning to school from being sick. After meeting new classmate Mei Misaki, they both embark on a journey to discover the truth behind the numerous mysteries surrounding a former classmate and other tragedies that arise.
By the time the series wrapped up, most of the source material had been adapted, leaving very little room for another season. However, in 2013 a squeal to the original light novel was released called Another: Episode S. This opened the door to the possibility of a second season to an anime many fans believed deserved it. Another had proven to be a stand-out horror anime that holds a very loyal fan base to this day, but hope for another season seems all the more unlikely due to how long it's been since the novel ended.
6 WataMote: No Matter How I Look At It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!
WataMote proved to be an extremely relatable anime as it followed the high school life of the socially awkward Tomoko Kuroki. Thanks to help from her best friend, Yuu Naruse, and brother Tomoki Kuroki, Tomoko slowly gets past her introverted and awkward tendencies to better adapt to high school life.
What makes WataMote ideal for this list is how the premise has continued to be relatable and, in some ways, has become even more relatable. With other popular series such as Boochi the Rock! and Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu being able to tackle topics about anxiety and loneliness with relative care, it seems quite shocking that WataMote has not got some sort of revival. More anime that discuss mental health will always be appreciated as the topic becomes more openly discussed, so this anime deserves another season.
5 Highschool of the Dead
In the early 2000s, the zombie sub-genre had such a stranglehold on the entertainment industry, that even anime looked to capitalize on it. One of the many series the industry would push out would be High School of the Dead. In this series viewers follow Takashi, his classmates, the school nurse, and a young girl as they survive the zombie apocalypse by any means necessary.
The series successfully combined violence, ecchi, and comedy in a way that captured the attention of many viewers, enticing them to come back week after week, despite its shortcomings in plot and character development. These shortcomings didn't stop the series from becoming immensely popular in Russia too. Unfortunately, after the passing of the series' mangaka, Daisuke Sato, any hope for a second season or even a conclusion seems like a pipe dream.
4 Trinity Seven
Trinity Seven follows the journey of Arata Kasuga who enrolls in Royal Biblia Academy to become a "Magus," train under the Trinity Sevens, and save his cousin Kasuga Hijiri. The setup was compelling enough to draw in a lot of fans and some positive reception for the series, but much of that would not last.
On the surface, it's clear the series had immense potential, but a lot of that seemed to be wasted on tired tropes and less-than-stellar storylines. Even still, the series found a loyal fanbase that had hopes future seasons would fix some of the issues and adapt the more interesting stories developing in the manga. Those future seasons would unfortunately never come, which disappointed many fans who believed there was a lot of wasted potential here, but also gives the series the distinction of being a harem where nobody wins due to not having a proper conclusion.
3 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
To say The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is unique would be an understatement. Despite its disjointed nature, it became remembered and renowned for its fun characters, creative comedy, and engaging storylines. The episodes of the series were also all intentionally broadcast out of order to further add to the uniqueness of the series.
The legacy and impact of the series are apparent, even 11 years later. Fans have clearly not gotten their fill of this world and its characters, so even if there isn't enough source material to adapt from the novel to warrant a third season, that doesn't mean there can't be an anime-exclusive continuation. A series as revered as this surely deserves another season in the future.
2 Yona of the Dawn
Yona of the Dawn tells the story of the titular character Yona who must fight to reclaim her kingdom after it was lost in an act of treason. The focus of this story is fantasy-adventure-drama first and foremost, but it does lean heavily into harem themes which fit into the plot quite well. Said harem elements are quite well executed, especially for the series being the ever-so-rare "reverse harem."
Despite the criticism the series received, it still managed to cultivate a healthy and loyal fanbase outside the manga readers. Said manga continues to be one of the most popular in the world as it currently sits as the 92nd most popular of all time, according to Anilist. This alone should prove that the current fans want to see this story continue to be adapted and reach its conclusion.
1 Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls
To most anime fans Monster Musume looks like so many other harems and its premise reinforces that. To put it simply the premise is about a young man named Kurusu Kimihito who must manage his increasingly chaotic life as a new monster girl enters it seemingly at random looking to take his hand in marriage. This is the set-up to numerous harem anime, but believe it or not, Monster Musume is the first of its kind for anime.
Doujin and lesser-known manga had long tried this premise of Anthropomorphic monster/anime girls involved in harems with a human male, but none reached the heights Monster Musume did. One could make the case that it's because of this series' popularity that other similar series' such as Monster Girl Doctor and Interview with Monster Girls were able to find success. That alone should mean that Monster Musume deserves another season, but with each passing year, it feels less and less likely.