An anime may never find its footing or reach a broader audience if it can’t tell a satisfying story, but it’s just as important to figure out how long it should take to tell that story. There are endless anime that accomplish everything that they need to in a dozen or two episodes, while others can’t run indefinitely for decades. There’s no right or wrong approach here, and an anime’s proper length is always going to come down to the other factors that surround it.
Anime like Bleach and Fairy Tail ran for hundreds of episodes, whereas Detective Conan and Pokémon have surpassed 1,000 episodes. These arduous adventures aren’t always worth the investment and can become repetitive experiences with diminishing returns. Alternatively, there are some extremely strong anime with more than 50 episodes that are well worth the effort and are titles anime fans owe it to themselves to check out before the year is through.
The Original Dragon Ball’s Lengthy Run Chronicles Goku’s Journey Into Adulthood
Akira Toriyama’s complete Dragon Ball saga has produced over 600 episodes across four decades. The entire franchise has its highs and lows in terms of quality, particularly in the later entries’ ongoing obsession with Goku at the expense of the rest of the cast. That being said, the original Dragon Ball is a very focused and manageable story. It’s a sublime introduction to this shonen universe, but it’s also a satisfying action-adventure martial arts epic that stands on its own.
The original Dragon Ball chronicles Goku’s earliest adventures and is a surprisingly grounded anime in comparison to its successors. It’s still a series where characters can fire energy attacks, but it lacks flashy transformations, the constant presence of alien interlopers, and Goku can’t even fly until the anime’s conclusion. Dragon Ball has 153 episodes, yet there’s an engaging storytelling formula that makes it an easy binge. Each saga raises the stakes, redefines the status quo, and explores new characters and powers. Additionally, the original Dragon Ball is very careful with how it marks time.
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It’s quite satisfying to watch Goku mature from a 12-year-old boy into a young adult who gets married. The fact that a whole generation of Goku’s life is chronicled in Dragon Ball justifies its higher episode count. There’s such a satisfying sense of accomplishment that’s felt when Goku’s milestones at the anime’s end are compared to his humble origins. As Dragon Ball Super prepares for a remastered remake and sequel, it’s a great time to finally catch up with the original series and understand why it’s been such an important anime for over four decades.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s Unique Storytelling Structure Makes Its Long Length More Manageable
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s anime adaptation has been in swing for nearly 15 years and has done exceptional work regarding its approach to Hirohiko Araki’s unconventional universe. There have been close to 200 JoJo episodes at this point, which can certainly seem intimidating to newcomers. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is such a special anomaly because it’s divided into grander sagas that ostensibly reinvent the franchise every time. JoJo‘s first saga, Phantom Blood, ignites a fiery rivalry between Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando, with each subsequent story looking at a different generation of the Joestar bloodline.
It’s a brilliant way to reflect the legendary status of a select group that still feels at peace with the franchise’s original premise, even though it’s turned into a radically different show over time, one that’s completely overhauled its power system. Each JoJo saga is a few dozen episodes long, which makes the anime considerably more digestible, even if it’s still an epic adventure that’s nearly 200 episodes. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is also a rare example of an anime that actively grows stronger over time.
JoJo‘s earliest sagas — Phantom Blood, Battle Tendency, and Stardust Crusaders — are still strong, but it’s remarkable how much Diamond is Unbreakable and onward are willing to take such ambitious stylistic swings. JoJo is the only anime that can transform from a vampire-hunting family drama to slice-of-life mischief and jailbreak shenanigans. Araki’s writing only grows more confident over time and he’d be denying the JoJo franchise its most exciting material if it had ended within 50 episodes. A full JoJo binge is a great way to fill the time before JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run resumes at the end of 2026.
Gintama’s Audacious World-Building & Self-Aware Gags Compound Over Time
Hideaki Sorachi’s Gintama is an anime institution that’s a generational shonen staple of the 2000s onward, but also one of the funniest and most pervasive pop culture gag comedy series. Gintama has released over 365 episodes across 10 seasons, along with various OVAs, specials, and feature-film installments. Gintama has such a chaotic, freewheeling energy that it almost seems ludicrous that it could sustain it for hundreds of episodes.
However, Gintama thrives on such challenges and it’s nothing short of incredible to watch the anime only grow stronger as it introduces new characters, relationships, and lore. There are dozens of characters to stay on top of by Gintama‘s end and yet they all serve a purpose and never feel like superfluous set dressing. Gintama repeatedly pokes fun at its peers in the anime industry, as well as pop culture at large, which helps its storytelling and gags stay relevant over such a lengthy run. It’s able to adapt its influences to changing times, which only adds to its sharp voice.
Gintama is a perfect time capsule of the 2000s and 2010s. Gintama’s character dynamics and absurdist sense of humor are often considered to be its greatest assets. There’s also a genuinely suspenseful action narrative that puts Earth’s future on the line as Gintoki and company take on an immortal threat who wants to end existence to finally find peace. Gintama is a masterclass in balancing tone and genre. It’s hard not to get immediately pulled into its weird, wonderful world.
Hunter X Hunter Crafts A Rich, Ever-Evolving World Through Its Unconventional Adventures
Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter is a groundbreaking action-adventure franchise that’s arguably the mangaka’s crowning achievement. The original Hunter x Hunter anime adaptation from 1999 and the OVAs that followed do a decent job at tackling the material. That being said, 2011’s reboot is the far superior series at 148 episodes. 2011’s adaptation learns from the previous anime’s shortcomings. There are so many battle shonen anime from this time period with over 100 episodes that still get lost in the shuffle.
Hunter x Hunter never wastes any time. The leeway it’s given across its many episodes translates into impressive world-building, clever battle strategies and evolving powers, and remarkable character development. Hunter x Hunter also works extremely hard to bring a different energy to each of its major sagas so that they don’t feel derivative of each other and always devolve into the same style of combat. Hunter x Hunter‘s compulsion to always push itself helps its episodes fly by. The audience will be left wishing that there were more episodes, not less.
Admittedly, there’s far more to Togashi’s story than what’s covered in Hunter x Hunter‘s anime adaptation alone. However, the 148th and final episode still provides an extremely satisfying resolution that should please both franchise newcomers and manga readers. Gon still has more to do and discover, but his central quest is resolved, and many major characters find closure. It’s an anime that genuinely feels complete, and it’s a great idea to go through the whole thing now that Togashi has slowly started to release new Hunter x Hunter manga chapters.
My Hero Academia Chronicles Deku’s Inspirational Journey From Superfan To Superhero
Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia is far from the first anime about superheroes, but it came around at the perfect time while superhero and comic book culture were at all-time highs. My Hero Academia presents a heightened world that passionately embraces superhero tropes through the eyes of an adoring fan who lacks any powers of his own, Izuku “Deku” Midoriya. My Hero Academia begins as a coming-of-age anime set at a school, where Deku perfects his new Quirk and navigates the morally complex world of Pro Heroes.
My Hero Academia has 171 episodes across eight seasons, each progressively more mature. The anime’s earliest seasons definitely skew younger and have more moments of levity. My Hero Academia is smart to age up its storytelling along with its audience. As the viewer — and Deku — grow older, the stakes are higher and there’s a considerably darker tone. Superhero fans will appreciate the creative range of powers on display and the visually inventive clashes they culminate in.
There’s also endless thought put into the nature of heroes and villains, highlighting the fine line between these two extremes. It’s become a rare accomplishment for modern shonen anime to finish a full run on their own terms, and My Hero Academia is careful not to overstay its welcome. Its shorter final season has the perfect conclusion that guarantees closure and catharsis, rather than some open ending that’s not worth the long journey.