Weekly releases contribute to continuous discussion and require no time commitment, unlike batch releases.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean heavily suffered from Netflix’s release model.
Binge model is here to stay.
The Internet seems to be accustomed to the weekly release schedule of anime. There’s something natural about it: every week, on the same day, at the same time, an episode is released, and the community watches it and proceeds to discuss it.
There is not much time commitment (just a little over 20 minutes weekly, usually), and the show stays relevant for its entire runtime, as just when you’re about to run out of things to talk about, a new episode releases. Yet Netflix is adamant on releasing batches of multiple episodes. Guess what, that doesn’t really work out well most of the time.
Comparing Weekly and Batch Releases
On paper, the binge model seems good. Just imagine: you gather some friends and spend an evening or a night watching the newly released show. All episodes at once, no need to wait an entire week for the next one, and you can share your opinions with each other after you’re done.
However, there arguably is more harm than good in it. Just think about it: while it enables easy discussion between the people that watched the show together, what if you watched the show alone? Suddenly, you come online, wanting to discuss the show, but there are many weekly releases it has to compete with to stay relevant.
And they will get new episodes next week, which will, in turn, enable continuous discussion. A batch release, however, will probably be seen as irrelevant in a week, as the topics to discuss will be exhausted by then.
But Which Shows Are Affected?
Probably the biggest offender among the shows “locked in Netflix jail” is the Part 6 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken). Indeed, Stone Ocean is often seen by the manga fans as one of the best parts — and is arguably the biggest turning point in the entire series. The number of people who finished the last batch of it, according to MyAnimeList? Less than 150 thousand.
For comparison, Part 5 has more than 5 times that amount. It seems that batch releases that require time commitment to watch, lack of weekly discussion to hype the show (and JoJo is known for its hype moments), as well as a terrible release schedule all contributed to the dwindling popularity of the series.
It’s a shame, because for how awesome Stone Ocean is, it didn’t get the fraction of attention it deserved. There are many other shows that suffered from this as well, such as Pluto or Kengan Ashura.
The Future
Are the batch releases here to stay? Unfortunately, it seems so. Netflix is steadily expanding its horizons, and that results in more and more shows being affected by its less than stellar release model. Sure, some of them are Netflix-sponsored shows, but that doesn’t make the situation much better, especially when some of the most beloved franchises are getting this kind of treatment.
Yet they keep pushing it.
Summary:
Weekly releases contribute to continuous discussion and require no time commitment, unlike batch releases.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean heavily suffered from Netflix’s release model.
Binge model is here to stay.
The Internet seems to be accustomed to the weekly release schedule of anime. There’s something natural about it: every week, on the same day, at the same time, an episode is released, and the community watches it and proceeds to discuss it.
There is not much time commitment (just a little over 20 minutes weekly, usually), and the show stays relevant for its entire runtime, as just when you’re about to run out of things to talk about, a new episode releases. Yet Netflix is adamant on releasing batches of multiple episodes. Guess what, that doesn’t really work out well most of the time.
Comparing Weekly and Batch Releases
On paper, the binge model seems good. Just imagine: you gather some friends and spend an evening or a night watching the newly released show. All episodes at once, no need to wait an entire week for the next one, and you can share your opinions with each other after you’re done.
However, there arguably is more harm than good in it. Just think about it: while it enables easy discussion between the people that watched the show together, what if you watched the show alone? Suddenly, you come online, wanting to discuss the show, but there are many weekly releases it has to compete with to stay relevant.
And they will get new episodes next week, which will, in turn, enable continuous discussion. A batch release, however, will probably be seen as irrelevant in a week, as the topics to discuss will be exhausted by then.
But Which Shows Are Affected?
Probably the biggest offender among the shows “locked in Netflix jail” is the Part 6 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken). Indeed, Stone Ocean is often seen by the manga fans as one of the best parts — and is arguably the biggest turning point in the entire series. The number of people who finished the last batch of it, according to MyAnimeList? Less than 150 thousand.
For comparison, Part 5 has more than 5 times that amount. It seems that batch releases that require time commitment to watch, lack of weekly discussion to hype the show (and JoJo is known for its hype moments), as well as a terrible release schedule all contributed to the dwindling popularity of the series.
It’s a shame, because for how awesome Stone Ocean is, it didn’t get the fraction of attention it deserved. There are many other shows that suffered from this as well, such as Pluto or Kengan Ashura.
The Future
Are the batch releases here to stay? Unfortunately, it seems so. Netflix is steadily expanding its horizons, and that results in more and more shows being affected by its less than stellar release model. Sure, some of them are Netflix-sponsored shows, but that doesn’t make the situation much better, especially when some of the most beloved franchises are getting this kind of treatment.
