Comments on: An Ideologically Extreme Approach to Dropping Anime

By: AC

AC — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:28:23 +0000

Whether I would want to watch a (seemingly) lousy anime is a shady issue for me, because I see it as a case-by-case analysis. If the anime seems to have a lot of pedophile elements accompanied by moe drawing ala Koharu Biyori, then it’s very likely that I won’t watch it (I did watch it, but only because it’s only 3 OVAs long). Plus, like what many are doing, I watch anime to be entertained. Being a reviewer or an analyst of sorts is just secondary to me, as I do so out of fun. I do admire those who watch a lot of anime – like them or hate them – and thus have a lot of experience to share and argue with other people.

By: gaguri

gaguri — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:42:28 +0000

That’s something I disagree with. Most anime series I watch are completed ones from the past, and I’d like to think all this time my sensual, emotional and intellectual response has been a result of something between me and anime, and not influenced by reading someone’s opinions. Even if it is influenced, it should be so minimal that it shouldn’t matter. If anything, from my experience following series tends to make me more likely to be influenced by the on-going discussion.

By: Sorrow-kun

Sorrow-kun — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:44:47 +0000

One of the other things I forgot to mention earlier as well is that I also think that, the less you know about an anime going in, the more chance you have of your judgement being fair. When you take it to its logical conclusions, that also kinda leads to the idea that, the less decisions you make when choosing and dropping anime (ie, random), the more fair you can be when judging a collection of anime. Because you’re less likely to be influenced by external things… which, in my opinion, is a greater source of subjectivity than one’s innate biases and preferences.

By: schneider

schneider — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:38:43 +0000

As far as blogging and dropping anime is concerned, I don’t really put them together. I like a lot of shows this season, but aside from my Ristorante Paradiso post, I feel I have nothing new to contribute to the massive influx of posts from the blogosphere (or I’m just inarticulate in my love for it).

My strategy for dropping is this: let’s say my watchlist is a priority queue. If I want to drop a show, I’ll put it at the end of the queue. That way, when I’m out of anime to add to my queue, I just re-examine them, and maybe I’ll be in the mood to pick them up, or finally remove them from the queue–in which I’d never look back. I find this great because once my initial distaste of the show clears up, I end up liking it the second time around. That is, if I don’t have anything else to watch.

By: Sorrow-kun

Sorrow-kun — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:26:05 +0000

@Baka-Raptor
Unfortunately there are a lot of good shows that get “lost”. Eg, where are my subs for Mouryou no Hako. It’s not a huge problem for good shows you’re excited about, as long as you’re patient, but for middle of the road shows, it’s hard to get motivated when subs start up again.

@gaguri
The thing is, as my schedule stands right now, and given the fact that new shows are just “easier” to watch, partly because of the social incentive, I don’t think I can just go back and watch a show after I’ve dropped it. I know I should be able to since dropping something isn’t irreversible, but it’s just harder to pick an old anime up again for reasons I’ve discussed earlier, particularly if you weren’t so enthused by it the first time.

@digitalboy
What did I miss out on in Kanokon, a loli with band-aids over her nipples? Yeah, that’s one of the few shows I have little regret about dropping.

@Omisyth
Yeah, but if you are debating against someone who does have a comprehensive anime diet, then chances are they’re going to know more than you, and that puts you at a disadvantage. I see the anime diet as a way to build ammunition for one’s discourse and opinion. It optimizes your chances of being “informed”. And, in my opinion, there’s little more tacky than reading anime commentary from someone who clearly isn’t informed (eg, read some of the editorials they’re posting on ANN about the new season at the minute).

@ghostlightning
Yeah, that’s basically it. It’s all about discipline. It makes me a little nervous to refer to reviewers as the “guardians of quality”, but at the core of the issue, that’s basically true. We, as reviewers might put our opinions on pedestals (which, interestingly, is a fairly narcissistic thing to do, but I don’t think there’s a huge amount inherently wrong with that… and that’s an issue for another blog post, maybe), but that must inevitably come with responsibilities to one’s readers. One of those responsibilities is that you must be informed about what you’re writing about. I think the process of thinking about and refining “anime diet”, which is different things to different people, is one of those things a commentator can do to help make sure that they are actually informed.

By: ghostlightning

ghostlightning — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:09:50 +0000

Bloggers I feel drop shows because they don’t feel like reviewing them all the way through.

Bloggers are different from non-blogging fans. There is a compulsion to write about shows.

Writing is an end that requires discipline, and strategies like anime-dieting as presented here feed this discipline – whether it’s for critical sharpness, or balance, whatever.

Non-bloggers I imagine drop shows because they simply don’t enjoy watching them anymore – and even if they acknowledge the show may get better later on, there are better alternatives than suffering through the wait (i.e. other shows, other activities). At least, that’s how my non-blogging friends do it (as well as my wife, who only blogs when I ask her to).

Reviewers have may act as the ‘guardians of quality’ for the anime viewers, so in sticking with shows that are bad and writing about them, they are providing a service to the viewer. I’m no reviewer, but I do find recommendations useful.

By: Avoiding The Accursed Name By Calling It An “Open Discussion”: 1st Episode Droppage. « Grand Punk Railroad

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:54:42 +0000

[...] Sorrow-kun steals the name of a popular blog to form his anime diet theology. I can understand the benefits of watching everything as highlighted in the post, but when [...]

By: Omisyth

Omisyth — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:44:13 +0000

I can’t really agree with your anime diet ideaology. This is mostly because I’m watching anime to be entertained, and you kind of make it sound as if having a balanced watchlist is a requirement for being able to comment on anime in general. I don’t thnk that’s the case at all. If you truly like anime and you have Mad Debatin’ skills then you should be able to use whatever knowledge you have to stand your ground as a commentator, no matter how much you have or haven’t seen.

If I’m only into a limited number of genres (hypothetically, since I’m not really) then that’s all I’ll watch and that’s all I’ll talk about. For example: the many mecha fans on the blogosphere. There’s nothing particularly wrong with taht either.

By: digitalboy

digitalboy — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:54:28 +0000

I have a legendary drop list. I drop most anime either after one episode or halfway through the first episode. I can pretty much immediately tell how much I’m going to give a shit about a show. This is a necessity, too, because I try everything.

I have to say, you made a terrible choice dropping Kanokon. Easily the most underrated show of 2008 and IMO one of the best.

By: gaguri

gaguri — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:24:57 +0000

I’m not sure if I like your idea of anime diet. I like the idea of being exposed to wide range of genres, styles, themes, bla bla. On the other hand I don’t like the idea of having to suffer through 26 episodes of crap, especially if it’s just like another ten 26 episodes of crap that has been done before. I guess the positive side of this is that you can join in the latest discussions with others, since the most popular (which tends to be crappy~mediocre imo) titles have the most people talking.

And I don’t think ‘dropping’ shows must mean you’re missing out on them. You can always go back. Hell you can go back at episode 13 if you hear all the good things about it, and still have another 13 episodes to talk about it with others. Dropping/halting shows is just something I do when I don’t see much potential in it, since I am more likely to waste time (in my speculative judgement, which tends to be fairy accurate).