Getting hooked on a long anime is an exciting opportunity to explore a new world to the full and a daunting commitment. Even if nowadays series switched from the long-running format to shorter one or two cour seasons, many anime classics and even current popular shows still have dozens of episodes for new fans to catch up to.
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Not knowing if the payoff is worth the dedicated time can be too intimidating. Length doesn’t always translate to quality, and even some of the best long anime out there could’ve told their stories in fewer episodes. These anime series are amazing. However, they’re just too long.
11 Detective Conan
1,082 Episodes, 29 Movies
Detective Conan has been entertaining multiple generations of anime fans with compelling weekly murder mysteries since 1996. And the young Kudo seems to never get tired of exposing criminals’ schemes, even if his cases got repetitive a long time ago.
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For all of its iconic glory, Detective Conan has solved way too many mysteries in over 25 years on the air. Some of its episodes, especially in the early seasons, hold up as exemplary, even by today’s standards. Yet, the show could’ve ended while it was still at the top.
10 Gintama
367 Episodes, 3 Movies
One of the funniest comedy anime out there, Gintama has entertained fans with quality humor for over 15 years. This multifaceted series had it all – from vibrant, hilarious characters and sidesplitting gags to thrilling action and genuinely touching stories.
However, no show with so much content to offer could go on without ever missing the mark. The plot-heavy portions of the show, which many consider the best, were often diluted with countless one-off episodes and filler, many of which could’ve been cut to make the series more concise.
9 Bleach
366 Episodes, 4 Movie
Out of the once-popular Big Three, Bleach was always the underappreciated underdog, receiving much less attention than its more successful shonen competitors. The 2020’s sequel to the iconic show, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War revived fans’ interest in Ichigo’s adventures.
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However, most found revisiting the older series a grueling challenge. For all of the merits of Bleach’s story, its anime adaptation had some of the most offputting and tone-deaf filler even at the time. The anime-exclusive content can be skipped without compromising the enjoyment of the series in the slightest.
8 My Hero Academia
138 Episodes, 3 Movies
Upon its release in 2016, the superhero spectacle My Hero Academia took the anime community by storm. The series seemed to hit the perfect balance between deconstructing the superhero genre and celebrating classic heroic tales of determination and awe-inspiring courage.
Yet, the hype around MHA died unexpectedly quickly once devoted fans noticed how much the show drags, delaying the inevitable conclusion for as long as possible. None of the filler material even addressed MHA’s biggest problem – criminally underdeveloped side cast – which made it even more disappointing.
7 Eureka Seven
50 Episodes, 3 Movies
A beloved classic among mecha enthusiasts, Eureka Seven, is considerably shorter than some of anime’s longest franchises, spawning only 50 episodes. Yet, it’s still significantly longer than a typical one-hour show. From the series’ incredible production to even greater characters and action choreography, there’s a lot to love about Eureka Seven.
However, it takes 50 episodes to tell a story that could’ve ended in 25. To justify the large episode count, Eureka Seven attempts to cram too many ideas and melodrama into each, leading to a messy end result.
6 Naruto
720 Episodes, 11 Movies
Naruto was the proper introduction to the medium for an entire generation of anime fans, and they diligently savored every second of that adventure. Between the original Naruto series and the even more popular continuation, Naruto: Shippuden, the iconic show has 720 episodes.
Yet, a whopping 279 of them are filler. On top of being ridden with anime-exclusive content, Naruto is an astoundingly slow-paced story. To get to the series’ dramatic payoffs, one must suffer through countless dull arcs, mid-fight monologues, and tedious flashback scenes.
5 Durarara!
65 Episodes
All urban fantasy fans hold Durarara! in high regard, praising the show for its odd yet lovable characters, fascinatingly complex plots, and clever dialogue. Yet, most don’t see what’s so great about this series until all the pieces of its puzzle start falling into place, and that doesn’t happen for a while.
Durarara! begins as an extremely slow-paced mystery show and is reluctant to provide audiences with any context at first. Many fans experience boredom and confusion that could’ve been avoided by condensing the series’ content.
4 Natsume’s Book Of Friends
74 Episodes, 2 Movies
Iyashikei is a unique anime genre that strives to calm the viewer’s soul with relaxing slice-of-life episodes. Natsume’s Book of Friends follows this meditative formula, exploring the mysterious world of yokai alongside its quiet yet endearing titular hero.
However, 74 episodes of one-off supernatural encounters in the Japanese countryside with no action or drama could tire out even the most patient viewer. While the show is great to visit from time to time for a calming pick-me-up, watching all six seasons back-to-back is a challenge of stoicism.
3 The Monogatari Series
100 Episodes, 3 Movies
The famed Monogatari franchise is an in-depth dive into Nisio Isin’s eccentric mind, adapting his light novels into a stylistically and linguistically unique anime. Each Monogatari arc focuses on half-vampire Koyomi’s quest to help one of his female acquaintances to overcome a supernatural oddity possessing them.
For how imaginative and compelling most Monogatari arcs are, the series started to drag by the end, trying to establish an overarching plot in a primarily episodic show. The inconsistencies in quality could’ve been avoided in a shorter series.
2 One Piece
1,061 Episodes, 15 Movies
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Even after more than 20 years on air, One Piece continues to dominate the shonen anime scene, attracting more and more new fans the closer its rumored conclusion dawns. Luffy and his crew have come a long way since starting their adventure, and the same applies to the One Piece anime adaptation.
Regardless of its recent improvements, the early One Piece is still a chore to get through due to filler and awkward pacing. Many fans prefer to experience its story in manga form to skip over tedious filler.
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