Vindicated by History/Anime and Manga


 * Uchuu Senkan Yamato was Screwed by the Network, airing across from the very popular Heidi, Girl of the Alps. The first season was reduced from 36 (?) to 26 episodes, resulting in a planned appearance by Captain Harlock being cut. Later The Movie become wildly popular and revived the franchise.
 * Mobile Suit Gundam, one of the most influential Humongous Mecha series ever, was cancelled three-fourths of the way through the show and given a completely different ending as a result, albeit one believed by many to be superior. Once it entered reruns, it suddenly became tremendously popular and spawned a countless number of sequels and spin-offs. (This is one of the major reasons Gundam has been described as "Japan's Star Trek").
 * G Gundam and Gundam X were not well received on their initial release, with GX being the first Gundam show since the original to be prematurely cancelled. Now they are thought of as among the best entries in the franchise. Eventually, Turn A Gundam would come to be viewed the same, being seen as both among the best Gundam works and Tomino's best series.
 * Similarly, Space Runaway Ideon was in a similar mess, but the fans caught on this time and it was given a full movie for its finale, despite being cancelled with only a few episodes left.
 * Averted with Super Dimension Fortress Macross, yet another highly influential series. After languishing in Development Hell for a couple of years, the series finally got the greenlight, but was cut down to only 27 episodes. However, the series proved popular enough that it got an extension to 36 episodes halfway through its run.
 * Numerous Humongous Mecha anime have been pulled from obscurity by Super Robot Wars like After War Gundam X and Combat Mecha Xabungle.
 * When it just hit the Japanese airwaves, the first TV anime of Lupin III was met with quite some controversy and eventually succumbed to its low ratings. Reruns then lead to a considerable increase in popularity and it's now considered a TV anime classic, spawning two sequel anime, a handful of movies and countless TV specials.