How Do You Tackle New Seasons of Anime?

[Scribble]

This may be borderlining extremely sad, but I'm getting into the spirit of the new Fall season, hence why I posted this.

For those who like to try multiple shows every time a new season starts, how do you go about watching them? Do you, for example, wait until a large amount of "episode ones" are released and do a marathon? Do you download a new show as soon as it is uploaded and watch it? If you're a fansub watcher and you're eagerly anticipating a new series, do you download a RAW? For shows which do not come under your "MUST WATCH", do you wait until people say they are good before you try them out? At which stage do you decide to "drop" a new anime if you don't like it initially?
^ some of the questions you could answer.

Me personally, I like the idea of marathoning many first episodes at once, but since I have a short attention span, that doesn't usually work out how I intended. This season I'll just be watching every show that gets released immediately instead of marathoning. May be better that way.

[rooboy]

Well, I'll tackle it. Generally I won't watch RAWS early in a season.

Marathoning just episode ones would probably confuse me - I'd lose track of which plot point belonged to which show. If I wait, I usually wait to get several episodes of the same show together.
Other than that I would say it depends on how much I'm looking forward to a show. If it's a sequel to something I already liked (like Black Lagoon) then I'll just watch from the beginning. If it's in a genre I like (several shows this season seem to be in the TMP, SnS, ZnT mold) then I'll usually check it out from the first episode. If a show is in the Noitamina block, I'll usually check it out from the first episode (Hataraki Man this season). These shows get the longest leash - I might give them four to five episodes before dropping them. If it's a second season - I might give it up to ten episodes before deciding to drop it.
Then there's the next pile of shows. In the next pile are genres that I can like, but don't always like. I'll usually sample shows from this section depending on the buzz involved. This includes most GONZO shows, game-to-anime conversions, generic shoujo romance shows, and shounen romantic comedies. I frequently drop these after the first episode and save them to "shotgun" a bunch at once. That's also because frequently these shows change a great deal after the first couple of episodes, so even if my initial impression was unfavorable, it could change into a favorable one down the road.
In the third pile go shows that I occasionally like, but not usually. Shounen adventure shows, most mecha shows and magical girl shows go into this pile. I won't bother to check them out unless the buzz is pretty good. Even if it is, I usually won't look at it until several episodes have come out. If, after those first couple I don't like it, I'll never go back to it.

EDIT: I can see Srin Tuar's point below, but I've never seen a show I liked that no one subbed. However, I've had lots of ones I liked that were subbed slowly (Poirot and Marple springs to mind). If I do see a show I really like in subs, but it seems like it's going slow (Lamune also comes to mind), I'll just switch to raws.

[CaiSter21]

for me i just watch the fansubs of certain eps that i really like right away

for the not so interested ones, i just wait until i have a stockpile and nothing else to do, then i watch those

i haven't really done a marathon in a while, but those are definitely the best way to watch series cause you get the full extent of the plot since you are watching the eps consecutively

however, i am just too damn eager to wait until alot of the eps come out

[DaFool]

A.

First ep raw released -- > check the website to look at character designs ---> Decent enough to good? Proceed to Part B. | Crappy look or looks like a kids show? Drop.

B.

Download raw of first ep. --> Watch episode paying particular attention to atmosphere / mood, pacing, music, animation quality --> Decent enough? Proceed to Part C. | A disappointment production-wise (especially for non-comedies)? Drop.

C.

Wait for first fansub to come out (first eps are usually the most fansubbed) --> Watch fansub paying attention to plot --> Still interesting or unsure? Proceed to Part D. | Crappy premise / plot? Drop.

D.

Watch each subsequent ep until around episode 4 --> Still good? Go to Part E. | Losing steam? Drop.

E.

Determine when dedicated quality group subs the show consistently. Yes?
Proceed to Part F. No? Proceed to Part G.

F.

Follow the show as the fansub is released.

G.

Place show on backburner until it seems to be about to be completed. Is the show very good? Archive the raws just in case. | Only so-so but still interesting? Just wait for fansubs even if they take forever.

[Deathkillz]

well i have my own "to watch" list so wht i do is look at the first ep of wht is on my list (in subs) and if it catches my attention i continue and notes down when each sub ep is realeased...the rest goes in the bin...and if i see some that is being talked about that isnt on my list i might pick it up ^_^

[Srin Tuar]

Watch the raws on the day they come out.
If you wait for fansubs you may miss out, as sometimes the best series for you may be one that never gets subbed in a timely manner.

[ReAnim8]

I do like DaFool. As soon as I see something new, I check out the plots and animation, if it sounds decent then I download it. If it looks like crapright off the bat or if the vintage is too old, I give it the boot. After the first episode i'll either continue to check it out or flush it.
I stick with the subs, I'm comfortable in the time they come out. If I were to start watching the raws on top of the subs, on top of DVD's(netflix)....I think my head would explode.

[DragoonKain3]

(un?)Lucky me, I'm japanese impaired. And seeing as I like to understand what's going on and have the full impact of the story given to me in the first run, I'm really just limited to what is currently subbed by groups. Anything ero-game based with emphasis on romance is almost always an auto-watch, while anything that has the main couple being childhood friends is an ALWAYS to-watch. The rest I give it one episode, with action shounen series mostly going last.

But to be fair, my system is not foolproof. I actually put Haruhi on hold for a couple of weeks since the first half of the first episode was so confusing and the animation so bad that I thought it was overhyped.... oh boy how wrong I was. It wasn't only I saw the second half where Kyon's sarcasm really bit in that I changed my mind, and that was a couple weeks after when I really had nothing else better to do.

Finally, I stop a series when I don't have the urge to watch the episode as soon as the download is finished. If it was half decent and I'm already half-way through the show, I'll still dl the episodes but won't watch them until I'm really bored one day since they're good marathon stuff. Otherwise, it gets burnt or more likely just deleted since I'm too lazy to do even that. ^^;

[Theowne]

This is the first season I've really been following multiple ongoing shows (even though I've been watching anime on and off for years). It's painful. What I plan to do when the next season starts is basically just look around and see which series are getting people's interests (Kanon is an example). Then yeah, I will probably just view those episode ones and see which ones interest me. I always watch for a few episodes because once I know a lot of series don't really click until later on (in my case, Suzumiya Haruhi).

[Mephisto2k]

First of all: As a non-Japanese i dont watch RAWs, ever. Its like spoiling myself. You view the raw and you only understand half of it and cant really enjoy the show because of it. When you watch the fansub later you understand all of it but cannot really enjoy it either because you allready knew half of it. I dont understand raw viewers at all....


When a new season starts I usually allready knew most of whats coming. I keep checking for new fansub releases, search for their animename in anidb in case theres a new show I dont know, and read the short review/intro. If that anime do not seem absolutely horribly based on that, ill download it. And like this Ill marathon every first episode that looks in the least bit interesting. Based on them ill decide to continue them, drop them, or decide after the next few episodes whether or not to continue. This way I will hardly miss any new good show, and I will hardly go out of shows to watch.

Maybe this changed a little bit since I opened my own anime site (Animeph; link in signature). I constantly search for all kinds of announcements for animeshows myself on the net and list them all up for each season. I early know what is to come and once a season starts I try to watch everything that dont seem horrible and write reviews myself of worthy shows for my visitors to read.

But sometimes there are shows that i dont really want to drop, but still im not interested in them very much. Then somewhen I get myself to watch it to the end and I realize i should have dropped it long time ago. Maybe I think they will have an awesome good ending that i cant miss, which will make this medicore show turn out to be a satisfying one; but once the ending is bad too I get frustrated and wonder what I was hoping for. But I guess its better than missing a great show.

[alphabetsoup]

Generally, I follow news tidbits and announcements of series as they pop up in NeoSam's thread (which I love). I'm also an avid reader of Blogsuki, so when someone reviews the first episode of a new series, I'll base my judgements off their review + screencaps, etc., to see what it's actually like. Character designs and plot summaries can be pretty misleading. This manages to cut down the amount of crappy series I try very well. XD

[Zappster]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

But to be fair, my system is not foolproof. I actually put Haruhi on hold for a couple of weeks since the first half of the first episode was so confusing and the animation so bad that I thought it was overhyped.... oh boy how wrong I was. It wasn't only I saw the second half where Kyon's sarcasm really bit in that I changed my mind, and that was a couple weeks after when I really had nothing else better to do.

Referring to the bit in bold: you really thought the animation was bad in the first episode? Wow. I thought the animation in the first episode was pretty consistent with that of the rest of the series, it was mainly the "video quality" that was bad and that was pretty much intended.

I now return you to your scheduled discussion...

[Bloodseeker]

I just got into watching fansubs recently (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was the first show that I watched as it was fansubbed), but I don't like following too many shows at once, and I'm usually following one or two licensed shows on DVD, as well as Adult Swim and Toonami. So I'll just pick up one or two that sound interesting and/or wait to see which shows people are talking about.

[buddha]

alrite first post on this site awesome!
anyway i tackle it head on, gung ho and all that. or course when i do start watching its usually like january or sumtin so a lot of episodes have stocked up and when it does i have an ANIME MARATHON cause that's the best way to watch it. well for me anyway cause i cant wait if the episodes already came out, but of course a couple hours after i finish it i'll feel very crappy cause i have nothing else to watch!

[Srin Tuar]

About suzumiya haruhi: I also dropped the series after episode 1.

It was really hyped up, but I didnt think I could deal with 12 more episodes of the same kind of amateur video scenes, even if the tsukkomi were hilarious the basic premise didnt make sense, and at least half the jokes went right over my head.

After watching episode 2, I was hooked properly. But i only went back and watched ep 2 because there were so few other series to follow at the time I was dredging the bottom of the barrel.

In the end it was a good series (good animation mainly, the story was okayish) But if I had stuck to my normal plan of only watching the first ep to judge a series, I would have certainly missed out.

[Ending]

Since I don't follow the hype and almost never get "hyped up" either, I usually just download two or three episodes and see if there is any meat on the bone. Since this is rare, I just go by what they say on AnimeNfo and what I happen to see on the boards.

[andromeda0201]

I usually never watch incomplete series (ouran was an exception), so I just download those animes that I was interested in the beginning, then only read other posts to see what gem I have missed out.
I prefer marathoning complete ones, there are too many for me to watch anyway

[Shinoto]

Originally Posted by Srin Tuar

About suzumiya haruhi: I also dropped the series after episode 1.

It was really hyped up, but I didnt think I could deal with 12 more episodes of the same kind of amateur video scenes, even if the tsukkomi were hilarious the basic premise didnt make sense, and at least half the jokes went right over my head.

After watching episode 2, I was hooked properly. But i only went back and watched ep 2 because there were so few other series to follow at the time I was dredging the bottom of the barrel.

In the end it was a good series (good animation mainly, the story was okayish) But if I had stuck to my normal plan of only watching the first ep to judge a series, I would have certainly missed out.

Funny Thing is...that is excatly how I responded....I hated the first episode soo much but loved every other one

[LynRee]

Well, I never download a new series as soon as it gets released. I also don't watch raws. Anyway, I wait for a while, read opinions about the series and if I see positive things about it I get the first 4-5 episode, and decide after watching those. And there are times when I just wait for every episode to be released and watch it in one go, since I just hate waiting for new eps to come out. There are exceptions, of course.
Also, I try not to watch 5-6 series at the same time since it can get confusing. ^^'

And finally, there were occasions when I just randomly picked one that had genres I like.

[froinlaven]

I pretty much watch every first episode. After that, I usually only actually follow up with 3 or so series a season.