Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

BruceGoneLoose t1_iw2rxtm wrote

I love visual novels, but due to their length they end up cutting content left and right (leading to pacing issues) when transitioning into anime, leading to an non-understandable mess. Muv Luv Alternative being this anime season's example.

Thought light novels would be higher though.

40

GrantMK2 t1_iw2vpmm wrote

Content gets cut and they try to merge together details from different routes, leading to the show being crammed full of more than it can handle even with cut details. The best way around that is something like the Fate approach where you have multiple different works to handle different routes (sure it still has some issues but for the most part it at least works), but the problem is unless your name is something like Fate no one is going to spend that much money on you.

And on top of that you've got companies deciding "well we've got this fairly lengthy work we're adapting, so it gets maybe 13 episodes. That'll get the biggest fans spending on it while not really costing us much".

Not surprising that VN's aren't nearly as popular a choice for source these days.

18

Torugu t1_iw31ey3 wrote

I suspect it has more to do with the decline of visual novels as a medium them with the difficulty of adapting them (though everything you're saying in that regard is obviously true).

The golden age of visual novels that was the early 2000s is over. Total sales for visual novels are a fraction of what they used to be. Many premium visual novel developers have been forced to shut doors, and the ones that are left now are all relics of the golden age, producing rehash after rehash of the same formula that made them popular 10 years ago.

Look up a recent list of "kamige" (lit. god games, i.e. must read games) and you'll hardly find anything made within the last 5 years. It's pretty telling that even the game you named as am example of a recent vn anime, muv luv, originally came out 16 (!) years ago.

Can't make a good anime adaption if there are no good games to adapt. It's all light novels now.

(Oh and fun bonus fact: People love to blame the recent deluge of isekai anime on one popular series or another. The truth is, isekai has always been an extremely popular light novel genre. The real reason why you're seeing so many isekai anime right now is that light novels are the easiest and most popular medium to adapt into late night anime.)

6

soffwaerdeveluper t1_iw3ftqa wrote

I think thats just the format for anime now. Seasons are almost always around 13 episodes because thats what is purchased/financed for at a time. Gone are the days of 300+ episode animes from the days of big 3, and also the ~ 70-100 episodes of the likes of FMA (which was my favorite format).

5

xCoffeee t1_iw57kvt wrote

I mean off the top of my head, Black Clover has ~170 episodes and that came out late 2017 (4 years). The “seasons” are broken up into 40-60 episodes, that’s a lot.

I don’t think it’s the end of long form content, just not many adaptations benefit from continually running or have that amount of content that they could do weekly releases for that long. Your not going to have a romance anime go for 300 episodes…

Most anime that do this long format are shonen where you can throw filler in about the tournament arc while waiting for the Mangaka to catch up.

There’s also a quality argument, I’m guessing Demon Slayer is going to hit around 100 episodes by the end of the series. It could’ve done the long form series, but I don’t think it would’ve gotten the same attention or quality that it has received. It’s also safer to start a show for 12-24 episodes and then see if it’ll flop, then throw a bunch of money at an unsuccessful show.

5

wenasi t1_iw4lw8v wrote

> Muv Luv Alternative being this anime season's example.

Good to know not trying the anime was a good idea. I loved the VN, but didn't believe it'd be adaptable. >!Also years later I'm still traumatized!<

2