One of the topics that Baka-Raptor and I covered on the first episode of Oi, Hayaku’s “Pardon the Eruption” podcast was my inability to drop shows. Prior to the airing of that episode, I always shelved shows I wasn’t willing to finish or continue under my MAL list’s “on-hold” list. Regardless of how much I dislike a show, I do want to finish it. Not necessarily because of the “days watched” number, but because I still want to see both bad and good anime. It can prove useful when arguing an opinion, discussing shows, and simply expanding my general knowledge of anime.
As I said on Pardon the Eruption 01, I do want to give shows a chance to redeem themselves if the first few episodes fail to impress me. A show deserves multiple chances to capture the viewer’s interest (unless it’s really that bad), especially if the viewer is unsure of how the rest of the season will play out. RideBack could easily have been dropped after watching the first episode because it didn’t impress me, but the second episode successfully won me over. Had I not given it a chance, I would’ve missed out on a good show. Even Akikan! is providing me gems with Melon’s lines (“What does erection mean?” “What do masturbating and titty fucking mean?“).
My example of Lucky Star in the episode wasn’t very accurate; the first episode, despite being one of the earlier shows I dived into during my anime “career,” captivated me in such a way that only Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsuu and FLCL have done to date. A more accurate example would be ef – a tale of memories. If I recall correctly, I don’t think I had watched any drama anime that didn’t include action or at the very least some form of comedy throughout the show. The show reeled me in after a few episodes, and I would have given it an A if I had reviewed it properly.
However, after surveying my on-hold list and thinking hard about every show on it, I decided to actually drop two shows.
The first is Agent Aika. Some shows are able to pull off the “oh fuck, this show is so bad that it’s actually funny or good,” but this 7-episode OVA is definitely unable to do so. I made it through the first episode in April 2008 and immediately placed it on-hold. The fan service was too much and not even enjoyable, and the characters did not appeal to me at all. Since it’s been a good nine months, I don’t have much to say about it now other than I’ll never touch that shit again.
Kanon, Toei Animation’s 2002 version, is the other show I dropped. It just sucked. Big chins, big chins, and big fucking chins. Yuuichi isn’t as awesome, and the chins are too big. Perhaps I didn’t want to see the memories of my beloved Kanon (2006) ruined.
Now, I’ve watched episodes of Kanokon and To-LOVE-Ru, and those can definitely be worse than the first episode of Agent Aika, so it’s not fan service that turns me away from shows (I intend to finish both of those shows because I actually WANT to watch them). Kanon bores me to hell, but I can still watch the 2006 version and still be emotionally affected by it. That rules out being bored by the same story. So what exactly will make me drop an anime?
Intuition. That feeling that makes me say, “I’m not going to fucking enjoy this show.” I think all the shows on my “on-hold” list have redeeming qualities that make them worth the watch. These two dropped shows, however, don’t.
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Dropping anime happens for me when I REALLY don’t want to continue a series. Sometimes it’s after becoming inane (e.g. Final Approach) or simply a bad first impression (Chaos;Head). There is still a possibility I may revisit them later on but the compulsion to do so is much lower than with an “On-Hold” series I have lax on keeping up with, like Hitohira.
>>It can prove useful when arguing an opinion, discussing shows, and simply expanding my general knowledge of anime.
Yeah, definitely true.
I drop an anime either because I don’t like it/can’t continue watching it or too much fanservice which annoys me. I try to continue watching, but I can’t because I’m not enjoying it.
For me, it depends on how the fan service is presented. If it’s excessive yet subtle, I probably won’t mind as much. If it’s thrown in my face constantly like Agent Aika, then fuck it.
I discussed this topic last year. – http://anime.scottfrye.net/2008/06/22/reasons-to-drop-a-series/
If your goal is to expand your knowledge of anime, Kanon 2002 seems like a show you’d want to watch. The different creative choices that went into each adaptation might give you food for thought.
But dear God, Kanon 2002 is so fucking bad.
“But dear God, Kanon 2002 is so fucking bad.”
It’s not, though. It obviously doesn’t stack up with KyoAni’s effort, but it’s exactly one of these shows that starts slow and picks up later on. It only loses when you compare it with the superior adaptation or the source material. Or if you get too distracted by the character designs.
I watched it fairly shortly after it first came out, so my perspective on this is a bit skewed. It’s certainly not a show that has aged well, I’ll say that.
I watch everything I drop eventually. I never truly DROP anything you could say. We share similar sentiments about watching good and bad shows, and the whole giving a show a chance. I’ve had those experiences as well.
Intuition: that’s a good way of putting it. I’ve hardly dropped any shows, and even the ones that I did drop I’m liable to pick up at some point, but I think you’re right in saying that there’s no real pattern to these things. I’m often able to figure out why I like a show, but the line between a mediocre and a crappy/dropped anime is very vague to me. I mean, I finished Strike Witches, but I had to force myself through the end of Shugo Chara. Fillers are bad and all, but still, it’s Strike Witches. You’d be hard pressed to find an anime with a stupider premise (though surely one exists).
But even though I acknowledge that Strike Witches is mediocre and Shugo Chara isn’t bad, one was far closer to being dropped than the other. It’s intuition, I guess, or something or the other. (Because Strike Witches was actually pretty fun near the end).