When a story get dragged on for too long.

[Magin]

The short version of this question, as has already been answered, is that a series will go on and on and on so long as the publisher is making money off of it. besides, you also have the opposite of a series that goes on forever- a series getting axed/ended prematurely (one of my favorite examples here is Mx0- then again, that author usually tends to get axed every time)

On the subject of To-Love-Ru: you would probably be seeing even more of the original, but the original ended because of legal issues going on in the author's personal life. To-Love-Ru: Darkness I swear in part spawned because the manga-ka wants to blur the line between ecchi and hentai as far as possible without actually going into hentai, and of course continue To-Love-Ru's story (what little of it there is)

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by arekwibowo

It's been 13 years and it's just halfway done? *facepalm*

Child, have you heard about Garasu no Kamen (Glass Mask) manga? It's been serialized since January 1976 and it's still on-going even when the author promised to end it soon some time ago. Detective Conan has a potential to be like this .

[NK_500]

The OP forgot Detective Conan. Length-wise, it's even longer than One Piece.

Ranma 1/2 is even weirder. It ran for 161 episodes but ended earlier than its manga. Maybe it's the rating than killed it.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Anyhow, we can look at Dragon Ball Z. Practically every arc in it could have been the last in a number of ways, and by the time we get to Cell, I'm almost certain they were trying to end the series there.

Editors kept pushing for him to keep going even if he kept wanting to end it,that's why every arc could be the last,hell in his original plan the anime "dragon ball z" would have never existed since he planned to end it after vol 16 of the manga while dragon ball z starts at vol 17,though as it turns out it seems what most people remember are what came after that.

That's what I think people should remember,some magazines like shonen jump really push their author to keep going as long as it's selling well,even if sometimes the author is reluctant to do so.

Another example from shonen jump: Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae , it's not known in the west,but it's been running for 35 years weekly with no hiatus and has over 180 volumes and 1800 chapters.An anime adaptation ran for 8 years (96-04) but there's no subs but I'd definatly want to watch it out of curiosity.

Are there any shoujo long runners?As in over 40+ volume long?I know some shoujos that are between 20-30 volumes but that's it.All the long runners I know are either shonen or seinen

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by totoum

Are there any shoujo long runners?As in over 40+ volume long?I know some shoujos that are between 20-30 volumes but that's it.All the long runners I know are either shonen or seinen

obelisk already mention glass mask.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

obelisk already mention glass mask.

Thanks,started writing out my reply before obelisk posted his

[Insane]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

there is no real point in complaining about it. Everyone here already told you the reason.

$$$MONEY$$$

I do think that it's not merely about money. It's also about the fanbase's attachment with the fiction works they've been loving for long time. After you spend months, even years with a world and its characters, it’s not easy to let them go. It’s the same reason that authors sometimes give their characters happy endings even when the story would have been a thousand times better had they not. After spending so much time with them, you truly come to care about these characters, these creations, these children of your mind, and it’s hard to set that aside. It’s like leaving your best friends behind forever, when it would be so easy to continue holding on. I even recalled myself bawling my eyes off when reading the last chapter of Flame of Recca.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by NK_500

The OP forgot Detective Conan. Length-wise, it's even longer than One Piece.

Ranma 1/2 is even weirder. It ran for 161 episodes but ended earlier than its manga. Maybe it's the rating than killed it.

Like Kenshin anime, the questionable writing quality of later seasons eventually killed it.
And let's be honest here, as for the original manga, other than Maison Ikkoku, Rumiko CAN'T write an ending.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Like Kenshin anime, the questionable writing quality of later seasons eventually killed it.
And let's be honest here, as for the original manga, other than Maison Ikkoku, Rumiko CAN'T write an ending.

I may be in the minority, but I do enjoy Kenshin anime’s last arc (Feng-Shui arc IIRC). It was mysterious and very exciting. It’s like a blend of detective story, fantasy action, and the usual sword fights. The previous arc that contains “Romeo & Juliet-esque” story involving a Dutch soldier and a shinobi queen is uggghhh. The “Shogo Amakusa arc” is only interesting because of the interaction between Sayo and Sano imo. And some horrible fillers really plaguing the later seasons.

I agree. Ranma’s ending is meh. I can’t say anything about Inuyasha’s ending. I read the ending but I didn’t follow the manga so I don’t know exactly how “good/bad” the ending is to the overall story.

[Master_Yoma]

Well if you think about it why havent Superman Batman or the Xmen ended they been around a lot longer then most of these manga its all beuase people like the story

[Chaos2Frozen]

I think a story can go on forever as long as it can still present interesting and fresh new ideas, but at the slightest hint of staleness the author should make preparations to close shop. Stories that can't do this are usually those that focuses too much on a single character (or just one small group of them) and the world they exist in is too small for any expansion or different PoVs.

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

I may be in the minority, but I do enjoy Kenshin anime’s last arc (Feng-Shui arc IIRC). It was mysterious and very exciting. It’s like a blend of detective story, fantasy action, and the usual sword fights. The previous arc that contains “Romeo & Juliet-esque” story involving a Dutch soldier and a shinobi queen is uggghhh. The “Shogo Amakusa arc” is only interesting because of the interaction between Sayo and Sano imo. And some horrible fillers really plaguing the later seasons.

I remember enjoying the comedy more in those later arcs rather than the story, though I kinda like “Shogo Amakusa arc” for the same reason as you've mentioned.

But mostly I just like Siam Shade's '1/3 no junjou na kanjou' as the ending theme

[Insane]

Originally Posted by Master_Yoma

Well if you think about it why havent Superman Batman or the Xmen ended they been around a lot longer then most of these manga its all beuase people like the story

I think it's because those people on Hollywood have tendency to say "Hey, you know what would be very awesome? If Superman fought Spiderman or if Wolverine fought Batman! Yeah, let's make that!" in seemingly endless chain.

Edit : I'm not an American so i didn't know very much about Hollywood, just a pure guess

[Hiroi Sekai]

I actually quite dislike most long-running series. Not the stories, not the characters, but the idea that it runs too long.

There's no way I'm sitting through hundreds of episodes of Naruto when I can be using that time to fill with a whole new story and concept. There's so much out there as is, and although I don't hate these shows I've come to drop them eventually. Detective Conan was a personal favourite of mine, but damn it this crap never ends. On MAL, you'd see I give honest ratings to these but have dropped them.

Like I said, I'm not one of the haters who will mock you for liking Bleach or something like that. Just don't expect me to sit through the entire thing while I can be adding another chance series to my list in that time.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

...though I kinda like “Shogo Amakusa arc” for the same reason as you've mentioned.

Ah! A brother-in-arms!

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

But mostly I just like Siam Shade's '1/3 no junjou na kanjou' as the ending theme

Precisely.

Originally Posted by Master_Yoma

Well if you think about it why havent Superman Batman or the Xmen ended they been around a lot longer then most of these manga its all beuase people like the story

Any of those superheroes doesn’t really have a “continuous/linear” story like mangas though. It’s an endless cycle of remake/reboot/revision/reborn/redefine/renew/refresh, another universe, cross-overs, etc. People don’t have a problem with that (mostly).

[arekwibowo]

Originally Posted by Master_Yoma

Well if you think about it why havent Superman Batman or the Xmen ended they been around a lot longer then most of these manga its all beuase people like the story

Basically, they're no more than a bunch of zombie franchises. Getting rebooted and resurrected endlessly even if the premise already exhausted since long time ago.

Originally Posted by papermario13689

I actually quite dislike most long-running series. Not the stories, not the characters, but the idea that it runs too long.

There's no way I'm sitting through hundreds of episodes of Naruto when I can be using that time to fill with a whole new story and concept. There's so much out there as is, and although I don't hate these shows I've come to drop them eventually. Detective Conan was a personal favourite of mine, but damn it this crap never ends. On MAL, you'd see I give honest ratings to these but have dropped them.

Like I said, I'm not one of the haters who will mock you for liking Bleach or something like that. Just don't expect me to sit through the entire thing while I can be adding another chance series to my list in that time.

Sup' totally agree with you. The most popular still running shounen series such as Naruto, Onepiece, and Gintama actually not suck, both in the story and characters. It's just that they've been around for soooooo long that some people got their asses burned by sitting down watching them for years with the very same idea and premise. There're so many variations of anime nowadays with a bunch of premises and interesting plotline to watch unlike in 90s where DBZ was the sole winner.

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by arekwibowo

Sup' totally agree with you. The most popular still running shounen series such as Naruto, Onepiece, and Gintama actually not suck, both in the story and characters. It's just that they've been around for soooooo long that some people got their asses burned by sitting down watching them for years with the very same idea and premise. There're so many variations of anime nowadays with a bunch of premises and interesting plotline to watch unlike in 90s where DBZ was the sole winner.

Here's the thing. My current roomie's actually an avid Naruto fan, and he explained to me that the story does keep changing and adapting, and that's great. The thing is, one atmosphere that a show emits (and since it's stuck in certain genres, there's a limit to this) can get tiring after a long time, especially if you're not 1000% invested into the show and are a huge fan. I liked Cardcaptor Sakura despite being 70 episodes because it established how much needed to be done in the first episode, threw in a loop that caused more trouble around the middle, and then closed everything off at the right time. Throughout that whole ordeal, the consistency kept is stunning as well.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Master_Yoma

Well if you think about it why havent Superman Batman or the Xmen ended they been around a lot longer then most of these manga its all beuase people like the story

Actually, it's a case where the character has grown bigger than the story that contains him or her. Hence, you can get away with drastically shifting the character's context over time.

DC comics recently rebooted itself, and offers a good example here...

Spoiler for Superman spoilers:

Clark Kent recently quit the Daily Planet.

In the rebooted universe, him and Lois Lane have no real romance whatsoever (in fact, Lois Lane is sleeping with another guy).

Superman and Wonder Woman recently kissed, and that's the romance DC is pushing right now.

Superman's costume is now alien armor. No joke. He actually makes me think of one of those alien kings in Rinne no Lagrange now.

Some Superman fans hate this with a passion, but some have embraced it. In any event, DC can get away with it because Superman is bigger than the story that contains him (so is Batman, Spiderman, Wolverine).

Few anime characters reach this height. The most important characters in NGE have (which is why Anno can get away with the massively different tone of the Rebuild movies compared to the original).

[Eater of All]

I know Bakuman is not an entirely realistic portrayal of the manga industry, but at least it corroborates the suspicion that it's hard to be serialized. When you're a mangaka who can (supposedly) barely earn enough to cover expenses of art materials, assistants, etc., you'd probably think twice before risking your livelihood to bet on a new serialization.

That's probably the situation for less popular mangakas. For the successful ones, the reason probably leans more towards this:

Originally Posted by Insane

I do think that it's not merely about money. It's also about the fanbase's attachment with the fiction works they've been loving for long time. After you spend months, even years with a world and its characters, it’s not easy to let them go. It’s the same reason that authors sometimes give their characters happy endings even when the story would have been a thousand times better had they not. After spending so much time with them, you truly come to care about these characters, these creations, these children of your mind, and it’s hard to set that aside. It’s like leaving your best friends behind forever, when it would be so easy to continue holding on. I even recalled myself bawling my eyes off when reading the last chapter of Flame of Recca.

As an aside, I saw "authors sometimes give their characters happy endings," then I thought of Urobutcher and I 'd.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

But it could be worse; at least it's not like superhero comics in the US. The stories of Spiderman, Wolverine, Batman, Superman, etc... will never be completely told. They'll never finish (except in short, AU standalone stories perhaps). So they go on, and on, and on, and after awhile, it can seem kinda pointless. One "event" leads to the next leads to the next and there's not necessarily any thematic or character consistency over the passage of in-canon time.

That's the reason I could never get into superhero comics, even if I do enjoy reading some Batman stories sometimes. It feels a bit pointless to read something you know for sure will never have a proper conclusion. That and I dislike the fact they're written by different authors... it's just so impersonal. I can see why people would enjoy this system, but I hate it.

Another problem is that the big events are more often than not pants on head retarded, with millions of parallel worlds, people coming back from the dead all the time and what not (reminds me of the stuff I drew when I was 9)... but I'm getting off topic.

As for manga, it is indeed bothersome when a story drags on for too long, but at least you can be confident it will end at some point (well, except stuff like Bastard or Berserk, but that's because the authors are always on hiatus).

Given how hard it is to stay serialized, I can't blame mangakas for wanting their series to last as long as possible when they're popular. I'd do the same if I were in their shoes. The same goes for publishers. It's getting harder to find hits nowadays, so it makes sense to extend the current hits they have rather than letting them go. The entertainment industry is first and foremost a business, after all.

I'd like to add there are exceptions among neverending series. Jojo's bizarre adventure has been going on for 25 years and has managed to remain fresh by consistently reinventing itself. In its case, it's a very good thing it hasn't ended yet. The most recent part of the story (Steel ball run) has even been the best of the series so far. I'd gladly take 25 more years of Jojo.

[andromeda0201]

Originally Posted by Insane

I do think that it's not merely about money. It's also about the fanbase's attachment with the fiction works they've been loving for long time. After you spend months, even years with a world and its characters, it’s not easy to let them go. ....

^This
I cried, threw tantrums and even contemplated writing a tearful letter to Rumiko Takahashi with the help of Google translate begging her not to end Ranma 1/2. To be honest, I wouldn't have cared how long it would have dragged, that manga was one of my best companions throughout my child/teenage years and I couldn't bear it to end.
For Inuyasha though, I did remember reading about how she was forced to continue due to it's huge popularity thus the battles started dragging, the shikon-no-tama shards increased to more than a million pieces..etc. Wouldn't be surprised if this is the case for most weekly serialized shonen manga, in which case the fandom is entirely responsible.

Originally Posted by totoum

Are there any shoujo long runners?As in over 40+ volume long?I know some shoujos that are between 20-30 volumes but that's it.All the long runners I know are either shonen or seinen

...come to think of it, most shoujos end as soon as all relationships are settled or else it does get pretty annoying. Skip Beat does seem to have the potential to surpass 40 volumes though