Orphaned Series/Anime and Manga

Examples of in  include:


 * The manga Chicago abruptly ended after two volumes, with an apology from the writer stating that she couldn't handle the schedule at the end of the second volume.
 * Akane Chan Overdrive lasted two volumes, the last of which had two chapters that were side-stories, without any resolution of the plot.
 * Manga artist Miwa Ueda orphaned the series Peach Girl: Sae's Story after two and a half volumes, because the birth of her child left her with little time to work on it.
 * Aqua Knight was abandoned by the author in order to work on Gunnm: Last Order. He promises to be back later in the future, but the longer Last Order runs the less likely this seems.
 * For that matter, only two OAV episodes of the Gunnm anime were ever produced. Even if anybody was interested in reviving an anime version, it wouldn't legally be possible until after James Cameron releases his live-action film adaptation... which, in turn, he won't get around to making until after he finishes two sequels to Avatar.
 * The manga Hellsing: The Dawn, 6 chapters since 2007, not enough to release a single collected volume.
 * Sailor Moon artist Takeuchi Naoko had several orphaned series in the wake of the end of her hit franchise. The first was PQ Angels, which was discontinued abruptly after only 4 chapters, and Kodansha lost the proofs of the portion that had been written. The manga was never published outside of its original serial run. Her second series, Love Witch, ran for three chapters, at which point Takeuchi had written that she was taking a vacation from which the series never returned outside of a one-shot side story. It was not until the 2005-2006 run of Toki* Meca, expanded from the one-shot Toki-Meka, that Takeuchi saw a series through to its completion again.
 * Shaman King formerly ended with No Ending since the author dropped it. However, the re-release of the manga eventually lead to two new volumes to end the series.
 * The CLAMP manga Clover had a false ending in volume two, then it went backwards into flashbacks for volumes three and four. Word of God says the storyline needs two more volumes to be completed, but so far nothing has been written.
 * Legend of Chun Hyang is another CLAMP example. It only got one volume before being droppped and it is unknown when or if CLAMP intend to continue it.
 * Fire Candy's mangaka left off her work after two volumes to begin another, although she did state in her last note that she'd like to return to the series after gaining more experience.
 * One of the more notable OEL titles to go out like this was No Man's Land, which the publisher heavily promoted and commenced work on a Flash adaptation of. Problems with the creator's schedules sadly led to the series dying after only two volumes.
 * The Strawberry Panic manga.
 * For a long time, the manga D.N.Angel appeared to be an example, having been put on a hiatus for over two years. However, the mangaka has started writing chapters for it again.
 * ...and then proceeded to put it back on hiatus so she could start another series. Yukiru Sugisaki has a history of this (see also Candidate for Goddess above.) At least she stopped at the end of an arc.
 * The manga has once again been picked up. But how long it stays that way is up for grabs.
 * Millennium Snow was orphaned by Bisco Hatori after two volumes after her breakout hit Ouran High School Host Club got popular.
 * The same thing happened with a short lived series Shanghai Youma Kikai, which was put on hold so Hiromu Arakawa could work on Fullmetal Alchemist.
 * Bisco has stated that she intends to continue Millennium Snow however and with the sixteenth (and penultimate) volume of Ouran featuring sketches of characters from Millennium Snow it seems she may be planning to do so soon.
 * Beet the Vandel Buster was 12 volumes into its publication when production suddenly stopped in September 2006, due to artist Koji Inada's sudden illness. The future of the series is still completely up in the air.
 * Considering Beet's writer, Riku Sanjo, is now the head writer for Kamen Rider Double, the likelihood of Beet being picked up again is cast further in doubt.
 * Happens constantly with fan translations of manga and fansubs of anime. If you're lucky, another group will pick up where the last one left off. If not... well, best get learning Japanese.
 * This happened to the English translations of far too many series due to the closure of Tokyo Pop, one of the largest English-language manga and light novel publishers around. Pray another company picked it up.
 * Net Sphere Engineer was announced to be the sequel to Blame! The first chapter excited many. A second chapter never came. While nobody actually knows what happened to the rest of the story, many opt for the answer that it was abandoned.
 * The story of Final Fantasy Unlimited was plotted to last two seasons, but only the first season was animated. The story of the second season can be found in various supplemental media (available in Japanese only).
 * Stellvia of the Universe was originally meant to be (at least) three half-seasons, but due to personality conflicts the team broke up at the end of the second. At least it was a natural break-point.
 * Tite Kubo's earlier manga, Zombie Powder, lasted only four volumes before it was canceled, due to various issues and complications in the author's life at the time.
 * Yami no Matsuei has been on hiatus since December 20, 2002, due to Yoko Matsushita suffering a hand injury. Her art style has changed somewhat since because of this and she did work a little more on the manga afterwards. However beyond brief periods of "SHE'S GOING TO FINISH IT!" now and then, there's been nothing else beyond a few chapters after volume 11, all of which are finally being put in a 12th volume. Fans are just pretty much begging to hear how she planned to end the series now.
 * The English translation of the Kingdom Hearts manga ended on Kingdom Hearts II Vol. 2 after TokyoPop decided to discontinue the series due to financial problems.
 * Good that there are fans who translate were TokyoPop won't, right?
 * Gun Blaze West only got up to its third volume when it was cancelled due to a combination of low readership and Nobuhiro Watsuki feeling he couldn't go any further with it. The series ends before the heroes even reach the fabled destination.
 * The anime version of Zipang didn't really end, it just stopped in mid-story when they reached 26 episodes. The manga reached a conclusion, though.