I rarely willing to watch a show that I don’t enjoy simply because my time is too precious for that. Usually, if a show piques my interest, I give it a shot depending on the number of its entire episodes (3 for 12 eps, 5 for 24/25/26 eps, and 10 for 50 eps). In the case of “super” series like
Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bleach, etc, I just read the manga and usually try the first season of the anime and continue on from there as long as it keeps me interested (by also skipping fillers). Otherwise, I’ll just watch it occasionally.
There are exceptions which depends on the situation. For example, when I was in college, my friend gave me a collection of anime titles. Some of them I found boring after trying a few episodes. Still, when I had nothing better to do at the dorm, I watched them just for the sake of it (usually, curiosity became the main drive). That’s basically how I finish some anime series that I don’t like such as
DearS, Macross Frontier, Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka, Tsukihime, Shining Tears x Wind, etc.
I also want to add that, sometimes, fans of a big franchise (like Gundams & Macross) feel obligated to watch whatever show spawned by the said franchise. For example, as a fan of
Gundam &
Saint Seiya (not mentioning other franchises that I follow) I feel obligated to watch and finish even the terribad outings like
Gundam AGE, Gundam SEED Destiny, Saint Seiya Hades Inferno and Elysium just to know what the company was doing to my beloved franchise. It can be tormenting, but I think that's what it means to be a fan
.