It’s always sad when your favourite manga gets the publication axe. But it doesn’t always come as a surprise, with many getting a few chapters of heads-up before ending. So why does almost every ending of axed mangas feel rushed? Wouldn’t a competent storyteller give it a natural finale?
Surprisingly, a competent author is likely the cause of a rushed ending. That, and publishers have yet to adapt to changes in the industry. But let’s just focus on that first point.
I estimate One Piece to end at around 1400 chapters.
The 3-5-2 Ratio
If you’ve never heard of this ratio, I won’t blame you. It’s a very niche and instinctual thing. It’s the rough distribution of how a story should be separated between the intro, the main body, and the climax.
Generally, around 30% of a story is spent on introductions, 50% on the main story and plot, and 20% for the climax and ending. This extrapolates from everything, from short stories, to long novels, and even spanning sagas like the MCU.
This is just kind of the rule of thumb for good storytelling. Most decent storytellers will instinctively follow this ratio, plus or minus a couple of percentage. As the story goes on, the parts of each arc spent on the intro lowers, and the time spent on the ending widens. But overall, with enough chapter, it eventually falls into the same rate.
What does this have to do with mangas getting axed?
Let’s look at a recent success. Sakamoto Days. In its first chapter, it spends about 16 pages on introductions. The next 25 were for the main story. And starting from the highest point of the action, the last 11 pages concludes the finale. And the ratio falls into, you guessed it, 3:5:2.
If you take chapter 1 as an introduction chapter and put it through the 3:5:2 ratio, we can estimate the totality of the introduction arc to end at about chapter 3-4, which is does at 4. Then, draw it out more, and the next arc will likely end at chapter 13, which… ends at 12. We’re just 1 chapter off, which is not a bad estimate. (Next estimate is 40, and the current arc started at 38)
You can probably see the issue here. Mangas get axed on average at chapters of 10, 20, 50, 90, and rarely at 140. And each ending estimates based on the ratio would be around 1, 4, 11, 37 and 123, mostly not near the axed points.
One of the most infamous manga axed in recent years is Bleach. It was cut off during its final arc, which had been panned as both for dragging on too long, and having an abrupt ending. If you looked at the story in the context of the rest of the series and by itself, you would quickly see why.
Compared to the rest of the series, it should have ended at around chapter 600 for the best pacing. But because the author kept dragging with filler chapters, if you look at the arc itself, it was paced to end at chapter 800. Instead, it ended at an unfulfilling 686.
Meanwhile, its brother, One Piece, has amazingly been going on the ratio’s pace, even now. Estimated to happen at chapter 411, chapter 430 ends with the death of the Going Merry, concluding the then saga and starting the next introduction stage. It is currently on pace with the main story of its current ratio, and I estimate One Piece to end at around 1400 chapters.
How to end gracefully
If you’re a writer saddened now by a publication’s control over your ability to tell a good story, don’t worry. The fix is very simply. Re-pace your first introduction segment.
The Promised Neverland successfully ran its entire serial run, ending at a chapter 181 (with 4 bonus chapters at 185 total). If you’ve done your maths, you’ll realize 185 isn’t a great pace according to the above chaptered ratio. But that’s only if you miss-paced.
As an author, the most control over a story you’ll have is in the first introduction, where you can drag or condense a few pages without affecting the story too much. Kaiu-sensei (the author of Neverland), paced the introduction to end at chapter 5. And if you ratio that, the story was paced to end at 185.
If you feel a story will end around chapter 20, pace the introduction to be around 6 chapters. If you think you can hit the 50 chapters mark, pace the 1st arc there as well. Do this, and your story will end well, and the pain of being axed will be lessened, hopefully.
The more chapters you are allowed to write, the more leeway with pacing you have. But if you are stuck with fewer chapters, you end up with more fine-tuned control instead.
New blogs are coming out slow as the few I am working on are sensitive and requires research and a delicate touch. But they are interesting and important topics that I guarantee will be eye-opening. If you enjoy my writing, I have a Patreon that you can check out.
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