So I feel bad, for I have sinned. I told Chris that I had done this already but I didn't really, I had a draft for something about streaming sites, but I can't remember what I was going to write about. So I decided on something else. What I'm musing is that age old question: Does size matter? And get your mind out of the gutter, I'm talking about the length of a series.
I came across this topic a couple of days ago. I have been slowly watching some anime with a friend who has never watched any before, the first series we watched was Darker Than Black. We finished that and then we had the option of several others to watch, and it brought the interesting question: We could start on a
beast like One Piece, the less long but still big undertaking, FMA: Brotherhood. Or go with a shorter series like Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. Or even ultra-short with Angel Beats. (of course these were not the only options but they will be the ones I will reference for this.) Obviously you can't really go wrong with any of these series, In my book each of these series will always be held on the highest level as some of my all time favorites. (He chose to watch Trigun btw but that isn't overly important) So basically, what is better? I am going to divide these into categories and do my best to do an overview and view strengths and weaknesses of each.
#1!!!-The Viking Epic. For those who don't know, Viking epics are some of the most outrageously long tales ever, and often in the same vein as a book like The Iliad. Yeah, this could also be called The One Piece-Bleach-Naruto category. While one could make the argument that these are the best because they are generally the most popular series. But I think the popularity is just a result of the fact that they have more time to build up fan bases, so I'm just gonna ignore that.
HOWEVA, I think that the Viking Epic has the potential to be the best kind of series, but there are some qualifications that have to be passed first, for starters, your author should really have it planned and be ready for the incredible length. (Here's lookin at you Bleach) The Second condition is that you, as a reader/watcher, need to be willing to commit to the series. This is a problem I have a lot of the time, I really love One Piece, but I have a lot of trouble bothering to keep up on a week to week basis, and that is the one major drawback of the Viking Epic, because even if it is done incredibly well, like One Piece or Berserk, it can get a little exhausting to keep up. But back to point number 1 here, because that is more important, and also the reason why the Viking Epic can be the best kind. Because if you give a guy like Oda that kind of time to do stuff he will do incredible stuff with it. Haki was not formally introduced to us until...ummm... I don't remember for sure actually, but it was a really long time. First we heard about it but didn't know what it really was, and we were slowly given more info until now where everyone has Haki. And while Hater-Trolls can be all like "He totally pulled that from his rectum as a way to stretch it out while not becoming overpowered" and then all of us who are not Hater-Trolls can be like "lulz stupid Hater-Trollz, Shanks used Haki against the sea king in like the first chapter!" And stuff like that is exactly why the Viking Epic can be the best, because you get all the time in the world to set stuff up. And this also carries over to characters, when you have an author who is really good at developing characters, giving them more time just makes said characters even better.
All of this does contribute to one of the negatives of Viking Epics, basically the fact that it has to be more about the journey than the destination, and as a result can become a grind, and move really slowly at times. However if it is well done then it is not so much of a problem, basically when an anime or manga goes really long, it magnifies the good things and the bad things about the series. I mean, who doesn't want more of a good thing, and less of a not so good thing.
That's all for now, stay tuned for other types with creative names!
Until then.
Manere Sitiem amicus.
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