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Honestly most of my grievanses are more targeted towards the fans of these mediums and practices to make these mediums rather than the mediums themselves, but there are three that grind my gears:1. Most of the anime/manga featuring OP main characterThere are few instances where this usually does not kill all my interest towards the show/character in question: 1. If the overpowered abilities are gained trough effort I can see over a significant amount of time. Time-skips does not count, since I can't see the labor that bears the fruit. And montages also just gloss-over the interesting part of getting this OP power. 2. If there is a risk - reward system going with the overpowered ability. For example Death Note in Death Note or Geass in Code Geass 3. If the OP abilities are played for the comedy or are in a comedy-centric series (One-Punch Man or Bofuri for example) Some examples of the series where OP MC has ruined basically the whole experience for me are the infamous SAO, Overlord and recently Solo Leveling. While I get the appeal of seeing some cool edgy guy kicking ass, getting all the women for their harem and saying shit like "Oh man. I used 0000000.1% of my powers for beating that ultra-strong boss. He really was a tough nut to crack" for me it just sucks the enjoyment out of the battles the character face and pretty much everything they do since they can have the cake, eat it and eat another one without any problems at all. 2. Inability to end battle shounens well... Or let them endThe amount of battle shounens with a good ending, at least to me can be counted with one hand: Fullmetal Alchemist (manga/Brotherhood), Mob Psycho 100 and Assassination Classroom. If we exclude the new timeline starting from part 7 then JoJo also gets included on the list (not because the new timeline isn't good, but since it's still ongoing). But most of the time after I finish watching or reading a shounen, especially a modern one the endings are whimpers, and most of the time you can just see the mangaka either rushing, losing interest or both for their own series, or see them getting stretched way too long The barrier to start a new battle shounen that hasn't already finished airing all of it's seasons or finished as a manga has climbed really high for me, since I don't want to end-up wasting my time like I did with... Literally every big shounen from recent years that has finished as a manga, and even some old classics. Ending doesn't always ruin the series if the journey is satisfying (Bleach, Hokuto no Ken and Dragon Ball (Super in it's entirety) for example), but a great handful of the more recent shounens have made me just plain frustrated that I even started reading them in the first place. Another one in the same vein is the inability to end the series and let it run way past it's steam has ran out. While I have not seen/read the 100 Year Quest sequel to Fairy Tail or Boruto the steam for both of those series ended even before the original series were done. With Dragon Ball I think the Buu Saga was perfect place to leave the series, and while the steam didn't end with DB/DBZ part of the series Super for me felt like a pointless sequel (and the manga is easily one of the worst reading experiences ever thanks to it wanting you to follow the anime and movies side by side), which sucked all my interest for any of the entries past DBZ 3. Works of Hiro MashimaDude literally just remakes Fairy Tail and Rave Master every time he releases something new. I have to respect the fact that he has been writing literally same manga in different skin since late 90's and that people eat his stuff despite of this, but it gets under my skin every time I see that he releases something 'new' and can milk it till the cows come home when so many promising manga gets axed. |
I think this is the main reason why shorter (one/two-season) anime leave me with a much more satisfied feeling than the ones that go on for years. Usually the finales are much more deliberate and are a more meaningful part of the story, instead of everything you describe. And if the ending does suck, it's not like you followed the show for years only to be left with a sour taste in your mouth.
While I generally prefer shorter series the length usually is not a problem for me, though most of the 100+ episode shows I like are not shounen (except HxH and YYH), but generally shorter series manage to keep the whole package much more intact when compared to some long-running shounen, and like you said even if they suck you didn't read or watch it for years so it does not feel that huge waste of time in the end.
