>>282047128
In a thread a few months ago an other anon pointed that out as a urban legend. Only very early drafts had over 30 episodes planned. Yet after rewatching it recently I got the same feeling too. The individual episodes are wonderful, but it somewhat feels a bit too jumpy overall. So often there's just like a 'conflict' of the week, that gets resolved until the next 'conflict' emerges the next episode. This is all saved by the overarching narrative and the good character writing (Hitomi being the best even. 10/10 likeable), but it's uncanny how close the surface formula is to something like Sailor Moon.

Also I felt like this 20 years ago, but rekindled with the thought, that I actually like the movie more than the series. Depressed Hitomi is 11/10 waifu material. The ending also felt more satisfying there. In the series it was a real downer for her to leave Gaia.