To drop or not to drop - Long series that lost its touch

[Kinny Riddle]

I'm referring to that ninja manga (N) and that grim reaper manga (B) respectively.

Back when I was a horny university undergraduate, I simply followed what everyone else followed. First series N when it first aired in 2002, and then series B in 2004.

In fairness to their authors, the beginning does feel inspiring, but that was it. It feels like a rich girl being fooled into marrying a dashing poor guy with all his empty promises, and then realize life after marriage isn't what it seems.

Now I no longer prescribe to the "popular = good" maxim, and watch what I want to watch, not because everyone is watching it.

My current anime "portfolio" contains series that interest me, save for series N and B, which hoards up plenty of my precious time, getting in the way of me watching the other "better" series.

I feel like divorcing. But I've spent years giving so much, hoarding up so many volumes of manga, and burning loads of DVD-ROMs, that it feels like a waste to give up after so long.

But eventually it has to stop, and I think the time will be soon.

For both series, I will continue to collect manga volumes for this year, after that, I will only read raws off the internets, and only go back to collecting the whole lot once they're both completed (hopefully within the next decade).

As for their respective animes:

Series N: Last I saw, Itachi and Jiraiya died. So maybe I'll watch till Naruto avenges Jiraiya in his fight against Pain and that's it. Or if they ever enter into fillers, then I'll stop right there.

Series B: Currently still in filler mode, but rumoured to resume manga story in April, Battle of Kamakura resumes, where Vaizards join the fight against the remaining 3 Espadas. Series B moves in a much faster pace than Series N, and is more likely to find itself in filler mode once again, so I'll stop there. Or else, I'll just stop at the last episode shown on December 2010.

What say you?

[ben1234]

Just drop both

You'll thank me for it some day

[b0mb3r]

After my first painful lesson from both filler arcs in N and B I dropped both. I only follow N in manga form now and totally forgotten about B.

[chrnno]

I have long given up on watching them.

It's already annoying watching an anime with lots of fillers and even more so if it only comes once a week and is a filler. I just follow the mangas as I still enjoy them though there is a lot of series better than those.

[ShadowZeroHeart]

I never bothered with the anime, and I dropped both mangas. Not worth the time... There are better stories out there. Rather than spending time on these pointless series, go for newer and better ones would be my opinion.

[Teh_ping]

Given up on both manga and anime already. The novelity seems to have wore off for me. Right now, among the top 3, it's OP for me.

[Beware the talking cat]

I just skip the filler arcs. It's worth it to me to read/watch the new episodes.

Then again, I only watch N, not B.

[ShadowZeroHeart]

Given up on both manga and anime already. The novelity seems to have wore off for me. Right now, among the top 3, it's OP for me.

in my opinion, only OP is good among the three. N is losing its touch, or even lost it. B made me feel as tho it doesnt even have a touch to begin with. The concept of B was good at first, but after a few chapters, they seem to forget all about the concept and become a fully fighting manga thats all.

[Kinny Riddle]

I just skip the filler arcs. It's worth it to me to read/watch the new episodes.

Then again, I only watch N, not B.

Aye, that's what I've been doing these past few years. (Still can't believe I wasted one whole year watching that brain-dead Bount arc in series B)

Since then I've avoided B and N fillers like the plague.

Ideally like all of us here, I would prefer no fillers if possible, however, I can tolerate some "fillers" in a series with a limited run, as those episodes serve the original purpose of the word "filler", used mainly to "fill" out any gaps remaining in a 23-26 week anime schedule. It helps if the original author is involved in some way. I point to the current episodes in Railgun as an example, which seems to complement the Level Upper manga arc quite well, and even adds things that the manga may have missed, thanks to the series author helping to pen the story himself.

Not so for series B and N, rather than filling gaps when there is none, these fillers serve nothing but shameless milking of the series to ensure it goes on and on and on. Not that the manga themselves are any better though, especially B.

Given up on both manga and anime already. The novelity seems to have wore off for me. Right now, among the top 3, it's OP for me.

in my opinion, only OP is good among the three. N is losing its touch, or even lost it. B made me feel as tho it doesnt even have a touch to begin with. The concept of B was good at first, but after a few chapters, they seem to forget all about the concept and become a fully fighting manga thats all.

I see people diss N and B ALL the time that it's become a regular past time for some people, yet I've hardly seen anything negative being said about OP, despite running even longer than the two series. Not that I'd like to pick up the series now, I'm 10 years too late. Maybe I'll wait till 2030 to collect them all when it finishes at 200 volumes.

Once I'm finally rid of N and B, I will be through with weekly fighting mangas. Comedies I can accept, which is why I'll still be reading Hayate no Gotoku, as it's comedy through and through, plus it's not afraid to laugh at itself.

For manga series, I'll be sticking with monthly series from now on. These series may take just as long to serialize as weekly ones, but because they serializes less periodically, their authors have less excuse to drag the story or else readers will revolt. While weekly readers seem to be more easily pacified with the occasional "awesome fight choreograph (TM)" if the author gets into writer's block, not so for monthly readers, who have to wait longer, and so are less patient if the author tries to screw around with them. They can only get away with such antics if their name is CLAMP.

[b0mb3r]

^ Kinny what monthly series have you been reading?

[Beware the talking cat]

I totally agree on the monthly series as staying more consistently high quality, but they just take so loooooong.

[b0mb3r]

^ once a upon a time before internet, there was american comics (excluding newspaper) where we as little kids wait patiently for each month for a colorful adventure, incredible challenges, magnificent characters. Today we over-abuse our entertainment with millions of raw manga and thousands translated. The only thing we wait now is translators to finish translating. The wait makes the manga taste sweeter.

[yajra03]

pirate and mafia as well are a long series. but i prefer the mafia than the pirate, ninja and the reaper.

[b0mb3r]

mafia's drawing confuses me!

[Teh_ping]

^Are they guys or girls? (I know, I know, but man......)