I feel like fans mistake a very long and still ongoing story for dragging lack of development, which I think is the most understandable misconception I've seem in fandoms

This rant will be about stories that are really long and has to signs to ending right now, lack of progression and development, and how it can be different from that case we're the author is dragging the same situation without finishing.

For better understanding, an story is usually divided by three parts, the first, second, and third arc, the 1st is like the surface, it shows the basis, how this world works, the characters, what it needs to be done, you know the 1+1. The 2nd act consists in developing, the story progress, the character learn and change, they get strong, it's their daily routine, animes tend to do this with a lot of arcs which I really love it(when done right ofc), it's like graduating, getting a job etc. The third arc is the end, usually the big villain wants to do something big like ending the world and the characters, already been through a lot of adventure, end it all, it's like dying.

I thought of that when I consumed Bungou Stray Dogs, it's a long franquise that have been going since 2016 and has no signs to end. It's half this situation half dragging.

This stories has too many characters and consequently too many subplots, for brief summary bc it's not only a BSD rant but general there's Atsushi who work as the Armed Detective Agency, solving crimes used by supernatural powers, and each of his colleagues has different background, if you think that too much, you don't even now that there's more organization with a lot of characters if backstories. It's too much to focus when you have both giving side characters their time to shine AND focusing on stopping crimes and fighting villains. The thing is that the story at least try shows more than sad backstories, we see the detectives, mafiosos, terrorists doing ther jobs, making plans and even throwing parties instead of being sad about what happened and doing the famous sad monologues, which I find a cool way to not fall into FLANDERIZATION.

Fans are (rightfully) complaining that the author shows backstories and don't develop them, which is true, each chapter releases ONE time of the month, and there's only 125 rn, and some backstories were just written not long ago, he even tried to bring early characters to this fight, for example Lucy, Ango, Kenji, Lucy who started to hated the Agency now helps them, Ango who caused the death of Dazai's friend has given a chance to help, etc. But he needs not only to show that, but the news characters, the Hunting Dogs and the new terrorists, plans to stop the villain AND development the new backstories (Yosano and tachihara). It's too much thing to focus, and that's makes me believe we haven't walked past THE FIRST ACT, more precisely the end of the first act, starting to the second.

Said that, Asagiri is really dragging this fight, each chapter is Atsushi and Akutagawa dying and resurrecting again, the past 10 chapters is them fighting, just fighting. If weren't for that my point would stand out.

An example of the second act being dragged out is Spy x Family, there is already an established world building, relationship and conflicts characters to develop, it's only NOW that they're finding out about the human experiments.

The third act being dragged is Boku no Hero, sorry! The characters kept fighting and fighting, and fighting, fighting... And when Deku tried to do something more than fighting, saving Shigaraki, the story already cut to the ending timeskip. Demon Slayer would have a lot of development but the author got pressured to finish sooner and faster.

And that's why fans always says the story progression is slow and dragged out, never ending fightsdragged out, the new chapters/episodes takes too long to release, too many things happening at the same times and that makes me think we haven't even left the first act!