Why I love short anime.

[rocklobster]

I agree about Monster. Galaxy Express 999 lasted 113 episodes. But the good news is that the series doesn't have long drawn-out stuff. You will only have to watch either a one-part story or a two-part one. That's it. So if you want to watch a long series but don't want anything dragged out, I recommend it. Speed Racer was a milestone in anime, and has loads of fans even today (myself included) How long is it? 52 episodes.
Oh, and you guys, stop ripping on Inuyasha. I still like it. In fact, I've been watching The Final Act on Hulu. It'll REALLY end in about 5 weeks!

[Wyntre Rose]

Oh, and you guys, stop ripping on Inuyasha. I still like it.

You, sir, deserve a cookie. *gives you one*

[Roy Mustang]

Oh, and you guys, stop ripping on Inuyasha. I still like it. In fact, I've been watching The Final Act on Hulu. It'll REALLY end in about 5 weeks!

We are entitled to our own opinion about series. Remember, in that pm that you said that everyone has different tastes and you wouldn't everyone agreeing on the same thing. Not everyone is going to like what you like and we were not calling anyone bad for liking it.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang [/color][/font]

[Sheenar]

Imagine how much shorter DBZ (and better) would be without scene panning and reaction shots being dragged out forever.

Yes, definitely. Though I still love the series, sometimes it takes far too long to get to the next plot point (I'm not far into DBZ, but I just finished Season 3 --it took FOREVER to get to the actual fight between Goku and Frieza). I want to finish the series, but there are so many seasons that I am just going to Netflix them and will finish it eventually...

[uc pseudonym]

Yes, definitely. Though I still love the series, sometimes it takes far too long to get to the next plot point (I'm not far into DBZ, but I just finished Season 3 --it took FOREVER to get to the actual fight between Goku and Frieza). I want to finish the series, but there are so many seasons that I am just going to Netflix them and will finish it eventually...

It might be in your best interest to look into the manga. I think you could read all of Dragonball in the time it would take you to watch one season of the anime. I couldn't take more than a few episodes, but I found the manga to be an enjoyable experience for an older series.

[blkmage]

There is a currently airing version of Dragonball Z in Japan called Dragonball Z Kai which cuts down on the filler and reduces the length of the entire show to almost a third (approximately 100 down from almost 300). That should be making its way to North America sometime within the year.

[EricTheFred]

For me, the 2-core (26 or so episode) length is often the most satisfactory, although some 1-core series are just right because of the nature of the story (Lain and Boogiepop are both examples of this. The way the episodes are so strongly intertwined, anything longer would have been impossible to manage.) More often than not, I find a 1-core series feeling like a lot of development for not enough result. Only occasionally do I feel the opposite, that they stretched a series out to 2-core that should have been left shorter (Tokyo Majin would have been better at the original 14-episode length, for example. Chaos Head or Hyakko would both have been better at a longer length.)

The great majority of series of less than 1-core length that I have seen feel underdeveloped to me . I think the only well-known six episode series that did not leave me feeling this way was FLCL, although you could argue that it has such a frenetic pace because they stuffed a full 1-core worth of material into six episodes. A lesser known series, Time of Eve, is actually quite well done despite being only 6 episodes of only 15 minutes each, barely totallying the length of a feature film.

Only a very few series of more than 2-core have been satisfactory to me. FMP and FMP Fumoffu , totallying 3 cores, was good, but Fumoffu was essentially a separate series. GITS was very well done, and if I ever get a chance to see the rest of Monster, I'm betting I will think the same of it, based on the testimony of others. Get-Backers didn't have to be the length it was, but didn't suck as a 4-core (although the ending wasn't entirely satsifactory, most of the shows leading up to it were still entertaining me. I never felt like it was dragging on too long, like a certain Takahashi series that will not be mentioned did after the 4th core.)

[rocklobster]

A little something to consider. I know Superman and Batman really have nothing to do with anime, but do you really think they'd still have as much cultural impact if there was only a handful of stories?
So my point is, just because something is long doesn't mean it's no good.
Now granted, I do like some short anime. Haibane Renmei and Serial Experiments Lain are both two of my favorite short animes. Each one is only thirteen episodes. (although I wish Haibane Renmei was longer)

[EricTheFred]

A little something to consider. I know Superman and Batman really have nothing to do with anime, but do you really think they'd still have as much cultural impact if there was only a handful of stories?
So my point is, just because something is long doesn't mean it's no good.
Now granted, I do like some short anime. Haibane Renmei and Serial Experiments Lain are both two of my favorite short animes. Each one is only thirteen episodes. (although I wish Haibane Renmei was longer)

I'm on the fence with Haibane. I do wish for a longer version, but I also fear it might have failed to keep such a high standard of story up for that long. I have the same feeling about FLCL as a 13 ep or longer. Could they even have pulled it off for that long?

[blkmage]

A little something to consider. I know Superman and Batman really have nothing to do with anime, but do you really think they'd still have as much cultural impact if there was only a handful of stories?

I don't know how applicable those examples are. Aren't Superman and Batman very episodic rather than having a long continuous arc as in most shounen manga? That gives them much more room to expand upon and is much easier to make a long-running series since there's no main narrative thread. And when they do attempt some form of continuity, don't they run into problems accidentally retconning stuff because there's simply so much?

[Nate]

And when they do attempt some form of continuity, don't they run into problems accidentally retconning stuff because there's simply so much?

HA HA HA HA yes.

You have no idea, DC and Marvel have such ridiculous convoluted stories in all their comics. This is why Marvel introduced the Ultimates line and why DC sort of tried to do the same thing with the Crisis trilogy (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis). And everyone I'm sure remembers the internet famous picture of the funeral with two Supermen at it, one from Earth-One and one from Earth-Two.

So you have stuff like Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent knowing each other as children and adventuring, with Clark Kent being Superboy, which the normal Superman didn't do because he didn't become Superman until much later, except he did because it was retconned, oh and that isn't counting Superboy-Prime the Superman from another dimension who grew up in a world where superheroes don't exist but he read about the other DC characters in DC comics (in other words it's Superman if he was in our current world).

[CrimsonRyu17]

LOL at this thread.

I checked my MAL list and I only have three series (Mobile Suit Gundam, Death Note, and Gurren Lagann) that are over 26 epsiodes. All the rest are either at 26 or way below.

So I can safely say I thoroughly enjoy watching shorter series over longer series. OVAs and movies are my favorite form of animu because I like being able to sit down and watch it all at once without spending too much time on it. That's just my pref. There are some OVAs that are terrible and there are some longer series that are wonderful. Shorter ≠ Better.

[Yamamaya]

American T.V. in general tends to consist of episodic shows. There are some exceptions(Lost, Flash Foward, V, soap operas) but for the most part we mostly get reality shows, episodic crime shows, sitcoms, and the like.

The same priniciple tends to apply for our comics as well.

[ShiroiHikari]

My favorite short series is Android Kikaider-- 13 episodes. Gundam 0080 is also very good for as short as it is (6 episodes). Also GIANT ROBO! 7 episodes jam-packed with awesome. Most of the other series I like are at least 26 episodes though.

[Shao Feng-Li]

I tend to like shorter series more. A long series is fine, but you can tell when something is just getting dragged out.

Kinda like Dicken's Bleakhouse and Meyer's Twilight. Both fairly thick books, but one has more substance than the other.

Not to mention that shorter shows are cheaper to own.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Also, as for Batman and Superman's cultural impact, we also have to consider that were a number of shorter series that also had a substantial impact on culture, if through nothing else than the shockwaves that they sent through the comics industry and inversely affected the larger titles:

Watchmen
Y: The Last Man
Countless established series having shorter one-off story arcs like The Killing Joke
Among others.

[adam.skinner]

I think the problem with "long" (typically shounen) anime is that they're rife with filler episodes. One of the great things about anime is that they often have a real storyline (similar to a book) rather than just a bunch of episodic content. The odd thing about these shows is they will jump the shark for a little while, and then return to the book/manga content and be solid / interesting again for a while.

American TV is well known for doing this. While a show like Lost or Battlestar Galactica has an actual plot to it, most series are just episodic chaff *selling* for as long as it can sell. They continue to speak long after they have anything to talk about, simply because people have been listening to them.

Death Note is an excellent example of a "short" series with a well defined plot and an actual ending. It doesn't need (or accomidate) another season. It's finished, it was great, and now you can move on to something different instead of letting it sour in your mouth as it slowly devours itself.

One of my favorite "very short" shows is Ga-rei Zero. Action, great emotional content, very cool and unique weapons, and excellent character interactions. While it does leave room for more, it's complete as it stands.

[JapanAni]

older anime series tends to span to 75-200 the longest one I can think of is Detective Conan running at 536 currently airing. That's been airing for more than a decade now. I'd be surprised at anyone still catching up with that series. Sailor Moon was about 200. I think some shows deserve to be longer and some are just right for about 13 episodes. OVA's are the shortest.

[Nate]

OVA's are the shortest.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes would like a word with you.

[CrimsonRyu17]

One of my favorite "very short" shows is Ga-rei Zero. Action, great emotional content, very cool and unique weapons, and excellent character interactions. While it does leave room for more, it's complete as it stands.

I just checked back on this thread and saw this. You mean I'm not the only one who knows of its existence? Kudos to you, man.

[mechana2015]

older anime series tends to span to 75-200 the longest one I can think of is Detective Conan running at 536 currently airing. That's been airing for more than a decade now. I'd be surprised at anyone still catching up with that series. Sailor Moon was about 200.

Doraemon, airing from 1979- 2005, with 1,049 episodes has the record actually, and will for quite a while longer.

[Rocketshipper]

You know, I feel a little bit schizophrenic about this topic, lol. I was all ready to agree with what the first poster said, but then I really got to thinking about it and realized that the issue was a bit more complicated. On the one hand, I've always been a little wary about starting very long anime series, and that weariness has only increased now that I have a job that takes up most of my time. I'm catious about getting into super long series, *especially* if they aren;t finished running yet (I'm looking at you Conan!), because I have a lot less free time these days than I did in the past. A nice 13 to 26 episode series seems a lot less daunting these days. But on the other hand...almost EVERY anime in my top 10 list is either longer than 26 episodes or has several seasons/series that add up to more than 26 episodes total. The only two series that have made it into the vicinity of my top 10 that ARE NOT longer than 26 are CLAMP School Detectives and Kare Kano. So in the end maybe I do prefer longer shows in general ^^.

I would like to point out something though...Its true that some storylines can't be told in a mere handful of episodes, and some shows can go on for a very long tiime. But you might notice that even with shows that go on for a very long time, like Dragonball, its usually not just one long story for the entire length of the series. Dragonball had its "sagas" and most other long runners like Yugioh or Naruto or Bleach can also be broken up into smaller story arcs. Even Pokemon can be broken up by the various regions, and those can sometimes be broken up into smalller sections and mini arcs. And I think what this ultimately demonstrates is that there is only so long one *single* story can really be stretched out to before it starts to feel forced. Long running animes are broken up into story arcs or seasons because even if the same show is still running, the writers need to keep introducing new villians and obstacles or new "chapters" in the running story in order to keep it fresh. Off the top of my head, the only long running series I can think of that had a *single* continuing story, with no seperate "story arcs" and things, is FullMetal Alchemist and it was only 51 episodes and a movie (and the remake series looks to not be much longer) In the end, I think 50 or so episodes is the maximum lenght a storyline can reach before it starts to get as little dragged out. After that, its time for an ending, or the beginning of a new story arc.