Why I gave up on long-running anime shows
Last year, I just stopped watching Naruto and Bleach. I lost any desire to keep up with them and just stopped showing up every Wednesday and Thursday to Crunchyroll to tune into the latest episodes. I was done. Basically, I was no longer invested in the story, the characters I cared about weren't getting much screen time, and both were in or headed towards more filler because they were (again) catching up to the manga.
In fact, Naruto had hit it's highest note for me (the episode where Hinata jumps in to try and save Naruto and we get her back story of why she loves him so much) and Bleach was only 10 or so episodes from resolving the Aizen arc that was the basis for the whole story, and I STILL walked away.
Basically, it comes down to the reason why I am done with so many other things like American superhero comics, Harry Potter fandom, Buffy Season 8, the Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, etc.: things should not go on forever. At some point, it needs to come to an end and people need to make new things.
In anime and manga, it seems like that if you get popular writing for Shonen Jump Magazine in Japan, either one of two things happens:
Scenario 1: SJ editors take you to the room of endless money and promise it to you if you just stretch the story out more.
Scenario 2 (the more likely one): SJ editors, seeing that your popular series is almost at the end of its natural story, kidnap your family and tie you to your desk and tell you to stretch the story out more... OR ELSE.
Now, these are not my jokes, and they are not new, but as I was watching the last episodes of Naruto and Bleach that I watched, the story no longer mattered to me and it became obvious that this stretch was an editorial decision and not the decision of the mangaka, so fuck it.
Because of this, I have not begun watching new long running shows, like Fairy Tale, which I would probably like, because one of my favorite features about a good story is that it ends. Or at least it should end. Even if everything isn't resolved, it should come to a conclusion.
One of my favorite endings of all time was season 5 of Angel where they threw caution to the wind to try and take out as many big bads as they could and with Hell bearing down on them, they charged into a final battle as the credits rolled. It was epic, it was appropriate, and it was very satisfying. And that was it. I didn't need or want resolution or continuation, I was completely satisfied with that. Joss then went on to make other things that were great. Things that were more than just the Buffy-verse.
Very few things can go on forever, and when they do, if they don't change and update, then there is a loss of realism. One of the things I liked about the 20-year run of the original Law & Order was that characters died, retired, left, did other things, and the cast grew, changed and evolved. In both Naruto and Bleach, all of the principle characters are still there, and while Naruto did have the guts to kill of some major characters, they didn't take out any of the stars of the show. And Bleach, has anyone really died in it who was there in the first 20 episodes? Has anyone left? No. Naruto is on year 15 and there are no main character changes. Bleach is on year 10, and also, no main character changes.
So I'm sorry, Fairy Tale, Beelzebub, One Piece, and the various new seasons of Pretty Cure that I would probably like if I had the time to dedicate to watching series that are going to go over the 100 episode mark, but your formula is a little tired for me, and I'm putting all of you on the shelf. I won't return to Detective Conan, and I won't start Sgt. Frog (mostly because I don't build Gundam models). While I would like to watch Fist of the North Star and Galaxy Express 999, I wonder if I would ever get through them...
I like my stories to end. I like an ending to be planned, in sight, and not derailed by a greedy manga editorial board exercising too much control over a creator's work.
In fact, Naruto had hit it's highest note for me (the episode where Hinata jumps in to try and save Naruto and we get her back story of why she loves him so much) and Bleach was only 10 or so episodes from resolving the Aizen arc that was the basis for the whole story, and I STILL walked away.
Basically, it comes down to the reason why I am done with so many other things like American superhero comics, Harry Potter fandom, Buffy Season 8, the Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, etc.: things should not go on forever. At some point, it needs to come to an end and people need to make new things.
In anime and manga, it seems like that if you get popular writing for Shonen Jump Magazine in Japan, either one of two things happens:
Scenario 1: SJ editors take you to the room of endless money and promise it to you if you just stretch the story out more.
Scenario 2 (the more likely one): SJ editors, seeing that your popular series is almost at the end of its natural story, kidnap your family and tie you to your desk and tell you to stretch the story out more... OR ELSE.
Now, these are not my jokes, and they are not new, but as I was watching the last episodes of Naruto and Bleach that I watched, the story no longer mattered to me and it became obvious that this stretch was an editorial decision and not the decision of the mangaka, so fuck it.
Because of this, I have not begun watching new long running shows, like Fairy Tale, which I would probably like, because one of my favorite features about a good story is that it ends. Or at least it should end. Even if everything isn't resolved, it should come to a conclusion.
One of my favorite endings of all time was season 5 of Angel where they threw caution to the wind to try and take out as many big bads as they could and with Hell bearing down on them, they charged into a final battle as the credits rolled. It was epic, it was appropriate, and it was very satisfying. And that was it. I didn't need or want resolution or continuation, I was completely satisfied with that. Joss then went on to make other things that were great. Things that were more than just the Buffy-verse.
Very few things can go on forever, and when they do, if they don't change and update, then there is a loss of realism. One of the things I liked about the 20-year run of the original Law & Order was that characters died, retired, left, did other things, and the cast grew, changed and evolved. In both Naruto and Bleach, all of the principle characters are still there, and while Naruto did have the guts to kill of some major characters, they didn't take out any of the stars of the show. And Bleach, has anyone really died in it who was there in the first 20 episodes? Has anyone left? No. Naruto is on year 15 and there are no main character changes. Bleach is on year 10, and also, no main character changes.
So I'm sorry, Fairy Tale, Beelzebub, One Piece, and the various new seasons of Pretty Cure that I would probably like if I had the time to dedicate to watching series that are going to go over the 100 episode mark, but your formula is a little tired for me, and I'm putting all of you on the shelf. I won't return to Detective Conan, and I won't start Sgt. Frog (mostly because I don't build Gundam models). While I would like to watch Fist of the North Star and Galaxy Express 999, I wonder if I would ever get through them...
I like my stories to end. I like an ending to be planned, in sight, and not derailed by a greedy manga editorial board exercising too much control over a creator's work.