| Angel Beats and Charlotte probably take the top two spots of worst paced shows by consensus and its no surprise since both of them love throwing you around with absolutely no warning or subtlety. Angel Beats is the easier to save since it just needed to be longer by about 2 episodes since it really rushed everyone's development as well as the story. Charlotte is...a doozy to deal with since its structure is just so inherently flawed. Maybe rewrite the entire first half to more subtly lead to the more serious second half? |
 Latest reviews: Wonder Egg Priority and A Couple of Cukoos |
| I've always felt that Your Lie In April suffered from slow pacing. Some if it could be attributed to just the show being a slice of life ish, but there were some parts that were way too dragged out and I believe that they could have condensed it to a 16eps anime. |
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| Dennou Coil - For those who haven't heard of it, it's a type of soft sci-fi adventure mystery story with really imaginative ideas represented in a lot of colorful and creative characters and devices from a design standpoint and all kinds of existentialist questions raised, showcasing trends like VR and AR technology and cyberpets (like those from the Tamagotchi fad, but not bound by a handheld device and can actually walk alongside you and interact with other digital data in a huge network). Think Lain meets Digimon. I enjoyed it for the most part and loved some episodes and scenes, but was held back from being enthralled with it overall because of pacing issues (among a few other quibbles, but let's focus on thread topic). They introduce this near future world on the edge of revolutionary tech with countless possibilities but then for a big chunk of the series ... don't really do all that much with it? The first few episodes are great because the world is new and just seeing these ideas visualized is entertaining in and of itself. Then a not insignificant part of the series slumps into a more episodic formula, which might be fine if that's all they were planning to do with the show, but then the last few episodes they try to make very plot heavy as the super slow burn mystery that's been whispered about here and there in the background becomes the central focus again and there's so many twists and turns thrown out at breakneck pace. I actually loved the last few episodes because there were so many cool ideas, the animation was on-point, and even found myself getting emotional over a story that was uneven through a good portion of its runtime and some characters that weren't all that developed. A lot of people detest slow pacing. I actually don't mind it at all and in many cases even prefer it, but the problem here is the uneven pacing. Why have so many episodic challenge-of-the-week more one-off type episodes (and even a friggin recap!) when they had no time for it? So you have exciting introduction, mostly slower almost Slice of Life-esque lackadaisical middle 2/3, and then rush so many mindfuck twists and turns, exposition, and very complicated plot into last three to four episodes? Intro was great, conclusion was epic, but majority of the series' runtime felt spent on more unimportant stuff that was disconnected from the main plot. I've seen similar problems like this in some other series but never quite to this specific degree and ratio. It was the definition of uneven, flawed pacing and probably hurt the show's ratings and appeal as a lot found it boring and dropped it. Animation was great and downright cinematic in parts (product of a former Ghibli animator and it shows). Story was next level science meets esoterica meets mindtrip, like something Chiaki Konaka could have written. Yet it suffered in the ratings from its debut in Japan, presumably hurt its rewatch value, and consequently faded into relative obscurity as a result. It came out in 2007 but didn't receive an English dub and North American release until almost a decade after its premiere. |
raisin-kun said: I'll say it's worse in Charlotte than in Angel Beats, mainly because at least AB can focus on something. Charlotte, on the other hand... changes storylines like they're socks. And that's nothing compared to Air's pacing. But i think Jun Maeda's anime has a problem bigger than pacing.Angel Beats and Charlotte probably take the top two spots of worst paced shows by consensus and its no surprise since both of them love throwing you around with absolutely no warning or subtlety. Angel Beats is the easier to save since it just needed to be longer by about 2 episodes since it really rushed everyone's development as well as the story. Charlotte is...a doozy to deal with since its structure is just so inherently flawed. Maybe rewrite the entire first half to more subtly lead to the more serious second half? @WatchTillTandava I don't think Dennou Coil's pacing was the problem. I think the audiences were the problem. The episodes you call uneven actually help to build character relationship and explore the world. |
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| To paraphrase my cousin about Dragon Ball Z: It's essentially one man that punches another, followed by 20 minutes of bystanders looking with their eyes and mouth open "Ohhh, did you see that; he managed to land a hit on him?" and then the narrator: "Will he hit him at his right cheek too? Watch the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball Z." Apparently the only reason D.B.Z.'s pacing is so horrible is because they needed to stretch it out to avoid running out of source material. |
 It is obvious that "obscenity" is not a term capable of exact legal definition; in the practice of the courts, it means "anything that shocks the magistrate". — Bertrand Russell |
| Fairy Tail while I still enjoy this anime (even though a lot of people absolutely hate this show), a lot of their filler arcs were slow to the point and just got plain boring. I'm still trying to catch up to the current episodes, but I keep getting bored because of arcs that should've been just a few episodes, were actually 10+ episodes. |
| Angel Beats could have been even better if it had its original planned runtime. |
My Queens  |
| Dororo - Particularly in the middle part. Still loved the show, yes, but it was pretty wonky, especially with how the main selling point in the monsters were getting 1 shotted like no tomorrow SAO - Mainly Aincrad arc. In fairness though, the novels weren't all that much better (in terms of pacing) if you exclude Progressive, but they really jumped the gun a lot of times |
 'On-Hold' is another way for a completionist to say 'Dropped' |
BlancaXLobo said: @WatchTillTandava I don't think Dennou Coil's pacing was the problem. I think the audiences were the problem. The episodes you call uneven actually help to build character relationship and explore the world. Well, yes on worldbuilding, which is always important, but I would argue the character development actually wasn't all that great and done in an odd way which took something away from the impact of the overall story and the ending. I wasn't going to bring it up here since the OP asked specifically about pacing, but I feel they're kind of connected. A lot of time was spent with characters that were then just dropped in the last section of the show and didn't have any role at all in the story's conclusion. How much time and how many episodes were spent with Daichi when he really had no role to play in the main storyline and disappeared toward the end? Same for Yasako's best friend, Fumie, the person who introduced her to how to navigate the world of this tech city and was treated as a main character but then also disappeared with no part in final events. Also, the romance with Kenichi. It kind of came from left field and then it was kind of left just sitting there without any real development or progression or impact. All of this, specifically having a best friend and fellow protagonist lose relevance to the story and an undeveloped love interest, kind of impacted Yasako's development as well. Therein lies the problem. I think the characters were treated too much as props, moved along like points on a map to advance the story, but making random characters suddenly more the focus and minimizing what were previously main characters made it feel too deliberate and not as natural in its pacing and how it unfolded. It didn't seem like characters advanced the story since they were sort of removed or put center stage on a whim without sufficient groundwork or buildup. My favorite characters were Amasawa Yuuko and Megabaa, by the way. I felt the main characters were just switched around too willy-nilly for my liking and inflated in importance or dropped from sight in a way that made it hard to feel as invested. |
WatchTillTandavaJul 2, 2019 2:11 PM
| @WatchTillTandava the character realtions made the characters endearing, what make them more worthy of the time spent of them than most of the main characters on some other shows. I won't deny you are right in the fact most of the characters doesn't seem to play a relevant role on the finale, but still keep the few who watch it invested on the story and the world, but i think you're dismissing a show that doesn't deserve being dismiss like that. |
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BlancaXLobo said: @WatchTillTandava the character realtions made the characters endearing, what make them more worthy of the time spent of them than most of the main characters on some other shows. I won't deny you are right in the fact most of the characters doesn't seem to play a relevant role on the finale, but still keep the few who watch it invested on the story and the world My thing as well is that I don't at all need a large cast of main characters and actually prefer a smaller one whenever given the choice, so I don't think I would have problem with it if that time showing character interactions you mentioned just stuck with a few core characters through the length of the journey, but by trying to shove in and juggle around a few too many it made me start to feel like all of them were getting under-served. Not every show needs to be a character-driven story, but this issue for me affected how I related to the characters and took a little energy and passion out of the show for me in a way that left it all a little underwhelming since it seemed like no one character you were following at any given moment (save arguably Yasako) was really expected to stick around. BlancaXLobo said: but i think you're dismissing a show that doesn't deserve being dismiss like that. If I were to rate Dennou Coil, I would probably rate it an 8 or an 8.5. I don't think I'm dismissing it at all. This is a discussion topic about pacing and if someone were to ask me what are some things about the show I didn't like, pacing and character development and how one affects the other would be it. I think there's been a misunderstanding though. I don't dislike the show. I mentioned in my first post in the thread that I enjoyed it for the most part and loved some episodes and scenes. It's more like this is the criteria that would keep it from being a top favorite of mine, out of something like my top ten list. And even for those top favorites of mine, I have criticisms. No work is perfect or rather, no work is going to have every aspect appeal to everybody. I adore the concepts explored in Dennou Coil and the way they were drawn and visualized. I love the mix of science with the almost theological. I enjoy the worldbuilding. Pacing and characters are what detracted from it for me. At the end of the day I'm glad I watched it, would probably watch it again enough years removed or if someone else I was with hadn't seen it, had a gut-punch ending that left me thinking and feeling which is what I primarily ask for in a show, and I'd theoretically give it what most would consider a relatively high rating. I'm just pointing out what hampered my full enjoyment. |
| I think Occultic;Nine could have been way better if it wasn't for its insanely fast pacing. I remember hearing that the first episode covered around 400 pages... its no surprise that a lot of people didn't continue it after that. |
LalafinJul 2, 2019 2:50 PM
 ♡ artist サコ |
| HunterxHunter: Chimera ant arc had the tendency to put a microphone in everyones head which really stretched the last part out to much. Devilman Crybaby: everything went actually well pacing wise but then the final episodes really threw me into a rollercoaster ride so fast that it kinda confused me. Persona4 the golden: need I explain more? The pacing felt so all over the place. |
| Then again, many anime don't have the perfect amount of pacing. |
ええ、私はそこにいてそれをやった  |
| The pacing in anime sometimes goes slower and immediately tends to go faster. Well, most anime do not have perfect pacing due to lack of time. They only have almost 24 minutes that's why some of them adapt several chapters in an episode. Also, adding fillers could damage an episode. Who would watch an anime with too much fillers? Fillers and useless flashbacks definitely affect the pacing of an anime. Maybe, animators should reduce them. That would be a big help. I hate to say this, Beatless had a potential at first 'cause of the story however, the pacing was awful. |
JerryKen10Jul 4, 2019 1:55 AM
| Kaiba. It spent the vast majority of the time on episodic adventures fleshing out the world, and then it's like the writers suddenly remembered they forgot about the plot, so they crammed the introduction of the villain and the entire arc with him in the final couple of episodes. And obviously, One Piece. The show would actually be watchable if they didn't stretch out one episodes worth of story into 2-3 episodes. |
JerryKen10 said: The pacing in anime sometimes goes slower and immediately tends to go faster. just gonna share this here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo-ha-ky%C5%AB Jo-ha-kyū roughly translated to "beginning, break, rapid", it essentially means that all actions or efforts should begin slowly, speed up, and then end swiftly. that is some of the kind of stuff that the arts (like anime) in japan follow and thats why a lot of anime fans complains that the last episode should have been an arc of its own because its too crammed or rushed (especially true for a lot of original anime) |
| Anybody else thinks that Soul Eater was too short? |
| Older anime have slower pacing which at least is something I don't like when they're not iyashikei shows... And where is Tokyo Ghoul answer? |
| For me it's easily One Piece. The first 300-ish episodes are fine, but when the thriller bark arc starts, then the anime starts to go downhill. Just give me filler episodes i can skip, instead of padding out the episode with fillery-canon. This is the One Piece anime experience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbbnPobCNB4 I'm hoping for a remake when the manga has finished. It really deserves it. |
| Hunter x hunter, for most of it the pacing was fine then chimera ant arc happened. It had a lot of hype behind it but honestly was too dragged out and I got bored easily. One piece, I feel like bad pacing was always a problem in the anime, from the beginning around alabasta arc the pacing is quite slow, some parts make up for it but then others do a horrid job. Enies lobby was definitely the worst. |
mhkr said: Tokyo Ghoul is certainly a most tragic example of this. Imagine everything Attack on Titan has done so far and condense it into 12 episodes.Older anime have slower pacing which at least is something I don't like when they're not iyashikei shows... And where is Tokyo Ghoul answer? Gythia said: One Piece lost me a few years ago when it decided to start filling up 10 minutes of each episode with the same Grand Line prologue. As much as I don't like waiting for new seasons, it's infinitely preferable over filler and delirious tortoise pacing.ONE PIECE. Not the only problem, but one of the biggest imo. They made a 6 chapter arc and managed to make it into 12 episodes. They made a 3 chapter fight into an 8 episode one. I really hope the manga gets a remake it so deserves, in more of a seasonal style. So like 24 episodes this year, then another 24 the next year with proper pacing, animation, etc. |
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| One Piece although it understandable since it close to the manga. Recently I feel Kimetsu no Yaiba is too slow pace for me. |
| DragonBall Z. Goku fought Frieza for like four hours, nuff said. |
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| Worst pacing is Charlotte probably, however it had many other flaws. The only show I can think of where its biggest problem is pacing was HxH, but that's just my opinion, and it wasn't even that big of an issue, though the narrating and recaps made it worse. I haven't watched One Piece but I'm aware it has some awfully slow adapting of chapters, and 2 panel sections of fights that go on for minutes. |
 hiSets Last FM Anime List Manga List Clue no. 2: Somewhere in one of the pictures in my forum signature. |
| It would be easier if I told you an anime I didn't think had pacing problems... cause even a good chunk of my fave anime have issues with pacing. |
The anime community in a nutshell.  |
| Does rushed pacing/cut out source material also count? If so, Karakuri Circus comes to mind. |
| ^energetic-nova yeah a lot of seasonals have pacing issues, 7-8 episodes of SOLness and then last 4-5 episodes of action, drama, etc |
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| the most recent toaru majutsu no index season they rushed through it so hard that nothin made sense. Had me constantly asking who the hell is that and why should i care |
| https://combosmooth.itch.io/ - I make free-to-play browser games for PC and I sell pixel art animation here |
proletarian said: gSol said: DragonBall Z. Goku fought Frieza for like four hours, nuff said. it was much better that way imagine if the fight had been only a couple of episodes it wouldn't have made the same impact in the viewer yeah you right it wouldn't make the viewer fucking fall asleep, impact would indeed be different |
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| Most long-running shounen suffer from this (mainly One Piece, HxH, Naruto, DBZ). Other anime I can think of are Monster (it could have ended much sooner but was streched out) and Kaiji Season 2 (people looking at a pachinko machine for 20 minutes). Still both series are quite good. |
"Doubting everything that you take on... That is very important. Open your own eyes, clear out your ears, and look and listen to the world... And think using your own brain. After you've doubted everything, there is a possibility of something real to believe in. To believe in something, doubt everything." |
| While this is, if I'm being honest, far from the best example, the show where the pacing was most frustrating for me was Attack on Titan. I personally found season 1 painfully slow after the first couple of episodes and given that it was really a style over substance show for me, that was a problem. I remember the episode where they presented the plan for Eren to turn into a Titan at the beginning of the episode, at the end of the episode he finally turns into a titan to start the plan, and the middle was mostly running along a wall. That was the point I realized I was not going to like this series as much as everyone else did. |
| You have shit taste, and then I have taste so shit it makes your taste look good |
| Insert a slew of anime based off video games here. There's been exceptions obviously, but condensing time consuming source material into 4-8 hours barely ever works. |
What a beautiful Duwang |
| Persona 5 anime had pretty bad pacing, even when compared to other game adaptions.The Persona 4 anime had much better pacing in my opinion. |
| I typically don't make pacing an issue. Shiki and Steins;Gate are both pretty slow, but for the respective shows, the slow pacing was effective. However, the worst pacing has to go to Charlotte, hands down. Five episodes of pointless filler and a final episode that had a full two-cour series crammed into it. And as much as I love Re:Creators, there was a ton of info-dumping in that show that made it drag on in parts. |
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proletarian said: Imaishi said: yeah you right it wouldn't make the viewer fucking fall asleep, impact would indeed be different it was supposed to be grand scale, epic, Frieza was the galactic emperor no one had dared to challenge before, it would have been anticlimactic to have a short fight like it hadn't been big deal Actually the real reason the fight took so long is because the anime caught up to the manga so they stalled the fight in order for Toriyama to write an ending to the story. He was actually going to end DBZ at the Frieza Arc. Though I do sort of agree with you, Kai the shorterned down version of Z just doesn't have the same umph, tension and epic-ness behind the battles. Compare Z and Kai Gohan SSJG2 transformation for a good example of this. |
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| Easily technolyze. Episodes should be shorter. Kimetsu no Yaiba is short as hell to. |
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