Anime Quasi-Rant
Since I got nudged into starting to watch anime online, I've had a chance to take in a few series. Most are relatively new (Valvrave, Log Horizon), though I've started watching a relatively older series as well (Read or Die). And while I like a lot of these individually, if to varying degrees, the meta-reaction I'm having here is one of sadness at the state of the industry/medium.
I can actually apply the same thinking to other forms of entertainment, especially on TV, as well, but it strikes me in particular with anime. It's a function of the business side of things - unfortunate, but pretty much unavoidable.
Most series start off as manga, sometimes in turn based on (light) novels. A property reaches sort of a critical mass where the publisher/investors see a potential for growth. They say "hey, this is good/popular enough to be worth some additional money, and if we can make a series out of it, that'll increase sales and merchandise!" So a season is green-lit and produced usually alongside the source material (because there's less point in selling more of something that isn't still producing). Then things tend to go one of two ways...
... Either you get one (sometimes two) season of anime that ends up being not quite profitable enough to continue, so the series ends abruptly without finishing the story.
... Or you get something that's actually very successful, runs for hundreds of episodes, but ends up outpacing its source material. This leads to episodes, or sometimes whole arcs, of "filler" material (Bleach) or completely divergent storylines (Full Metal Alchemist).
Neither of those two primary paths are very satisfying to someone who is very story-focused, but the way the industry works make it appear that's the vast majority right there. There are exceptions, but they seem particularly rare. I want some sort of closure, which is hard to come by in derived work - you basically need a property that is popular enough after its conclusion to encourage anime adaption or something that something that isn't based on another work to begin with.
I can actually apply the same thinking to other forms of entertainment, especially on TV, as well, but it strikes me in particular with anime. It's a function of the business side of things - unfortunate, but pretty much unavoidable.
Most series start off as manga, sometimes in turn based on (light) novels. A property reaches sort of a critical mass where the publisher/investors see a potential for growth. They say "hey, this is good/popular enough to be worth some additional money, and if we can make a series out of it, that'll increase sales and merchandise!" So a season is green-lit and produced usually alongside the source material (because there's less point in selling more of something that isn't still producing). Then things tend to go one of two ways...
... Either you get one (sometimes two) season of anime that ends up being not quite profitable enough to continue, so the series ends abruptly without finishing the story.
... Or you get something that's actually very successful, runs for hundreds of episodes, but ends up outpacing its source material. This leads to episodes, or sometimes whole arcs, of "filler" material (Bleach) or completely divergent storylines (Full Metal Alchemist).
Neither of those two primary paths are very satisfying to someone who is very story-focused, but the way the industry works make it appear that's the vast majority right there. There are exceptions, but they seem particularly rare. I want some sort of closure, which is hard to come by in derived work - you basically need a property that is popular enough after its conclusion to encourage anime adaption or something that something that isn't based on another work to begin with.
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