As I understand it, there’s a lot more to this story to be told. But the last line of the last episode that I saw sounded an awful lot like “the end”.
Particularly given the subject matter of the show, I’m not opposed to just switching to the light novel, but what do you think?
With how most anime are only made to promote the sales of the source material, and Bookworm being near enough finished with it’s book runs… I don’t like it’s chances. Maybe if the manga or a spinn-off book series were to have a surge in popularity… but I doubt it.
Also to be honest, after the mess that was the last few episodes of season 3, I’m not sure I even want further seasons anymore. If they can make consistent, aceptable quality, sure, but if it’s another rushed mess, with big chunks cut out, animation quality dips and nonsensical stuff like the sky being visible behind Sylvester and Karstedt, when they come out of Ferdinand’s room… yeah, no thanks.
I think there is a lot of opportunity to sell more books and merch if they wanted.
And this material is just so much better than some of the dreck that gets second and third seasons, both in story quality but also in terms of merchantability. The characters are memorable, the memes are strong, it’s really an excellent property.
The next section, if it was given the proper budget and care, would be brilliant as anime; there are several scenes that I read and reread thinking about how you’d direct them. Lessy needs screen time! :-)
I agree in principle, but unfortunately in practice, quality of the source material seems to be only a minor factor in the decisions of the money providers in the anime industry, if even that. What counts for them are sales numbers, which Bookworm just doesn’t have and timing, which isn’t in Bookworms favour either.
Then there’s merchandise. Sure Bookworm has many opportunities… but not for mecha model kits or action figures, which seem to take far higher priority than tea-sets, keychains and perfumes.
Does the series deserve a full, high-budget run? Absolutely. Will it ever get that? Realistically I don’t see it happening… In theory it would be possible if some eccentric multi-millionaire or a massive crowd funding campaign came up with the necessary funds… but that’s just daydreaming.
Let’s face it, our darling book series has always been something of a niche product to begin with, within the wider light novel, manga and anime sphere.
Sure there are exceptions like Spice and Wolf, but that had the bonus of cute, sometimes naked fox girl to grab people’s initial attention and was made in a very different time, before today’s over saturation, allowing it to build up a far bigger popularity, than it would ever have gottne, had it only seen it’s first release within the last 5 years.