50+ Blogger points if you get the reference. 50+ Manga points if you get the second reference.
Once again the new anime season is on the horizon and once again I find myself spoilt for choice on new shows to check out (fansubbing ups and downs not yet withstanding). I’m also fortunate in that my school holidays just started which means I have more than enough free time to check out all the shows that interest me. But ironically enough, I think I’ll be watching the least shows this season since I started blogging (or even really watching anime more srsly, as those two things happened at around the same time).
As I watch more and more anime, my standards should increase and my preferences become more focused, which means I’ll waste less of my time on shows I don’t enjoy much. However I still find myself getting pulled in by the mediocre shows that, had I not watched them, I wouldn’t have been missing anything notable. Take Asu no Yoichi. I loved the first ep, but from there the show kind of petered out until a disastrous ending. Had I not watched it, I could’ve made time for the (growing) anime (and manga!) backlog that I have. I’m not some sort of elitist conoisseur who won’t watch anything that isn’t the creme da la creme of anime as thought of by everybody else, it’s just that I don’t want to make time for shows that, even if I had free time, I would find hard pressed to watch the next episode of. I wouldn’t do that with a show that I could watch on television (which is why I rarely ever watch TV anymore) so I shouldn’t do it with anime.
I think the problem lies with the fact that I’m watching shows I love (Soul Eater, Regios, Toradora) at the same time as shows I kind of like on a good day when I’m bored and there’s nothing else to do (Yoichi, Jigoku Shoujo, Hetalia) . I’m also a stickler for sticking with a show and hoping it gets better (such as Kurokami. I watched until 8 hoping there’d be more greatness as in episode 1. Then I found out the show was going for 26 episodes. F*ck that noise.) Those shows dilute my anime experience MAKING IT IMPURE, IMPURE I SAY! so that I’m not enjoying it as much as I would if I just watched those shows that I love. I don’t want to watch a show just because I can, I want to watch it because I feel like I must. And there’s not much exaggeration with the word “must” either. Like now, I must watch Soul Eater 51 because the last episode was so freakin’ awesome. I just finished Toradora, the finale of which was so freakin’ awesome. I must watch Regios since it has Felli who is so freakin’ cute. These are the shows I have the most fun with and make me love anime in general.
I’m not going to so something as drastic as boycotting the season, since I love the discourse that takes place with weekly viewings. I’m just going to try and be more condemning of the shows that don’t give that Must Watch Nao feeling. And I have to be critical since the anime just keeps on coming (I mean, some are already talking about the summer season!) Slowly but surely, I’m becoming better at dropping shows which aren’t a part of that select group, and I find myself feeling slightly better because of it. That’s one advantage to being at least slightly elitist: you know that at least most of the time you’re not wasting your time on a show.
Maximizing my enjoyment by minimizing my intake. I like the idea.
Grand Punk Railroad 
I’ve been leaning towards doing the same thing. I think I (and this probably applies to a lot of people) tend to get up in the hype. If you search far enough, you’ll find someone who thinks show X is freaking awesome and is encouraging everyone to watch it. So, I sometimes feel like I want to keep up with everyone, so I can participate in the discussions and not feel left out. That happened a lot in the Fall, when I was brand new to this whole bloggans thing.
In the Winter, I actually got a lot better. Shows that just felt like ‘filler’ to keep me from going bored, I realized weren’t really what I wanted to watch. So instead of watching them, I went looking for older shows that I hadn’t seen that many people had and were still hyping and to which they were making references/comparisons. So instead of watching something like Asu no Yoichi, which didn’t really interest me, but everyone seemed to be talking about it, I decided to go watch other stuff. Or ya know, do other stuff, because even if I want to believe that ‘real world’ is just a figment of my imagination, I have a hard time proving it.
Isn’t that… a page from Happy World?
I’ve realised that there isn’t really a point of forcing yourself to watch something every season, but that’s just me. Anime will never run away. While I do get the point of anime-as-a-social-thing, with the advent of Twitter, IRC, GTalk, and whatnot, hobnobbing with fellow bloggers and fans has never been easier. You’re (not) alone anymore, so why bother keeping up with the rat race?
You could always run up a backlog of older anime to watch during those good days when you’re bored, since I’m sure you haven’t seen everything.
I’m also finding myself to be less tolerable of series that don’t give a good impression right off, especially if they’re longer than 13 episodes. (You lasted longer than me! I dropped Kurokami at 5.) The way I figure it, along with the whole lack of time thing, is that there are still dozens and dozens of great series out there that I’ve yet to see. I don’t need to stick with the current season when there’s an entire history of other shows to dig from.
Watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes or other long series that you may be willing to risk your time with. You won’t lack a “support group” to discuss it with.
You may even want to try re-watching shows. I’ve been doing a fair bit of this and I’ve been noting how my opinion’s been changing – especially for Gundam shows that I had little tolerance for a year ago.
Are you telling me that a foreign substance is introduced into our precious anime experiences without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice?
I find that very often the first episode of an anime is misleading with regard to how good it is. Tsukihime ep 1 was awesome, and yet as a series it was so bad that it “doesn’t exist.” Munto remake ep 1 was intriguing, but the show overall was disappointing to reviewers.
Of course if you want to keep up with others, there’s no choice but to be one of the trailblazers, but if pressed for time, you could always wait a couple weeks and then dive in once people have committed to shows.
Nice of you to link to the Critics and Connoisseurs club. I happen to be a member, and as you know I watch metric tons of crap. Only the few people who talk and make threats at other members for not liking something are the real problems.
My advice would be just to watch whatever you want and it doesn’t even have to be new. I wouldn’t be so harsh on the shows that don’t convey an urgent need to watch, though.
Owen’s right, anime won’t run away. I’ve just watched a couple of shows last year that I’d missed or glossed over. Some shows I haven’t picked up this season (like Genji) I plan to marathon, sooner or later.
Also, LOGH plz
>Critics and Connoisseurs
Hey, I used to be part of that club. I think they kicked me out because I wasn’t active enough, but I loved having a self-installed elitist label being validated by being part of a club of self-described elitists.
Picking anime at the beginning of a new season is a real challenge for me, since I can’t stand dropping shows (too many shows have proven my first impression wrong in the past), which means that I basically have to get things right first time. On one hand, I want to get into all the popular shows so I can be involved in the discussion, yet on the other hand, I don’t want to miss out on any of the good shows, which don’t have as wide appeal. The problem is that there isn’t enough time to watch everything. Maybe we should lobby the Japanese government to put laws in place to get companies to stop making so many anime.
Did I hear a certain commenter speaking of LoGH? *BROFIST*, IF YOU NEED A SUPPORT GROUP WHILE YOU WEEP MANLY TEARS, I AM HERE 4U!
@nazarielle
The increase in my gaming (which constitutes part of my real life lol) after the season ended is testament to this fact. I hope to catch up on the classics now. But that doesn’t mean I’ll miss Basquash! which is going to be pwnage.
@Owen_S
Ding ding ding! Right answer!
It’s not so much as forcing myself to watch as in benig unable not to sample shows hot off the ‘net, and rant and rave about what’s good/bad. It’s probably my urge to get anything new and shiny in spite of the fact that the golden-oldies are still as good as ever.
@kirisaka
It’s always advantageous to watch old and highly recommended shos since there’s more of a chance that you’ll like them. But perhaps the weekly experience is something I crave. In any case, I find it more often than not that I have less of an urge to watch older (even just finsihed airing) series. Though there are times of DRILL BREAKERS or HELL CORRESPONDENCE that curiously defy that trend.
@ghostlightning
I’m not sure why but I never really rewatch shows, even ones that I like. That’s probably another problem of watching too many currently airing shows. I’ll put LoGH on the watch list though, too many people love it not to!
@moritheil
That’s a thought, gather all the first impressions around the ‘sphere and watch what’s most warmly received. Then again, I always check out first episodes of shows that interest me no matter what anyone else says. I wouldn’t have stumbled upon NatsuYuujin had I not done this. And that would be a damn shame.
@Emperor J
That’s true, sometimes shows that are episodic don’t have that cliffhanger compulsion to them. But most of the time, that’s not the case. Guess I have to be true to myself.
@schneider
I shall never watch the adventures of Playboy Genji lol.
@Sorrow-Kun
Perhpas you shoudl just obey a three episode rule or something. Unless the show completely bores you from the off, like SoraKake did. I just couldn’t stand it after halfway through episode 2.
We should simply exterminate all bad studios and give the money to good studios. That way everyone will be happy.
@lelangir
THE THREE BROFISTS SAY I MUST WATCH.
This happens often. E.g. when I first learned reading I read and read and read. Now I read only rarely, only rare and only great books. And even can’t think of my first experiences.
When I came to the aniblogosphere (what a weird word), I watched much anime and wrote episode reviews. Meanwhile I can’t read my old posts and enjoy anime with a frequence of a low-battery watch.
Eliteness aside, I don’t see anything special in beeing picky in this matter.
@Gargron
Popularity also helps with these decisions.
[…] keep me watching the show for those precious l337 points. But on the basis of such revelations as this, I see no reason to continue to watch something I dislike from the […]