I was actually thinking about watching Hajime no Ippo, lol. Why do you dislike stuff like Shakugan anyway? I find that I'm rather odd in what I watch, because I tend to watch things like Piano, Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, Puchi Puri Yushi, Shakugan no Shana, Sola, and Byosoku 5 centimeter ~a chain of short stories about their distance~. Shakugan is the only one that's really popular, but they all ahve such amazing stories (Which I find to be better, or just more entertaining, than bleach etc.)
Zero no Tsukaima has 12 light novels for it's story, but are they going to run it through all 12 of them? Not likely. It's going to get a 3rd season, but I doubt it'll cover all of the books, or even come close. The second season didn't exactly move the plot very far, and if they make the third season like they did the second, it'll likely be dropped because of the new director and writer making it crappy.
I will admit that part of my problem with the shows I'm talking about is because they're popular, but so far, I have yet to find any single reason to like Naruto. Bleach, I don't really mind too much. Inuyasha got lame after they introduced naraku (does anyone else hate anime with bad guys that just don't die?) My point is that many of these anime are only as long as they are because they are popular, because they were pretty much designed as the sort of thing that becomes popular. You don't see people going crazy about Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, because it's a shoujo-ai, and because it's not designed to be commercialized.
I have the same issues with most movies. You rarely ever hear about a truly amazing movie any more. With the exception of those ones that start in film festivals and break out from there. You never see people making movies like Citizen Kane and stuff like that now.
I guess you could say I'm opposed to commercialization, and the general lack of creativity it breeds. (And the retarded people who think that <insert lame anime here> is the best anime on earth when I could list about 10 anime better than it off the top of my head.)
Shakugan no Shana is extremely formulaic, relying on the same cliched character types as every other series of its kind. It also does have a second season because it was popular. It was popular because it had massive stereotypical characters.
Shoujo-ai is THE most popular anime type right now. In fact, it's the most popular every summer-fall as they make up 90% of the new shows that come out.
Zero no Tsukaima honestly doesn't deserve the amount of episodes its gotten. Again, very stereotypical and other shows have already done what its done, and very much better.
And well, uh, yeah, anime does get more for it if it's popular. That usually should tell you that it did something right. Look at Code Geass or Haruhi. Neither of them were going to have second seasons. Now they both are. Both series are extremely good but because of the glut of shoujo-ai, they both almost didn't get renewed for a second season because the other types of shows are easier to make or adapt. I could name you a dozen cases where a very high rated show with an open ending and a very obvious second season doesn't get it because people just want Kanon 3 or Air 237 or Harem comedy (with fighting this time!).
The idea that commercialization makes anything bad is laughable. Was Beautiful Mind a bad movie because it was advertised and then re-released after it won an Oscar? Is Mario Galaxy going to be bad because everyone's excited for it and Nintendo's really pushing it?
Of course, I hate to say it, but the entirety of the age group after me falls into the trap that anything popular, even if done well, is automatically looked down upon.
