This is something that I think about often because many years ago for cartoons and regular TV shows, I created my own 3 episode rule in deciding whether or not I like a show or if I think it will be good. I found that it's very different for anime, but I still stick to giving an anime up to three episodes to wow me or to hurt me before I make a decision.


What about you? If you don't like the first episode of an anime do you give up on it right away? Do you watch the whole thing even if you don't like it? How many episodes does it usually take you to decide if an anime is worth your time or if you should drop it?

It really depends but I can say in most situations based on the first episode I'll know if I wanna give it a whole season or not if the first episode doesn't have me wondering about what'll happen next wanting to see more etc I just drop it and don't even include it in the list of anime I've watched cause it would seem pointless to be like oh yeah here's 50 anime I dropped after a single episode but I do try to give animes a decent chance though I am aware that most people in the anime community say you should give a show 3 episodes but I'm not dedicating that much time to something if it doesn't give me the reason to. That being said I will be a lot more forgiving and patient with a show I already watched a season of previously though I did recently have that pushed to the limit when 5 episodes of a show I watched were just characters standing around talking for an episode summary at the start of the next episode to summarize it in 20 seconds which made me really annoyed.

I say after the first 5 episodes to see how the plot goes or how the episodes shape up because that’s when the characters get fleshed out and things smooth out. Some exceptions are Boruto. First episode and never again because of how they butchered everything and I don’t want to know if it got better or not. It just felt like the anime was forced due to the popularity of Naruto…

Others like boondocks or adventure time. Things fleshed out along the way and got better throughout each episode. Especially adventure time

I haven't seen that many Animes to be honest. But I usually get an idea if its any good or not after the 4th episode. In my opinion by the 4th episode the characters are for the most part established. The plot is starting to get established.

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It depends on the anime genre for me and how long the anime is suppose to run for for me. But in general for me on a 12 episode anime it is around 4 episodes and for 22-23 episode ones 7 episodes and if they have not caught my attention by then they normally sit in my list for a long time... though some anime, after just 1 or 2 episodes I can tell that I will not enjoy them. Well those anime are normally the ones that the synopsis does not mention the genre or no synopsis exists yet and it happens to be one of my not liked types.

A lot of times I get impatient and only give one or two episodes.

If I don't like it by the end of the 2nd episode I will double check reviews(Normally see them first) and if they say it picks up pace or goes up in entertainment I will force myself to keep watching.

Since I usually don't have much time to watch shows I try to find the ones that seem really interesting out the gate and not after a lot of buildup.

i remember watching wolf rain and i think it took me 2 episodes before i said ok this is good.

You don't need to see if other people have already seen it and given feedback. For those with little time this is the best option.

I give something like... three episodes at most to capture me. I'm not very tolerant of slow starters unless like, every single one of my friends says its worth it. That's (starting) "good" or "bad" from a personal standpoint. On the other side of the coin, it's pretty easy to capture me. I enjoy a vast majority of things I've been exposed to. Maybe it's good luck, maybe I just have low standards - but either way, being a hater is too much work.

though the things i do hate, i hate with my whole chest

Of course that has no bearing on if something is actually "good" or "bad" objectively - I do think that unless its ongoing, you cannot impartially (as much as possible, anyways) judge it until you've COMPLETELY finished it. If it's ongoing then it's fair to judge it based off of where it's at. One Piece is one of the best series out there, but if the ending sucks when we finally get there, then that changes the overall picture very dramatically.

Minuano : I know exactly how that one piece concept feels. One of my favorite TV shows of all time ended last year and the finale itself was amazing but the final five minutes literally made the entire series obsolete and that was such a horrible feeling.

I think that's also why I never started a specific season of The Seven Deadly Sins. I'm starting to think that if something ends badly, it might be the best option to just ignore the ending completely.

Oof it's a difficult question. Generally I like shorter series that get striaght to the point, but I would say I have a pretty high amount of patience for new shows too. Provided I don't absolutely hate the concept.

Some of my favorite animes are incredibly slow burns. Steins Gate takes many episodes of build up (more than 3 for sure) before it actually starts to get interesting. Attack on Titan is even worse, it took until Season 2 at least before it started to feel like something more than just a regular shonen anime. That's probably about 20-30 episodes of sitting through something that's a bit "meh".

Do I regret investing that much time? No, because once the payoff came it was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions that provided some of my favorite moments while consuming any media. In hindsight, I would actually say sitting through those parts, made it that much more surprising and enjoyable at the end. But I can totally understand why people wouldn't want to give a show that long to make an impression. We feel strapped enough for time as it is in life and it's not like there's a scarcity of things to watch nowadays.

In my case, I'm also partially able to justify it because I'm rarely giving my full attention to a show unless it fully grabs me. I like to be doing something else in the background at the same time, like working on some kind of project and in those cases, watching something that's just decent enough to not want me turn off my TV is stimulation enough.

Zlinqx : Has there been anything recently that grabbed your full attention?

zanderlex : There's tons. The most recent examples I have would probably be Blue Period and Baki.

Blue Period interested me as soon as I saw the Netflix preview. I immediately liked the art style, it has a very relaxing vibe. It's about a guy who decides to risk the potential for a stable life, by pursuing a newfound passion as an artist. It's a conflict I can relate well to, being a person who's very driven by my interests and passions. I feel most of us have dealt with this at some point while growing up. The older you get, the more you tend to compromise on your ambitions because you feel they are not attainable. So I naturally became invested in the character and plot from the start. It's the kind of anime I wish I'd had at an earlier point in my life.


As for Baki. I simply like ridiculous and exaggerated action plot setups, and it doesn't pull any punches in that department. Although it might not always have my full attention, it definitely got me more invested than I was expecting. I was thinking it would be something to just have on in the background, but I found it extremely hard to look away during the fights and confrontations. It can be very adrenaline inducing.

Two very different shows, but ones that I can easily recommend to anyone if they sound interesting.

Zlinqx : For Baki, are there other anime that are comparable in terms of being ridiculous and exaggerated? and is it like that right from the start or does it build up?

zanderlex : The obvious example would probably be Jojo which I haven't watched as much of but has a similar exaggerated "macho" vibe to it. I have yet to get as into Jojo though, because it is slightly slowed paced. While Baki tends to focus straight on the action most episodes.

I should say that with Baki I also didn't watch from the canonical starting point in the timeline (Grappler Baki) but jumped straight into the new Baki show on Netflix which is a successor (still giving you enough background and flashbacks to where you can follow along). From what I've heard the original is slightly more serious in tone.

Other than that it slightly reminds of Saiki K in terms of the exaggerated vibe, although the two are very different types of shows. The latter is a comedy anime but it is still exaggerated in terms of playing with different tropes and concepts in anime, something Baki does too. For example, there is a character in Baki whose body is powered purely by "the will to experience defeat in battle".

I tend to have a three episode rule where if I'm not interested enough to keep watching that night, I won't be interested enough to keep watching later.

It tends to really work for me, all of my favorites I have been hooked after one or two episodes, while the ones I didn't like I knew quickly (Charlotte lol)

I'm sure I've missed out on some good ones, but nothing that would be an instant favorite of mine. I tend to judge regular TV shows on the same scale, but sometimes I give them a little more leeway since some of the best shows start off a little rocky.

Barathemos : What were some of the ones that you liked?