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** The [[TournamentArc Universe Survival Saga]] from ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' is inconsistently hit with arc fatigue. After a setup that takes twenty episodes, mostly spent gathering team members and watching the arena be built (for the former, the intro made Universe 7's whole lineup clear beforehand [[spoiler:except for Frieza replacing Buu]]), the actual tournament starts. Initially, it was well-received for its wild action and SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome. However, as the tournament goes on for significantly longer than even the Future Trunks arc -- despite, [[InactionSequence in classic]] ''[[InactionSequence Dragon Ball]]'' [[InactionSequence fashion]], the tournament only lasting 48 minutes in-universe -- it starts to fall into fatigue territory. While some fans enjoy the unique battles and non-stop action, others criticize many of the fights for being glorified {{Filler}} that lack plot progression or emotional impact. This reaches a head when [[TheAce Jiren]] takes prominence as the clear ArcVillain, doing away much of the tension and appeal of a [[TournamentArc Battle Royale]] since it's clear from early on that it will come down to a final battle between Jiren and Goku in his latest SuperMode, while the other battles just serve to waste time and whittle down the cast. Not helped at all by Jiren himself being a very divisive character for his personality, [[TheWorfEffect effortless defeating]] of multiple popular characters, and what is perceived to be a poorly done FreudianExcuse.

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** The [[TournamentArc Universe Survival Saga]] from ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' is inconsistently hit with arc fatigue. After a setup that takes twenty episodes, mostly spent gathering team members and watching the arena be built (for the former, the intro made Universe 7's whole lineup clear beforehand [[spoiler:except for Frieza replacing Buu]]), the actual tournament starts. Initially, it was well-received for its wild action and SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome. However, as the tournament goes on for significantly longer than even the Future Trunks arc -- despite, [[InactionSequence in classic]] ''[[InactionSequence Dragon Ball]]'' [[InactionSequence fashion]], classic ''Dragon Ball'' fashion, the tournament only lasting 48 minutes in-universe -- it starts to fall into fatigue territory. While some fans enjoy the unique battles and non-stop action, others criticize many of the fights for being glorified {{Filler}} that lack plot progression or emotional impact. This reaches a head when [[TheAce Jiren]] takes prominence as the clear ArcVillain, doing away much of the tension and appeal of a [[TournamentArc Battle Royale]] since it's clear from early on that it will come down to a final battle between Jiren and Goku in his latest SuperMode, while the other battles just serve to waste time and whittle down the cast. Not helped at all by Jiren himself being a very divisive character for his personality, [[TheWorfEffect effortless defeating]] of multiple popular characters, and what is perceived to be a poorly done FreudianExcuse.
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*** For Titan, the story drags on as you're forced to put in ''all'' the work for what appears to be little more than [[SkewedPriorities an ill-timed banquet]] rather than the SecretTestOfCharacter it's supposed to be -- even the dungeon you do during this part of the story is simply trying to help a goblin gather cheese, followed by too many quests spent simply walking back and forth between a small hamlet and a secluded hut, just far apart enough and with enough enemies in the way that the trips are annoying but not enough that skipping the return by teleporting is worth the gil, trying to get someone to please just give you a Goddamned bottle of wine already. What's more? At the end of this, you barely even get to ''see'' the banquet that ''you'' spent all that time singlehandedly preparing (you get a short scene of your character taking one bite of the meal as the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' victory jingle plays before the cutscene ends), and your advice for dealing with Titan ends up amounting to little more than "do your best". Many players felt they ''had'' to take the option to [[CatharsisFactor tell the Company of Heroes they will not be throwing a banquet this time around]] when they returned for ''Endwalker''[='s=] role quest for Melee classes.
*** Garuda is even worse for a variety of reasons. It's not until you're partway through another quest that Garuda's summoning is even mentioned, and from that point on your primary objective becomes recovering the ''Enterprise'', the only ship which can penetrate Garuda's wind barrier but which was last seen crashing somewhere in Coerthas. From the moment you set foot in Coerthas you are constantly pulled around on the whims of the high houses, helping the one that's conducive towards your goal while constantly fighting the others' being belligerent and unhelpful on principle, finally acquiring the ''Enterprise'' only to learn it also needs a crystal with the right aspected aether to actually punch through the barrier. Somehow, the quest to get a single crystal quickly spirals into traveling the four corners of Eorzea and gathering ''three'' of them, for no other apparent reason than that your character doesn't realize until the second time they got the wrong crystal that they should specify what kind they actually need ''first''. And, for the final punch to the dick, it turns out the crystal you actually need is a stone's throw from where this whole song and dance started.

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*** For Titan, the story drags on as you're forced to put in ''all'' the work for [[SecretTestOfCharacter what appears to be be]] little more than [[SkewedPriorities an ill-timed banquet]] rather than the SecretTestOfCharacter it's supposed to be -- even the dungeon you do during this part of the story is simply trying to help a goblin gather cheese, followed by too many quests spent simply walking back and forth between a small hamlet and a secluded hut, just far apart enough and with enough enemies in the way that the trips are annoying but not enough that skipping the return by teleporting is worth the gil, trying to get someone to please just give you a Goddamned bottle of wine already. What's more? At the end of this, you barely even get to ''see'' the banquet that ''you'' spent all that time singlehandedly preparing (you get a short scene of your character taking one bite of the meal as the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' victory jingle plays before the cutscene ends), and your advice for dealing with Titan ends up amounting to little more than "do your best". Many players felt they ''had'' to take the option to [[CatharsisFactor tell the Company of Heroes they will not be throwing a banquet this time around]] when they returned for ''Endwalker''[='s=] role quest for Melee classes.
*** Garuda is even worse for a variety of reasons. It's not until you're partway through another quest that Garuda's summoning is even mentioned, and from that point on your primary objective becomes recovering the ''Enterprise'', the only ship which can penetrate Garuda's wind barrier but which was last seen crashing somewhere in Coerthas. From the moment you set foot in Coerthas you are constantly pulled around on the whims of the high houses, helping the one that's conducive towards your goal while constantly fighting the others' being belligerent and unhelpful on principle, principle thanks to a Dravanian heretic riling them up against you for no other reason than [[ForTheEvulz that's what heretics do]]. Then, once you finally acquiring acquire the ''Enterprise'' only to ''Enterprise'', you immediately learn it also needs a crystal with the right aspected aether to actually punch through the barrier. Somehow, the quest to get a single crystal quickly spirals into traveling the four corners of Eorzea and gathering ''three'' of them, for no other apparent reason than that your character doesn't realize until the second time they got the wrong crystal that they should specify what kind they actually need ''first''.''before'' the person you ask sends you off to find it. And, for the final punch to the dick, it turns out the crystal you actually need is a stone's throw from where this whole song and dance started.
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''WesternAnimation/IceAge'': Sid's abandonment issues. While a lot of fans like it given they feel it turns Sid into a much more interesting character that just an average PluckyComicRelief, some fans also felt the arc was overstaying his welcome given it has being the main focus of his character arc for the first three sequels and wished the writers did something else with the character. Ironically his arc in ''Collison Course'' went with the character in another direction and it was universally despised.

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* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'': Sid's abandonment issues. While a lot of fans like it given they feel it turns Sid into a much more interesting character that just an average PluckyComicRelief, some fans also felt the arc was overstaying his welcome given it has being the main focus of his character arc for the first three sequels and wished the writers did something else with the character. Ironically his arc in ''Collison Course'' went with the character in another direction and it was universally despised.
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[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
''WesternAnimation/IceAge'': Sid's abandonment issues. While a lot of fans like it given they feel it turns Sid into a much more interesting character that just an average PluckyComicRelief, some fans also felt the arc was overstaying his welcome given it has being the main focus of his character arc for the first three sequels and wished the writers did something else with the character. Ironically his arc in ''Collison Course'' went with the character in another direction and it was universally despised.
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* In the ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' 10th anniversary retrospective book, author Bill Watterson writes about how he ''wanted'' to [[IntendedAudienceReaction get this reaction]], but wound up fatiguing himself instead. Specifically, this was the surreal arc where Calvin's personal gravity reverses, then he grows so large that he falls off the planet. Watterson wanted to drag the story out until he started receiving complaints from readers--but instead he wrapped up the arc of his own volition first. Aside from getting cold feet over deliberately annoying his readers, Watterson just lost interest in the story, describing it as "weirdness for weirdness' sake."

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* In the ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' 10th anniversary retrospective book, author Bill Watterson writes about how he ''wanted'' to [[IntendedAudienceReaction get this reaction]], reaction]] with one particular story arc, but wound up fatiguing himself instead. Specifically, this was the surreal arc where Calvin's personal gravity reverses, then he grows so large that he falls off the planet. Watterson wanted to drag the story out until he started receiving complaints from readers--but instead he wrapped up the arc of his own volition first. Aside from getting cold feet over deliberately annoying his readers, Watterson just lost interest in the story, story itself, describing it as "weirdness for weirdness' sake."

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* In the ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' 10th anniversary retrospective book, author Bill Watterson writes about how he ''wanted'' to [[IntendedAudienceReaction get this reaction]], but wound up fatiguing himself instead. Specifically, this was the surreal arc where Calvin's personal gravity reverses, then he grows so large that he falls off the planet. Watterson wanted to drag the story out until he started receiving complaints from readers--but instead he wrapped up the arc of his own volition first. Aside from getting cold feet over deliberately annoying his readers, Watterson just lost interest in the story, describing it as "weirdness for weirdness' sake."
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* ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'' suffered from this during the climax of the [[WizardingSchool Magnostadt Academy]] arc where the continued use of TheWorfBarrage [[{{Padding}} stalls]] the battle against the [[BossBattle Medium]] for the sole purpose of gathering every major character introduced in the story so far. Despite the increase of noteworthy people in the area, the Medium is no closer to being defeated now than it was fifteen chapters ago, and was finally defeated moments after the last two primary characters, Hakuryuu and Judar, entered the fray.

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* ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'' ''Manga/MagiTheLabyrinthOfMagic'' suffered from this during the climax of the [[WizardingSchool Magnostadt Academy]] arc where the continued use of TheWorfBarrage [[{{Padding}} stalls]] the battle against the [[BossBattle Medium]] for the sole purpose of gathering every major character introduced in the story so far. Despite the increase of noteworthy people in the area, the Medium is no closer to being defeated now than it was fifteen chapters ago, and was finally defeated moments after the last two primary characters, Hakuryuu and Judar, entered the fray.
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* The "Dark Seeker Saga," which was intended to be the first of several storylines in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' franchise, took the better part of ''two decades'' to fully develop. [[note]][[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI The first game]] began development in 2000, whereas [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII the final chapter]] was released in January 2019.[[/note]] While this wasn't in play for the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI first]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories three]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII games]] (as they developed a clear story arc of the defeat of Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody), fans had started to get antsy once it became clear that Creator/SquareEnix was putting off the release of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' until [[SequelNumberSnarl after]] the release of '''six''' additional spin-offs and an animated movie. Quite a few fans just wanted to be done with Xehanort so the franchise could move in a different direction, but many were bracing themselves for Xehanort to have a hand in steering the direction of future games given his status as a [[GambitRoulette ludicrously]] [[CrazyPrepared prepared]] [[TheChessmaster master schemer]] whose actions had caused many of the verse's major events. [[spoiler:And it turns out they were technically right: Xehanort is defeated for good at the end of ''III'', but one of his vessels, Braig/Xigbar, is actually a [[HiddenInPlainSight disguised]] Luxu from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', having kept tabs on Xehanort for years [[TheManInFrontOfTheMan while subtly manipulating him towards his own ends]].]]

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* The "Dark Seeker Saga," which was intended to be the first of several storylines in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' franchise, took the better part of ''two decades'' to fully develop. [[note]][[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI The first game]] began development in 2000, whereas [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII the final chapter]] was released in January 2019.2019 and its DLC completion in January 2020.[[/note]] While this wasn't in play for the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI first]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories three]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII games]] (as they developed a clear story arc of the defeat of Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody), fans had started to get antsy once it became clear that Creator/SquareEnix was putting off the release of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' until [[SequelNumberSnarl after]] the release of '''six''' additional spin-offs and an animated movie. Quite a few fans just wanted to be done with Xehanort so the franchise could move in a different direction, but many were bracing themselves for Xehanort to have a hand in steering the direction of future games given his status as a [[GambitRoulette ludicrously]] [[CrazyPrepared prepared]] [[TheChessmaster master schemer]] whose actions had caused many of the verse's major events. [[spoiler:And it turns out they were technically right: Xehanort is defeated for good at the end of ''III'', but one of his vessels, Braig/Xigbar, is actually a [[HiddenInPlainSight disguised]] Luxu from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', having kept tabs on Xehanort for years [[TheManInFrontOfTheMan while subtly manipulating him towards his own ends]].]]
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** This is also a common accusation given to the Buu Arc, since many different attempts are made at killing him and every single one fails despite weeks of build-up. It lasts 70 episodes, and for 60 of them the heroes are either fighting him or figuring out how to fight him, which not even the Namek Arc did!

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** This is also a common accusation given to the Buu Arc, Saga, since many different attempts are made at killing him and every single one fails despite weeks of build-up. It lasts 70 episodes, and for 60 of them the heroes are either fighting him or figuring out how to fight him, which not even the Namek Arc did!did! A major component of this is that after the death of Babidi, which happens relatively early, the Buu Saga really only has one villain to work with (albeit one with multiple forms and personalities), which is Buu himself. What's more, Buu can [[FromASingleCell regenerate from any damage with no apparent limit]], and seems to have limitless stamina as well. This causes a lot of scenes in the arc to feel rather pointless, as the main characters aren't making any apparent progress in stopping the villain, with every attempt ending in him just regrowing all the damage dealt. It doesn't help that two such attempts to kill him (Gotenks and Ultimate Gohan) actually served to make him ''stronger''.
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* The Family Reunion arc of ''Webcomic/{{Erma}}'' has gone down in infamy for the length of time the arc, covering a mere week in comic time, took. Beginning in February 2018 and ending in August. '''2023'''.
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* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' had to deal with this for the "Contest of Champions" storyline. It was ''meant'' to be a low-stakes storyline, but trying to do a TournamentArc proved to be something of a logistics nightmare. Then the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. Then the graphics needed for one of the matches weren't done. The storyline started in 2018 and didn't end until ''Christmas Day 2023'' with a scathing SelfDeprecation about just ''how long'' it took and the crap he went through storyline-wise and in real life.
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* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' head writer Bob Thompson intended the franchise to have RotatingArcs, a few years dedicated to present-day arcs split up by occasional [[FullEpisodeFlashback prequel years]]. The 2004 Metru Nui arc was such a prequel, but Toys/{{LEGO}} and Advance put so much money into designing the Metru Nui setting, an intricate island metropolis, that [[ExecutiveMeddling execs wanted them]] reused for another year to save up on costs. Hence 2005, aka the "Hordika arc" became a {{interquel}}, an extension set during the final scenes of the 2004 story that fans already knew the ending to, with the main present-day plot stalled for a year. Several books, comics, one movie and a series of online short videos told a loose, meandering story which reportedly confused kids so much that LEGO banned any more flashback arcs. This necessitated cramming prequel material into books, comics, short stories and web serials, but never fleshing them out into full year-long arcs as Thompson envisioned. All this did have the beneficial side effect of making prequel protagonist Vakama and his Toa Metru team some of the series' most developed and relatable characters, in stark contrast with the meager focus their present day selves received.

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* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' head writer Bob Thompson intended the franchise to have RotatingArcs, a few years dedicated to present-day arcs split up by occasional [[FullEpisodeFlashback prequel years]]. The 2004 Metru Nui arc was such a prequel, but Toys/{{LEGO}} and Advance put so much money into designing the Metru Nui setting, an intricate island metropolis, that [[ExecutiveMeddling execs wanted them]] reused for another year to save up on costs. Hence 2005, aka the "Hordika arc" became a an {{interquel}}, an extension set during the final scenes of the 2004 story that fans already knew the ending to, with the main present-day plot stalled for a year. Several books, comics, one movie and a series of online short videos told a loose, meandering story which reportedly confused kids so much that LEGO banned any more flashback arcs. This necessitated cramming prequel material into books, comics, short stories and web serials, but never fleshing them out into full year-long arcs as Thompson envisioned. All this did have the beneficial side effect of making prequel protagonist Vakama and his Toa Metru team some of the series' most developed and relatable characters, in stark contrast with the meager focus their present day selves received.

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** The main romance between Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir has been incredibly slow to progress, not helped by the {{Flanderization}} of Marinette. As of its fifth season, the show has had THREE WhatIf episodes [[StatusQuoIsGod but has never allowed the two's relationship to progress in the 100+ episodes aired in that timespan]]. This led many to either [[AbandonShipping drop the duo]] or outright drop the series. Said fifth season didn't do much to alleviate the issue, as the duo ends up being hit by an UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Ladybug begins to fall for Cat Noir, who is {{oblivious|ToLove}} to her hints and now only sees Ladybug as friend because Adrien is crushing on Marinette... who is denying her longtime feelings for Adrien due to [[spoiler:falling for a TwinSwitch between Adrien and his cousin Félix in [[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS04E26StrikeBackShadowMothsFinalAttackPart2 the S4 finale]] that ultimately cost her all but two of the Miraculous]]. [[LampshadeHanging The show itself seems to be aware of how drawn-out this aspect of the story was]], as Alya[[spoiler:, who became Marinette's SecretKeeper in the fourth season,]] repeatedly bemoans Marinette's avoidance of Adrien when he's ''finally'' showing an interest in her and pokes holes in the "logic" behind her sudden infatuation towards Cat Noir. [[spoiler:Marinette and Adrien actually ''do'' [[RelationshipUpgrade hook up for real]] later on in Season 5 and stay together, but a good portion of the fandom felt that, while this was long overdue, all the narrative zig-zagging (as well as inconsistent characterization for both halves of the couple) caused the pairing to lose quite a bit of steam in the process. Not helping matters is how ''WesternAnimation/LadybugAndCatNoirTheMovie'', a NonSerialMovie in [[AlternateContinuity its own canon]] that released around the time S5 had wrapped up, ends with the two learning each other's SecretIdentity and implicitly getting together in what is effectively an expanded retelling of their origin story, a development that was much better received by fans.]]

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** The main romance between Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir has been incredibly slow to progress, not helped by the {{Flanderization}} of Marinette. As of its fifth season, the show has had THREE WhatIf episodes [[StatusQuoIsGod but has never allowed the two's relationship to progress in the 100+ episodes aired in that timespan]]. This led many to either [[AbandonShipping drop the duo]] or outright drop the series. Said fifth season didn't do much to alleviate the issue, as the duo ends up being hit by an UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Ladybug begins to fall for Cat Noir, who is {{oblivious|ToLove}} to her hints and now only sees Ladybug as friend because Adrien is crushing on Marinette... who is denying her longtime feelings for Adrien due to [[spoiler:falling for a TwinSwitch between Adrien and his duplicitous cousin Félix in [[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS04E26StrikeBackShadowMothsFinalAttackPart2 the S4 finale]] that ultimately cost her all but two of the Miraculous]]. [[LampshadeHanging The show itself seems to be aware of how drawn-out this aspect of the story was]], as Alya[[spoiler:, who became Marinette's SecretKeeper in the fourth season,]] repeatedly bemoans Marinette's avoidance of Adrien when he's ''finally'' showing an interest in her and pokes holes in the "logic" behind her sudden infatuation towards Cat Noir. [[spoiler:Marinette and Adrien actually ''do'' [[RelationshipUpgrade hook up for real]] later on in Season 5 and stay together, but a good portion of the fandom felt that, while this was long overdue, all the narrative zig-zagging (as well as inconsistent characterization for both halves of the couple) caused the pairing to lose quite a bit of steam in the process. Not helping matters is how ''WesternAnimation/LadybugAndCatNoirTheMovie'', a NonSerialMovie in [[AlternateContinuity in its own canon]] that released around the time S5 had wrapped up, ends with the two learning each other's SecretIdentity and implicitly getting together in what is effectively an expanded retelling of their origin story, a development that was much better received by fans.]]



* ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment'': Spoony was trying to develop a MythArc over the course of the reviews. The story seemed to be that the Gate Cleaner and the Ultimate Warrior were working for the Guardian, who was intending to invade and conquer our world, but he abandoned his plans because Sephiroth was going to destroy the world with a meteor, and somehow was harnessing Spoony's hatred of ''Final Fantasy'' for his plan. There were also hints that Burton had been reprogrammed for some purpose (implicitly by Sephiroth), Spoony may have been trapped in some PlatonicCave illusion (which may or may not be related to the Burton subplot), and somehow Pumpkinhead may have been involved. Whatever the story was supposed to be, the KudzuPlot nature of their development, Spoony's sporadic updating schedule, and the fact the story wasn't very good and didn't seem to have a point, meant that a lot of viewers didn't really care either way.

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* ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment'': Spoony was trying to develop a MythArc over the course of the reviews. The story seemed to be that the Gate Cleaner and the Ultimate Warrior were working for the Guardian, who was intending to invade and conquer our world, but he abandoned his plans because Sephiroth was going to destroy the world with a meteor, and somehow was harnessing Spoony's hatred of ''Final Fantasy'' ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' for his plan. There were also hints that Burton had been reprogrammed for some purpose (implicitly by Sephiroth), Spoony may have been trapped in some PlatonicCave illusion (which may or may not be related to the Burton subplot), and somehow Pumpkinhead may have been involved. Whatever the story was supposed to be, the KudzuPlot nature of their development, Spoony's sporadic updating schedule, and the fact the story wasn't very good and didn't seem to have a point, meant that a lot of viewers didn't really care either way.
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* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': While the Tegridy Farms arc wasn't too pervasive in Season 22, it was accused of this quickly once it became the main focus of Season 23, of which ''seven out of ten'' episodes are entirely about Tegridy and Randy, six of them being in a row. Randy becomes a CreatorsPet and an unlikeable {{jerkass}} who murders cows, tries to force his daughter to like weed, and burns other peoples' crops, while the rest of his family become {{Satellite Characters}} who do nothing but mope about how miserable their life on the farm is. Even worse is that they have faked out the ending of the arc ''twice'': midway through Season 23 and with the Streaming Wars specials, both of which acknowledge how tired fans are of it. The Tegridy Farms arc has now been running since 2018 and taken over most of the new episodes.

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* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': While the Tegridy Farms arc wasn't too pervasive in Season 22, it was accused of this quickly once it became the main focus of Season 23, of which ''seven out of ten'' episodes are entirely about Tegridy and Randy, six of them being in a row. Randy becomes a CreatorsPet and an unlikeable {{jerkass}} who murders cows, tries to force his daughter to like weed, and burns other peoples' crops, while the rest of his family become {{Satellite Characters}} Character}}s who do nothing but mope about how miserable their life on the farm is. Even worse is that they have faked out the ending of the arc ''twice'': midway through Season 23 and with the Streaming Wars specials, both of which acknowledge how tired fans are of it. The Tegridy Farms arc has now been running since 2018 and taken over most of the new episodes.

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* ''VideoGame/Persona5''
** Summer vacation and the fourth Palace arc against the Pharaoh of Wrath in the Pyramid Palace take quite a while of the middle section of the game. The Pyramid is [[BreatherLevel one of the shortest and simplest Palaces in the game]], but it also has the longest deadline -- access to the Palace starts in July, and the deadline isn't until late August. Since the overarching plot won't progress until the Palace's deadline has passed, this leads to a long stretch of time without much to do once you've cleared the Palace. And the fact that you can't go to school locks you out of a decent chunk of your Confidant progress among all but a few of your party members' levels, leaving you with little to do but stat grind and visit the same set of non-party Confidants over and over.
** The Hawaii Trip would be fine in isolation, but the fact it comes right on the heels of the aforementioned Pyramid Palace and summer vacation can make it feel as though summer vacation is going on even longer. Players who want to just hit Mementos and do the Confidants and Requests that have just been unlocked are instead forced to spend still more time on the beach, watching more cutscenes and wondering when they'll be let off of the proverbial leash that the game has put them on.
** The Space Station Palace's arc, while not a long one in terms of time, is considered to be an absolute slog for players to sit through. The first stretch of the arc in which [[spoiler:Morgana leaves the Phantom Thieves for a while over feeling useless now that Futaba has taken over navigator duties]] forces the players to sit through cutscene after cutscene of people passing around the ConflictBall. Plus, night activities aren't allowed during the arc for quite a while, meaning that time that could have been invested in grinding or raising Confidant Links gets wasted. As for the Space Station Palace itself, its tedious enemies and bizarrely-hard puzzles only serve to drag out the arc even more. The Palace Ruler isn't that hard in the vanilla game, but the UpdatedRerelease in ''Persona 5: Royal'' made them much stronger, to where this boss is one of the single biggest chokepoints in ''Royal''. Beating them might necessitate LevelGrinding in Mementos just to clear the fight, making it drag out even longer.

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* ''VideoGame/Persona5''
''VideoGame/Persona5'' has several offenders, though they can be mitigated somewhat by knowing what's coming ahead of time and preparing in advance, particularly in NewGamePlus.
** Summer vacation and the fourth Palace arc Fourth Heist against the Pharaoh of Wrath [[spoiler:Shadow Futaba]] in the Pyramid Palace of Wrath take up quite a while bit of the middle section of the game. The Pyramid is [[BreatherLevel one of the shortest and simplest Palaces in the game]], but it also has the longest deadline -- access to the Palace starts in July, and the deadline isn't until late August. Since the overarching plot won't progress until the Palace's deadline has passed, this leads to a long stretch of time without much to do once you've cleared the Palace. And the fact that you can't go to school locks you out of a decent chunk of your Confidant progress among all but a few of your party members' levels, leaving you with little to do but stat grind and visit the same set of non-party Confidants over and over.
** The class field trip to Hawaii Trip would be fine in isolation, but the fact it comes right on the heels of the aforementioned Pyramid Palace heist and summer vacation its aftermath can make it feel as though summer vacation is going on even longer. Players who want to just hit Mementos and do the Confidants and Requests that have just been unlocked are instead forced to spend still more time on the beach, watching more cutscenes and wondering when they'll be let off of the proverbial leash that the game has put them on.
** The Space Station Palace's arc, Fifth Heist ([[spoiler:Shadow Okumura]]'s Spaceport of Greed), while not a long one arc in terms of calendar time, is often considered to be an absolute slog for players to sit through. The first stretch of the arc in which [[spoiler:Morgana leaves the Phantom Thieves for a while over feeling useless now that Futaba has taken over navigator duties]] forces the players to sit through cutscene after cutscene of people passing around the ConflictBall. Plus, On top of that, night activities aren't allowed during the arc for quite a while, until said conflict is resolved, meaning that time that which could have been invested in grinding into LevelGrinding or raising Confidant Links ranks gets wasted. As for the Space Station Palace itself, its tedious enemies immense length, tough enemies, and bizarrely-hard complex puzzles can require a higher than average number of visits to make it all the way to the Treasure, only serve serving to drag out the arc even more. The Palace Ruler actually isn't that hard in the vanilla game, game (with most of the difficulty coming from the battle being a FlunkyBoss that abides by TrialAndErrorGameplay while [[TimedMission on a timer]]), but the UpdatedRerelease in ''Persona 5: Royal'' ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' made them much ''much'' stronger, to the point where this boss is [[ThatOneBoss one of the single biggest chokepoints chokepoints]] in ''Royal''. the game. Beating them might necessitate LevelGrinding level grinding in Mementos just to clear the fight, making it drag out meaning that's even longer.more time potentially going down the drain.

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General editing and cleanup.


** The Arrancar Arc spanned Chapters 183-423, four publication years and an additional four anime years. The arc slowed down to a crawl as even minion fights were given lavish screen time. The arc spawned the meme "Are they still in [[{{Spexico}} Mexico]]?" and the anime often interrupted the canon storyline in mid-action to insert {{filler}} arcs whenever it caught up to the manga. The arc also ends up being divided into three sub-arcs--though the first of these arcs doesn't drag too much, Hueco Mundo became infamous for its visual monotony (hope you like plain white backgrounds), while "Fake Karakura" dedicates a lot of pagetime to characters with very little connection to the protagonists fighting villains who really only exist for the sake of fight scenes.

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** The Arrancar Arc spanned Chapters 183-423, four publication years and an additional four anime years. The arc slowed down to a crawl as even minion fights were given lavish screen time. The arc spawned the meme "Are they still in [[{{Spexico}} Mexico]]?" and the anime often interrupted the canon storyline in mid-action to insert {{filler}} arcs whenever it caught up to the manga. The arc also ends up being divided into three sub-arcs--though sub-arcs -- though the first of these arcs doesn't drag too much, Hueco Mundo became infamous for its visual monotony (hope you like plain white backgrounds), while "Fake Karakura" dedicates a lot of pagetime to characters with very little connection to the protagonists fighting villains who really only exist for the sake of fight scenes.



** The ''Yotsuba'' Arc drags on, with the investigation team trying to figure out who the Kira in the titular Yotsuba company is and part of the intense atmosphere is lost by [[spoiler: Light having forfeited his ownership of the Death Note as part of a MemoryGambit and hence has lost all memory of said Death Note, Ryuk or his being Kira]], which makes working alongside L not as thrilling as some readers might have thought.

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** The ''Yotsuba'' Arc drags on, with the investigation team trying to figure out who the Kira in the titular Yotsuba company is and part of the intense atmosphere is lost by [[spoiler: Light [[spoiler:Light having forfeited his ownership of the Death Note as part of a MemoryGambit and hence has lost all memory of said Death Note, Ryuk or his being Kira]], which makes working alongside L not as thrilling as some readers might have thought.



** The Cell Games. Midway through [[http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/The_Horror_Won%27t_End Episode 190]], Cell starts to charge up a Kamehameha. Following a flashback, Goku telepathically tells Gohan that he can still win this, and Gohan starts preparing his own Kamehameha. The two launch their attacks right at the beginning of the next episode--and are deadlocked for the ''entire episode''. This lasted one chapter in the manga, too, but 14 pages aren't exactly the same as 22 minutes. Overall, however, the Cell Saga gets off lighter than Namek simply due to actually being able to ''change location/scenery''.

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** The Cell Games. Midway through [[http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/The_Horror_Won%27t_End Episode 190]], Cell starts to charge up a Kamehameha. Following a flashback, Goku telepathically tells Gohan that he can still win this, and Gohan starts preparing his own Kamehameha. The two launch their attacks right at the beginning of the next episode--and episode -- and are deadlocked for the ''entire episode''. This lasted one chapter in the manga, too, but 14 pages aren't exactly the same as 22 minutes. Overall, however, the Cell Saga gets off lighter than Namek simply due to actually being able to ''change location/scenery''.



* The first novel of ''Literature/InSpectre'' greatly concerned itself over Steel Lady Nanase and the extensive efforts to weaken the Internet's perceptions that give her power. Its anime and manga adaptations don't truncate this, so the arc becomes abnormally long -- in the anime, it starts in the middle of episode 3 and lasts all the way to the ''final episode'', and in the manga it starts in the middle of volume 1 and goes all the way to the end of volume 6.
* ''Literature/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'': While it does give some valuable backstory to Ryu Lion, the Calamity Arc carries on for a long period of time in the fourth season of the anime. What doesn't help matters is that there's an endless feeling of gloominess and despair in many of the episodes, stretched out over the course of 17 episodes in a 22 episode season. And many of those episodes basically amount to Bell and Ryu or Bell's Familia going through endless stretches of the dungeon with very little to no change in scenery, facing never-ending hordes of monsters, and suffering from fatigue and debilitating injuries over and over again. While one may appreciate the idea of Bell and Ryu getting more time together, the formula used to bring them closer in this arc can start feeling downright tedious after a while, especially since the franchise has generally been pretty good at avoiding ArcFatigue and the feeling of fun one might normally get from the Danmachi series can quite easily turn into a feeling of bleakness and agitation for the story arc to finally wrap things up.
* While the art and storytelling of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has significantly improved following the manga's shift from ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' to ''[[{{Seinen}} Ultra Jump]]'', many can agree that it came at the cost of significantly dragging out the pace of it, due to ''Ultra Jump'' updating monthly instead of weekly. Case in point, the first ''seinen''-oriented arc, ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'', took seven years, two months, and 17 days to tell its story, compared to previous parts only taking two or three years[[note]]For the sake of reference, the longest installment before this was ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]]'' at three years and seven months, only a little over half the length of ''SBR''[[/note]], and many readers lamented the fact that ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'' was in print for ''nearly a decade'' before it finally settled on who its BigBad was.

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* The first novel of ''Literature/InSpectre'' greatly concerned itself over Steel Lady Nanase and the extensive efforts to weaken the Internet's perceptions that give her power. Its anime and manga adaptations don't didn't truncate this, so their retellings of the arc becomes became abnormally long -- in the anime, it starts in the middle of episode Episode 3 and lasts all the way to the ''final ''the final episode'', and while in the manga it starts in the middle of volume Volume 1 and goes all the way to the end of volume Volume 6.
* ''Literature/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'': While it does give some valuable backstory to Ryu Lion, the Calamity Arc carries on for a long period of time in the fourth season of the anime. What doesn't help matters is that there's an endless feeling of gloominess and despair in many of the episodes, stretched out over the course of 17 episodes in a 22 episode 22-episode season. And many of those episodes basically amount to Bell and Ryu or Bell's Familia going through endless stretches of the dungeon with very little to no change in scenery, facing never-ending neverending hordes of monsters, and suffering from fatigue and debilitating injuries over and over again. While one may appreciate the idea of Bell and Ryu getting more time together, the formula used to bring them closer in this arc can start feeling downright tedious after a while, especially since the franchise has generally been pretty good at avoiding ArcFatigue and the feeling of fun one might normally get from the Danmachi series can quite easily turn into a feeling of bleakness and agitation for the story arc to finally wrap things up.
* While the art and storytelling of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has significantly improved following the manga's shift from ''Weekly ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shonen Jump'' Jump]]'' to ''[[{{Seinen}} Ultra Jump]]'', many can agree that it came at the cost of significantly dragging out the pace of it, due to ''Ultra Jump'' updating monthly instead of weekly. Case in point, the first ''seinen''-oriented arc, ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'', took seven years, two months, and 17 days to tell its story, compared to previous parts only taking two or three years[[note]]For the sake of reference, the longest installment before this was ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]]'' at three years and seven months, only a little over half the length of ''SBR''[[/note]], and many readers lamented the fact that ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'' was in print for ''nearly a decade'' before it finally settled on who its BigBad was.



* The anime version of ''Manga/{{MAR}}'' has this problem not because of the length of the filler arcs ''per se'', but because they threw so many at the most incorrect moments. It goes like this: [[spoiler:Snow is captured near the end of Round 6, Ginta wants to rescue her but first must fight Ian, okay fair enough. THEN they prepare to leave but Phantom shows up and says they need to do the final round first. Okay, fine, so they go through the Gate of Training, which turns into a filler arc about the cast being sent to an illusion of Tokyo created from Ginta's memories, THEN they get back and some minor villains from way back when are causing trouble so they have to deal with that, THEN the final round starts and goes on for a while, then once Phantom is beaten, they need a special ÄRM to get them to the castle to rescue Snow, which leads to a filler episode about hunting down the Referee of the tournament, then two more episodes about fixing Babbo who broke in the battle against Phantom and THEN one more episode about Ian for no reason. The ultimate irony is it only actually takes them one episode to rescue Snow. But due to so much unnecessary filler padding, it goes on forever. Snow is captured in Episode 58 and not rescued until freaking Episode 84!]]

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* The anime version of ''Manga/{{MAR}}'' has this problem not because of the length of the filler arcs ''per se'', but because they threw so many at the most incorrect moments. It goes like this: [[spoiler:Snow is captured near the end of Round 6, Ginta wants to rescue her but first must fight Ian, okay Ian -- okay, fair enough. THEN Then they prepare to leave but Phantom shows up and says they need to do the final round first. Okay, fine, so they go through the Gate of Training, which turns into a filler arc about the cast being sent to an illusion of Tokyo created from Ginta's memories, THEN ''Then'' they get back and some minor villains from way back when are causing trouble so they have to deal with that, THEN that. '''Then'' the final round starts and goes on for a while, then and once Phantom is beaten, they need a special ÄRM to get them to the castle to rescue Snow, which leads to a filler episode about hunting down the Referee of the tournament, then followed by two more episodes about fixing Babbo who broke in the battle against Phantom and THEN one more episode about Ian for no reason. The ultimate irony is it only actually takes them one episode to rescue Snow. But due to so much unnecessary filler padding, it goes on forever. Snow is captured in Episode 58 and not rescued until freaking Episode 84!]]



** For anime viewers, the Blume election arc dragged on too long, taking up almost all of the second half of the first season. While this wasn't nearly as long as the aforementioned arc(lasting from the end of Volume to to just before the end of Volume 4), the length grew frustrating to people who wanted to see more of the main couple- Hime and Mitsuki- and/or didn't like [[BaseBreakingCharacter Kanoko]].

to:

** For anime viewers, the Blume election arc dragged on too long, taking up almost all of the second half of the first season. While this wasn't nearly as long as the aforementioned arc(lasting arc (lasting from the end of Volume to to just before the end of Volume 4), the length grew frustrating to people who wanted to see more of the main couple- couple -- Hime and Mitsuki- Mitsuki -- and/or didn't like [[BaseBreakingCharacter Kanoko]].



** While the first arc more or less avoided this, the following [[ZombieApocalypse Metal Virus]] storyline dragged on for over a year, which may not have been so bad if said arc didn't mostly involve the heroes constantly losing everything they have, lovable characters turning, being [[BreakTheCutie horrifically broken]], or otherwise suffering, and the villains being borderline {{invincible|Villain}}. It was so dark that [[TooBleakStoppedCaring some readers found it hard to care what happened]], and those fans who enjoyed the drama admitted it was starting to wear out its welcome after about eight full issues of it. The fact that the last few issues of the arc were subjected to mass ScheduleSlip due to [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic the ongoing coronavirus pandemic]] didn't help matters. By the time the arc finally came to an end in late September 2020, it had lasted ''21 issues'' (#13-32, plus the 2020 Annual one-off)--nearly two-thirds of the entire comic's run up to that point!
** The very next arc, detailing the mystery of [[RobotGirl Belle the Tinkerer]]'s origin, also suffered from arc fatigue. While it's much shorter, spanning eight issues in all, the DrivingQuestion's answer was [[CaptainObviousReveal obvious from the start]]: [[spoiler:Belle's creator is [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] himself, specifically [[AmnesiacDissonance when he had amnesia]] earlier in the comic]]. Yet more ScheduleSlip during the winter and spring of 2021 took its toll on the arc's pacing, and even after the "mystery" was solved, Belle's full DarkAndTroubledPast still wasn't revealed until Issue 44--almost a year after her debut ten issues prior. All this contributed to Belle's [[BaseBreakingCharacter divisive status among fans]], especially compared to other new characters such as [[BreakoutCharacter Tangle and Whisper]].

to:

** While the first arc more or less avoided this, the following [[ZombieApocalypse Metal Virus]] storyline dragged on for over a year, which may not have been so bad if said arc didn't mostly involve the heroes constantly losing everything they have, lovable characters turning, being [[BreakTheCutie horrifically broken]], or otherwise suffering, and the villains being borderline {{invincible|Villain}}. It was so dark that [[TooBleakStoppedCaring some readers found it hard to care what happened]], and those fans who enjoyed the drama admitted it was starting to wear out its welcome after about eight full issues of it. The fact that the last few issues of the arc were subjected to mass ScheduleSlip due to [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic the ongoing coronavirus pandemic]] didn't help matters. By the time the arc finally came to an end in late September 2020, it had lasted ''21 issues'' (#13-32, plus the 2020 Annual one-off)--nearly one-off) -- nearly two-thirds of the entire comic's run up to that point!
** The very next arc, detailing the mystery of [[RobotGirl Belle the Tinkerer]]'s origin, also suffered from arc fatigue. While it's much shorter, spanning eight issues in all, the DrivingQuestion's answer was [[CaptainObviousReveal obvious from the start]]: [[spoiler:Belle's creator is [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] himself, specifically [[AmnesiacDissonance when he had amnesia]] earlier in the comic]]. Yet more ScheduleSlip during the winter and spring of 2021 took its toll on the arc's pacing, and even after the "mystery" was solved, Belle's full DarkAndTroubledPast still wasn't revealed until Issue 44--almost 44 -- almost a year after her debut ten issues prior. All this contributed to Belle's [[BaseBreakingCharacter divisive status among fans]], especially compared to other new characters such as [[BreakoutCharacter Tangle and Whisper]].



* ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' series has the Tales of Ash arc, which started in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2003 2003]]'' ([[CaptainObvious which was released in 2003]]), continued with ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXI XI]]'' (released in late 2005 for Japanese arcades before heading to the [=PS2=] the following year) and only ended in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIII XIII]]'' (2010 for arcades, 2011 for consoles). Doing the math reveals that the arc lasted for ''seven to eight years''. Compare that to the Orochi and NESTS arcs, each of which lasted for three years. [[note]]''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters94 '94]]'' technically doesn't count, as that's its own self-contained story (though {{compilation|Rerelease}}s tend to lump it in with the rest of the Orochi Saga), and neither do ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters98 '98]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2002 2002]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXII XII]]'' due to the former two being non-canon {{Dream Match Game}}s and the latter being an ObviousBeta.[[/note]] This could be explained by Creator/{{SNK}} opting to abandon doing yearly installments on account of the growing costs of game development as well as wanting to jump ship to the Atomiswave hardware for their games [[note]]that, and the whole mess involving their bankruptcy in 2000-2001, but that's another story[[/note]]. Not helping matters was the fact that its star protagonist Ash was quite a polarizing figure not just due to his flamboyant personality[[note]]even more so than [[CampStraight Benimaru]]![[/note]], but also due to him inflicting TheWorfEffect on the likes of Chizuru and Iori ''and'' [[BroughtDownToNormal stealing their powers]] (forcing Chizuru to go back to CommutingOnABus[[note]]her last playable appearance prior to ''2003'' was ''[='98=]'', whereas her last canonical appearance was ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters97 '97]]''[[/note]] and Iori's moveset to undergo significant changes in ''XII'' and ''XIII''), and being outright billed as a VillainProtagonist, meaning that fans were getting outright fed up with him. That said, [[spoiler:[[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap many were willing to forgive him for his actions in the end]] when ''XIII'' revealed that he was in fact a GoodAllAlong GuileHero who did what he did in order to protect his sister figure Elisabeth, even going as far as to pull a HeroicSacrifice to erase the BigBad of the arc--his very own ancestor--from existence]].

to:

* ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' series has the Tales of Ash arc, which started in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2003 2003]]'' ([[CaptainObvious which was released in 2003]]), continued with ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXI XI]]'' (released in late 2005 for Japanese arcades before heading to the [=PS2=] the following year) and only ended in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIII XIII]]'' (2010 for arcades, 2011 for consoles). Doing the math reveals that the arc lasted for ''seven to eight years''. Compare that to the Orochi and NESTS arcs, each of which lasted for three years. [[note]]''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters94 '94]]'' technically doesn't count, as that's its own self-contained story (though {{compilation|Rerelease}}s tend to lump it in with the rest of the Orochi Saga), and neither do ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters98 '98]]'', ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2002 2002]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXII XII]]'' due to the former two being non-canon {{Dream Match Game}}s and the latter being an ObviousBeta.[[/note]] This could be explained by Creator/{{SNK}} opting to abandon doing yearly installments on account of the growing costs of game development as well as wanting to jump ship to the Atomiswave hardware for their games [[note]]that, and the whole mess involving their bankruptcy in 2000-2001, but that's another story[[/note]]. Not helping matters was the fact that its star protagonist Ash was quite a polarizing figure not just due to his flamboyant personality[[note]]even more so than [[CampStraight Benimaru]]![[/note]], but also due to him inflicting TheWorfEffect on the likes of Chizuru and Iori ''and'' [[BroughtDownToNormal stealing their powers]] (forcing Chizuru to go back to CommutingOnABus[[note]]her last playable appearance prior to ''2003'' was ''[='98=]'', whereas her last canonical appearance was ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters97 '97]]''[[/note]] and Iori's moveset to undergo significant changes in ''XII'' and ''XIII''), and being outright billed as a VillainProtagonist, meaning that fans were getting outright fed up with him. That said, [[spoiler:[[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap many were willing to forgive him for his actions in the end]] when ''XIII'' revealed that he was in fact a GoodAllAlong GuileHero who did what he did in order to protect his sister figure Elisabeth, even going as far as to pull a HeroicSacrifice to erase the BigBad of the arc--his arc -- his very own ancestor--from ancestor -- from existence]].



** The main romance between Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir has been incredibly slow to progress, not helped by the {{Flanderization}} of Marinette. As of its fifth season, the show has had THREE WhatIf episodes [[StatusQuoIsGod but has never allowed the two's relationship to progress in the 100+ episodes aired in that timespan]]. This led many to either [[AbandonShipping drop the duo]] or outright drop the series. Said fifth season didn't do much to alleviate the issue, as the duo ends up being hit by an UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Ladybug begins to fall for Cat Noir, who is {{oblivious|ToLove}} to her hints and now only sees Ladybug as friend because Adrien is crushing on Marinette... who is denying her longtime feelings for Adrien due to [[spoiler:falling for a TwinSwitch between Adrien and his cousin Félix in [[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS04E26StrikeBackShadowMothsFinalAttackPart2 the S4 finale]] that ultimately cost her all but two of the Miraculous]]. [[LampshadeHanging The show itself seems to be aware of how drawn-out this aspect of the story is becoming]], as Alya[[spoiler:, who became Marinette's SecretKeeper in the fourth season,]] repeatedly bemoans Marinette's avoidance of Adrien when he's ''finally'' showing an interest in her and pokes holes in the "logic" behind her sudden infatuation towards Cat Noir. [[spoiler:Marinette and Adrien actually ''do'' [[RelationshipUpgrade hook up for real]] later on in Season 5 and stay together, but a good portion of the fandom felt that, while this was long overdue, all the narrative zig-zagging (as well as inconsistent characterization for both halves of the couple) caused the pairing to lose quite a bit of steam in the process. Not helping matters is how ''WesternAnimation/LadybugAndCatNoirTheMovie'', a NonSerialMovie in [[AlternateContinuity its own canon]] that released around the time S5 had wrapped up, ends with the two learning each other's SecretIdentity and implicitly getting together in what is effectively an expanded retelling of their origin story, a development that was much better received by fans.]]

to:

** The main romance between Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir has been incredibly slow to progress, not helped by the {{Flanderization}} of Marinette. As of its fifth season, the show has had THREE WhatIf episodes [[StatusQuoIsGod but has never allowed the two's relationship to progress in the 100+ episodes aired in that timespan]]. This led many to either [[AbandonShipping drop the duo]] or outright drop the series. Said fifth season didn't do much to alleviate the issue, as the duo ends up being hit by an UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Ladybug begins to fall for Cat Noir, who is {{oblivious|ToLove}} to her hints and now only sees Ladybug as friend because Adrien is crushing on Marinette... who is denying her longtime feelings for Adrien due to [[spoiler:falling for a TwinSwitch between Adrien and his cousin Félix in [[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS04E26StrikeBackShadowMothsFinalAttackPart2 the S4 finale]] that ultimately cost her all but two of the Miraculous]]. [[LampshadeHanging The show itself seems to be aware of how drawn-out this aspect of the story is becoming]], was]], as Alya[[spoiler:, who became Marinette's SecretKeeper in the fourth season,]] repeatedly bemoans Marinette's avoidance of Adrien when he's ''finally'' showing an interest in her and pokes holes in the "logic" behind her sudden infatuation towards Cat Noir. [[spoiler:Marinette and Adrien actually ''do'' [[RelationshipUpgrade hook up for real]] later on in Season 5 and stay together, but a good portion of the fandom felt that, while this was long overdue, all the narrative zig-zagging (as well as inconsistent characterization for both halves of the couple) caused the pairing to lose quite a bit of steam in the process. Not helping matters is how ''WesternAnimation/LadybugAndCatNoirTheMovie'', a NonSerialMovie in [[AlternateContinuity its own canon]] that released around the time S5 had wrapped up, ends with the two learning each other's SecretIdentity and implicitly getting together in what is effectively an expanded retelling of their origin story, a development that was much better received by fans.]]



* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': The Chimera Ant arc was widely hated for its extremely slow pacing, although at the time it seemed much slower-paced than it ended up being due to constant SeriesHiatus. The arc lasted 132 chapters, but in real time took over ''nine years'' to conclude--the manga was only six years old when the Chimera Ant arc started.

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* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': The Chimera Ant arc was widely hated for its extremely slow pacing, although at the time it seemed much slower-paced than it ended up being due to constant SeriesHiatus. The arc lasted 132 chapters, but in real time took over ''nine years'' to conclude--the conclude -- the manga was only six years old when the Chimera Ant arc started.



** [[spoiler:After 25 real-life years, Ash's adventures finally come to a head in ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries''. He becomes recognized as one of the eight strongest Trainers in the world within the World Coronation Series, and ultimately ends up ''beating the undefeated Monarch Leon in the finals'', dethroning him and taking the title of Monarch for himself, thus now officially being recognized as [[WorldsBestWarrior the strongest Trainer in the world]]. An 11-episode special series will mark Ash's final chapter into becoming a Pokémon Master (aptly titled ''Anime/PokemonToBeAPokemonMaster'').]]

to:

** [[spoiler:After 25 real-life years, Ash's adventures finally come to a head in ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries''. He becomes recognized as one of the eight strongest Trainers in the world within the World Coronation Series, and ultimately ends up ''beating the undefeated Monarch Leon in the finals'', dethroning him and taking the title of Monarch for himself, thus now officially being recognized as [[WorldsBestWarrior the strongest Trainer in the world]]. An A subsequent 11-episode special series will mark marked Ash's final chapter into becoming a Pokémon Master (aptly titled ''Anime/PokemonToBeAPokemonMaster'').]]



* A common criticism of ''ComicBook/XMen'' is that the mutants are no closer to their dream of normal/mutant equality than when they started. And whenever they do come close--say, the time in the early 2000s when an influx of mutants went public and the books started to explore what it actually means to be a minority--the ResetButton gets hit ''[[ComicBook/HouseOfM hard]]''. They come close again after ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', where they're getting a lot more support overall and [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] has been getting Hero Worship because of using the Phoenix to nearly solve world hunger, stabilize the climate, and force peace between warring nations. However, the ResetButton was hit yet again with the divisive ''ComicBook/InhumansVsXMen''.

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* A common criticism of ''ComicBook/XMen'' is that the mutants are no closer to their dream of normal/mutant equality than when they started. And whenever they do come close--say, close -- say, the time in the early 2000s when an influx of mutants went public and the books started to explore what it actually means to be a minority--the minority -- the ResetButton gets hit ''[[ComicBook/HouseOfM hard]]''. They come close again after ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', where they're getting a lot more support overall and [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] has been getting Hero Worship hero worship because of using the Phoenix to nearly solve world hunger, stabilize the climate, and force peace between warring nations. However, the ResetButton was hit yet again with the divisive ''ComicBook/InhumansVsXMen''.



* ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' managed to take two seemingly unrelated subplots and drag them out into [[VideoGameLongRunners a decades-long]] narrative slog. In ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters99 KOF '99]]'', Chinese esper [[VideoGame/PsychoSoldier Sie Kensou]] [[BroughtDownToNormal mysteriously loses his psychic abilities]], only to learn they're linked to a hitherto unknown power shared between him and his teammate Bao: the Dragon Spirit. After these powers subconsciously manifest within Kensou in order to save Athena, he later makes a vow at the end of the arc to master them. Meanwhile, ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2000 2000]]'' sees the introduction of Lin, a mysterious member of Hizoku (a clan of Chinese assassins) who has entered the tournament to find leads on Ron, the former head of Hizoku who betrayed his kin to join [[NebulousEvilOrganisation the NESTS cartel]]. Ron himself appears as a [[AssistCharacter Striker]] for Zero, the sub-boss of ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2001 2001]]'', and both he and Lin disappear following the defeat of [[FinalBoss Igniz]] in the same game. ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2003 2003]]'' then introduces players to Duo Lon, another Hizoku assassin and one of Ron's numerous sons, who joins KOF to do some reconnaissance of his own regarding his father. The next installment, ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXI XI]]'', has Kensou return from his training with newfound mastery over the Dragon Spirit -- a development noticed by [[VillainTakesAnInterest an approving Ron]], who is now joined by a small group of supporters including the aforementioned Lin and Misty (Igniz's lover). While this takes a backseat to Ash's enigmatic nature and the machinations of Those From the Past (a cult seeking to unseal {{Orochi}}, the BigBad of ''KOF''[='s=] first arc), the main antagonist of ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIII XIII]]'' cryptically alludes to Ron in his pre-fight dialogue with Duo Lon, presumably setting the stage for Ron to take up the ArcVillain mantle in the future. Flash-forward to ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV XIV]]'', released in 2016 ([[SequelGap roughly six years after its predecessor]])... and this is completely dropped for a story that is largely divorced from anything else that has happened up to that point, with Kensou in his usual comic relief role and the Hizoku [[PutOnABus nowhere in sight]]. Fans are no closer to having any questions on the matter [[labelnote:ex.]]What exactly is the Dragon Spirit? Why is Ron interested in it? How does he know about it at all? Is this connected to his defection from the Hizoku clan? Is the Dragon Spirit connected to Orochi somehow?[[/labelnote]] answered than they were back at the TurnOfTheMillennium.

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* ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' managed to take two seemingly unrelated subplots and drag them out into [[VideoGameLongRunners a decades-long]] narrative slog. In ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters99 KOF '99]]'', Chinese esper [[VideoGame/PsychoSoldier Sie Kensou]] [[BroughtDownToNormal mysteriously loses his psychic abilities]], only to learn they're linked to a hitherto unknown power shared between him and his teammate Bao: the Dragon Spirit. After these powers subconsciously manifest within Kensou in order to save Athena, he later makes a vow at the end of the arc to master them. Meanwhile, ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2000 2000]]'' sees the introduction of Lin, a mysterious member of Hizoku (a clan of Chinese assassins) who has entered the tournament to find leads on Ron, the former head of Hizoku who betrayed his kin to join [[NebulousEvilOrganisation the NESTS cartel]]. Ron himself appears as a [[AssistCharacter Striker]] for Zero, the sub-boss of ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2001 2001]]'', and both he and Lin disappear following the defeat of [[FinalBoss Igniz]] in the same game. ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2003 2003]]'' then introduces players to Duo Lon, another Hizoku assassin and one of Ron's numerous sons, who joins KOF to do some reconnaissance of his own regarding his father. The next installment, ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXI XI]]'', has Kensou return from his training with newfound mastery over the Dragon Spirit -- a development noticed by [[VillainTakesAnInterest an approving Ron]], who is now joined by a small group of supporters including the aforementioned Lin and Misty (Igniz's lover).Igniz's lover Misty. While this takes a backseat to Ash's enigmatic nature and the machinations of Those From the Past (a cult seeking to unseal {{Orochi}}, the BigBad of ''KOF''[='s=] first arc), the main antagonist of ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIII XIII]]'' cryptically alludes to Ron in his pre-fight dialogue with Duo Lon, presumably setting the stage for Ron to take up the ArcVillain mantle in the future. Flash-forward to ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV XIV]]'', released in 2016 ([[SequelGap roughly six years after its predecessor]])... and this is completely dropped for a story that is largely divorced from anything else that has happened up to that point, with Kensou in his usual comic relief role and the Hizoku [[PutOnABus nowhere in sight]]. Fans are no closer to having any questions on the matter [[labelnote:ex.]]What exactly is the Dragon Spirit? Why is Ron interested in it? How does he know about it at all? Is this connected to his defection from the Hizoku clan? Is the Dragon Spirit connected to Orochi somehow?[[/labelnote]] answered than they were back at the TurnOfTheMillennium. What makes this even more noticeable is how ''XIV'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters XV]]'' are [[ContinuityLockout heavily reliant]] on ''other'' plot threads from this point in ''KOF'' history and even earlier parts of Creator/{{SNK}}'s greater canon.

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* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'':
** It's estimated that at the current rate of girlfriend introductions, it will take around 600 chapters just to reach Girlfriend #100. And each volume consists of 9 chapters, with the exception of Volume 1, which has 5 chapters, making for a quota meeting of around 68 volumes. Assuming a constant rate of 4 volumes per year, that would mean the manga would have to run for about ''17 years'' for the harem to reach full capacity. And that's not even factoring in where the manga goes ''after'' that. For reference, by the time the anime aired (almost four years since the series debut), they had only gotten to a quarter of the promised heroines.
** The catch is how you calculate the rate of girlfriend introductions. If you go with 25 girlfriends in 141 chapters, then you get 560-570 chapters for 100 girlfriends. If you go by number of chapters between girlfriends, then as of Matsuri's (#27) introduction in Chapter 159, it was nine chapters between girlfriends, which would give 657 chapters (73x9) for the rest, meaning an 816-chapter run (159+657), a quota of around ''91'' volumes, and a ''23-year'' run to reach full capacity. (However, the average number of chapters between girlfriends has increased as the series has continued - around Chiyo's (#12) introduction, it was about six chapters between girlfriends - so the chapter and volume count could still get bigger by #100.)


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* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'':
** It's estimated that at the current rate of girlfriend introductions, it will take around 600 chapters just to reach Girlfriend #100. And each volume consists of 9 chapters, with the exception of Volume 1, which has 5 chapters, making for a quota meeting of around 68 volumes. Assuming a constant rate of 4 volumes per year, that would mean the manga would have to run for about ''17 years'' for the harem to reach full capacity. And that's not even factoring in where the manga goes ''after'' that. For reference, by the time the anime aired (almost four years since the series debut), they had only gotten to a quarter of the promised heroines.
** The catch is how you calculate the rate of girlfriend introductions. If you go with 25 girlfriends in 141 chapters, then you get 560-570 chapters for 100 girlfriends. If you go by number of chapters between girlfriends, then as of Matsuri's (#27) introduction in Chapter 159, it was nine chapters between girlfriends, which would give 657 chapters (73x9) for the rest, meaning an 816-chapter run (159+657), a quota of around ''91'' volumes, and a ''23-year'' run to reach full capacity. (However, the average number of chapters between girlfriends has increased as the series has continued - around Chiyo's (#12) introduction, it was about six chapters between girlfriends - so the chapter and volume count could still get bigger by #100.)

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* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': Depending on who the first girlfriend to be introduced to the harem that suits a reader's taste is, this can be the case if said girlfriend is introduced late in the story, especially if they join some time after a girlfriend that sits poorly with the reader.

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* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': Depending on who ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'':
** It's estimated that at
the first current rate of girlfriend introductions, it will take around 600 chapters just to be introduced reach Girlfriend #100. And each volume consists of 9 chapters, with the exception of Volume 1, which has 5 chapters, making for a quota meeting of around 68 volumes. Assuming a constant rate of 4 volumes per year, that would mean the manga would have to run for about ''17 years'' for the harem that suits a reader's taste is, this can be to reach full capacity. And that's not even factoring in where the case if said manga goes ''after'' that. For reference, by the time the anime aired (almost four years since the series debut), they had only gotten to a quarter of the promised heroines.
** The catch is how you calculate the rate of
girlfriend is introduced late in the story, especially if they join some time after a girlfriend that sits poorly introductions. If you go with 25 girlfriends in 141 chapters, then you get 560-570 chapters for 100 girlfriends. If you go by number of chapters between girlfriends, then as of Matsuri's (#27) introduction in Chapter 159, it was nine chapters between girlfriends, which would give 657 chapters (73x9) for the reader.rest, meaning an 816-chapter run (159+657), a quota of around ''91'' volumes, and a ''23-year'' run to reach full capacity. (However, the average number of chapters between girlfriends has increased as the series has continued - around Chiyo's (#12) introduction, it was about six chapters between girlfriends - so the chapter and volume count could still get bigger by #100.)
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* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': While the Tegridy Farms arc wasn't too pervasive in Season 22, it was accused of this quickly once it became the main focus of Season 23, of which ''seven out of ten'' episodes are entirely about Tegridy and Randy, six of them being in a row. Randy becomes a CreatorsPet and an unlikeable {{jerkass}} who murders cows, tries to force his daughter to like weed, and burns other peoples' crops, while the rest of his family become {{Satellite Characters}} who do nothing but mope about how miserable their life on the farm is. Even worse is that they have faked out the ending of the arc ''twice'': midway through Season 23 and with the Streaming Wars specials, both of which acknowledge how tired fans are of it. The Tegridy Farms arc has now been running since 2018 and taken over most of the new episodes.
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* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'''s anime adaptation has the Endless Eight arc. ''Eight episodes'' of the exact same events with minor variations, adapted out of a single short story. Especially since the novels' "Endless Eight" only concerned one particular time loop (the last one), and was about at most 30 pages. Eight episodes equals almost three hours. This angered fans who wanted an epic six-episode ''Disappearance'' adaptation (adapted out of a single ''novel'')... The latter did come out as a feature-length movie, however: what was at the time [[ExaggeratedTrope the second-longest animated feature ever created]], at 2 hours 42 minutes in length (one minute shorter than ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Final Yamato]]'', the record-holder until the extended cut of ''Manga/InThisCornerOfTheWorld'' in 2019). In hindsight, though, many still wish they would've adapted the arc into the anime, rather than dragging out a chapter across eight episodes just so the arc could be adapted into a movie.

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* ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'''s anime adaptation has the Endless Eight arc. ''Eight episodes'' of the exact same events with minor variations, adapted out of from a single short story. Especially since story from the novels' "Endless Eight" original novels, which only concerned one particular time loop (the last one), and was about at most 30 pages. Eight episodes equals almost three hours. This angered fans who wanted an epic six-episode ''Disappearance'' adaptation (adapted out of a single ''novel'')...''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'', the fourth novel in the series. The latter did come out as a feature-length movie, however: what was at the time [[ExaggeratedTrope the second-longest animated feature ever created]], at 2 hours 42 minutes in length (one minute shorter than ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Final Yamato]]'', the record-holder until the extended cut of ''Manga/InThisCornerOfTheWorld'' in 2019). In hindsight, though, many still wish they would've adapted the arc into the anime, rather than dragging out a chapter across eight episodes just so the arc could be adapted into a movie.
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** The Straw Hat Separation Saga and ''especially'' the Marineford arc are also considered this, as the concept puts everyone but Luffy OutOfFocus, and the latter is largely one very long, drawn-out battle sequence. To put this into perspective: The Straw Hats set out for the Sabaody Archipelago in Chapter 490. By the time they've split up, [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in badass]], met up again, and then finally began the voyage to Fishman Island, it's Chapter 602. For those keeping track, that's exactly 112 chapters, not including the month-long hiatus that the manga went on during the time skip. Marineford is even ''longer'' in the anime, particularly the large string of episodes where it feels like Luffy is forever running across the ice trying to reach the platform where Ace is being held captive.

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** The Straw Hat Separation Saga and ''especially'' the Marineford arc are also considered this, as the concept puts everyone but Luffy OutOfFocus, and the latter is largely one very long, drawn-out battle sequence. To put this into perspective: The Straw Hats set out for the Sabaody Archipelago in Chapter 490. By the time they've split up, [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in badass]], met up again, and then finally began the voyage to Fishman Island, it's Chapter 602. For those keeping track, that's exactly That's 112 chapters, not including the month-long hiatus that the manga went on during the time skip.{{time skip}}. Marineford is even ''longer'' in the anime, particularly the large string of episodes where it feels like Luffy is forever running across the ice trying to reach the platform where Ace is being held captive.
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** The series occasionally drops hints at who exactly Tsukasa is, but only answered this question at the very end of the first series. In essence, [[spoiler:Tsukasa [[InsistentTerminology has been 16 years old 1,400 times]] but ISN'T the girl from the bamboo cutter story like everyone assumed. She's actually a girl from the village who fell gravely ill shortly afterwards: her father was assigned to burn the elixir of life but instead used it to save her non-consensually]]. So far the second series is much more forthcoming about exploring this side of Tsukasa, even devoting the opening story of the second series to it, but this is at the expense of the occasional CerebusSyndrome as SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome kicks in.

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** The series occasionally drops hints at who exactly Tsukasa is, but only answered this question at the very end of the first series. In essence, [[spoiler:Tsukasa [[InsistentTerminology has been 16 years old 1,400 times]] but ISN'T the girl from the bamboo cutter story like everyone assumed. She's actually a girl from the village who fell gravely ill shortly afterwards: her father was assigned to burn the elixir of life but instead used it to save her non-consensually]]. So far the second series is much more forthcoming about exploring this side of Tsukasa, even devoting the opening story of the second series to it, but this is at the expense of the occasional CerebusSyndrome as SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome kicks in.CerebusSyndrome.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** The Straw Hat Separation Saga and ''especially'' the Marineford arc are also considered this, as the concept puts everyone but Luffy OutOfFocus, and the latter is largely one very long, drawn-out battle sequence. To put this into perspective: The Straw Hats set out for the Sabaody Archipelago in Chapter 490. By the time they've split up, [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in badas]], met up again, and then finally began the voyage to Fishman Island, it's Chapter 602. For those keeping track, that's exactly 112 chapters, not including the month-long hiatus that the manga went on during the time skip. Marineford is even ''longer'' in the anime, particularly the large string of episodes where it feels like Luffy is forever running across the ice trying to reach the platform where Ace is being held captive.

to:

** The Straw Hat Separation Saga and ''especially'' the Marineford arc are also considered this, as the concept puts everyone but Luffy OutOfFocus, and the latter is largely one very long, drawn-out battle sequence. To put this into perspective: The Straw Hats set out for the Sabaody Archipelago in Chapter 490. By the time they've split up, [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in badas]], badass]], met up again, and then finally began the voyage to Fishman Island, it's Chapter 602. For those keeping track, that's exactly 112 chapters, not including the month-long hiatus that the manga went on during the time skip. Marineford is even ''longer'' in the anime, particularly the large string of episodes where it feels like Luffy is forever running across the ice trying to reach the platform where Ace is being held captive.

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