Karonhioktha is wondering when a manga series outstays its welcome. When is a series too long? For some perspective, the current longest series is Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo with 200 volumes. Golgo 13 is at 184. Naruto only got to 72, while Bleach was 74. One Piece is still going with 85. There's even a Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_manga_series_by_volume_ count . You'll notice that most of the series are shounen. I guess shoujo know when to quit.

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http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: If you were to read a story with a bad, okay, and great part, what order would you prefer them to be in?
Choices:
Great beginning, bad middle, okay ending - votes: 503 (7%)
Great beginning, okay middle, bad ending - votes: 188 (2.6%)
Okay beginning, bad middle, great ending - votes: 2060 (28.8%)
Okay beginning, great middle, bad ending - votes: 455 (6.4%)
Bad beginning, okay middle, great ending - votes: 2735 (38.2%)
Bad beginning, great middle, okay ending - votes: 1220 (17%)
There were 7161 total votes.
The poll ended: June 17th 2017

The two most voted choices are the ones with great endings

Last edited by lambchopsil at 11:08 am, Jun 17 2017

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

The jump from 25 to 50 is humongous but that´s where i will settle down.
You really need a VERY good reason to go over 50 volumes, aka 10.000 pages.

No manga ever went over 200 volumes, so who is voting on that option? Dokaben fans?
That one will actually go over 200 volumes within 1 year but will reading vol 200 give you anything different than reading vol 20 or 2? The baseball boys are still in school. Bah.
Major at least followed a preprofessional career for over a decade.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 10:38 am, Jun 17 2017

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It depends. Some grand epic adventure like One Piece makes sense that it would have a shitload of volumes. Then there are stories like Hana Yori Dango and as much as I loved it, 37 volumes was unnecessary.

But then there's also the other side. There are so many manga that could have used even one more volume to fill out their stories. Hell sometimes 1 more chapter.

I wavered between 25 and 50, but finally ended up going for 50 because I can still conceive of something being readable up to that point. The longest series I've completed so far (and enjoyed) is Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (28). The longest I have on any of my lists is Zipang (43), though I highly doubt it'll ever be completely scanlated.

The only (sort-of) exception to this rule as far as I'm concerned is Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken: ongoing at ~120 volumes. But since it's divided into strictly self-contained arcs, of which the current record-holder for length (Steel Ball Run) is only 24 volumes, I don't think it really counts.

Last edited by calstine at 12:15 pm, Jun 17 2017

It's not the number of volumes, but the amount of time that determines how long is too long.
If somebody is able to churn out 200+ volumes in a year - it is not too long.
If someone takes 3 or 4 decades to create 5 volumes - it is.

The series with more volumes that I'm up to date is Hajime no Ippo (117v) and I still want more of it, so I've had to go with 'It's never too long' choice. I mean, nobody forces you to read all the volumes, so more volumes of good stuff is always positive.

I think the concept of 'too long' is laced with losing quality or excitement or becoming repetitive and that's definitely not related to the number of volumes. It can happen in less than volume, when the follow up of a one-shot is no good for example.

Well I think the longest series I've read is Red River and that had 28 volumes. Being a shoujo and yaoi fan I don't get the opportunity to read a lot of long series. But I kind of feel that there's no such thing as too long. What matters is keeping up the quality of the storylines. If an author can write a good story that lasts for 300 volumes then they should do it. But a 2 volume manga can feel too long if it's poorly written.

I said 50 is too long, though I think it's a lot closer to the 25 than the 50.........just looking back, I can find Basara at 27 volumes and Pandora Hearts at 24 volumes, which, yeah, they were complex enough stories to warrant that length (and not turn into repetitive claptrap).

Eyeshield 21 at 37 volumes (which I absolutely loved.........it was freaking hilarious...... but had more than ran its course by the time it was ended), and Beck at 34 volumes (which I absolutely hated with every fiber of my being.......I still hate even looking at the series page for it.........and only finished reading out of pure spite because I refused to give up).

So yeah, 50 volumes + is ridiculous, that's a scam you youngsters are letting yourself get dragged into

Last edited by svines85 at 1:04 am, Jun 18 2017

As long as the story is still in the realm of "Okay" it's acceptable to go as long as possible, I mean after certain you'll get to the point where the manga is like the comic strip on newspaper, it's always there and you think that it should always be there or else it will be weird mmm...



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I will change this world mmm...
So the world can change me mmm...

It's never too long really. Never judge a manga by it's volume count.

It's all depends on the series and the way the volumes are arranged. Boring/bad ones are boring/bad with just one chapter, let alone a volume.

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i think that if you can't tell your story in 50 volumes you're either doing something wrong or you're milking it and neither of those options are very flattering.



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Reads far to much Manga

I wouldn't say there's a definite limit, as I've read amazing longer series and terrible shorter ones. What matters is the story telling. As long as the story is well told then the length doesn't matter.

For example, Banana Fish is amazing and only gets better as it goes along so the 19 volumes seem to fly by, Pandora Hearts also had a good length at 24 volumes and even Naruto wasn't bad when read in one go from start to finish. However, 07 Ghost definitely should have extended the story a bit despite being 17 volumes as the ending felt far too rushed after such a long build up and Bleach got boring after 2 arcs and should have been condensed.

The target audience and format of the story matters as well. Perpetually ongoing series like Doraemon work because there is not real story, just a concept, much like The Simpsons. It doesn't matter how many episodes or volumes there are as people can just pick them up and drop them as they like without needing to read/watch all the preceding volumes/episodes.

Whereas any story with an overarching plot line almost certainly has a limit to how long it can be before readers get bored. I'd say 50 is pushing it in that case.

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The pen is mightier than the sword...and considerably easier to write with.

I choose the 200+ option because you'll never see me pick up something like Kochikame or Hajime no Ippo on the account of having chapters numbering in the thousands. You could argue that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure falls under that category as well if you add all the parts together. But I consider that series somewhat of an exception since they break up the parts into easy to digest sections. I'd say 900 chapters would be the absolute limit I would want for a series to go on if push comes to shove.

I voted 15 because I mainly read shoujo and by that time, the plot has been waaaay too drawn out, especially if it's a romance. I just want them to get together already!! Although Kimi ni Todoke is at 28 and that's not too bad because there are so many characters with different stories.

Strange question. For a bad manga, one volume is too log. For a good manga, whatever amount of time it takes to keep it good.

I suspect the actual question the poll's author was trying to get at was how long you feel it takes for a manga to inevitably go bad.

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