Anyone else irritated a bit by specific season anime suggestions?

[Notshane]

In particular, what I am referring too is whenever I ask for an anime, and in one of the suggestions I read:

"(Insert Anime Here) (Third Season)"
"(Insert Anime Here) (Seasons 1-2)"

And, well I am not saying I do not appreciate the suggestion, I get quite a LOT of these whenever I ask for new anime to watch which is usually only once every couple months or so cause whenever I find a certain show, I tend to find a link of shows similar to it. Longest I ever went without asking for an anime was two years! Those were some fun years of anime

Anyway back to the topic at hand. To me, it irks me a lot because I feel like I will watch it and one of the following will occur:

1) Story from the prior season carrying over that was a major plot point.
2) At some instance, a flashback of some sort is a reference crucial to the central story at hand.
3) Perhaps deciding to finally watch that apparently bland season or two, only to find out the latter seasons had a few inside jokes or references that aided the story with more comedy and helped you understand long elaborations better.

Well comedies wouldn't normally carry over any of this stuff really, I usually don't get suggestions of those labeled as "(Anime Comedy) (Season Two)" or whatever; it's mostly dramas, I mean what comedy would be so stale you'd want to skip a whole season of it?

But, yeah. Anyone else ever get bugged by these kind of suggestions, perhaps sharing a similar idiosyncrasy that I have of wanting to watch all of an anime, regardless of how stale or tedious the prior season(s) were, just so you feel like you're on point with the main story? This has been a recent gripe of mine, and I am curious if anyone has the same feel I do about it.

[SeijiSensei]

I make a lot of recommendations both here and at MAL and usually avoid limiting my suggestions to specific seasons or episodes. I have occasionally done the latter with episodic shows of varying quality like Black Lagoon, but you're free to ignore my prejudices and watch the whole thing.

Some sequels are substantially less impressive than the originals (for me, Psycho Pass 2 is a good example), and I'll sometimes point that out in a recommendation. I'll also warn about inconclusive endings since some people dislike that kind of show.

Sometimes I'll suggest watching a different show before the recommended one because they are related in some way. For instance, Lucky*Star has a lot of references to Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu that someone not having seen Haruhi would miss entirely. Haruhi might also appeal to a prospective Lucky*Star viewer so suggesting it makes sense.

[cyth]

The most retarded thing I see is people recommending CLANNAD After Story but say you can skip the first season ... When the buildup is integral to everything in After Story.

[Jan-Poo]

I think one thing is recommending a specific season, another thing is recommending to just watch a specific season and skipping the rest.

I can recommend a specific season for various reasons. For example often the request has very specific requirements. If one asks for an anime where there are girls that learn how to use special powers in a school-like environments I will tell them that "Nanoha Strikers" has it, and I will specify that specific season because that's the only one that fits with the requirements.

But I never really thought that people would assume an implication that they should skip previous seasons.

[GreyZone]

There are cases where it's justified though.

For example Fate/stay night. The reason why many people recommend skipping the first anime is because the 2006 anime completely mischaracterizes the cast aside from maybe Saber. It portrays the main character Shirou as a sexist prick, because it just shows his "girls shouldn't fight" lines, but does not include the explanations that he actually just would use about any excuse to be the only one fighting and risking to be hurt even if the other person had been a male. The anime also directly contradicts the LORE more than once. The result is that many people came to hate Shirou just because studio DEEN was incompetent in portraying the main character correctly.

There is a reason why I am using this signature.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by GreyZone

There are cases where it's justified though.

For example Fate/stay night. The reason why many people recommend skipping the first anime is because the 2006 anime completely mischaracterizes the cast aside from maybe Saber. It portrays the main character Shirou as a sexist prick, because it just shows his "girls shouldn't fight" lines, but does not include the explanations that he actually just would use about any excuse to be the only one fighting and risking to be hurt even if the other person had been a male. The anime also directly contradicts the LORE more than once. The result is that many people came to hate Shirou just because studio DEEN was incompetent in portraying the main character correctly.

There is a reason why I am using this signature.

You just had to bring the whole "how DEEN butcher Shiro"-thing here don't you?

Anyway, regarding your comment, I don't think DEEN's Fate/Stay Night counts as "season one" of anything. As an anime that stand on its own, it's a story that has clear beginning and clear end in one continuous season (no prequel, no sequel, no next seasons). You may forcefully place Ufotable's Fate/Zero as its prequel, but not really, as DEEN already took artistic liberties with their version of F/SN that the "climax of the 4th Holy Grail War"-part is a bit different from the one in Fate/Zero. Again, DEEN's Fate/Stay Night is one whole story just like Utawarerumono, Scrapped Princess, Zetsuen no Tempest, and countless other titles which undivided by multiple seasons separated in a notable period of time. Thus, not really what the OP meant for.

[IceHism]

Yea i do get irritated... especially with the clannad example. Seeing people tell people to skip the first season goes beyond dumb. The only reason it works is because you are attached to the characters.

I don't tell people to skip seasons but i do warn them about controversial elements in a series. Like for example how Shakugan No Shana 2 is basically some kind of weird butchery since it stops following the novels at the point or i would say that Urobuchi isn't back for Psycho Pass 2 so don't expect anything as good as the first season.

I've seen some people say to skip nisemonogatari too and i'm not sure why you would do that...

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by IceHism

I've seen some people say to skip nisemonogatari too and i'm not sure why you would do that...

Yeah that would be like reading the whole Monogatari series while skipping Kizumonogatari.

.........

SHAAAAFT!!!

[GreyZone]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

You just had to bring the whole "how DEEN butcher Shiro"-thing here don't you?

Anyway, regarding your comment, I don't think DEEN's Fate/Stay Night counts as "season one" of anything. As an anime that stand on its own, it's a story that has clear beginning and clear end in one continuous season (no prequel, no sequel, no next seasons). You may forcefully place Ufotable's Fate/Zero as its prequel, but not really, as DEEN already took artistic liberties with their version of F/SN that the "climax of the 4th Holy Grail War"-part is a bit different from the one in Fate/Zero. Again, DEEN's Fate/Stay Night is one whole story just like Utawarerumono, Scrapped Princess, Zetsuen no Tempest, and countless other titles which undivided by multiple seasons separated in a notable period of time. Thus, not really what the OP meant for.

Not really, the source material, the F/sn VN has 3 routes, of which the 2006 more or less adapts the first one (ufotable already stated that they will not adapt it, but the other 2 routes) and in the VN you usually should/must play the first route before trying the other 2 because they are based on each other even though they are like parallel universes to each other.

So if you skip the first anime, you will miss the complete resolution for Saber, which IS like "skipping season 1". But even though that is true, most people advice against it anyway, or recommend reading the source material.


In other cases the "old version"/"first season" is even considered better. For example I witnessed many people critisizing HunterxHunter(2011) for toning down the gore too much or changing scenes to make protagonists appear "less evil" (heart rip by Killua during the hunter exam arc for example)

[cleo]

The only series where I would suggest (not recommend) to skip a season is Kuroshitsuji. Okada went off on her own with S2, while S1 & 3 follow the manga. Than again. most people like the characters enough after watching S1, so they'll watch S2 anyway.

[Notshane]

Originally Posted by cyth

The most retarded thing I see is people recommending CLANNAD After Story but say you can skip the first season ... When the buildup is integral to everything in After Story.

Omg this pissed me off too like the first season did SO much and yet, everyone always says to watch After Story I don't know why people dislike it so much because it was still really good! Like, that is definitely the best example that comes to mind whenever I think of a show where, sure the next season had a really good story that is perhaps more better than the one before it, but the one before it still made lots of ground on its own where you would enjoy the next even more if you watched the prior one first.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Some sequels are substantially less impressive than the originals (for me, Psycho Pass 2 is a good example), and I'll sometimes point that out in a recommendation. I'll also warn about inconclusive endings since some people dislike that kind of show.

Yes, I can agree to this. The Familiar of Zero was a great anime when I first watched it, but hated how the next seasons were only in sub (at a time before I could tolerate something being subbed) and I watched them anyway because the story was just that good. However, the third season felt like a rehash of the second season and by the fourth, I was done with it and did not even bother finishing it either. Even if I wanted to, though, I wouldn't know where to begin as the main story is now completely off my head; and I'd have to undergo the grief that the creator is deceased now and the show was left unfinished.

Speaking of, I still hate that MM! followed that same fate. That one had a very good story that never got dove into

[Sackett]

Well, I often recommend a specific season when the request is asking for something specific that only shows up in that season.

I then usually add whether or not skipping the earlier seasons is viable.

For example, you can pretty easily watch Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu without watching the first season. You can also skip the Fumoffu season pretty easily. This might be important to people who do or do not want comedy vs drama.

However, watching Full Metal Panic: Second Raid without watching the first season does not make sense, and I usually call that out.

Another example would be A Certain Scientific Railgun and A Certain Scientific Railgun S. While watching the first season improves S it really isn't necessary.

Suppose someone asks for an anime that matches perfectly with Railgun S, but they also say they don't like fan service and hate psycho lesbians. (An actual request was like this).

Well, I'm going to recommend Railgun S, and recommend that they skip the first season of Railgun. If I'm feeling really nice I might specifically call out and maybe even link the two or three specific scenes in the first season of Railgun that have relevance to Railgun S.

I often recommend Clannad: After Story as matching a request, but also identify that they need to watch Clannad first, and assure them that it is worth it.

Occasionally if I am in a rush, I might not mention the need to watch the first season, because I assume that unless someone says "skip the first season" the assumption is that you need to watch proceeding seasons.

[Triple_R]

I think that for most shows, having watched the original is borderline necessary just to understand what's going on in any sequels. But Sackett is right, there are exceptions.

Railgun S is a good example of that. I delved into Railgun S with minimal exposure to the original Railgun. For the most part, I didn't feel lost.

And Railgun S has significantly less ecchi-fanservice than the original Railgun, imo, and that did in fact play a role in me preferring Railgun S and finding it easier to get into.


The above being said, if you're the person making a recommendation (rather than the person receiving one), just be aware that people will naturally be hesitant to jump straight into a sequel for a show that they haven't seen the first season for. So in most cases, you might as well recommend the original season as well, even if you think the sequel is better. The only exceptions would be ones like Sackett mentioned, where there's a certain content shift from one season to the next that would naturally make the latter season more appealing to certain viewers. And by "content shift", I mean something like "drama-heavy to
comedy-heavy" or "ecchi-heavy to more serious sci-fi".

[Archon_Wing]

People often do this with series that take a while to pick up. It's kind of a gamble, but I often tell people to get an impression of Nanoha through it's 2nd season (A's), but fortunately we have the movie now, because I don't have much confidence that people will get through the first part of the first season. Though Nanoha also sports the advantage of prior knowledge being an advantage, but the shows themselves can also be watched in a self-contained fashion. Likewise, Clannad isn't anything particularly special at the start, and the first arc... well YMMV!

Although I do understand why it happens, it seems to be a desire to lead people to the knockout hits of a series, but honestly this is really something people should find on their own.

[Triple_R]

The first few episodes of Nanoha's 1st season are good if you like conventional magical girl anime. If you like shows like Card Captor Sakura and PreCure, you'll probably enjoy the entirety of Nanoha Season 1.

But if you're trying to sell Nanoha to someone who doesn't typically go for magical girl shows, then my recommendation would be to either start with Nanoha A's the TV series, or to go with the movie continuity instead of the TV series continuity. Of those two, the movies are probably the better route to take, but people might not have the time to watch a lengthy anime movie, of course.

[Archon_Wing]

Well, supposedly people were losing their shit over "fanservice" (you may remember that ANN review :S); honestly, i didn't notice any of that and thought that if people found that to be sexual, then THEY were the ones with the problem. The only exception is that infamous bath episode which is best forgotten.

And it's probably true someone that already is into magical girl anime wouldn't find s1 to be a problem, but it's definitely very rough and unrefined, much like say AIR compared to later Key works.

I would suggest movie 1 ---> A's ---> A's movie and umm, youtube Nanofate scene from StrikerS (okay, I should shut up now before they come after me. =p)

And that really leads to the ultimate problem. Honestly, it's theoretical, because I watched it in order, and that can never be changed; nor would I really want it to watch it any other way. It's actaully really dangerous to think for other people, even if one may think it's the best.

[Notshane]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

It's actaully really dangerous to think for other people, even if one may think it's the best.

That is basically the simplest way of putting it. Normally, recommendations can be a good thing; most of the time they are, it's just someone giving you an opinion on what they like. But, when they throw in specific seasons, that is just cause they liked those seasons more; they don't really know if you'd like the seasons they decided to skip, though. In fact, I bet there's roughly an 80% chance you probably wouldn't even care if there's a specific pattern this season has that stands out from the next, because you'd still want to know the story and that alone would be your motivation to watch it.

Because, let's face it, someone could say the Majin Buu Saga from Dragon Ball Z feels like a waste (cause it kinda was, given the prior one was originally the ending of the series) but the original creator continued the story after some thinking. Well in America we didn't notice this; that is because it came out later here, well in Japan I imagine there was a time delay between the Cell Saga and Majin Buu Saga because of the creator's abrupt choice to continue the show, which wasn't forced the story turned out great. However, many disliked it because of Gohan's new comedic adult nature in comparison to his epic seriousness he had as a teenager, though I thought it was fine because I knew he had to inherit that optimistic nature from Goku at one point. Or perhaps the villain in general, Buu, just looked stupid to most. However, no transformation was as epic as Super Saiyan 3 was, and that was proof enough they did put real effort into this Saga and that it was not just an extra for fan-service or something, though that doesn't mean it could not have been that way either.

Simply, if someone dislikes a certain season, that's their choice. They can recommend a show, and chances are you'll watch all of it. In my honest opinion, skipping seasons feels weird; that is, if it's filler. Filler has no relevance to the main story, and is the one reason I would skip a season. Because I mostly watch anime for the story, and if I am watching a drama that suddenly dipped into a light comedy for a bit, that would turn me off a little; or if they weren't being true to the source material they were copying. Like I won't say filler is awful, but most cases it is; and only very rarely do they ever make good filler that stays true to the story in its nature or perhaps mentions little bits of factual information that would have been considered a waste of time in the main story, but fit perfectly in filler. However, most of the time, it sucks. Maybe people dislike the Majin Buu Saga because it has the most filler? Who knows, because I watched all of Dragon Ball Z and I honestly never felt like I was missing much because whatever filler there was, it stayed true to the story. Come to think of it, I bet Goku getting his license was filler XD but it was hilarious, especially Piccolo and stayed true to the show; that is an example of good filler. But when a season is skipped that is canon to the source material and added some very vitally important information to the next season, then there is no reason why you shouldn't watch it.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by GreyZone

Not really, the source material, the F/sn VN has 3 routes, of which the 2006 more or less adapts the first one (ufotable already stated that they will not adapt it, but the other 2 routes) and in the VN you usually should/must play the first route before trying the other 2 because they are based on each other even though they are like parallel universes to each other.

So if you skip the first anime, you will miss the complete resolution for Saber, which IS like "skipping season 1". But even though that is true, most people advice against it anyway, or recommend reading the source material.

Now you're talking about the VN/game when the OP is talking about anime :V.

Games aside, DEEN's Fate/Stay Night stand on its own as an anime and not a first season to anything. So when people suggest to watch either Ufotable's Fate/Zero or UBW series, their suggestion is not "skipping season" of DEEN series because they are alternate stories from different continuities (DEEN vs Ufotable's continuity). So, anime viewers who watch one continuity (either DEEN or Ufo) shouldn't worry about skipping the other (either DEEN or Ufo), unless they really want to see the different take/retelling of the story.

[Fizix]

Hmmm, depends. Some shows have seasons that can be watched standalone, or may have a poor first season.

A series I've watched recently... Railgun, this is an example of that, I wouldn't recommend season 1 but would Railgun S and don't think its unreasonable to do so as they are almost like different shows, its completely plausible to love one and hate the other.

[Notshane]

Originally Posted by Fizix

series I've watched recently... Railgun, this is an example of that, I wouldn't recommend season 1 but would Railgun S and don't think its unreasonable to do so as they are almost like different shows, its completely plausible to love one and hate the other.

Yeah, but if the season you dislike is canon to the story and had important story elements I still think it would be bad to skip it.