• As part of the relaunch of Skullheart, ALL previous threads have been archived. You can find them at the bottom of the forum in the Archives (2021) section. The archives are locked, so please use the new forum sections to create new discussion threads.

Why are anime producers scared to make long running anime ?

SaltedIce

Squig Band Fuk Yeah!!
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
Messages
93
Reaction score
19
Points
8
Location
South Florida
Steam
Voodin
XBL
JammedIPawned U
Big Band Squigly Fukua
Just sayin' I'm really pissed that the only long running anime available are fucking Naruto and One Piece, I want to know why great studios like Trigger and A-1 never think "What if we did more than 25 episodes?" It's too easy for "american" (Korean/Canadian produced) animations to long-run because, there's no story in most western comedies and actions, just, random events loosely fitted to plot devices, like Finn's love life in Adventure Time. I just want an anime ballsy enough to last for more than one season, like REBORN! but longer.
 
Well, as you said the production has to be ballsy. Making an investment for a long run is a big risk. So much that some of them are cut before they end just like western series (Bleach, Firefly for example and I am not discussing the qualities of these series).

Fail it and jobs lost, broken studios, suicides, devil wasps, etc.

Other reason is that the manga industry has lots and lots of short mangas that are lower risk that also offer good stories. In this way the balance tends to go for their side.
 
Series like reborn and naruto get stagnant after a while, driving people who just want to see a good story off, filler is bad and we see a lot in the longrunning animes
 
d
Series like reborn and naruto get stagnant after a while, driving people who just want to see a good story off, filler is bad and we see a lot in the long running animes
SOME filler is bad, when it has some dumb plot like "what if the characters made a movie," a la Bleach, but other filler like the No-late day episode in KLK is something a little more realistic to the characters pre-established personalities
 
Another problem though, is when an anime gets a reboot that is nothing like the previous series of the show, like beyblade, it's CN reboot is just bad, there's just no overall mood to the metal fury/shogun steel/iron boner series's.

Oh, and fuck the new Digimon, they turned their backs on the original shows fans,and misguide the new kiddos on the experience of the show, Frontier was the bomb! Nick needs to buy the show back and fix it.
 
also the no late day episode was a good way to have gangsta grannies and minigun mako so it's all good
 
  • Like
Reactions: SaltedIce
Scared to make a long running anime? More like "smart enough to know not to".
Bleach already got the clip, Naruto is literally on life support and the plug is a few months from being pulled, One Piece will never end but it sucks anyway.

The only somewhat long runners I can think of that werent begging for death near the end of their run were DragonBall, and Ghost In The Shell. Pokemon was fine too.

For most anime, having that definitive ending is what keeps it a positive memory in your mind. Would I love to know what became of the main cast of Samurai Champloo? Of fucking course I would. But I know it would likely become a shadow of its original self if it ran on for too long. Even then, some anime can barely handle shorter runs. Like Sword Art Online. Fuck that show.
 
I think if an anime runs too long, the quality dies and the plot becomes cliche and unbearable, unless the mangaka is good enough to make people stay in their seats. Think of shows in America like the Simpsons and Spongebob, and even some real life shows like Law and Order. All have been milked pretty dry by now, but in their day, they were top quality.
 
it's been a good long while since the one piece anime was good
I'd say Thriller Bark is one of the last bastions of quality, if anything for how heartrending they managed to make Brook's backstory.
everything after that was mediocre to not good at all

manga still 10/10 tho
 
So just straight honest question, so by those points a proper series should maintain about 25-26 episodes or is there a defined length that can go past that before it's run the course of interest and become dull, just curious by other peoples thoughts about that.
 
In my opinion the higher quality anime are usually those which has a fewer episodes. 40-50 episodes should be the longest, and if they feel like writing a sequel they should take a break to keep the ideas fresh and prevent any potential blocks mid-production.

Just look at Gensomaden Saiyuki. It has a very good premise but they dragged the story far too long with pointless arcs and fillers. Is China really that big that it takes a gazillion of episodes to reach the West using a dragon jeep?
 
I'd say ~50 episodes is a general maximum
i mean a lot of mecha series run that long
and Zeta, G, and Turn A all super top quality shows, regardless of their lengths
 
Echiiro Oda plans to have 1000 episodes! I got from 1-600 in 15 months, but as I looked at the series, to me the last great ark has been Water 7, but I think Thriller Bark was better. The point is I'm surprised Oda has that much in him. He's even planning to make a manga about robots!!! Maybe One Piece isn't that bad after all.
 
Scared to make a long running anime? More like "smart enough to know not to".
Bleach already got the clip, Naruto is literally on life support and the plug is a few months from being pulled, One Piece will never end but it sucks anyway.

The only somewhat long runners I can think of that werent begging for death near the end of their run were DragonBall, and Ghost In The Shell. Pokemon was fine too.

For most anime, having that definitive ending is what keeps it a positive memory in your mind. Would I love to know what became of the main cast of Samurai Champloo? Of fucking course I would. But I know it would likely become a shadow of its original self if it ran on for too long. Even then, some anime can barely handle shorter runs. Like Sword Art Online. Fuck that show.
I think that falls into the reason why long running manga are more viable for certain styles of stories.

Gundam was a long running anime with a continuous plot told across different series; but each of those series had definitive beginning and endings so it was more manageable. However I think since the mid 90s, the Gundam franchise has changed so that each series is more stand-alone and I think that reflects a change in how audiences want to consume their anime.
----------------------------------------------

Personally I'm not too fond of long running anime because they don't fit into my schedule that well. I can binge an entire manga series over-night but unless I'm watching a series as it airs on television/simulcast it's difficult to put aside time to work through the longer series.

I've managed to work through Kamen Rider (not animated) whose various series are around 50 episodes but that's about as long as I'm willing to go for most television series.
 
Kill la Kill was short, but very sweet to watch!
 
Money and the fact that most long running animes turn to crap after a while. The only exception to this would be One Piece, and that's because it being long makes sense in the context of the story. Look at Naruto and Bleach as examples of bad long running animes......Just awful.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LKArtillery
Echiiro Oda plans to have 1000 episodes! I got from 1-600 in 15 months, but as I looked at the series, to me the last great ark has been Water 7, but I think Thriller Bark was better. The point is I'm surprised Oda has that much in him. He's even planning to make a manga about robots!!! Maybe One Piece isn't that bad after all.
He's still young and healthy too! We won't have to worry about any hiatuses, hopefully.
He doesn't seem to be a fan of Idolm@ster either :V
 
Kill la Kill was short, but very sweet to watch!
It's not over yet though. Supposedly next will be the last though. Unless the Gainax blood line starts to boil and they literally cannot contain themselves. If they fuck the audience over, maybe they will at least have Stocking pop out of nowhere and announce a continuation of PSG
 
I think its better to have a complete story over a story that no one has an idea how to end it.

Many of my friends don't care about One Piece because with the lore it has and the continuity of their traveling on what is essentially the equator, we feel it should end. and theres other anime that just seems to have worn out its welcome.

Berserk is one of these. Many people have invested years into following Berserk and its publication exploits, but at the end of the day, after we've gotten another snippet of Berserk content, we just want it to have a feeling of completeness.

I've always loved shows that knew when it was good to end, like Yu Yu Hakusho. over 100 episodes, and the final episode just leaves me feeling happy. I went on a journey with these characters, and I felt it went full circle.

TL;DR:
I like my anime to have endings over animes I feel are never gonna end.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yusuke Urameshi
I'd a rather a show still be going on the course that the author wishes it to go on rather than a cop-out ending that only serves to placate complainers
(also YYH's ending was shit and chapter black ended with cop-out, dark tournament still da bes)
 
I really fail to see how YuYu had a bad ending. it answered questions. they couldn't really do anything extra considering how strong the characters had gotten over the course of the story
especially since even the manga showed how strong the main characters had gotten by showing them steam rolling some guys who took Koenma and his workers hostage
and we got a ton of answers about Yusuke's lineage. the final arc wasn't the best, mainly because nothing could top Toguro, but it wasn't bad.
 
some Animes such as Neuro need more episodes though, the anime needs to cover the story without getting stagnant, which is why Kill La Kill is so hype
 
with SpaceDandy's story do y'all think it'll be brief or longer than DBZ(of course im exaggerating lol)
 
Shinichiro Watanabe is known for his concrete stories withing the span of less than 50 episodes.

I doubt he'd become a slouch with an anime of his getting a second season.
 
I'm actually GLAD that most anime doesn't do this. I wouldn't be able to get into it otherwise, because I don't have the patience to binge-watch hundreds of episodes to get caught up. For most shows, one - MAYBE two - seasons is enough.

Unless it's something like Jojo where it's basically a completely new story with completely new characters every time.
 
I'm actually GLAD that most anime doesn't do this. I wouldn't be able to get into it otherwise, because I don't have the patience to binge-watch hundreds of episodes to get caught up. For most shows, one - MAYBE two - seasons is enough.

Unless it's something like Jojo where it's basically a completely new story with completely new characters every time.
I'm hoping MOST anime don't long run but just some.
 
because money also they end it on a highnote they don't feel the need. To continue a show that they feel is over and there is no more story to be told
 
Does NO ONE watch the Hunter x Hunter 2011 remake? That's a great example of a long-running anime whose quality hasn't dropped at all. So the rule that the longer the anime, the worse it gets doesn't necessarily apply to every series.
 
Does NO ONE watch the Hunter x Hunter 2011 remake? That's a great example of a long-running anime whose quality hasn't dropped at all. So the rule that the longer the anime, the worse it gets doesn't necessarily apply to every series.
I've never seen it, but if it's true, then you're only providing a case of the exception to the rule.
 
I've never seen it, but if it's true, then you're only providing a case of the exception to the rule.
Hajime no Ippo back in 2002 is another good example. It ran for 76 episodes and didn't get any worse later on. I also heard the Precure series is really good, although I haven't seen them myself
 
Hajime no Ippo back in 2002 is another good example. It ran for 76 episodes and didn't get any worse later on. I also heard the Precure series is really good, although I haven't seen them myself
Ok, so now we're at 2 series from the last 15 years. Definitely still sounds like the exception to the rule to me. Thing is, you could list a few more, but they'd still be clearly in the minority versus the number of series that have run too long.
 
I'd a rather a show still be going on the course that the author wishes it to go on rather than a cop-out ending that only serves to placate complainers
(also YYH's ending was shit and chapter black ended with cop-out, dark tournament still da bes)
Uh duh. Everybody knows that.
 
When people say "long running" I think they mean stuff that runs/has run for 150+ episodes. 2 or 3 seasons isn't so bad. Though really I feel like there are some things that had a one-season anime and I feel should get a reboot (History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, Air Gear, Soul Eater/Not)
 
Ok, so now we're at 2 series from the last 15 years. Definitely still sounds like the exception to the rule to me. Thing is, you could list a few more, but they'd still be clearly in the minority versus the number of series that have run too long.
We just need better animators:PUN:
But in all seriousness, I guess budget and budget management really determine how well an anime will be done and how long it'll be. Besides One Piece, Naruto, and Hunter x Hunter (which will most likely end in the summer because lolTogashi), you don't really studios tackling a long-running series anymore. They're all 1-cour and 2-cour now