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Aokage
Joined: 08 May 2005
Posts: 160
Location: The Chaparral of California
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 7:34 pm
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Which do you prefer? Long anime always offer something to turn to for weeks and months on end. Dragon Ball captivated an audience around the world for nearly a decade with over 290 episodes (Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z combined). Naruto and One Piece still trudge foward with new villians and new escapades to grab your attention...but sometimes, it seems to never end.
A shorter series offers only one advantage over a long series. It offers closure. You see the fates or routes of the characters, from start to finish, with nothing left to the imagination except for hopes of what you want the characters to do with their futures. Short series are also less consuming of finances.
I personally favor shorter series. It is easier to collect them, and I find them generally more satisfying. Sakura Diaries, Chobits, Paranoia Agent, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop etc etc. All of these are 26 episodes or less, and each one of them, is an amazing series. So how about the rest of you. What is your preference.
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azzmoneky
Joined: 26 Jul 2003
Posts: 193
Location: With my lord and master Foamy
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 7:37 pm
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I like Short series. Good topic for a post.
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ShellBullet
Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 1051
Location: I hit things, with my fist.
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 8:36 pm
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The problem with long series is that they are too much of a drain on my finances to buy. The only long series I have bought, and probably the only one I ever will is Maison Ikkoku, one is enough. Another thing is that for a short series, it can be easily re-watched over the course of a weekend or even a couple weeks, if you want to spread it out. On the other hand, imagine marathoning all of DBZ?
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SuperOnizuka
Joined: 24 Oct 2003
Posts: 421
Location: When I look At the World- New Jersey
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 9:21 pm
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ShellBullet wrote: | The problem with long series is that they are too much of a drain on my finances to buy. The only long series I have bought, and probably the only one I ever will is Maison Ikkoku, one is enough. Another thing is that for a short series, it can be easily re-watched over the course of a weekend or even a couple weeks, if you want to spread it out. On the other hand, imagine marathoning all of DBZ? |
Well not as quite, I marathoned Escaflowne and Escaflowne the movie. That is the farthest I ever marathoned watching. Watching all of Escaflowne in a day.
Personally, it really depends on the series and the story. If it is captivating and just awesome, I would like more, like the Twelve Kingdoms. But then there are stories that really do need closure and do not need to be developed any further. So it really depends on what series I watch for preference of its length.
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Slayer
Joined: 19 Jul 2004
Posts: 273
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 9:26 pm
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Overall I prefer short series since I can watch a whole series in a weekend without getting bored after the 50th episode or something. I like long series but I tend to watch them only on tv such as dbz, yuyu hakasho, etc.
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kk
Joined: 09 Jan 2005
Posts: 109
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 9:46 pm
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I tend to like short series better because like most people said, they're less of a financial drain, especially when it comes to someone who can't find a job, like me! However, sometimes if the story and characters are really good, then I tend to wish that the show would be longer and there be more episodes.
The only long series I liked were Pokemon, DBZ and Sailor Moon. But the thing was the channel I watched them on kept repeating old episodes over and over again just when the plot got good so my interest kind of went off a little for that time.
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Mitsuhide A.
Joined: 17 Jun 2004
Posts: 200
Location: somewhere where you aren't
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 9:54 pm
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I tend to think that it depends on the show premise but generally i tend to like longer series. However, i think that shorter series have a greater emotional affect on me. In the end, its all comes to weather or not you believe that its possible to have too much of a good thing. DBZ and Inuyasha, for example, were initially good shows in my opinion but just went on for too long and eventually became redundant. On the other hand Cowboy Bebop, one of my favorite shows, probably could have used a few more eps in my opinon.
To give you a show range i think that around 30-50 eps is a solid number but then again different shows lend themselves to different numbers
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Steventheeunuch
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 10:22 pm
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Dragonball+Z is about 444 episodes, not including GT.
Thing is, larger series like that aren't made under the premise that most of the financial incentive will come back from DVD revenue, but rather from toys and games. As a result, Investors will be hesitant to let a popular property go, and will often insist on it being animated further and for other scenarios to be made, like filler, so more merchandise can be generated.
A lot of 26 episode series rely on a much smaller market to be popular, but the general idea is that you can make more money by producing many smaller series which will have more merchandise attached to it and will appeal to more otaku markets, as opposed to one series which can only appeal to certian areas, since this sort of fandom is generally harder to please.
Regardless of business-side technicalities, a series is only as good as it is. Being 26 episodes of 260 episodes shouldn't matter, so long as it can remain appealing for a said ammount of time.
Subsequently, I think CCS is creepy implied pedobait, and chobits is fanbait, but I like One Piece and Bebop. Note the four of those have different genres and audiences and appeals, but they are what they are based on their own merits, not on episode length.
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SnowfairyX
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
Posts: 438
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 10:22 pm
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I thought a series like Dragonball Z should have been significantly shortened. From watching the dubbed, edited version, I found that there were too many pointless "filler" episodes that didn't contribute to the series at all except waste the viewers' time. A long series should usually have very good character develpment, but I didn't find a lot of depth with the DBZ characters.
I usually get turned off by long series also because of the large financial investment involved. When I collect a series, I want to go all the way and get the entire series. I don't think I would want to collect a series that is longer than 70 episodes unless it is the type of series that I really like and has almost unaminously good reviews. I mostly prefer 24-26 episode series, but will not neglect shorter series if they are good.
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darkhunter
Joined: 13 May 2004
Posts: 2992
Location: Los Angelas
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 10:29 pm
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It's usually the popular shonen Jump titles that get tons of episodes. And long anime are far and few.
Most anime are about 13/26 episode long. So it's not suprising that most would prefer shorter length anime because most are release that way.
To me, length doesn't really matter as long as the story stay intact and doesn't loses it focus too much. And it's important to have a good ending that wrap everything up.
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Steventheeunuch
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 10:36 pm
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SnowfairyX wrote: | I thought a series like Dragonball Z should have been significantly shortened. From watching the dubbed, edited version, I found that there were too many pointless "filler" episodes that didn't contribute to the series at all except waste the viewers' time. A long series should usually have very good character develpment, but I didn't find a lot of depth with the DBZ characters.
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Dragonball actually has quite a vast cast of characters, and quite a few of them get lost along the way, due to either lack of relevance or just plain old forgetfulness. Still, Dragonball and Z were meant to be watched in one continuated fashion, or atleast to get the full effect, that is what is supposed to happen, since Dragonball and DBZ are the same thing, they simply just got renamed for marketting appeal.
Note that the sluggish pace of DBZ after the first third was due to creative conflicts. Toriyama supposedly wanted to end the series at the end of the Freezer saga, however fan response and investment demand wanted more. Remember how long the Goku Vs. Freezer fight was? It was due to the fact that the manga caught up with the anime at roughly the same time, and they couldn't go further for whatever reason until the manga caught up. This is why Garlic Jr. followed directly after it, but then it kept runninginto those Goku Vs. Freezer problems along the way.
(also, there's depth, you just have to have patience. THis isn't to say DBZ is a spectacle feat in dramatic storytelling, but there is a reason why it has continued to be extremely popular 20 years later)
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v1cious
Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6224
Location: Houston, TX
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 11:03 pm
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strangely, i've noticed short animes are always way better in quality than long series. this can't be a coincidence.
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SnowfairyX
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
Posts: 438
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 11:12 pm
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Steventheeunuch wrote: | Subsequently, I think CCS is creepy implied pedobait |
May you please point out to me where you see this? I assume you've seen the majority of the episodes. Could it be all those panty shots of pre-pubescent girls?
Steventheeunuch wrote: | (also, there's depth, you just have to have patience. THis isn't to say DBZ is a spectacle feat in dramatic storytelling, but there is a reason why it has continued to be extremely popular 20 years later) |
I am a very patient person. I do not hate the series overall, but it definitely dragged in many episodes as the series progressed. I think about 20-25% of the series was any good. There were some really great episodes in the series that involve actual fighting, but I thought everything else was kind of pointless. I watched a good chunk of episodes from Dragonball and thought it was much more consistent and seemed more enjoyable overall. I've never watched Dragonball or DBZ in the original, uncut format, so is there anything that I'm missing in DBZ that would actually make the series any better?
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Kruszer
Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7992
Location: Minnesota, USA
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 11:20 pm
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I believe the perfect length is 26 episodes as it allows for a good storyline and character development without getting drawn out or stale with massive amounts of filler episodes and minimal focus on the main plotline, and doesn't seem too short either. The longer ones like Rurouni Kenshin, Inu Yasha, or Detective Konan/Case Closed are just too darn expensive to own as well. A shorter anime is offen more of a labor of love, while a longer run usually indicates petty desire for marketing tie-ins or just an author who can't figure out how to end it. There's always a few exceptions though.
The storyline is most certainly the main draw(no pun intended)for me though and that's how I base my purchases, while the longer ones I try to catch on TV. Most of the stuff in my collection are 26 but I've also got a lot of 12-13 episodes series, 2-8 episode OVAs, and two 50 episode Gundam series. I'll also be getting all of GITS: SAC as well which is also fifty something.
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msi435
Joined: 29 Nov 2004
Posts: 465
Location: Behind you!
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 12:28 am
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It all depends on how good the series is. I would much rather watch somthing like FMA which is like 52 episodes than some shitty 13 ep series. Sure financial depletion would insue with the larger series, but quality is what it's all about. Plain and simple.
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