Why are anime series comparatively short?

Vojera

I was reading Links' great anime thread in AH and it struck me that there were a few comments (from myself included) about the preference for shorter anime series rather than the longer running ones.

It got me thinking: why is anime like this? It seems that "one-shot" series are much more common than the ones that run into the hundreds of episodes and that seems to be the norm, and even a preference.

I know myself that the longest series I've ever watched was Revolutionary Girl Utena and, at 39 episodes, it will probably be the longest I ever sit through. I can't see myself ever settling into the likes of Bleach because I just don't want to make that commitment.

However, I think nothing of watching a Western TV series and having it go on for years on end. In fact, I was gutted when both Eureka and Warehouse 13 got cancelled after five seasons apiece. I don't think there are any Western series that start out and say "I hope this is the only season we make"; they're always hoping not to get cancelled.

So why is anime different? A few reasons I've thought of are:

1. I'm actually wrong, there are tonnes of long-running series and a combination of licensing and my own preferences means I just don't know about them.
2. Animation, as a medium, doesn't lend itself to last minute schedule changes and things are usually well-storyboarded before production ever begins.
3. There is a cultural difference, where anime is actually expected to tell its story succinctly, without filler, and we just don't have an equivalent.

So, what are your thoughts? Why are one-shot series so common? And what is your preference, either way?

Wossack

1. I think

Bear in mind, theres more to 'Eastern' television then just anime - so a direct comparision of anime vs western tv, isnt easily made imo

There are some extremely long running anime series (One Piece is 600+, or Nintama Rantaro is 1700+ for example). But guess that would pale in comparison to Corronation Street, with its 8000+ episodes (had to look it up!).

But again, not really like for like (imo)

Personally, I prefer a concise, well told story, or stories. So Im not opposed to long running shows - as long as they dont resort to filler, and are reasonably consistent. I've watched 10 episode shows, that felt too long - and Ive watched 70+ episode shows that felt too short, hah (western stuff included).

jimfahy

I think the length of anime is more to do with source material. The manga for anime like bleach and naruto are either increadably long or ongoing, meaning the anime can continue for many seasons, spawning popularity for the franchise even after the manga finishes. The longest running anime are all shounen, largely popular over many age categories, whereas many other anime adaptations are less popular, leading to the series being cut short, often ending on a cliff-hanger without any indecation of a follow up series unfortunately, at least thats my understanding of it.

Vojera

@Wossack, That's a fair point that Western TV series and anime aren't directly comparable. I suppose a comparison of live action series in general vs anime would be more appropriate.

@jimfahy, That's interesting about the source material thing. I wonder if there are any long-running series that aren't based on a manga or anything else.

Links234

You are right and wrong, there are shows like One Piece, Naruto, Bleach etc that keep going on and on. I've never watched them, and don't intend to because I hate shows that are dragged out to the point of losing the appeal it first had. But why most of the time you'll have shorter shows? I think there's definitely an aspect of number 3. there, I think anime fans like storylines that actually resolve themselves.

But another thing I think is a big factor is budget and creative control.

Anime is relatively cheap to produce, supposedly the entire series of Evangelion was made for the same price as a single episode of Futurama. This Crunchyroll article breaks down the cost of producing a 30 minute anime episode, which comes in at an estimated $145,214. If we compare this to a more serious Sci-Fi show, according to imdb, Space: Above and Beyond cost a whopping $5,000,000 per episode to produce, and the first 2 episodes of Battlestar Galactica cost $10,000,000. So anime is far, far cheaper to make than live action and you can tell the story that you want to tell without budget effecting it too much. On a live action sci-fi, budget restraints could mean re-writing characters like a robot or alien character so they don't have to spend as much on special effects, but in anime it won't make a difference to the budget if you draw a character as a human or an alien. Now here's something to think about, Makoto Shinkai made Voices of a Distant Star completely by himself, but how much would that cost to make if it were live action? He wouldn't be able to make it on his own, that's for sure.

So now we consider creative control, an anime director can create a show that tells exactly the story they want without worrying about budget constraints (though I'm sure there's plenty of exceptions) or have to worry about producers telling them that they have to change X,Y and Z aspect of the story to appeal to your average joe. Can you imagine getting a show like FLCL, Paranoia Agent or Serial Experiments Lain produced as live action shows in the US? Me neither. Now try to imagine Evangelion being pitched to a US TV studio executive

As for any western series that only wanted one season, well supposedly Prison Break was only ever intented to be a single season show, that's why the first was so good and the rest of the seasons were such a disjointed mess. Joe Ahearne's modern vampire show Ultraviolet also was created as a self-contained story in one series. I'm sure there's more.

Personally, I prefer a show that has a story to tell, and tells it without any filler or dragging out, they always come off as a better show for it.

cherryghost

Gintama is the only long running show I can barely, probably because it just points and laughs at other long running shows, pretty much a piss take of every other anime around :P

Source material and money are the big two factors regardless. Think of short manga-to-anime shows as long book-to-film shows.

Excedion

Its to do with the budget they are given and the amount of material they have to work off, most animes have a manga to get story from but a lot of the newer animes are based off a single light novel.

Personally I think that animators see what happens with series' like bleach and naruto that just drag on and try to avoid it as much as possible but that ends up with the anime ending short of the mark for most people. I find this anyway with 90% of what I watch.

Also some anime doesnt get the ratings for more seasons so the endings may seem to come from nowhere as the anime has to create an ending where there wasnt one before, see Claymore

Vojera

Links234 wrote: »

So anime is far, far cheaper to make than live action and you can tell the story that you want to tell without budget effecting it too much. On a live action sci-fi, budget restraints could mean re-writing characters like a robot or alien character so they don't have to spend as much on special effects, but in anime it won't make a difference to the budget if you draw a character as a human or an alien. Now here's something to think about, Makoto Shinkai made Voices of a Distant Star completely by himself, but how much would that cost to make if it were live action? He wouldn't be able to make it on his own, that's for sure.

That's a really interesting point. I reminds me of an interview I read (or watched) with Katsuhiro Ohtomo (or maybe it was Mamoru Oshii, I'm not sure and I can't seem to find a link) who said (paraphrased) that he considered animation to be the purest form of film-making because if you can imagine it, you can have it in your film; the only constraint you have is what you can draw, not what modern technology or your budget allows at that point in time.

Looked at from that perspective there are tonnes of series that just wouldn't work in a live-action setting. They'd either cost a ridiculous amount of money or look really cheap.