What are pros and cons for long-running anime, especially shounen?

Oct 10, 2020 1:27 PM

NewYearSameMe

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Jul 2020

481

What are the pros and cons? And is it worth it or not to watch long-running anime?

Oct 10, 2020 4:30 PM

Lucifrost

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Feb 2016

14837

Pro: The ability to start a new story arc without needing to introduce new characters.
Con: Writers must resort to using their mediocre and bad ideas after they run out of good and great ideas.

その目だれの目？

Oct 10, 2020 4:32 PM

deg

lagom

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Jan 2009

107260

the cons for long running anime is always that character development usually resets to zero after a character focus arc is over think for example Goku and Lupin that never changes

the pros is that more screen time for your favorite characters

Oct 10, 2020 4:36 PM

cigare

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Jun 2020

2642

Pro: Has hype moments.
Con: They end up being produced by Toei.

Oct 10, 2020 8:24 PM

PraizOP

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Jul 2020

795

By long running I’m guessing you mean continuous ones like DBZ and Naruto.
Pros: If it’s a show you’re interested in and you enjoy, you get that show for a while and it’s not going anywhere.
Cons: Fillers that can be really boring sometimes.

Oct 10, 2020 8:36 PM

Jim_Heart

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Nov 2011

3480

Nothing is wrong with being long. The problem is most long series are too formulaic and mediocres.

"The Slave is the have-not, the oppressed one with nothing to spare.
But because the Slave is in that despairing situation, having nothing, it can kill the Emperor !"

Oct 10, 2020 8:54 PM

Nxt_Arsenic

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Jun 2019

163

Pro-
1- You can enjoy plot after chara are established...

2- You become familiar with chara and hence funny things become funnier and enjoyable fights become badass moments you remember for long....

3- Once you start enjoying there is no stopping since its gonna be at least 400-500ep...

Cons-
1- Since most long shounen were produced from late 90s to early 2000s....you can see not so-good animation.

2- Animation do not improves much even with the changing times because of budget issues

3-If Anime and Manga are close...at some point...then you might have to face annoying filler episodes...else slow paced plot progression gonna annoy you with those flashback scenes

4-If you catch up to anime and its still ongoing then you have to wait for weeks...thats supperrr annoying

..Bonus Points - for slow pacing issue...you can fast forward flashback scenes...you can skip filler episodes by checking onto websites that filter out filler episodes for you...and from my experience they are pretty accurate...
Also you get those narration from old man which is best part of old anime

PS - as for overused plot devices and mediocre writing ...all shounen have that issue be it long running or seasonal....but that shuld not bother you much if you enjoy shounen imao
Only way to know is to checkout yourself!!

Nxt_ArsenicOct 10, 2020 8:59 PM

Oct 10, 2020 10:55 PM

Hellooo_Theeree

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Dec 2017

188

While on the topic of a long-running shounen series, I am curious how different the production of long-running series compared to 12 or 24 episodes series?

Take Boruto for example, since the manga is still ongoing how do they slice up the story so the anime production doesn't catch up too fast with the manga, or too slow because they need to let the manga have a lead?

And how about the production schedule? the average time to produce an episode usually around 2 months or a year or two to complete into a series. Do they constantly pumping up a new episode like a factory? or do they produce the first 50 episodes, let those episodes air, while they produce the next 50 episodes at the same time?

And how about the budget? I like to believe they're working on a constant super tight budget.

Oct 10, 2020 10:58 PM

Asmilov

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Aug 2020

124

Well , dip in quality as seen with the dragon ball series, toei is just milking it now

And also
this

Oct 10, 2020 11:44 PM

#10

karrotStick

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Dec 2017

805

Makes it hard to market it as a shonen as most of the audience is well over targeted age range.

The pros would be being able to make more money out of the series.

Oct 11, 2020 12:00 AM

#11

removed-user

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Jul 2018

561872

Cons:

makes it very difficult and expensive localizing abroad. Very few series and languages had dubs that could keep up with it. Without the backing of TV studios it becomes even harder.

Long series rely a lot on merchandise and TV ads and streaming sites can not provide that kind of revenue.

Sometimes a series can feel outdated or become anachronistic. Eg Detective Conan migrating from a 90s series with oldass CRT computers and brick mobile phones to ultrathin laptops and smartphones.

Pros:

It is far easier to connect older and younger fans, as they'll have something common to talk about. Which is impossible for many newer series.

Oct 11, 2020 12:11 AM

#12

Scordolo

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Jul 2020

10621

Pros
Character development
Goes in well-depth in the story
We can know more about the characters
Great action scenes
We can spend more time with the characters hence are connected to the story.

Cons
Story is usually slow in many long-running shonun
Story is over-extended which is pointless.
They go mainstream which results in toxic fanbase.

Scordolo's Recent Reviews
To your eternity
Vanitas no Karte

Oct 11, 2020 12:20 AM

#13

deg

lagom

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Jan 2009

107260

Hellooo_Theeree said:

And how about the production schedule? the average time to produce an episode usually around 2 months or a year or two to complete into a series. Do they constantly pumping up a new episode like a factory? or do they produce the first 50 episodes, let those episodes air, while they produce the next 50 episodes at the same time?

usually an anime show have at least 3 teams doing each episode in parallel so an anime studio is multitasking doing a lot of episodes

check this out https://imgur.com/xRVd3xW
more here https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/2jez51/preparing_for_shirobako_schedule_anime_terms/

Oct 11, 2020 12:23 AM

#14

GreatAide

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Jun 2017

1301

I have no idea how any of you guys watch anime with literally 100s of episodes

Oct 11, 2020 12:28 AM

#15

removed-user

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Jul 2018

561872

Pro: You have a lot more time to get invested in the characters.

Con: Long series tend to drag and have some low points.

Oct 11, 2020 12:31 AM

#16

ag_

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Apr 2019

295

wape said:
Pro: Has hype moments.
Con: They end up being produced by Toei.

Not trying to argue as I'm genuinely curious, but what's wrong with Toei?

my life was made with mematic.

Oct 11, 2020 3:50 AM

#17

knead_som_dough

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May 2020

pro: recaps, fillers, retcons, dubs, reboots, profits, merch, fanfics, deals, spin-offs, knock-offs

cons: competes against old anime, short anime, cancelled anime, new or seasonal anime, competes for resources against other anime in the same studio, it becomes stale/repetitive, people compare the older chapter with the latest, writing choices, world building in the long run shows cracks, inconsistencies to a pathological level that only hardcore fans will ignore at will

lots of comitment, rewards get squandered as soon as the novelty is gone

Oct 11, 2020 4:46 AM

#18

decayedangels

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Mar 2019

382

Pros: there's just so much content to go into that makes the experience amazing. You'll be lucky if your faves do end up having a spotlight in the midst of the revolving story.

Cons: Most authors just end up fucking their own creation somewhere down the road. I've seen it happen several times, and I've yet to find something way longer than 60 episodes retaining plot/lore consistency.

Oct 11, 2020 7:39 AM

#19

Zlyiond

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Jul 2020

2838

Pro: Stronger character bonds that can lead to heavier impacting deaths.

Cons: Longer and more predictable plots due to its length.

Oct 11, 2020 9:35 AM

#20

Animaniaig

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Jan 2018

511

Pros: pretty much nothing. The long-running formula is serverely outdated and usually just a cashgrab. All studios should just go with the seasonal formula and stop being too stubborn to make something better.

Cons: quite literally everything production wise.

Oct 11, 2020 10:01 PM

#21

ToumaTachibana

Social Media Team

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Aug 2017

12266

Pros:

-You will care more about everything.
-Large fanbase.
-Theories.
-A lot of openings.
-Nostalgia.

Cons:

-You can use that time to watch other animes that are shorter and better.
-It is annoying and disappointing when the quality is lost after a long time.
-The author milking the series only for its popularity, sacrificing quality.
-Bad fillers.
-Toxic fanbase made others to dislike the show like harassing people who dislike the show, trashing other anime despite that the same dude watched less than 10 shows at least or death threats.
-Fanbase tends to overhype the show.
-Not all but the fanbase spamming the show everywhere is annoying.
-It tends to have a lot of clichés.
-Drop in animation quality.

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Oct 11, 2020 10:08 PM

#22

ManWild

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Jan 2020

66666

A lot of it has been stated but just off the top off my head:

Pros: Probably a bigger and more active fanbase, Has lots of opportunities for 10/10 peaks, Can develop characters and introduce lots of characters without it feeling rushed.

Cons: Can be very inconsistent in terms of everything from Arcs, animation, pacing, comedy, enjoyment etc. Longer series have more opportunities for 10/10 peaks but that being said, it opens many possibilities for 1/10 lows as well.

ManWild

Oct 11, 2020 10:14 PM

#23

Tendo_GM

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Mar 2020

3584

Con: The animation starts to look like s**t pretty fast that literally ruined Black Clover, its unwatchable because its garbage animation
Pro: We get many many openings for one anime and most of the time they turn out to be good

Oct 11, 2020 10:39 PM

#24

LJ2002

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Feb 2020

Pros:
- The anime being long, there is a lot to watch.
- Usually they have a lot of mysteries (ex One Piece), most of them are revealed a lot of episodes later, it can motivate to keep watching the series (hype).
- There are a lot of characters with different personalities to choose as a favorite.
- A lot of openings, endings and soundtracks.
- Characters development (ex Naruto some years ago and One Piece), watching how the characters are stronger and more mature through the anime.
Cons:
- Although I enjoy them, if the anime is near to the manga, the filler episodes can be boring for some people. Also, it includes extended scenes.
- The plot can be predictable and boring, it is hard to keep a good plot through all the anime (obviously there are exceptions).
- Because it is necessary to upload an episode every week, make an anime episode takes a lot of work, so mainly the animation cannot be good during all the episodes.
- If you are up to date with the anime, it can be boring to wait a new episode every week, you cannot watch the anime like a marathon, watching one episode per week of the respective anime can be less enjoyable depending the person.

Oct 11, 2020 10:39 PM

#25

firstawa

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Feb 2018

833

pros: it can get higher rating in mal, like fmab, hxh, LoGH, gintama
cons: haters get bigger everyweek :D

Oct 11, 2020 10:40 PM

#26

maggie478

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May 2019

111

Deloit said:
Well , dip in quality as seen with the dragon ball series, toei is just milking it now

And also
this

Wow I have never seen one piece and this is so sad. Look how cute she looked T_T

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