08-11-2013, 08:40 PM
No, the number of episodes is based on a mixture of how Japanese TV works, and the manga industry.
First off, with Japanese TV, they don't work on syndication like the US does. Episodes air once a week, and once they air an episode, that's usually it. Sometimes they air it again later that week, but once the season's done airing, that's it. It's not like in the US where they keep showing reruns until the next season shows up, whenever that is. Japan also has stuff constantly cycling, so the week directly after your show ends, another one starts.
That's why a majority of shows range from between 12-13 episodes for a "half" season or 25 episodes for a "full" season, based around how TV seasons in Japan work. So to commission a show you either have to shoot for a half or full season, or basically keep it going as long as possible non-stop until it ends, or risk losing your time slot.
Then there's the manga industry. The reason why Bleach and Naruto have hundreds of episodes is based on the magazine the manga is published in. Bleach and Naruto are published in a weekly magazine, which means a new chapter every week. So if a weekly manga is popular for a few years, you have a ton of source material to work with for episodes. This is how they can keep the show going for so long since the chapters come out very quickly.
The 12-25 episode shows are usually based on light novels, or manga that gets a chapter published monthly. So that's why a how like Minami-Ke that's 9 years old only has 10 manga volumes while Bleach has 60 despite being a couple years older. That's why these end up getting turned into 12 episode shows or 25 episodes, because the source material takes awhile to be written. It also explains why seasons from these shows come out between a year to a few years apart from each other.
So with the aspect of manga releases and Japanese TV scheduling in mind, only the super popular weekly manga get commissioned for "never ending" episode runs. Though a problem with this is that an episode takes up about two chapters worth of material, so they can quickly catch up to the manga despite having a couple year head start.
This is where filler comes in. Since Japan doesn't do syndication, you have to keep churning episodes, or you lose your time slot to another show until the next season or two. Also if you commission a show for a season, you're obligated to air an episode at that time slot until the end of the season. With this, they use filler to have episodes fill out the entire season, or to give the manga time to get ahead for awhile until the next filler arc.
Since it's kind of a pain in the ass for other companies to do this, they usually only commission a half season or full season no matter how popular the show is, and that's it. Or you just have to wait a few seasons or a few years for the next season to start if it's popular enough.
First off, with Japanese TV, they don't work on syndication like the US does. Episodes air once a week, and once they air an episode, that's usually it. Sometimes they air it again later that week, but once the season's done airing, that's it. It's not like in the US where they keep showing reruns until the next season shows up, whenever that is. Japan also has stuff constantly cycling, so the week directly after your show ends, another one starts.
That's why a majority of shows range from between 12-13 episodes for a "half" season or 25 episodes for a "full" season, based around how TV seasons in Japan work. So to commission a show you either have to shoot for a half or full season, or basically keep it going as long as possible non-stop until it ends, or risk losing your time slot.
Then there's the manga industry. The reason why Bleach and Naruto have hundreds of episodes is based on the magazine the manga is published in. Bleach and Naruto are published in a weekly magazine, which means a new chapter every week. So if a weekly manga is popular for a few years, you have a ton of source material to work with for episodes. This is how they can keep the show going for so long since the chapters come out very quickly.
The 12-25 episode shows are usually based on light novels, or manga that gets a chapter published monthly. So that's why a how like Minami-Ke that's 9 years old only has 10 manga volumes while Bleach has 60 despite being a couple years older. That's why these end up getting turned into 12 episode shows or 25 episodes, because the source material takes awhile to be written. It also explains why seasons from these shows come out between a year to a few years apart from each other.
So with the aspect of manga releases and Japanese TV scheduling in mind, only the super popular weekly manga get commissioned for "never ending" episode runs. Though a problem with this is that an episode takes up about two chapters worth of material, so they can quickly catch up to the manga despite having a couple year head start.
This is where filler comes in. Since Japan doesn't do syndication, you have to keep churning episodes, or you lose your time slot to another show until the next season or two. Also if you commission a show for a season, you're obligated to air an episode at that time slot until the end of the season. With this, they use filler to have episodes fill out the entire season, or to give the manga time to get ahead for awhile until the next filler arc.
Since it's kind of a pain in the ass for other companies to do this, they usually only commission a half season or full season no matter how popular the show is, and that's it. Or you just have to wait a few seasons or a few years for the next season to start if it's popular enough.