All together these 4 individual "Question Arcs" work so beautifully together to help you learn not only about the characters but about the town itself. The long run time 100% is an aspect of that as well. I'm unsure if the various adaptions would be able to do the story justice if you didn't have the time to get to know these characters. I am unsure of what the "answer arcs" have in store for me, but I can't wait for what Ryukishi07 cooked up.