There are quite a few manga that are entering their final arcs, or have already ended as their anime adaptations attempt to play catch up. Series such as Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer have ended, while others such as One Piece and Mashle are looking to wrap their respective stories. With most manga series often created by one mangaka at the top of the food chain, with a number of assistants often supplying a helping hand, should franchises allow other artists to expand on the universes?
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Of course, comic book fans in North America are well-versed with their favorite characters being brought to life via the printed page thanks to countless writers and artists. Marvel and DC heroes for decades have had their stories continue thanks to creative teams that have passed the baton when the time arose. When it comes to anime and the manga business, we’ll typically see one mangaka forging a path for the characters to follow, working toward a definitive end for the figures they put into place. While Japanese manga will normally stick to this traditional format versus never-ending North American comics, there have been exceptions that fans can look to.
Should Anime Universes Continue?
So what are the examples that we can look at when it comes to anime-verse that have passed the torch? Dragon Ball has seen creator Akira Toriyama take on a different role following the ending of both the original series and Dragon Ball Z. Dragon Ball Super sees Toriyama teaming up with artist Toyotaro on the creation of new stories to forge a path forward for Goku and the Z-Fighters. Now the quality of the current season in comparison to what came before is up to debate though there are plenty of anime fans that are thrilled to see the shonen brawlers continue their journeys.
Another prime example is My Hero Academia, which is in its final arc of the main series, but received a notable spin-off in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. In the side story, Kohei Horikoshi handed off the reins to writer Hideyuki Furuhashi and artist Betten Court, exploring a new part of the shonen universe. In introducing Crawler and his fellow vigilantes, the universe of UA Academy was able to be further fleshed out by examining characters who didn’t appear in the main storyline.
With the approach to Crawler’s story, perhaps anime fans can see the best route forward when it comes to the universes continuing, putting to bed the original stories from the initial creators but adding layers to universes via new writers and artists. It would make for a fair compromise in taking the lessons from North American comics while sticking true to stories coming to an end for individual characters.
