@AnimeNewtype101:
I was just wondering is it normal for Shounen Jump to just cancel brand new titles in just a few months due to lack of popularity?
I mean while I know that Zan and Hands were both very lacking in the story department, I always felt that Overtime had alot of potential if given the chance. I know they canceled several other titles due to lack of popularity (Busou Renkin, Shaman King, etc.) but I'm just wondering does Shounen Jump do this alot more often than other companies?
And do other companies do the canceling thing as well? (What I really mean is to the extent of Jump, canceling titles every few months?)
First of all, as much as we want to see manga and Jump as a bringer of amazing and fun tales, it is just as much a business as it is a comic magazine. In order to keep people's interest, they are always trying new series and letting them fight their way to success or failure. Usually, the minimum many of these series could run for is about ten chapters (enough for one volume…and to see if the series is strong enough to survive)...but usually many series last a bit longer than that and its rare lately for a "ten chapter series". (like Hands has just become) I guess that the success of the new series is also dependant on other matters such as how much "space" there is in the magazine. If there are just a lot of long running series without end, then its hard for a new series to survive unless it ends up pushing one of them to its own demise. Though generally, once a series survives one year, then the Jump people start supporting it a bit more. Merchandise for it comes out after about a year, and by two years it usually has enough material for a possible anime.
As for the whole Shaman King matter, remember that older series are just as prone to ending as newer ones. Usually, the mangaka has enough time if at the bottom long enough to set up and have a modest ending. I guess that with how expansive SK had been at that time that Takei didn't have the time to wrap everything up, leading to the....er, non-ending.
