Ask John: Why do Some TV Series Not Air All of Their Episodes?

Question:
I just read your answer regarding the last volume of BGC 2040 in the Animenation news from yesterday. You mentioned that the series never finished in Japan. Why? Was it because of very low ratings?

Answer:
I don’t know much about the background of the Bubblegum Crisis TV series, so I don’t know why the final 2 TV episodes were never broadcast, or even if they were complete during the TV series broadcast. It’s quite uncommon for anime TV series to have complete episodes and not air them. It’s not quite as uncommon for new TV episodes to be created after the series has finished.

The only series I know of to have completed TV episodes that didn’t air on television are Dirty Pair and Rurouni Kenshin. The Dirty Pair TV series was canceled back in 1985 due to poor ratings, before the final two episodes made it onto television. Rurouni Kenshin had a completed final episode, but that episode was never aired because it didn’t mesh well with the last-minute “filler” episodes that concluded the TV series. Dirty Pair TV episodes 25 & 26 were originally released straight to video under the titled “From Lovely Angels With Love.” The “lost” episode of Rurouni Kenshin was released on home video, and is now commonly known as episode 95.

Several series have had different versions and completely new episodes released on home video that never aired on television. Sakura Tsushin (Sakura Diaries) and Maze Bakunetsu Jiku (Maze) both had television friendly versions air on Japanese TV, then had more risque versions released on home video. Nightwalker, Outlaw Star and Weiss Kreuz, at least, had slight changes for their home video release versions. Evangelion had short but noticeable additions for its home video release, and the DVD version of the Akihabara Cyber Team TV series contained footage not in either the TV version or the VHS & LD versions.

Cowboy Bebop is an odd, similar example. When Cowboy Bebop first premiered, only 13 (plus a special “Episode X” -tip of the hat to MugenHunter for the info) of the 26 episodes were broadcast on TV. The series proved to be so popular that it was re-broadcast on the WOWOW satellite TV channel, the second time, with all 26 episodes.

The Bannou Bunka Neko Musume (Cat Girl Nuku Nuku) TV series was the first TV series I’m aware of that had full episodes created specifically for the home video release. The Nuku-Nuku TV series broadcast 12 episodes, but the home video version had 14 episodes. The same thing happened shortly later with Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure Lun Lun Monogatari. Dual broadcast 12 episodes on television, but then had 2 more episodes created for its home video release. I don’t know if BGC 2040 episodes 25 & 26 were finished during the TV broadcast run and not aired, or created after the series had concluded its TV broadcast, though.