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?