Just over a year ago, I shared my viewing experiences and taste testing shows. People might be wondering how do I discover new shows. It’s a good question since I’m picky and I don’t have time to watch everything. Therefore, I use several means in choosing what shows to watch at any given time, which I will share. (Image Source)
Sequels/Previous Works
Obviously, sequels will be the first reason why I decide to watch a particular show. Since I have previous impressions, this is a no brainer. While the second season proved to be more enjoyable or better such as Clannad, Milky Holmes, Nanoha or Dog Days, it doesn’t necessarily mean that all sequels will be good. I have seen a share of bad ones such as:
Nogizaka Haruka’s Secret ~Purezza~ – The second season had more fanservice and no resolution to the relationship between Yuuto and Haruka. I’m not confident that the Finale will solve that either.
Haruhi Second Season – Endless Eight (although mileage may vary as some fans enjoyed it. I didn’t)
In addition, I do take previous works in consideration, especially for visual novels. Key is a big example of this as I usually watch any adaptation that gets made as seen with Air, Kanon, Clannad and now Little Busters.
Studios
Believe it or not, studios also influence my decision I watch as they influence the direction how the story and animation gets carried out. Kyoto Animation is the clear choice since I enjoy most of the shows they make. Not so far behind is PA Works, although I haven’t watched all their works besides Angel Beats, Hanasaku Iroha, Tari Tari and True Tears.
In addition, the production staff could also be a factor. After watching the awesomeness of Madoka Magica, I also watched Fate/zero, which Urobuchi worked on and I enjoyed it as well.
Season Previews/Lurking Around
If the two above options aren’t available, then I will take a look of season previews or blog posts. I tend to read several of these posts to see the bloggers impressions and read the brief synopsis to see if it sparks any interest given my tastes.
In addition to season previews, I lurk around the Internet. This can consist of reading blogs or posts from forums like Animesuki or randomly browsing TVTropes. Oddly enough, I sometime gain interest in older/currently airing shows I haven’t watched such as Nanoha, Papa Kikinasai, Kokoro Connect and so on.
Recommendations
I usually don’t get many recommendations or consider them, but if they align to my tastes, I might try it out. On the other hand, I did participate in the Secret Santa activity in the blogosphere in 2010 and 2011 where you exchange lists and someone picks shows that you will enjoy. I have reviewed two of them, but it’s not my tea since I tend to leave things to the last minute, thus I have to marathon everything and write a review shortly after.
Just Try it Out
Sometimes, I may decide to pick up a show for fun. However, most of them ended up in disasters. For instance, I tried out Rio: Rainbow Gate and it wasn’t a present viewing experience. I dropped it after two mere episodes. On the other hand, I randomly decide to watch Tears to Tiara (which I haven’t finished) and so far, I enjoy it. So basically, mileage may vary depending on my first impressions after watching the first three episodes.
These are all the ways I find and pick new shows to watch. With that, I leave you with these questions: How do you discover new shows to watch? Do you try them all and drop them one by one or carefully pick them depending on the available information.
I’m extremely eclectic when it comes to watching Anime. I’ll enjoy anything from action to slice of life, or even fillers. It all depends on if characters/show bores me or whether I understand it. My biggest challenge is watching Anime that are harder to understand (for example, I had troubles with Code Geass – which I liked the concept of, but it takes a long time for me to understand as I needed to analyze each line to grasp what they meant). But, I usually just see whether the story interests me, or what the cover picture look like and I’ll give it a go.
About choosing, I get interested when I see top recommendations on sites, or if people wrote about it interestingly enough for me to understand (Because most blog posts that talk about eps, I don’t actually understand when I read it since I haven’t seen it).
My greatest enemy when it comes to watching is not time, but my addiction with the internet. I usually have SO MUCH to do on the internet that I literally don’t have room to do other stuff (same with games). So I’ve had problems of starting and not finishing, not because I didn’t like it, but I was too preoccupied.
If you see my backlog, I have that problem too as I leave a good number of shows collecting dust since most of my attention is spent on watching currently airing shows. However, it’s a lot worse with games since there is a good number of games that I played or come close to finishing, but never actually completing. This is more troubling with RPGs since those take a good amount of time to complete one run. Still, I should spend some time one of these to complete them all, but like the shows, I keep buying new games and they never get done at any rate.