March 12th, 2010
Docbrown On: The length of anime and 12.5
How big is to big? What size of anime is better? How long does it take to tell a certain story?
Producers have simple answers for these. They have worked out what makes money and go by that. To a producer nothing is to big. More episodes means more seasons, more seasons means more money. Producers will milk a series for as many episodes as possible without stretching the series to thin. As long as a certain percentage keeps watching the show will make money. Making shorter series is difficult and costly as each series needs to be marketed as a new item and must gain a fanbase. Each new series needs a new team of writers working to create a new idea; An animation team must draw a baseline for the environments and characters. Bottom line is two 12 ep shows of equal popularity are less profitable then one 24 ep with the same popularity. This leads to some production choices I really despise.
The first thing producers do on a massive scale is standardization. Look at the length of series out there. Im pretty sure the average series length is divisible by 12.5, the magic number. Look at short series: 11-13 eps avg's to about 12.5. Regular size series: 22-26 - usually more towards 24-25, divide by two and allot of series come in around 12.3. Two season series 50-52 50/12.5= 4. Now lets look at long series 73-75, 75/12.5=6.
But why's 12.5 so special? Well its all about programming. Theres 52 weeks in a year. Lets say you have a medium length series that you want to run for two seasons over the fall. The fall season runs for half the year and gives you a 6 month break after to play other series and prepare the second season. Half the year is 26 weeks with 26 episodes you either have to run your series past normal season length or you can't miss a single week. Following 12.5 you get 1 free week to skip or rerun. Any less episodes and you get even more free play. Say you want to run a short story over the actual fall season. 52/4=13.
So 12.5 fits the calender nice so what does that matter? In television it matters. The revenue from television comes from the advertisers. They base what they pay on what they want to target. They choose when they want to advertise, how long ect. The Studios cater to the advertiser because the broadcasters focus on making them happy and the broadcasters ultimately decide what gets aired.
However this effects anime in more then just its length. When i walk into a bookstore all the books are different sizes. No magic number predicts how many pages a book may have because no story is the same length. Its the same with anime. No story is the same length even if the series are. It just means some gets cut and some gets stretched. And here we enter the filler episode. A filler is something they can make any size they want and be independent of the story. Filler allows them to write a 19 episode story in 22 episodes. The problem is filler sucks. It ruins any series no matter what. The only saving grace to filler is that it leaves the story alone.
Sadly because of dislike for filler, allot of series can't get away with it. In this situation we find animes like Darker then black. They cramped it. What was probably a good 35 episodes of story crashed out in 25 with a rushed ending and a loopy change of pace. Because of 12.5 DTB failed in my mind. One can easily argue against 12.5. Look at any series that doesn't follow the pattern, "Could it have been better had it been shrunk or expanded to meet 12.5?"(ask honestly and not just because you liked/disliked it). Chances are you may find a few but not many. Allot of the ones that break the mold feel good at their length. Conversely you can find plenty of 12.5 anime that needed a few more or less episodes.
So what is the best length for an anime? Its own length. Heres a list for you:
12.5
25
37.5
50
62.5 - dont be to worried about this one
75
ect
Any anime you see that doesn't come close to these numbers is worth a small shot. Let that be a big pro for you in your decision.
Producers have simple answers for these. They have worked out what makes money and go by that. To a producer nothing is to big. More episodes means more seasons, more seasons means more money. Producers will milk a series for as many episodes as possible without stretching the series to thin. As long as a certain percentage keeps watching the show will make money. Making shorter series is difficult and costly as each series needs to be marketed as a new item and must gain a fanbase. Each new series needs a new team of writers working to create a new idea; An animation team must draw a baseline for the environments and characters. Bottom line is two 12 ep shows of equal popularity are less profitable then one 24 ep with the same popularity. This leads to some production choices I really despise.
The first thing producers do on a massive scale is standardization. Look at the length of series out there. Im pretty sure the average series length is divisible by 12.5, the magic number. Look at short series: 11-13 eps avg's to about 12.5. Regular size series: 22-26 - usually more towards 24-25, divide by two and allot of series come in around 12.3. Two season series 50-52 50/12.5= 4. Now lets look at long series 73-75, 75/12.5=6.
But why's 12.5 so special? Well its all about programming. Theres 52 weeks in a year. Lets say you have a medium length series that you want to run for two seasons over the fall. The fall season runs for half the year and gives you a 6 month break after to play other series and prepare the second season. Half the year is 26 weeks with 26 episodes you either have to run your series past normal season length or you can't miss a single week. Following 12.5 you get 1 free week to skip or rerun. Any less episodes and you get even more free play. Say you want to run a short story over the actual fall season. 52/4=13.
So 12.5 fits the calender nice so what does that matter? In television it matters. The revenue from television comes from the advertisers. They base what they pay on what they want to target. They choose when they want to advertise, how long ect. The Studios cater to the advertiser because the broadcasters focus on making them happy and the broadcasters ultimately decide what gets aired.
However this effects anime in more then just its length. When i walk into a bookstore all the books are different sizes. No magic number predicts how many pages a book may have because no story is the same length. Its the same with anime. No story is the same length even if the series are. It just means some gets cut and some gets stretched. And here we enter the filler episode. A filler is something they can make any size they want and be independent of the story. Filler allows them to write a 19 episode story in 22 episodes. The problem is filler sucks. It ruins any series no matter what. The only saving grace to filler is that it leaves the story alone.
Sadly because of dislike for filler, allot of series can't get away with it. In this situation we find animes like Darker then black. They cramped it. What was probably a good 35 episodes of story crashed out in 25 with a rushed ending and a loopy change of pace. Because of 12.5 DTB failed in my mind. One can easily argue against 12.5. Look at any series that doesn't follow the pattern, "Could it have been better had it been shrunk or expanded to meet 12.5?"(ask honestly and not just because you liked/disliked it). Chances are you may find a few but not many. Allot of the ones that break the mold feel good at their length. Conversely you can find plenty of 12.5 anime that needed a few more or less episodes.
So what is the best length for an anime? Its own length. Heres a list for you:
12.5
25
37.5
50
62.5 - dont be to worried about this one
75
ect
Any anime you see that doesn't come close to these numbers is worth a small shot. Let that be a big pro for you in your decision.
Posted by shadovvvvalker | Mar 12, 2010 8:57 PM | 0 comments
Docbrown: Everlasting series of pointlessness, A rant about naruto, bleach ect.
All right as a disclaimer i have watched all of the following:
DBZ
Bleach
Naruto
One peice
As it currently stands i hate all of them.
Now admittedly i watched a fair amount of each of them because i enjoyed them allot. I would rate each of them around 8.5-9. And then i reached the point of realization for each of them. At some point in each anime i realized this will never end. It will drag on and be utterly retarded with mini arcs so long they justify there own series. To explain more ill break some of them down.
Case 1: naruto
There was one thing in naruto, the chonin tournament, where all the evil plans where supposed to begin at. Everything was building up to this point. I was excited, shit was getting serious. Then the time finally came. A lack luster set of episodes filled with pointless characters fulfilling foreshadowing, battles ending mid fight, One or two deaths at the brink of war, countless veiwer expected betrayals, and a war torn homeland. This was followed up by a small rebuilding and discovery phase in which all is righted for now before the hunt for the evil begins. And then Filler. lots and lots of filler. Never mind the whole thing that just happened we have to waste time making soup. I let out a sigh because i knew it would be a long stretch before we got back to THE ONLY THING THAT SHOULD MATTER. Never the less i continued watching just to see it through to the end. I never did. after a long time watching filler the story eventually crawled back. However it did so in the form of introducing and entirely new enemy! At that point i gave up on naruto. I knew there was like 200 more episodes to go and it wasnt even finished and i wasnt putting up with this shit any more.
Case 2: Bleach
bleach followed the same pattern as naruto but i liked it alot more because it wasnt about annoying teens and the dumb ass version of ninja they showed me. there was this whole half romance/ judicial thing and such ect. Whatever it was good. Then just as the big moment comes, things get weird and the enemy seems divided, things become questionable and noone knows what going on. Ichigo and his team storm the place killing thousands of enemies in an awesome set of episodes. Finally we reach the climax and OHH YA THIS GUY YOU THOUGHT DIED, DIDNT AND HE IS THE BAD GUY AND WANTS THIS THING AND THE WHOLE THING WAS A PLAN TO GET IT AND NOW EVERYONES AGAINST HIM INSTEAD OF ICHIGO BLAH BLAH BLAH. This plot twist might have worked for some people but not me. Its just a little retarded. I like my political twists more clear cut and unruly. this was just ya um forget this im the evil villan now. it was annoying but never the less i wanted to see him die. Soon home is rebuilt and things go to the way they were because WE CANT GO AFTER HIM RIGHT NOW LETS WAIT TILL HES STRONGER. But wait they just stormed in and killed so many how can this be left alone. OH ITS OK ONLY A FEW PEOPLE DIED AND IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT, YOU JUST PUT THE ENTIRE ARMY IN THE HOSPITAL. Then came the filler and a series of alternative enemies while no one bats an eye at the other dude. I was done.
Case 3: One peice
One peice was funny and enjoyable meh action ect. it was all fine were going to the grand line ect. bouncing between misshaps. out of nowhere i realized something. All one peice is is 500 episodes of him traveling and finding another person with fruity powers to fight against in the weirdest way possible. I had no faith in the series ability to last so i gave up soon.
The longest series ive ever watched was eyesheild 21 at 145 episodes. heres the thing. I knew it would end. I knew that the tournament was set. There were no new enemys and forgotten enemys and all that crap. eyesheild had a premise that promised not to get stupid along the way. I could trust it to be a sports humor anime and thats what i got. My distaste for these series is also confounded in their mass popularity. Frankly i think the public is shit, so should you. "A person is smart people are stupid". Watch an infomercial. You see that piece of shit. Someone bought that. Not just one person. Enough people that theres a cameraman, voice actor, graphics dude, producer, company, inventor ect. That rely on its sales for there income which is probably more then you make. The mass population elected george bush. The masses think jesus is about to come back in the next 50 yrs. The masses are stupid and these series have the most mass behind them saying they are the greatest ever. The masses dont like a good story. The masses like a simple story that doesnt hurt there brain. The masses have been conditioned to be dull consumer drones. And these series are designed to please those drones. Sadly i am no longer a drone and as such i demand better, and i will continue demanding better then these and will loudly oppose anything that i see as mere drone food.
PS if you would like i can set up a drone test. people who complete and pass the test are eligible for a "I am no longer a drone" T-shirt
DBZ
Bleach
Naruto
One peice
As it currently stands i hate all of them.
Now admittedly i watched a fair amount of each of them because i enjoyed them allot. I would rate each of them around 8.5-9. And then i reached the point of realization for each of them. At some point in each anime i realized this will never end. It will drag on and be utterly retarded with mini arcs so long they justify there own series. To explain more ill break some of them down.
Case 1: naruto
There was one thing in naruto, the chonin tournament, where all the evil plans where supposed to begin at. Everything was building up to this point. I was excited, shit was getting serious. Then the time finally came. A lack luster set of episodes filled with pointless characters fulfilling foreshadowing, battles ending mid fight, One or two deaths at the brink of war, countless veiwer expected betrayals, and a war torn homeland. This was followed up by a small rebuilding and discovery phase in which all is righted for now before the hunt for the evil begins. And then Filler. lots and lots of filler. Never mind the whole thing that just happened we have to waste time making soup. I let out a sigh because i knew it would be a long stretch before we got back to THE ONLY THING THAT SHOULD MATTER. Never the less i continued watching just to see it through to the end. I never did. after a long time watching filler the story eventually crawled back. However it did so in the form of introducing and entirely new enemy! At that point i gave up on naruto. I knew there was like 200 more episodes to go and it wasnt even finished and i wasnt putting up with this shit any more.
Case 2: Bleach
bleach followed the same pattern as naruto but i liked it alot more because it wasnt about annoying teens and the dumb ass version of ninja they showed me. there was this whole half romance/ judicial thing and such ect. Whatever it was good. Then just as the big moment comes, things get weird and the enemy seems divided, things become questionable and noone knows what going on. Ichigo and his team storm the place killing thousands of enemies in an awesome set of episodes. Finally we reach the climax and OHH YA THIS GUY YOU THOUGHT DIED, DIDNT AND HE IS THE BAD GUY AND WANTS THIS THING AND THE WHOLE THING WAS A PLAN TO GET IT AND NOW EVERYONES AGAINST HIM INSTEAD OF ICHIGO BLAH BLAH BLAH. This plot twist might have worked for some people but not me. Its just a little retarded. I like my political twists more clear cut and unruly. this was just ya um forget this im the evil villan now. it was annoying but never the less i wanted to see him die. Soon home is rebuilt and things go to the way they were because WE CANT GO AFTER HIM RIGHT NOW LETS WAIT TILL HES STRONGER. But wait they just stormed in and killed so many how can this be left alone. OH ITS OK ONLY A FEW PEOPLE DIED AND IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT, YOU JUST PUT THE ENTIRE ARMY IN THE HOSPITAL. Then came the filler and a series of alternative enemies while no one bats an eye at the other dude. I was done.
Case 3: One peice
One peice was funny and enjoyable meh action ect. it was all fine were going to the grand line ect. bouncing between misshaps. out of nowhere i realized something. All one peice is is 500 episodes of him traveling and finding another person with fruity powers to fight against in the weirdest way possible. I had no faith in the series ability to last so i gave up soon.
The longest series ive ever watched was eyesheild 21 at 145 episodes. heres the thing. I knew it would end. I knew that the tournament was set. There were no new enemys and forgotten enemys and all that crap. eyesheild had a premise that promised not to get stupid along the way. I could trust it to be a sports humor anime and thats what i got. My distaste for these series is also confounded in their mass popularity. Frankly i think the public is shit, so should you. "A person is smart people are stupid". Watch an infomercial. You see that piece of shit. Someone bought that. Not just one person. Enough people that theres a cameraman, voice actor, graphics dude, producer, company, inventor ect. That rely on its sales for there income which is probably more then you make. The mass population elected george bush. The masses think jesus is about to come back in the next 50 yrs. The masses are stupid and these series have the most mass behind them saying they are the greatest ever. The masses dont like a good story. The masses like a simple story that doesnt hurt there brain. The masses have been conditioned to be dull consumer drones. And these series are designed to please those drones. Sadly i am no longer a drone and as such i demand better, and i will continue demanding better then these and will loudly oppose anything that i see as mere drone food.
PS if you would like i can set up a drone test. people who complete and pass the test are eligible for a "I am no longer a drone" T-shirt
Posted by shadovvvvalker | Mar 12, 2010 8:57 PM | 0 comments