If you really like arguing with people on the Internet there are a treasure trove of topics that by merely off handily mentioning them can cause a maelstrom of debate without even the smallest amount of effort. Beyond that each fandom has it own unique hot buttons that can ruffle the feathers of that group more than anyone else. Anime fandom is hardly an exception. Moe, fan service, the proper use of term otaku all come to mind as easy kegs to spark with any congregation of anime and manga aficionados. But one thing that always gets anime fandom riled up is hardly unique to the fandom but seems especially divisive among anime fans none the less. It is constantly brought up in reviews and any discussion of a series big or small, shonen or shojo, popular or obscure. It is probably not extremely more significant in anime and manga fandom but since I am neck-deep in anime and manga fandom I see it more here. That is the issue of pacing.
Unlike art, story, music, characters, or presentation it is rarely something that is given a quantifiable number score. There might be someone out there that says Evangelion has a score of eight in pacing but Azumanga Daioh has a four but I have never seen them. More often than not it gets brought up in an overall review or around the half way mark of a series when its airing. That said I have seen it as a topic of debate as early as the first episode of a series and it usually just becomes more and more of a topic of discussion as the series goes on. The longer a series is the more the topic comes up and the deeper the arguments are. It gets to the point where it seems like you cannot bring up a long shonen series without the topic coming up.
The thing is there seems to be little consensus on any given series. Really long series tend to garner a good deal of resentment over their pacing and pacing eventually breaks down to arcs of the show being judged individually as well as pieces of a whole. Very short series tend to get off lighter with some noticeable exceptions. Everything else seems to be a tempest in a teapot. I have recently seen people call Kill la Kill perfectly paced, far too hyper, and meanderingly lethargic. I remember the debate over Penguindrum’s pace being rather fierce. People will remember the soccer episode of Eureka 7 more than the Alamo. But why? What causes such a fierce debate? I have wondered that because for all the discussion there seems to be no easy answer to why two people will have such different opinions on pacing.
It turns out tomato sauce might have the greatest insight into why this is always such a topic of debate.
Reverse Thieves 