Anime

Longest running anime series

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If you thought The Simpsons was the longest running animated television show, take a look at some of the series from Japan. While a lot of the mainstream series such as Naruto, Bleach and Dragon Ball Z seem neverending to those who watch them outside of Japan, there are some shows which eclipse these shows easily. This is a select list of anime shows, with episode counts up to November 6th, 2011 – the original broadcast start and end dates are in parentheses. While Pokémon has an insatiable list of episodes (more than 700), it was difficult to sift through the numerous series and versions available to get an accurate count.

  1. Sazae-san – 6,000+* episodes (October 5th, 1969)
  2. Doraemon – 1,787 episodes (April 2nd, 1979 – March 25th, 2005)
  3. Case Closed/Detective Conan – 635 episodes (January 8th, 1996)
  4. One Piece – 521 episodes (October 20th, 1999)
  5. Bleach – 346 episodes (October 5th, 2004)
  6. Dragon Ball Z – 291 episodes (April 26th, 1989 – January 31st, 1996)
  7. Naruto Shippuden – 235 episodes (February 15th, 2007)
  8. Naruto – 220 episodes (October 3rd, 2002 – February 8th, 2007)
  9. Inazuma Eleven – 127 episodes (October 5th, 2008 – April 27th, 2011)

* Fuji TV’s web site lists 5,620 episodes for Sazae-san which is not up-to-date.

 

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