As I mentioned when talking about Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood times have changed since I started watching anime. When I started watching anime the general philosophy was there were three approaches to adapting long-running manga or novel series. The first approach was to adapt a small part of the series to give the viewers a taste of the title and then hope that they go and read the original material. This was the tactics behind so many OVAs and movies but it was hardly unheard of with TV series. The second was to stall for time waiting for more material with filler arcs. Mega-popular shonen fighting series got this all the time. The problem with this approach was filler is often some of the most reviled material in all of anime. But without a doubt, the most hated material comes from the third approach: anime original ending. When a series run out of material to adapt the anime studio comes up with their own ending. If you are relatively new to anime fandom it is actually a bit hard to fully understand how much these endings were often hated.
Thankfully a fourth option is actually far more common today. In fact, it is so common that the other three are now the exception and not the rule. Most series adapting an ongoing series will just go on hiatus until enough new material has come out for them to do a new season. For the longest time, I could remember this being an option many fans wished could be the way things were done but often wondered why it was not the case. It seemed like the best of both worlds. You avoid the often quite terrible anime original material while keeping a show alive in a relatively painless fashion. You sometimes have to wait on a cliff hanger season finale but it is better than waiting in hopes that a manga MIGHT get licensed. Everyone wins.
But oddly enough One Punch Man and Attack on Titan have actually opened my eyes to some major downsides to this option. It is almost like there was a reason they might have avoided this method in the past.
If this were a popular blog I know I would get this argument in the comments but I will cut this off at the pass even if it is unlikely to come up. I’m not saying that no one foresaw these hiccups. I’m sure that many a person predicted these difficulties in old debates about what to do with currently running series. I’m not doubting some of our readers are smart cookies that can see potential pitfalls with some common sense. I’m discussing what problems have started to occur when the rubber actually hits the road. I’m not here to confirm or deny how many industry pundits were Nostradamus or Cassandra. I’m looking at that fallout of this new system.
Reverse Thieves 