Lengths of my top 5 favourite stories:
41
45
42
40
50
I guess that’s my answer.
That’s definitely not to say that every story between 40-50 eps is good, or that every one below that is bad, just that those 5 authors had enough plot and character development to fill 40-50 chapters. They had complex plots and a lot of ideas, which is why I liked their stories in the first place. A story that stuffs eps with filler, no thanks.
My story, for example, takes place almost entirely during a 2-hour event. If I tried to stretch that into 50 eps, it’d be a mess.
So for sure don’t plan your story based on meeting certain length requirements. Plan the plot, and the number of episodes will sort itself out.