What are your opinions on the matter? Would Sailor Moon still be a successful franchise if the first anime ended at episode 46 without any additional movies or specials?
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Onuzim Ima
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Good question.
Of course that's purely speculative, but considering what kind of a cult following i. e. the original Star Trek episodes had after only 3 (or 2.whatever) seasons and also long before TNG was even just a 'wet dream', it still might somehow be quite popular amongst the most hardcore fans, if not more than it is in its current form!
Of course that's purely speculative, but considering what kind of a cult following i. e. the original Star Trek episodes had after only 3 (or 2.whatever) seasons and also long before TNG was even just a 'wet dream', it still might somehow be quite popular amongst the most hardcore fans, if not more than it is in its current form!
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If it was created nowadays - yes. But back in the day if something with such concept ended after one season it wasn't that successful at the time. Today I read an interview with Osamu, the manga editor and he says that the manga was supposed to be one arc, but the anime was successful and it sold a lot of toys so ending it was "out of the question". A lot of successful anime ended in one season back in the day and these titles are well regarded to this day, but they were usually more popular outside of Japan while underperforming it there. Back in the day the industry worked differently. Specifically for magical girl anime done in the 90s a popular one domestically got more than season as a norm. If you ask wether Dark Kingdom was successful enough on it is own - some countries got just that or the Doom Tree arc and had to stop due to license issues in early 2000s. It was still popular there and had several re-runs, producing a lot of fans. For most people to this day it is second favorite arc after S, so I guess it would have still been popular.
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ChibiBoi
Sapphire’s post regarding Osamu kind of says it all. It lasting past 46 episodes was a symptom of it’s popularity. If it wasn’t doing extremely well in toy sales it probably wouldn’t have last past the one year year commitment. So the hypothetical is kind of moot.
For the sake of argument, let’s say no matter how well it did it was only going to last 46 episodes. Then the answer is yes for Japan. As obvious by the fact that it was doing extremely well in it’s first year.
It gets a bit trickier in other countries. In the U.S and Canada DiC’s interest in the series was purely that they could produce the standard 65 episodes to sell the show in syndication to advertise toys. They probably wouldn’t have looked twice at the show if it give them too few episodes. So we have, the way I see it, two outcomes
Toonmaker’s is successful in getting their Americanize remake off the ground. Since it’s only loosely based on the Japanese series and isn’t dependent on it’s footage it last for however long it’s popular. I genuinely canMt see this crap lasting past 13 episodes. But let’s say it became super popular. Then we have a Power Rangers/Super Sentai type scenario where the Japanese series becomes a cult series of sorts. With mainstream audience not knowing about the Japanese series and the fandom being broken into 1. Only likes the American remake 2. Likes both 3. Only likes the Japanese series after discovering it because they originally liked the Americanized version.
Outcome two:
Another company like Pioneer or Bandai Enterainment or U.S renditions or even Viz licenses the anime since it lacks the 65 episodes that would make it appealing for kids tv broadcast and releases it straight to the home video market. In which it becomes a cult favorite but nowhere near as mainstream had it aired on tv.
^It’s also possible from there we could have gotten Tenchi Muyo scenario where Toonami broadcast the episodes years later in edited format. And while that would have gotten it more exposure it’s hard to say if it would have made it as popular as what we got.
For the sake of argument, let’s say no matter how well it did it was only going to last 46 episodes. Then the answer is yes for Japan. As obvious by the fact that it was doing extremely well in it’s first year.
It gets a bit trickier in other countries. In the U.S and Canada DiC’s interest in the series was purely that they could produce the standard 65 episodes to sell the show in syndication to advertise toys. They probably wouldn’t have looked twice at the show if it give them too few episodes. So we have, the way I see it, two outcomes
Toonmaker’s is successful in getting their Americanize remake off the ground. Since it’s only loosely based on the Japanese series and isn’t dependent on it’s footage it last for however long it’s popular. I genuinely canMt see this crap lasting past 13 episodes. But let’s say it became super popular. Then we have a Power Rangers/Super Sentai type scenario where the Japanese series becomes a cult series of sorts. With mainstream audience not knowing about the Japanese series and the fandom being broken into 1. Only likes the American remake 2. Likes both 3. Only likes the Japanese series after discovering it because they originally liked the Americanized version.
Outcome two:
Another company like Pioneer or Bandai Enterainment or U.S renditions or even Viz licenses the anime since it lacks the 65 episodes that would make it appealing for kids tv broadcast and releases it straight to the home video market. In which it becomes a cult favorite but nowhere near as mainstream had it aired on tv.
^It’s also possible from there we could have gotten Tenchi Muyo scenario where Toonami broadcast the episodes years later in edited format. And while that would have gotten it more exposure it’s hard to say if it would have made it as popular as what we got.
Something being popular is not the same as something being popular in the US. There are some titles that never became popular in the US but their popularity is undeniable. The Rose of Versailles manga has never been published in the US but ot is one of the most re-published manga in Japan and very popular in Europe. Candy Candy was one of the most popular anime and it never make it in USA. Aishite Knight is another good example - it was so popular in France and Italy that in Italy it got three seasons of life action, despite having only one season anime. On the other hand shows like Lady Georgie and Haikara-san (the old show), ended pre-maturely in Japan, due to poor ratings, but are very popular in other countries.
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Starlight
Kinda off-topic, but I would like to correct your statement. Candy Candy did make it to the USA but only through home video and because of the company handling it, Ziv, America only got the first two episodes on VHS. The dialogue was rewritten so it would be made that Candy lived on forever at the orphanage. The entire video of the tape can be found here if you're interested in checking it out.
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Starlight
Oh 
We got a crappy voice-over too, but a rather questionable translation. Even so, we got all 5 season uncensored. It's still popular here because of that.
Back on topic, I read the articles Tuxedo Unmasked posted about the interview with Osamu, and I wasn't surprised to see him confirming the fact the manga was so popular in its first year that ending it there was out of question.
We got a crappy voice-over too, but a rather questionable translation. Even so, we got all 5 season uncensored. It's still popular here because of that.Back on topic, I read the articles Tuxedo Unmasked posted about the interview with Osamu, and I wasn't surprised to see him confirming the fact the manga was so popular in its first year that ending it there was out of question.
Oh We got a crappy voice-over too, but a rather questionable translation. Even so, we got all 5 season uncensored. It's still popular here because of that.
Back on topic, I read the articles Tuxedo Unmasked posted about the interview with Osamu, and I wasn't surprised to see him confirming the fact the manga was so popular in its first year that ending it there was out of question.
We got a crappy voice-over too, but a rather questionable translation. Even so, we got all 5 season uncensored. It's still popular here because of that.Back on topic, I read the articles Tuxedo Unmasked posted about the interview with Osamu, and I wasn't surprised to see him confirming the fact the manga was so popular in its first year that ending it there was out of question.
Likes:
Starlight
Guys, Osamu is the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba... Naoko's editor is called OSABU. 
It is Osano, I am so used to Osabu that I didnt realize my mistake. At least it is not work related. Several anime sites claim that the new designer is Kazuko Ogino thanks to translaiter
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I don't know if it would have been or not. I would say it would have sucked if the 90s anime ended with just one season for the fact that pretty much everyone lost their memories and all this. They didn't stay dead but they forgot who everyone was which was fairly tragic. Personally I think that the first season and SuperS would have been the worst seasons to end the series on for alot of unresolved stuff.
