Did some nosing around and found found Urobuchi has a new anime series premiering in July so this may be why. Looks pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXTol2NCEFY

I wonder if this means we'll get hints as to the next Rider series earlier as well.

We would've been hearing trade mark rumours by now if that's the case.

I think we've still got a couple weeks to go for that. If we haven't heard anything by May, then I'll be ready to disregard this rumor.

I think Urobuchi proved that he got the entirety of the story figured out, so why would people think that if the show is 40+ episodes it's gonna somewhat drop the ball ? And to a degree i think i know the answer, it's because it happened before, It's rare for a rider series to remain consistent in quality and because of that most toku fans just expect the worst.

If Gaim ended in 9 episodes it means we're in the final arc of the story and that's kinda disappointing because i always thought there is something beyond the overlords and the story has just began with Kachidoki's debut.

Now i wonder if they're going to use Gaim's movie to finish the story. because 9 episodes might not be enough after all.

Don't forget Psycho Pass.

I don't expect to the show will end in the 30s. It will be at least 44 episodes.

It would be July 27th if the show ended at 40 episodes and that is definitely too soon for it end considering there are still 5 Sundays in August.

At least 44? At a maximum it would most likely be 45. Wizard had an extended run and 4 weeks of Super Hero Time will be cut out for the World Cup coverage this summer. Which takes place during that programming block. These factors are why people are speculating about the show ending early.

I was listening to the HJU podcast with Mark Musashi and what he says kinda blew my mind because it's made sense of something I never realised didn't make sense in the first place.

The main reason a lot of toku shows fall apart at the end (I'm gonna write DEBATABLE now in huge letters so I don't have to keep confirming it was subjective) is by the end there aren't really any toys left to push but there is a brand new show with a whole brand new set of toys just waiting round the corner.

So for the finale all of - or at least most of the main suit actors - are pulled out of the current production so they can start working on the opening episodes of the next production where the toys are at and other suit actors, and other such crew are brought in to fill in towards the end.

I bring all this up, both because it's interesting, but from what I gather the Gaim show isn't just successful toy wise, it's a BEHEMOTH. If that is the case, this may very well mean that they go away and reshoot stuff - this is also from Musashi who explains that unlike western shows, Japanese shows are much more malleable and reactionary - so they can literally push toys right to the very end as it's seemingly like Gaim may not run its course toywise in quite the way other shows have by the last ten or so episodes.

I say all THAT because that to me, if this rumour isn't pure nonsense anyway, is probably the most surefire reason I see this lasting fifty episodes or maybe even longer.

Heroshock's latest report suggests that the World Cup will not interfere with Super Hero Time programming. :)

http://www.heroshock.com/?p=10767

Why would soccer have any effect on Sentai and Rider?

Thats just what the buzz is right now. And it comes on the exact same time slot as Super Hero Time. So it very well could happen. I mean they preempt that block for the Olympics and that has nothing to do with it.

I did this on another forum but may as well post it here.

So with the World cup,

Japan is 12 hours ahead of Brazil. so if the games are shown live in japan it would be any game that starts at 7pm(Roughly) on a Saturday in Brazil.



Going by the Wiki

Group A has no games on a saturday in June.

Group B has no games on a saturday in June.

Group C (The Group that has Japan in it) has 2 games on June 14th. one is at 13:00 so that will be 1am on Sunday for Japan. and the second is 22:00 which will be 10am on Sunday for Japan.

Group D has 2 games on June 14th. one is at 16:00 so that will be 3am on Sunday for Japan. and the second is 19:00 which will be 7am on Sunday for Japan.

Group E has no games on a saturday in June.

Group F has 2 games on June 21st. one is at 13:00 so that will be 1am on Sunday for Japan. and the second is 19:00 which will be 7am on Sunday for Japan.

Group G has 1 game on June 21st at 16:00 so that will be 4am on Sunday for Japan.

Group H has no games on a saturday in June.



"Round of 16"

Has 2 games on June 28th. one is at 13:00 so that will be 1am on Sunday for Japan. and the second is 17:00 which will be 4am on Sunday for Japan.



"Quarter Finals"

Has 2 games on July 5th. one is at 13:00 so that will be 1am on Sunday for Japan. and the second is 17:00 which will be 4am on Sunday for Japan.



No semi-finals on a saturday



"Third place match" is on July 12th at 17:00 so that will be 4am on Sunday for Japan



"Knockout stage" all I could find are dates and not times for these but there are a few games on saturdays in Brazil.





So it looks like there are only 2 live games that would take over SHT. but I have no idea if they just dont do live games for Japan and just show them later rather than early morning.. also I was using the time zone for 12 of the venues for the basis of this but apparently 2 venues are a different time zone by like an hour. @_@

They don't preempt it for the Olympics, though. Neither show missed a week during the Olympics this year and I don't remember Fourze or Gokaiger getting bumped for the '12 games. It's usually only one annual marathon and an annual golf tournament that interfere with these shows.

Ah that's right, it's the golf tourney I'm thinking of. But still it's not like there isn't a precedent to do it. The block was replaced once by an airing of Super Hero Taisen even. So it could happen.

Reports are saying now that there won't actually be any games televised at the same time as the SHT block except for one game. But who knows.

I wonder when Kikaider will appear in Gaim anyway, ig that one magazine scan was any indication. I assume that it'd be another special.

Bandai of Japan releases product on a predictable yearly pattern, and that pattern works very well for them. Having a weekly TV series running alongside their annual release schedule--one that works as a constantly updating ad campaign--is a key part of that pattern.

A shortened series isn't going to happen unless Bandai has decided to completely overhaul their release structure. Which, to me, seems unlikely considering the incredible success of their current model.

Decade was the last shortened series. Why? Well, one logical reason is that BoJ wanted to start releasing new Kamen Rider and Super Sentai product lines 6 months apart from each other, to avoid one product line cannibalizing sales of the other. (Note that Decade is the last Rider series to premiere with a Sentai series in Q1--subsequent Rider series have premiered in Q3.)

If we get a shortened Gaim, expect a new toy release paradigm from BoJ. Though, I doubt we'll see a significantly shortened series because BoJ is reporting record sales under the current paradigm.

I really Love this show but I also see this as becoming the new Den-O if this dose happen.

If Gaim does end up being a shorter season, I at least hope it will get the Den-O treatment with tons of movies and crossovers because this is probably my favorite set of characters ever.

I am praying to every God I can think of that Gaim will get a full series and not wind up the Next Decade, because Goddammit it's too good for that!