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When will filler/summary episodes be unviable?

It'll happen when anime directors decide to break the unwritten rule of following a manga verbatim. It's either that the directors are afraid to branch out and be their own artist and be more creative with the story or the fans are practically forcing them to regurgitate exactly everything that happened in the manga because they demand it that way and anything less is inferior. If a director strays from the manga he get's bashed and if he tries to follow along exactly you get tons of fillers to stall for time or you get rushed endings due to "not enough source material" (I hate that) and he gets bashed for that.

The thing about anime adaptations, though, is that you have strike while the iron's hot and you sometimes can't wait til a manga is done because it may be losing steam by that point or you just never know how long a manga will be. Although, I find that the best shows don't have source material at all.

It'd be great if they'd release a filler/summary-free version of an anime (KARE KANO, I'm looking at YOU!) on DVD.

cough.

I'd also like to add that it will help if the animators for Shonen Jump titles would actually break things up into seasons, rather than force a new episode out every single week save for certain holidays.

I have to ask, what's the difference between the show being done in seasons and just not watching the filler arcs? It's a generic response, but if you don't like it, don't watch it, it's not that hard.

Emerje

It'd be great if they'd release a filler/summary-free version of an anime (KARE KANO, I'm looking at YOU!) on DVD.

From what I've heard, Naruto and Bleach are WAY behind their manga counter parts and frankly I'm fed up with both series. Both certainly had their appeal initally, but the filler has really done it in for me.

I'd also like to add that it will help if the animators for Shonen Jump titles would actually break things up into seasons, rather than force a new episode out every single week save for certain holidays.

HyugaHinata wrote:

It'd be great if they'd release a filler/summary-free version of an anime (KARE KANO, I'm looking at YOU!) on DVD.

If you did that, it would only be about five episodes long

I'd agree that changing the broadcast pattern, since the 'season' in Japan is like four blocks, reducing it to just two might alleviate some of the "problems" associated with filler. Maybe run big fall and spring promotions in Autumn and Spring and either re-runs or specials in Winter and Summer.

SalarymanJoe wrote:

I'd agree that changing the broadcast pattern, since the 'season' in Japan is like four blocks, reducing it to just two might alleviate some of the "problems" associated with filler. Maybe run big fall and spring promotions in Autumn and Spring and either re-runs or specials in Winter and Summer.

Two problems with that: First, as I understand it, Japanese TV basically contracts timeslots out to the animation companies. If you don't have anything to air in the timeslot, you lose it and it goes to someone else- and since "someone else" is probably your direct competition, it's makes sense to prefer your own series to losing the timeslot to your competitors. (I think. This is just what I heard.) Second, there's no guarantee that your audience will return after you take a break. Shonen anime is pretty generic, and if one series goes on hiatus there's a good chance the public will snatch up something new and forget about you by the time you come back. It's a lot easier to keep viewers around than it is to get them in the first place.

SalarymanJoe wrote:

I'd agree that changing the broadcast pattern, since the 'season' in Japan is like four blocks, reducing it to just two might alleviate some of the "problems" associated with filler. Maybe run big fall and spring promotions in Autumn and Spring and either re-runs or specials in Winter and Summer.

Two problems with that: First, as I understand it, Japanese TV basically contracts timeslots out to the animation companies. If you don't have anything to air in the timeslot, you lose it and it goes to someone else- and since "someone else" is probably your direct competition, it's makes sense to prefer your own series to losing the timeslot to your competitors. (I think. This is just what I heard.) Second, there's no guarantee that your audience will return after you take a break. Shonen anime is pretty generic, and if one series goes on hiatus there's a good chance the public will snatch up something new and forget about you by the time you come back. It's a lot easier to keep viewers around than it is to get them in the first place.