Anime Series: How Long is Too Long?

[Caedmon]

Should an anime continue past 30, 50, or 100+ episodes if it remains popular or profitable, or should it stay small and tight, with a finite plot and a pre-planned, limited number of episodes, possibly using movies or OVAs to tie up loose ends?

 

[Qyöt27]

I think it depends on the source content. In the case of a show like Bleach, where the manga is very long, then a large number of episodes is acceptable, but filler arcs only to put distance between the anime and manga while making sure that they can still reap a profit should be struck down. It's poor planning to run through the manga material so quickly that filler becomes necessary. If they really needed the time, put the series on hold and start up again after a season or two has passed.

If the original purpose was pure fanservice (I don't really mean H here) instead of relying on a game or manga source, like Galaxy Angel, then it should continue for as long as it's popular or until the staff just gets tired of it and runs out of ideas.

If the story is simplistic enough and the manga or game runs for a manageable length, then a 12/13 or 24/26 episode long run is fine, maybe with a second or third season if necessary (Clannad, Haruhi, School Rumble, etc.).

 

[LUColt27]

I'm of the mindset that as long as a series keeps the story interesting, it should keep going, but if it's taking entire episodes to do two minutes of real-time action in the story (I'm looking at you, DBZ), it's time to pack it in. Some of my favorite series could and probably should have gone longer because I thought the story was interesting enough, or they could have gone a few ways with it at any point, and I wanted to see what would happen if something unexpected suddenly occurred. For example, I like the series Tenchi Muyo! because it's hilarious, but I wanted to see what would happen if the main character learned how to utilize his power at will, instead of only when his life is in danger. Because seriously, how often can that possibly happen enough to make for a great long series?

 

[Staccato]

It depends. I've just finished watching .hack//SIGN, where the plot progressed so slow I would think 'Okay, what's happened then?' after watching half a dozen episodes and be able to think of only one or two things. The rest of the time was filled with lengthy conversations and character development that didn't advance the plot one iota, it was there simply to act as a mental stimulus and thinking points for the person watching. And it was great. It was great to see an anime series that didn't feel the need to rush itself and rewarded the viewer's patience. It was great to see an anime series confident enough in its viewers' intellect to not have to throw random explosions in to try and hold their attention.

I say this because it's an example of how a lack of action (or indeed, a lack of practically anything really) isn't necessarily a bad thing. A show can run for over a hundred episodes with next to nothing going on and still be fabulous to watch (admittedly I'm struggling to think of -any- at the moment). Conversely a show can run for 12 episodes and still be overlong whilst being packed full of SPLODES!!. It depends on what the viewer is looking for.

But yeah, DBZ needs to stop. Now

 

[Blessed-one]

It's usually (?) not possible to continue a story beyond 200 episodes (anime-wise) without repeating the same plot device again and again.

Anything that goes over 200 is a bit too much for me.

but as Qyo27 said, the manga is long. In fact, a lot of manga-based animes end with either an anime original ending or gets cut off with no ending... so really, what is too long?

 

[Qyöt27]

It's usually (?) not possible to continue a story beyond 200 episodes (anime-wise) without repeating the same plot device again and again.

Anything that goes over 200 is a bit too much for me.

but as Qyo27 said, the manga is long. In fact, a lot of manga-based animes end with either an anime original ending or gets cut off with no ending... so really, what is too long?

To be fair, though, at least in terms of Bleach, the manga itself has strong parallelism occurring in it between the two most important storylines which means similarities are bound to happen, and there's approximately 80 or so episodes which don't come out of the manga at all and were just cooked up by Studio Pierrot to milk all that they could out of the anime's dedicated viewers (off the top of my head, the two Bount arcs, the short 12 or so episode filler around the 130s, the recent 22-episode Amagai Shuusuke arc, and the two buffer episodes between finishing up the Nnoitra fight and Turn Back The Pendulum episodes). The latter means that the meat of the series rests in a decidedly smaller number of episodes.

Many other long-running anime series likely have this same problem, where the studio deviates from the series canon. The thing about it, though, is that it probably only occurs in the series which run weekly with no break time, close to 52 weeks a year. Those that stick to a regular season pattern likely suffer much less from the effect (again, if they're long-running - there's plenty of short-run or single full-season series which got their storylines butchered, but if it extends into several seasons it probably didn't have as much of that occur if they go with standard seasons).

 

[fuzzyjesusfreak]

If its interesting enough, I will watch it if its long, yeah, if the manga is long, it should go with the manga and make it long like it without fillers if need be, I hate fillers. But anything above 250+ eps gets kinda boring so I might not watch it, if its interesting enough though, I might watch it some more.