There is an art to writing a long story. With length comes content and with content comes more and more elements that could possibly spin out of control. It's up to the creator to know precisely how to handle each element and weave them into the story for a satisfactory conclusion. Add themes, motifs and relationships, and the stories can become huge juggling acts that only the very skilled can handle. However, there comes a point where a story simply becomes too long for anybody. With anime, this can be at 100 or 1,000 episodes, depending on how the story has been handled thus far, as seen in titles such as One Piece or Yu-Gi-Oh!
The series below are engaging and enjoyable, yet make it on this list based solely on their 'recommendation factor.' At the length they are now, completed or not, would the anime make a decent recommendation to someone searching for something to watch? While it can be easy to forget just how long a show is if you've been keeping up with it for years, it's something else entirely to be told to watch something upward of 300 episodes. Therefore, here are five anime that are just too long to watch.
D. Gray Man
D. Gray Man follows the adventures of Allen Walker, a young exorcist, and his adventures after joining the Black Order. The show evolves from monster-of-the-week to focusing on Allen's fight against the Noah Family -- beings who are intent on the destruction of humanity. D. Gray Man had an initial anime run of 103 episodes from 2006 to 2008 and was revived in 2016 for D. Gray Man Hallow to add an additional 13 episodes. However, the production was plagued with problems. Katsura Hoshino, the manga author, had to suspend writing several times for health reasons, even going on indefinite hiatus in 2013, so the original anime ended up including a lot of filler when content wasn't published.
The manga ran again for a short time in 2015, began serialization again in 2018 and is going strong now, but conflict over how D. Gray Man Hallow was handled makes it uncertain whether the anime adaption will be continued or perhaps rebooted altogether. Either way, D. Gray Man Hallow left viewers on a huge cliffhanger that in no way provides a satisfactory conclusion. The series is therefore hard to recommend, enjoyable as it is. It's just too long to not even get an ending.
Detective Conan
Detective Conan is an extremely popular anime with humor, hijinks and murder, but it's also running out of things to do. The anime is about high schooler Shinichi who is turned into a child and adopts the pseudonym Conan to solve crimes. However, the cases have become formulaic and the novelty of the child detective has worn off with time as the concept itself has grown more common. There is only so long Shinichi can continue to keep his secret identity safe as well, especially when that secret is being kept from his love interest.
The manga has had 99 volumes published since 1994, and the anime -- which began in 1996 -- will close this 2021 season with 1,020 episodes. However, there are currently only 11 manga chapters left to be animated, and an increasing number of anime episodes over the past few seasons have been anime-originals. Detective Conan simply doesn't have enough material left to adapt. While the show was once great, it seems to be heading down a path of filler and contrivances, making it not worth the recommendation.
Inuyasha
Inuyasha is a staple anime for many, and for good reason. It's funny and action-packed, with meaningful relationships and memorable characters. This 'feudal fairytale' tells the story of Kagome, who falls down a well and finds herself sent centuries back in time, where she meets the half-demon Inuyasha and accidentally frees him from a cursed slumber. The unwilling duo must begin a quest to save Japan from a variety of monsters and demons.
However, Inuyasha has a massive pacing problem. The manga, which ran from 1996 to 2008, ended with 56 volume collections. The original anime, which ran from 2000 to 2004, was 167 episodes and covered up to Volume 36. Inuyasha: The Final Act, which aired in 2009 after the manga's completion, covered Volume 36 to the end in 26 episodes. This means that Inuyasha had to stretch each volume out around 4.5 episodes, while Inuyasha: The Final Act was working with 1.3 episodes a volume -- a humongous difference when it comes to pacing.
While some accuse The Final Act of rushing things, the original anime created a lot of filler material and changed the order of events from the manga to suit this, even when it was at the detriment of characters and relationships. There are potentially episodes and even entire arcs that could be cut from Inuyasha and still leave a shorter, more polished show to enjoy. As it is, the amount of filler and love triangle drama can make the original series a bit tedious at times, to the point that it feels even longer than it actually is.
One Piece
As this list is based entirely on recommendation factor, One Piece is just too long, period. The series follows the crew of the Straw Hats sailing under Monkey D. Luffy as they travel the seas in Luffy's quest to become the Pirate King. The One Piece manga has been running since 1997, with 1,008 chapters compiled into 99 volumes at the time of this writing. The anime series began in 1999 and will finish Season 20 in October 2021 with 995 episodes.
One Piece is extremely popular, containing some of the most colorful characters in anime and unique locations, but it's a daunting task for anyone looking to begin a series. Even though author Eiichiro Oda has said the manga will be ending soon, that ending is yet to be sighted. One Piece has had some theatrical films released that that sum up certain anime events, so perhaps more summary movies could be a way to get people into the franchise without needing to devote so much time to it.
There have also been claims that possibly over 100 of the episodes could be cut as filler to make the show more digestible. Once One Piece has been completed, a final episode count can determine whether the anime should be on people's recommendation list or reserved for only the highly committed. However, for now, it's simply too long a recommendation without any good way of summarizing events or cutting out the filler.
Yu-Gi-Oh!
The Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise has gotten extremely creative over the years regarding how to depict playing a card game, but things have gotten out of hand. Perhaps it was when they needed to add playing cards on moving motorcycles to make things more exciting -- or perhaps Yu-Gi-Oh! has always been beloved simply because it's so ridiculous.
Yu-Gi-Oh! originated as a card game that was made into a manga, which ran from 1996 to 2004 with 343 chapters. There have been 10 different Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series to date, starting in 1998 with Yu-Gi-Oh! and continuing today with Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens. At the latest count, there are 1,018 total episodes in the franchise plus four movies -- far surpassing any material the original manga may have contained. The anime has become too repetitive, and resorts to the strangest of tactics to try to remain relevant as it continues to grow longer without any end in sight.
