Forum - View topicAt what point or how many episodes do you drop a series?
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yotsubafanfan
 Posts: 653 |
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I usually do a 5 episode thing in which if the anime doesn't grab my interest within 5 episodes I won't finish it, and if it passes the 5 episode mark I'll continue it. HOWEVER, if under any circumstances the anime's first episode is so bad I no longer have any interest what's so ever (Listen to me girls I'm your father for example turned out to be a Loli con and I don't like Loli con anime at all therefore I ended after the first episode, same goes for Kodomo no Jinkan.) I end it right there and not come back to it unless I'm, super bored and want to give it a second chance (Melachony of Haruhi Suzimiya for example but that's because I watched episode 6 instead of episode 1. (Don't ask) I also like to do shorter series before longer ones unless the longer one's grab my interest (for example I'm holding off on Haruhi once again to continue season 2 of Kodocha and start the Shoujo classic Marmalade Boy.)
So yeah those are my methods, what's your method of determining what order or how long your going to watch an anime, I'm very interested and I'm very excited to see what you guys come up with. 
[EDIT: A pet peeve of mine is super-long thread titles, so I hope this shorter version makes enough sense. -TK] |
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Rhyono
Posts: 1039 |
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For me, based on the first episode, it may fall into one of three categories: drop, watch a few more, no reason not to continue.
For the middle option: I'll usually watch a few more episodes and if it becomes an immense chore to watch it or I simply hate it: I'll drop it. However, if I'm on episode 8 and there are 12, I'd rather just finish it. I never rate animes that I haven't finished because I'd feel that my vote was overly biased in the negative; if I finish it and still hate it, then the vote was justified. |
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Graceful Nanami
Posts: 303 Location: United States |
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Good god I wish I was watching Marmalade Boy for the first time. I envy you. SO GOOD. *pets her DVDs* I wish Funimation had done all of Kodocha. I still need tor ead the manga but I don't think I'll ever watch the anime because it isn't all done in English.
And I usually go for a few episodes and if I find that my mind is wandering around thinking about other stuff or even other shows while watching, I stop. I hate it when that happens, though. This happened to me with Mermaid Saga recently. I need to try and finish it but... eh. 
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gsilver
Posts: 626 |
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I already struggle to keep up with the shows that I'm very interested in, so if a show doesn't impress me at the start, and continue to impress me through its run, it's dropped. Heck, I haven't even managed to finish Natsume's Book of Friends season 4 or Chihayafuru yet, and I love those shows!
I don't even give shows an episode 1 unless they sound interesting from the outset. If a show gets a lot of positive buzz, and sustains it (unlike say, Space Pirates) I'll go back and check it out, but even then, not always. I've been watching anime for 15 years, and I've still got a mile-long list of shows in my backlog. 
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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I don't think I've ever made a conscious decision to drop a series(Sengoku Collection had be thinking real hard about it after episode 2, though). With Guilty Crown and Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals, I just never got around to watching the next episode and later "formally" dropped them(removing Rock Lee from my CR queue and riding myself of my Legitimate Acquisitions of GC).
As for Listen to me Girls, I'd suggest trying the second episode sometime. The fanservice is taken down a huge notch and continues to fall a bit from there(the illustrations at the end excepted). It's also when the story proper starts. |
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rheiders
 Posts: 1137 Location: Colorful Colorado :) |
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This is pretty much how I am with any show in the middle of its run. I only watch shows I'm really interested in, and even then, if I come across a mediocre episode, even if it's surrounded by amazing episodes, I will probably end up (often unintentionally) dropping it. This happened this season with Hiiro no Kakera and Accel World, though from the sound of it that wasn't a bad decision. It happened with No. 6 a few seasons back. It's not always that I want to drop it--often, I just don't have time to watch all the shows I start out with, and I end up dropping the bottom few. (I'm behind on all the shows I'm watching this season, mainly because it's such a good season and there are too many shows I'm loving! Not that I'm complaining, of course.  )
However, I'm a bit nicer with series that are in my backlog, especially if I rented the DVD or something (I have Angel Beats!, which I checked out from the library, sitting on my TV stand right now). If I rented it, I'll try to watch it all the way through, no matter what. If I'm watching it online, unless I find the first episode completely repulsive, I'll give it three episodes. If it still holds my interest by then, I watch the rest. If not, I drop it. But even so, my backlog is overwhelmingly huge. 
Incidentally, with manga, which I'm a lot less picky with, I have a two-volume rule. |
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Fifth B
 Posts: 213 |
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Eh, I don't really have a set limit. I'll watch a show until it gets on my nerves, and drop it when it does. As a result, I haven't stopped watching a show in a long time.
Back in the day, however, I had a very specific system. After every third episode, I would pause, and ask myself whether I would rather keep going or insert sterilized needles under each of my fingernails. In retrospect, that system worked pretty well! |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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I pretty much always go by the tried and true 3 episode test. If I'm not feeling a show by the time the 3rd episode is finished then it is dropped. As far as what I look for, it's different depending on the type of show, but overall it just comes down to enjoyment factor. I can't say that a show has to be of a certain quality for me to watch it either, since I do end up watching a fair amount of terrible shows, like this season's Shining Hearts. And this season I dropped Kids on the Slope after 3 (maybe 4) episodes. It's a good show, but I just can't watch another love triangle (I hear it evolved into a polygon) where things would be solved if people would just communicate their feelings with eachother. I just can't get much enjoyment out of that, but I can see why others do.
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4750G
 Posts: 546 |
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Actually, I only started dropping shows when I started following new anime releases by season. I drop a show when (1) the beginning (first 2-5 episodes) is not very interesting or is very boring or is full of cliches that hurt my eyes OR (2) halfway through the show things start to go downhill fast. It's easier for me to drop a show if I've only seen less than 5 episodes. More often than not I finish a show I've watched no matter how ugly things turn, but there are titles that I really could not bear to continue so I dropped them altogether without finishing them despite having watched over 10 episodes.
I don't encounter this problem that often, however. The anime I watch are often recommended; I read a review first or I ask around first before I actually watch an anime. This is the reason why like gsilver here, I have over a thousand episodes worth of backlog, all from my To Watch anime list. I never put an anime that I will most probably drop in my To Watch list. However, since I started following new titles weekly instead of doing a marathon once they're complete, I've opened myself to the possibility of being fooled by the plot summaries, thus making me drop shows. Some titles I've watched in the last year had very good premises but very weak executions. Had I waited for the show to finish and for the reviews to come out, I most probably would not have watched them in the first place. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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It really depends how I'm watching it.
If it's something I already bought on DVD then I'll almost always finish it. Unless it's so painfully awful that I can't stand it, I will get to it eventually. In the short term though, I'm actually a lot more inclined to drop something I own. Unless I'm really into a show I'll usually shelve it and watch something else I'm really into. I mean, it's not like it's going anywhere. I'm also a lot more inclined to keep watching something if it's dubbed because then even if I'm getting a bit bored with it I can just leave it on in the background and drift in and out as my level of interest dictates. On the other hand, If I'm watching a show subtitled and via streaming, then that calls for me to actually sit down and watch it and it alone. That being the case, I don't really want to watch something unless it's great. Now, if I'm considering dropping something, how many episodes I give it before doing so is a product of both my initial expectation and my current opinion. The latter generally takes priority though. If a show is really bad then I'm gonna drop it really quick. Pretty much instantly, or at most after a couple episodes. If a show is bad then it becomes an actual chore to sit through it and just don't see the point in suffering through a bad show on the off chance it improves. Especially since, if a show is bad to begin with, it will likely never be better than mediocre even if it does improve. If a show is at least mediocre on the other hand then I'll give it longer. Since it's not actually painful to watch I don't mind giving it a chance. Of course, in the long run, I really have no interest in watching a mediocre show. I feel like I've got at least a chance that it'll get better though. So anyway, at this point, it becomes about my expectations for a show. If a show was a long shot to begin with then it probably doesn't get much more than four or so episodes to start wowing me. If I think a show has potential though then I'll give it till about the half way point. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4111 |
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You equated {the first episode of} Listen to me Girls, I'm your Father with {the first episode of} Kodomo no Jikan? That's so not possible I can't even wrap my head around it. First of all, Kodomo no Jikan has so many psychological undercurrents that it's amazing the girls, Rin mostly of course, even lived that long while the other series is a fairly standard sitcom plot which doesn't come into play until episode two. Anyway, yeah, five episodes is about right but with 12-13 episode series, you may as well watch the whole thing {though I'm having problems with Fortune Arterial, the one with vampires on the student council. Every character in the series gave a big "We're led by bloodsuckers? So what?" and if they don't care, why should I? I'm stuck at 5 on that one}. Not one... Example: I hated the first episode of Shuffle but I watched episode 2 several months later. The series caught my interest when Asa showed Rin a rather unusual hiding place. She had nothing to do with the overall premise as she wasn't even supposed to be one of the choices {or what? Would considering the whole stupid set-up a plan be over thinking Gods and Demons?}. I watched the series for her and I enjoyed the series because of her. |
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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I don't really have a set number of episodes after which I'll drop something. It's more when I feel like it's a chore to watch the next episode that I'll drop it. I only lasted 5 episodes of Phi Brain, for example, but if I get that far with a 12-13 episode series, I'll usually finish it at some point unless it's truly awful. Yet somehow, I'm still watching Hiiro no Kakera...
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shabaz92
 Posts: 55 Location: MA |
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For the most part I don't have a set number to drop something. I'll continue to watch until it gets boring or feels more like a chore to get through. Usually I'll give any show I have an interest in at least 4 - 6 episodes before calling it quits. Even then I don't like to drop stuff, so something has to be pretty terrible for me to want to stop.
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4750G
Posts: 546 |
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Oh, I dropped Hiiro no Kakera by episode 4. I actually watched up to episode 19 of Phi Brain but I couldn't watch one more episode. |
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RGaspar
 Posts: 243 |
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Just recently I've checked my anime list to see if I ever dropped a series and it seems I've never did it. o___o (I've dropped a couple of manga titles, though).
It's more about how much it'd take to finish a series, instead. For shows that are really awful, I could take as much as two to three weeks from one ep to the other (It's almost as I dropped the series already, and casually see new eps once in a blue moon). My record was to take 5 months to watch a 13 eps series (That was more than complete by the time I got to it), and within the same time range I've watched the first four seasons of Sailor Moon
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