First, there was Anime 102 -- anime for those with no prior experience but plenty of curiosity. Then came Anime 201, a course of shows that required a little additional knowledge about Japan. Now we've brought you Anime 301 -- a course of anime for those looking for long-running shows to steep themselves in.
Most of us are familiar with at least one long-running TV show that we've followed, whether casually or closely, across the years. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was M*A*S*H; more recently, it's shows like Law and Order, the various Star Trek franchises, The Simpsons, South Park, and many more.
Anime has more than its fair share of long-running shows, which present opportunities, challenges and dilemmas all at the same time. For the fan, it's an opportunity: it's always great news to discover a show that you haven't started yet which affords you hundreds of hours of enjoyment. The challenge falls to both fans and distributors: how to get the whole run of such a show into the hands of fans -- or under your belt, if you're watching -- in the most efficient way.
The dilemma is mostly the distributor's dilemma: the longer the show, the more likely it is to appeal solely to the fans of that show ... and to few others. Anime's relatively small market share means a long-running show licensed for export either has to be licensed in its entirety, up front -- easier said than done, especially if it's still ongoing -- or runs the risk of having its distribution cancelled partway through, much to the consternation of fans.
Some long-running shows may never see distribution outside of Japan because of these prohibitive cost issues. The Legend of the Galactic Heroes, a sprawling space saga of some hundred-plus episodes, has long been regarded as a holy grail of anime fans -- but various attempts to license it for English-language audiences have all failed due to the prohibitive cost levied by the show's owners. Either some way has to be found to raise enough money ahead of time to license the show without going broke ... or the show's owners have to compromise and drop their price.
As a general rule of thumb, then, most of the long-running shows available to English speaking audiences are big hits among anime fans: Naruto, for instance, or Bleach. Some are less popular only because of the conditions of their licensing--Gintama, for example, has only some of its run on DVD in English but is available in just about its entirety via on-line streaming at Crunchyroll. In fact, as streaming ascends in popularity and threatens to take more of a chunk out of home video sales, odds are streaming will become the primary format for viewing long-running anime.
So check out our list: Anime 301: The Long And Winding Shows, and be sure to chime in with your own suggestions or additions.
Image: Gintama Collection 1. Image courtesy Pricegrabber.
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