Michael is Low on Hit Points

1  mefloraine

Nu, because if a little rambling means you need to drop a post, I must need to drop my blog.

Anyway, I don't think you can really regulate what constitutes a show that should be dropped and a show that shouldn't. I think it just goes on the feel of the show and your ability to soldier on. It's like gambling, but you're using your time and energy as money.

I personally drop shows if the first two (sometimes just one) episodes can't catch me. I don't care if it's great later because I don't want to waste the time reaching the "later". I have better things to do. Like write completely unnecessary opinions on other peoples' blogs!

2  Landon

My gripe isn't with people who drop series, but with people who don't. Or, rather, people who feel you should watch any anime through to the end before formulting an opinion on it.

I loved Canaan, but the fact that you feel you should have stopped watching it doesn't bother me in the least. Not everyone's going to dig the same stuff. What irks me is when someone goes into some tirade about how you didn't give the series a chance and how you can't say anything about it without seeing every episode. I don't get that. If you watch a few episodes and get turned off, you shouldn't feel compelled to keep watching and you shouldn't feel as if you have to complete it to come to an educated opinion.

So yeah, you're just going through a mental exercise to see if there's any sort of "rule" you can follow when it comes to drawing that line and you're finding that there's no real rule one can follow. Makes sense to me, since the way one reacts to an anime (or TV show or movie or whatever) is usually irrational and emotional.

Some series are going to rub you the wrong way and you'll throw up your arms in frustration, delete all the files, and post some stuff about it sucking. Some might not be all that, and you stick with them, then after the fact you find that you think it sucks more than that series you ranted abou five weeks ago. That's pretty much how it is to be a fan of any medium, so I don't get why some fans feel this is the wrong way to react.

3  DoctorDazza

Wow, I'm really surprised that I've found another person who DOESN'T like Excel Saga.

I found it lame and annoying, it's only highlight was the OP and that was it. Dropped it like a piano off a 2 story building.

I do agree though, I watched two series of Nogizaka Haruka and it's left me empty in both my hard drive and soul. Should have dropped it.

Re  Michael is LoHP

@ mefloraine

I was just trying to put a little lulz at the end of the post. Rambling can be insightful and adventurous fun!

For a while I was beginning to think I could actually formulate a workable dropping system. Phantom blew that out of the water. The biggest shock there was that, seeing how things progressed, later events shed a different light on the aspects of the core plot that bothered me the most. I suddenly 'got it,' and now I really love the series start to finish.

The gambling analogy you make is quite apt. But the game is rigged in my favor. If I lose and get a bad series, I still got to lay on my ass and act all lazy and comfy for a while. That's how I roll!

@ Landon

"since the way one reacts... is usually irrational and emotional"

Very true. My favorite series are the ones that hit me emotionally and won't let me go. The shows I tend to drop bring out the emotions of repulsion (maybe a bit strong on the wording) and frustration. And of course, emotions are something personal and unique. But in return, that can make for a unique perspective and thus interesting writing.

When not finishing a series, you'll be missing later events that may put things into a better perspective. Or conversely, a worse perspective. You never know. Regardless of how things change, those emotions you felt at first have meaning. They are perfectly valid criticisms. I say my view on Phantom's start has changed, but that doesn't mean everything that was at first wrong is now 100% justified. There are issues there, evidenced with my initial displeasure. And that -- as I'm sure you would agree -- is honest and valid.

@ DoctorDazza

"Dropped it like a piano off a 2 story building"

First off, lol. Secondly, Excel Saga is one of those hyperactive reference anime that I tend not to get. At the time I watched the first couple episodes, I was dumbfounded. Not only did it do nothing for me, but in a strange way it annoyed me. I've since warmed up a little towards this style, but I still don't think Excel is for me. Seeing as Pani Poni Dash is in the same camp, I'll give that another shot, and if it plays out well, I'll give... let's not make that promise just yet.

See how I sucker myself into giving anime I don't like chance after chance. "It's been a while, and I've changed a bit. Maybe I'll like it this time." At least on second attempts, I tend to drop immediately if things feel off.

4  Kairu

Same here. I should have dropped CANAAN at the first place. I was expecting huge on CANAAN but all I got was none-sense action and boring episodes. I was about to drop it but I only have to watch 3 episodes so I just forwarded the episodes until the end. Hurr durr.

5  Baka-Raptor

I dropped Canaan twice in three episodes. Then Alphard started showing up and I liked it all of a sudden.

My first drop ever was the Fushigi Yuugi OVA. I loved the original series. Then I watched a few episodes of the OVA and was utterly confused. I had no idea anime could suck. Now I know it all too well.

6  Yumeka

I have an obsession with finishing what I start. Out of years of watching anime, I think I've only deliberately dropped about 3 or 4 series. Since most shorter series tell a story rather than stand-alone, episodic events, I feel I need to see the whole thing in order to rightfully judge it. Some did have an epic turnaround, others didn't.

But yeah, I don't think there's a singular good way to decide when you should have dropped a series. Perhaps if you watch more than just a few episodes and you really can't stand it anymore than you could at the beginning, then it's just not for you.

Re  Michael is LoHP

@ Kairu

Canaan would have been a drop at 26 episodes. But with only a few more episodes, and an almost guaranteed good final fight between Canaan x Alphard, I pushed through. I still can't believe they botched that last fight so bad.

I've only used the fast forward cheat once, and that was during a few episodes in the middle of Shana 2, until Pheles arrived.

@ Baka-Raptor

For me, Alphard -- like the rest of the cast -- never lived up to her full potential. I think she truly could have been a great character, but I could say that about a lot of other ones too.

It's funny you say "I had no idea anime could suck," because for the longest time I thought the opposite. Of course that was mostly fueled by prejudice and never really watching anything. In college, I wanted to check out the art (visual) of anime, and a friend lent me Neon Genesis Evangelion. It took about 4 or 5 more really good anime seen in a row afterwards to clue me in that, hey, maybe this anime stuff aint too bad. I guess something should be said about not looking back on the mistakes of one's youth...

@ Yumeka

For me, I think it's less on needing the full experience to judge a series, and more the desire to find out what happens later. It's the great unknown that I just have to see, for who knows what reason.

You know, I always felt bad about fast forwarding through a few of the middle episodes of Shana 2, as I mentioned in a reply above. Maybe if I'm so set on seeing the rest, I should just give in and use that method more?

"Perhaps if you watch more than just a few episodes and you really can't stand it anymore than you could at the beginning, then it's just not for you."

That was Phantom. Things about it irked me right off the bat. After a few more episodes, I felt the same. But then at either 7 or 8, it suddenly started to hit me. And I'm so glad that I kept up with trying to watch the show. But then the flip side is Xam'd, which I pushed through to the bitter end. Fast forward would have helped there!

Re  Michael is LoHP

@ Author, who posted about this on his blog, but he doesn't believe in comments, which means I have to hijack his remarks and comment on them here

"When I dropped Mai-HiME, I knew where the second half was going, and I did not like it one bit. Just like Xenoglossia, actually. By the way, do you know what makes it hardest to drop? Having bought half of the DVDs. Ergo: never buy unwatched."

But the drama was soooo delicious. Plus, a good battle royal is one of my all-time favorite setups.

And yes, I would imagine having put money into a show would make it a bit more painful to drop. However, I might retort that it would provide a good motivator for most people to drop what they don't like, instead of sinking more money into future volumes (unless we're talking about a boxed set).

7  Kairu

@Michael: I used the FF cheat on Pani Poni Dash, K-ON, Ergo Proxy and Bakemonogatari. Cause they suck.

Re  Michael is LoHP

@ Kairu

You're killing me listing K-ON! and Bakemonogatari. As much as I like K-ON!, I at least understand a smidgen of reasons why people won't like it. But Bakemonogatari is just so well written. Even if you don't like the style, you have to admit that the dialogue is well constructed and delivered, right?

8  WanderingMind

One thing that affects whether or not I drop a show is whether I watch it on DVD or fansub. Usually, when I watch something on DVD, I'm more hesitant to drop it because I actually bought it and didn't want to use the money I bought it with to waste. The problem here is that even then, I still can't get myself to finish a show. This is exactly what happened with Trinity Blood. I went ahead and bought the DVD box set a while ago. I thought the first episode was pretty good, but the series went downhill fast. I struggled to get through each episode and I was asking myself why I didn't drop it. It took a few people to convince me to drop it, so I did that after finishing episode 14. Now I was stuck with a bunch of DVDs I didn't want to watch. You know what I did? I traded them in and used the store credit to get Giant Robo: The Animation. Problem solved.

I need to find a way to get rid of the DVDs for Nerima Daikon Brothers, which I got a few years back. It's a musical from the director of Excel Saga, so I don't think you will like it very much. Even though the show was only 13 episodes, I wanted to drop it. Nerima Daikon Brothers was entertaining for the first episode, but the show was so repetitive that it ended up being stale by the third episode. I think the low episode count is why I finished it.

I don't buy anime DVDs as much as I used to because I'm more selective and a lot of the stuff I now watch isn't available on DVDs here. If I have to watch something on DVD, I try to borrow them from a friend. That way, I won't have the regret of actually buying it. This is exactly what I did with Elfen Lied. I watched the first half of the show with some friends at school a few months ago and almost fell asleep because I found it boring. I would have watched the rest with some friends, but I was busy and ended up borrowing my friend's box set to finish watching it. I guess I wanted to finish it since it was 13 episodes, but it felt a lot longer. I'm glad I borrowed it instead of buying it.

9  Scamp

Heh, I'm the absolute total opposite. Following my usual pattern of watching, since I give practically everything in each season at least one episode to prove itself, I've developed a very harsh dropping routine. For example this season I tried at least the first episode of about 15 anime. I'm now left with three. Admittedly that's more down to how terrible this current season is but if you were to take summer, which I consider to be a quite good season, I finished 4 out of 10 anime.

Do I regret it? Do I look back and think 'I probably should have stuck by that series until it got better'? I did at the start but not anymore. A harsh dropping routine means I have more time to check out other series that might have flew past my radar otherwise. There's always more to watch, don't waste your time watching something you're not enjoying.

Re  Michael is LoHP

@ WanderingMind

I think one psychological aspect associated with a DVD stems from that it is physically near you. Its presence serves as a visual reminder that there is something that "needs" to be finished.

Ah yes, the low episode count gets you too. The one good thing about that hook is within itself: you only waste your time on a few episodes. That's much better than pushing through 26+.

Still, I have to agree that subpar shows feel much longer than they truly are. Nanoha, Canaan, and Gantz felt endless. Actually, I think I just figured out why! All three of those shows I sure as hell didn't marathon. They were spread out over a long period of time. I'd watch an episode, say "fuck this," and drop it for a while before I came back to it. Spreading them out probably made them seem that much longer.

@ Scamp

I must say, if you're going to watch every new show that premieres, you're dropping method becomes necessary. With that many series being taken in, you'd lose your mind if you "had" to keep up with them all. I'd be dropping series left and right too.

From there, I'd probably -- over time -- separate those dropped shows into two categories. 1) Series I still have some interest or curiosity in. 2) Series that demand less of a second chance. Type 1 would be put "on hold." Then again, with taking in that many new shows, those on hold would probably never get their second chance...

10  FaS

sup, long time no read. Hope the year's been good :) Lol @ the "maybe I should have dropped this post." Anyways, when it comes to dropping, I must say I'm pretty much the same way, except many times I don't even begin an anime if I remotely feel the premise is stupid or redundantly close to a previous anime. I can't remember if I made a post on this (if I haven't I will), but one of the things about Bleach is that even though it basically has been sucking balls for a good 15 episodes straight with this crappy Zanpaktou arc, we all know it's gonna get badass soon. The characters are often predictable and MUCH less cool than people off of other shows, but the promise IS there that something cool WILL happen. In addition, the originality is good too. A truly original anime often is stuck with because a little bit of what you said about not wanting to miss something.

All in all, this year, I have tried to make it my responsibility to do good in school while consistently reviewing anime I say I'll review and even if I don't like it in the beginning a whole lot, it'll be up to me to find something interesting to write. Like for example, the recently early fan-subbed Ladies vs Butlers/Redi x Bato...there's a myriad of material I'm sure you could write about that lol. But anyways, in my case it seems things are the opposite. I started watching fate stay night for a bit...and just got pissed off because it was so slow at first. But people keep going on and on about it. There are SOOOO many shows I've ignored that I shouldn't have (or have to catch up on) and it's depressing.

But at any rate, it's nice to see some more posts from you, it's been a while :P

Re  Michael is LoHP

@ FaS

I tend not to pick up shows until they're finished and have garnered a good bit of attention and positive reviews. It's only recently that I've started (and stopped) watching shows as they air. So I usually have a pretty decent idea of the "quality" of each series I begin. However, I don't read too much on a show before I begin it, as I want to go in knowing as little as possible.

However, I'm not too sure that knowing the premise of a series will help all that much in judging its quality beforehand. Canaan's premise seemed to hint at a much better anime than the execution actually provided. I kept on looking forward to a should-be-spectacular final showdown that ended up being anything but. On the other hand, I've seen bad premises executed astoundingly well before.

You mention having so many shows you need to catch up on, but I think that's a good thing -- nay, a great thing. It certainly beats out having nothing good you're looking forward to!