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Welcome to another bi-weekly edition of “Up to Snuff”. We’re about two-thirds of the way through the summer season now, and patterns are firming up. More so than in the past there’s a pretty clear split this season, with series popping up as #1 on some ballots while being completely left off others. And there’s no one series this time that everyone is voting for, as there has been in past seasons. Increased partisanship, even here…
“Ask the Readers” is back for its third appearance in UtS. This time around we’d like to know how many of you use season previews to help you figure out your viewing plans – and what other strategies you use, if not. Please vote and use the comments below to elaborate on your answers – we want to hear from you!
Weekly Staff Poll
Enen no Shouboutai – 22 points, 3 first place votes
Vinland Saga – 15, 3
Kanata no Astra – 9
Lord El Melloi II Case File – 7
Kimitsu no Yaiba – 7
Ask The Writers Readers
Well of course studying the RC season preview is an essential part of the preparation! I’ll also be keeping an eye on the pre-season buzz on various sites to see if there’s something that maybe I wouldn’t normally watch but might have something special going for it.
A little bit of everything for me. RC is a given, lol. Other than that, primarily seeing it for my own eyes to begin with, followed by word of mouth.
Basically just waiting for the RandomC preview. Word of mouth is second but that’s still reliant on the show being a genre I like
Watching every first episode. Researching wastes time you can just invest into checking episodes. It also builds hype shows have hard time to live up. Unlimited possibilities we have in our minds based on premise, trailer or some great music we hear in advance are hard to overcome. Also comunity as a whole disappointed me many times with shilling mediocre shows like SAO while completely skipping on some amazing shows. Also my taste is my alone so something others find good I may not be able to stand while something considered boring may be perfect for me. I can’t also bring myself to not give every show a fair chance. I have seen a lot of great shows from unexpected genres across the years.
The question was “how do you get ready for a new anime season?” You can’t watch episodes until the season starts (barring the odd preview showing) so saying that you watch the shows isn’t “getting ready”.
Except that’s an option in the poll
And well it should be. Choosing to make calls based on the start of the season itself rather than filter anything out in advance is a strategic choice in preparation for it.
“Nuking Hurricanes” probably not the best idea if you don’t want those strong winds barrelling towards the mainland to carry all of the radiation straight back atcha.
Just to answer the poll. I selected “other”. My reasoning that I don’t prepare for any new anime season and never have done. If I’m familiar with something great, if not I’ll give something a try.
also their slipstream into the Atmosphere…
Not to mention the potential to create a “hypercane” with the thermal energy released. They’ve already been observed on planets with the right conditions.
I used to research on my own. Now I just wait for you guys. 😛
I also try the first 3 episodes of some shows that aren’t in my shortlist, when said shortlist has 3 or less entries.
Why change? Opinions are entirely subjective, so relying on one source to tell you what to watch could mean that you’ll miss out on something you may enjoy. That’s the fallacy.
Of course i visit RC here so get Infos about the New Season. I know you guys and girls can not cover all New Animes, you still have your Real Life and you are doing this more out of Hobby. But i am that long fan of this Site, your doing great. All Green for me
Three stages… I follow all anime news so I don’t miss when a new anime is announced, and if it’s interesting I add it to my list months or years in advance. Then I reconfirm what’s airing this season and the weekly schedule on Random Curiosity and form a tentative “watch list”. Then I check out the first episode posts on Random Curiosity for all the series I’m only borderline interested in, to potentially add anime to my list.
I usually don’t pick up anything after the first month of the season is over, even if I see an increasing amount of praise for it… I wait until the end-of-year review post and then binge on anime in January.
I use RC season preview as a very important first elimination, though I usually end up watching more because of the preview. Then I eliminate by 1, 3, then 5-episode rules if it comes to it.
Kinda surprised Dr. Stone didn’t make the list btw. I quite like it.
It seems to be one of those “everyone kinda likes it, nobody hates it, nobody loves it” kind of shows.
I pretty much never start watching anything until I can gauge the reactions of viewers after a few episodes (or even after a show airs) although I might break that rule if a studio or director I’m familiar with is involved. I guess that’s why I like formats like Netflix or Amazon where an entire series can be released at once. If a show has a significant drop in quality towards the end of its run, that’ll dissuade me from starting it altogether.
“How do you get ready for a new anime season?”
Mainly checking out the upcoming season previews from RC’s preview sources, news from ANN, and making a tentative “to-watch” list** before revising that list once RC’s own season preview comes out. Sometimes, a new anime (or a new season of an ongoing series) that was expected to air in the new season becomes a “no-show”–pun intended–due to unexpected factors.
As for anime that’s not on my “to-watch” list, if I do read good impressions about an ongoing/upcoming anime (mainly here, via r/Animemes, or YouTube clips of interesting scenes from those anime in some cases), sometimes I do a mid-season or post-season pickup for binging (my entire backlog list is basically this). Those shows usually get binge-watched before the new season starts airing its anime.
Recently, I’ve gotten hooked on Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo because of a certain…*ahem*…”scene” I saw on YouTube, so I came for that… ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) And after watching episode 1, realized it’s also a coming-of-age story–albeit with lots of sexual innuendo.
Other possible post-season pickups at this point: Tejina Senpai, Machikado Mazoku, Enen no Shouboutai, Dr. STONE, and possibly Cop Craft.
(**-Note: Not via MyAnimeList, just an old-fashioned text file list.)
i like the preview section of RC, but at least lately with adaptions of manga and novels on the rise and me being interested in novels, i already know of quite a number of these and obviously have already decided which ones to follow in advance. i still give most series at least a try with the first episode and also a random look through RC in the later segments, but these days i limit myself to 2-3 series a season.