Forum - View topicJust the right length / too long anime?
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DragonsRevenge
 Posts: 1150 |
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What are some titles you feel are just long enough or too long, for whatever reason?
Dragon Half, Dokoro-chan, Punie-Chan, Puni Puni Poemi: These are some of the craziest WTF anime out there. The sheer absurdity and rate in which the gags come at you can almost seem to be too much. Thankfully for these OVAs they're just long enough to leave you either in stitches or scratching your head. For me personally, They're some of my favorite of their kind, but I couldn't take much more. By that same token, Excel Saga, the cream of the WTF anime I felt was a bit too long in the tooth. The sheer manic pace and all the gags and references; I could only watch an episode or two at a time, and I generally felt was too long. A 13 ep. series would've worked much better. Shana 2, Higurashi/Kai: The former spends too much time on filler and then rushes through the climax (I ranted about it in the Shana S thread). The latter had a very strong first season, then dragged the second season out to where everything that made the first season was lost. Both of these could've stood to be shorter. I still think Higurashi/Kai could've been one 26 episode series and would've kept much of the impact that was felt in the first season. Your turn. |
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EireformContinent
 Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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Knowing where to stop is very important. In case of this crazy comedies it's better to leave them short, because even the most funny gags after hours of watching aren't funny no more.
For me too long animes are those which has overreached manga/novel and the directors looks for new ways to finish it- usually it really seems that the creators were in hurry, writing the screenplay-eg. first FMA |
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DragonsRevenge
Posts: 1150 |
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I dunno, I thought for a 51 ep. series, FMA was paced pretty well. It has been a while since I saw it, but I think maybe 6 episodes were pure filler/didn't advance the story much, and nothing about it dragged or felt rushed. 'cept maybe the last 4 episodes. I think that one was just long enough |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6590 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Death Note went on way to long. As much as I was totally hooked by the first dozen episodes or so, the tension between Light's transgressions and the constant imminent risk of discovery eventually became tedious. The contest between Light and L should have been resolved sooner and the series wound up shortly thereafter.
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otaku-king
 Posts: 16 Location: Toronto, Canada |
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Couldn't have said it better myself 
Something like Bleach, which is WAY too long (and still airing), can and SHOULD be stopped after around 70 episodes which is the end of the spoiler['rescue Rukia ] arc'. It has good closure and you don't feel as though you are missing anything by stopping. (Plus, the series really goes downhill after that, as it is based on an 'overreached manga', as EireformContinent put it. A goofy ecchi series like Green Green was the PERFECT length for the lightness of the story. I thought Mushi-Shi was a really good length too, although it honestly could have been a bit longer, as long as there would be enough material to cover so that it didn't get repetitive, which is always a risk with a series like that. |
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Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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It's hard to judge for sure what the right or wrong length is. For me it mainly depends on how long it takes to tell the story, or as long as it doesn't get old. I would say that more often than not if the series is longer than 50-some episodes it's going to fall into the category of to long. But this isn't always the case. I think there are some cases where, even though it's long as hell, I still love to watch it. For example: Detective Conan is one of the longest running anime ever (still going) but I really don't have a problem with it's length because I never get tired of watching each week's new mystery unfold. Or there's Monster which is about 70-some episodes long. I think it's appropriately long because it's story was originally written out ahead of time and it just happened to have taken that long to complete it. But long series can go wrong as well. I really think that Naruto and Bleach could have benefited from being cut short. The sad truth is that the stories, characters, and ideas just weren't strong enough to take me the full length. maybe they should have been like Yu Yu Hakusho and ended just a bit over 100 episodes long.
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garfield15
 Posts: 1535 |
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Yeah, it really depends on how the story is presented.
Personally, I think the most is like 50-70 episodes for me and any longer than that then I'll have to just see (except for One Piece since I'm totally into that show) I actually dread the announcement of 12/13 episode series because they tend to have crappy endings. Not saying that there aren't good ones like Baccano, Kaiba, etc. but still... |
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coolkid3
 Posts: 9 |
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I also don't have the problem with DC because I watch episodes randomly... Only the Clash of Red and Black Arc would need some continuity...
Monster is the perfect example of seemingly long series but really worth it... I didn't even find it that long cause it was that AWESOME...
Bleach's and Naruto's scope were kinda limited that's why it looked like so dragged on unlike in the case of One Piece wherein every island could offer different variations and the Straw Hat crew's adventure could go on with really something different to offer... ======================================== Now on the short series; I agree with Otaku King on his comment about the length of Green Green... The story is pretty wrapped up even with 12 episodes... Even GG:Erolution is a continuation... The only short series I wish was longer is Golden Boy... Oe Kintaro can offer more with additional episodes... Cause there are lots of job he can still try, you know! |
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Mr Adventure
 Posts: 1598 |
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I personally think 13 episodes is a good solid number to tell a story. That's not to say shows should end at just 13 episodes (or that every story should take exactly 13 episodes, it certainly can be less), but by episode 13 you should move on to a whole new story arc instead of dragging out the starting story for another 13+.
I think Ghost in the Shell SAC handled a 26 episode series(es) fairly well. Switching between a core story (Complex Episodes) and stand alone (Stand Alone episodes) stories mixed among each other. It never got monotonous. |
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RHachicho
 Posts: 897 Location: Essex, UK |
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Personally I think it's dependant on the story. There are many Anime I see and I think .. this could have been told with far less episodes. But just as often I think the opposite, that the show needed more time. There is something I like about a series that takes a little time to waffle about and let the characters get to know one another better before the main plot weighs in. For me the ideal is about 25 episodes. Though it has to be said alot of my favorite series are 50 episode stories. Higurashi (just found out about that one), Gundam Seed/MS00, FMA, Euraka 7, I could not have seen this magnificent tales done successfully in 13 episodes. It would be impossible I think.
Hell part of me even wishes Gurren Lagann was 50 episodes long. DONT HIT ME!! ducks behind cover. |
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nightjuan
 Posts: 1473 |
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Let's see...I don't think there's a magic number of episodes, it all depends on what the staff actually does with the time they're given and whether or not the story's premise can support its own length. And, of course, what each individual viewer is willing to put up with.
Dragon Ball Z, Naruto and Bleach, to name just a few examples, could have been shorter if you removed all the filler and unnecessary padding for time. Their basic stories are simple enough and, outside of having to wait for the manga creators to finish their own narratives, there's not much of an inherent justification for their having literally hundreds of episodes. While that doesn't really work for me, by and large, I suppose there are more than enough fans of these franchises who are prepared to accept this. On the other hand, Death Note had a pretty good anime adaptation but, without changing the basic framework of the story, I feel it could have used a few more episodes in order to better build-up and explain certain twists, particularly towards the end of the show. Such as it is, however, things didn't turn out too bad. Its actual problems, if anything, have more to do with the direction that was ultimately taken by the original story than with length alone. And then you have the likes of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which is a hefty 110 episodes long -as far as the main series goes- but I never thought there was any significant waste of time involved. Pretty much every single episode at least added something to either the ongoing story, its characters or the universe's fictional historical background. The chosen length was, I dare say, a perfect fit. There's also the curious case of the three Mobile Suit Gundam compilation movies which, while they aren't without their own pacing issues, successfully managed to narrow down the essential elements of the original 43 episode TV series into a much tighter and effective package that serves as a more than adequate replacement. They are also known for being particularly unique because most modern Gundam compilations are usually shorter and tend to be rather mediocre or even outright inscrutable for those unfamiliar with the source material.
I'm assuming that by "impact" you essentially mean shock factor, no? If so, I'd say the second season still had a few moments that were just as good, if not better, than almost everything in the first series and they benefited from employing higher quality animation. Yes, there were less of them as a whole and the overall focus changed, but I would disagree about "everything" being lost. Higurashi, as a story, had mystery instead of horror at its core. I find it difficult to believe that the series could have appropriately resolved its internal conflict and answered all the relevant questions in just 26 episodes, at least without an extensive rewrite. Personally, I understand where you're coming from but I'm quite pleased with the anime adaptation as it stands. |
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Mistmanov
 Posts: 27 Location: Belgium |
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I think that the right length of an anime also depends somewhat on your own viewing habits. If you're watching 1 episode/week, Higurashi+kai is going to take you a full year, which, depending on the quality of your memory, can lead to "oooh yeaah... so that's what happened 10 months ago!" or "ehh..?". But if you're watching 3 episodes a day, everything will be a lot fresher in your mind, and thus lead to a different experience. I don't think I'd enjoy a story driven anime that took me a year to finish, but finishing the same content in a few weeks is nice.
Some series are quite story driven, but have little side-paths that are entertaining but inconsequential. Toradora! seems to fall into this catagory, going by memory.. I think they had a number of filler episodes that were entertaining to watch, but didn't actually make any impression or progress the story in any way. In that way, you could call it too long, but I still had fun watching the episodes, so.. I think Endless Eight was a bit too long.  Some parts were just too boring to repeat 8 times, and the final resolution dissapointing.
Kanon 2006 could've been a bit shorter by cutting some of the story arcs. The format of the series with the "focus on a girl, find a resolution, forget all about her, repeat" pattern got in the way of making the entire thing a coherent entity. The seperate arcs were good, but as a complete product it just felt weird (due to the source material, but hey). |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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On that subject, the secondary arcs of Air contributed little to the show's ultimate appeal. To have narrowed the focus, as I am told was the case in the film adaptation, would have presumably left fans of the source material in want of additional characters' arcs however. I expect the core audience would demand such satisfaction.
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Skull Leader
 Posts: 9 |
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Based from the series I have seen, the minimum would be at 24-26 eps. I felt that at 12 and 13 eps, you could have only a fair level of character dev't and plot. There would be more opportunities to round the characters and have multi layered plots for an additional 12-13 eps.
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ZenErik
 Posts: 392 Location: Boston |
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Most good shows are too short, and every bad show is too long. :p
I'd actually have to say that most of my favorites are a good length. They tell the story they want to tell in the time they have to tell it very well. 
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