Very simple sign of Arc Fatigue?

If your manga series has more than ten volumes and its current arc is about as long as the previous arcs combined, it is suffering from Arc Fatigue.

Just felt like throwing it out there. Is there any exceptions, though?

That would not actually be a symptom, you know. That would be a sign of arc fatigue.

None that I know of.

Ah, fuck.

Actually, I'm probably wrong on my definition of symptom. Or overly pedantic. But really, I would have to say that's not necessarily the case and that the phenomenon is really more focused on a lack of new objectives or changes rather than any particular length. So yes, an arc that is 10+ volumes long may easily succumb to arc fatigue, but that it would not have to and might very well have fallen victim to it before that.

For example, rather than the whole Aizen thing in Bleach being merely a matter of its length, its issues probably stemmed more from the fact that a large number of inconsequential battles were inserted into the story that did not actually move the plot along in any meaningful way. Yes, the fact that it's so long is connected to the arc fatigue, but it is not to blame for it.

edited 20th Oct '11 4:03:41 PM by Arha

Kinda repeating what you said, but volumes that goes such length tend to be resulted from the author either not having a clear direction to begin with or have way too much details focusing on single plot thread.