Beyond Selidor

Oh, I misspoke. There are definitely arcs. But they're not the same kind as Netflix, and what arc-heavy tv has turned into over the years. Perhaps because anime is coming from manga (i.e., a pre-existing source) but there's a serial nature to them that also includes a contained story within the 20-25 minutes or so each episode runs.

In terms of the Grimm, I've been thinking about this since I read some Phillip Pullman essays a couple of months ago. He was talking about characterization in folk tales/fairy tales, and it made me think that in some ways (though I wouldn't stretch this too far) manga/anime characters share some commonalities, in terms of their archetype-ness, with those in fairy/folk tales. (For example, there's often not a lot of time spent on psychological depth, to make them "real people" that we would identify with.) Again, this is a very broad generalization and there are examples where there isn't the case. But it's something I've noticed.