It’s time for a new general discussion thread! Hot takes, recommendations, questions, cautionary tales, all of it is welcome here.
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I agree about 24 episodes. However, it is a bigger investment up front, so I doubt we will see more of these other than the very likely to succeed series (Frieren, Apothecary, etc.). The 12 episode format allows rights holders to try out more series to find out what is able to catch on a bit before deciding to invest more.
A side effect of this, however, is that we’re overloaded with shows every season, so it’ll have to fight more for our attention. But yeah, you’re probably right. Risk averse investors basically.
After doing some more thinking on this, I suspect there is another factor at play as well. By investing in and producing 12-episode seasons, investors don’t have to wait as long for source material to build up. So, if there is a hot new LN or manga, you can snatch up the rights earlier in its lifecycle.
So, really, the shorter seasons work better from an investor’s standpoint in two ways:
Is this actually how it works out though? There was easily enough material to do 2 seasons of Dandadan. Sakamoto Days is airing next year and there are already nearly 200 chapters of the manga. Witch Hat Atelier has 13 volumes, and Medalist has 11. Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu has 15. Honey Lemon Soda? 27. I went through quite a few of the shows announced for next year and couldn’t find a single one that doesn’t have enough material for 24 episodes. Only Medalist is even close.
Yeah, it doesn’t always work that way, but it can. What made me think of this was actually going through the manga award nominations and seeing Kagurabachi all over the place. It just started last year and they just recently (kind of unofficially) announced an anime adaptation, likely meaning the deal was struck some time ago.
Idk, I am just some random dude on the internet that fell backwards into moderating a discussion forum, I don’t really have any actual insight into how these things work, just speculation.
Fair points too, however:
But yeah, the shortterm benefits are probably more attractive for investors. Easier money I guess.