Is it bad to raw-dog seasonals? – Forums
Yes, if I was super emotionally invested in a series then I would be very disappointed if it didn’t continue, but if I’ve seen, say, 350 different anime series, the amount I’m that invested in where I would be negatively emotionally affected and wish or almost wish I didn’t start the series at all in the first place if I knew in advance that it wasn’t going to continue – that’s probably less than 5%.
Most seasonals I watch, I’m not that absorbed in the world created within them that I find it that big of a deal if they don’t continue, because there is so much else out there to watch. Maybe if you didn’t come into the world of watching anime until your late teens or 20s or older as opposed to watching it religiously from the time you were like 10 years-old and not watching much else and with limited media exposure before that, you have a different perspective on this? My meaning being that you’ve already watched such an amount of content for years of your life before even touching anime that you realize you’re just scratching the surface, of anime and everything else. That’s how I feel as someone on this forum who started watching later as opposed to some who started watching (or are even still currently in) middle school/junior high.
I’ll just use seasonals from this year as the example. Some will receive prompt successive seasons. Some will take several years or longer in-between. Some will be given a rushed ending and concluded that way. Some will be left open-ended and never revisited or continued, even with an obviously conceptually unintentional abrupt stopping point.
A number I’m comfortable with completing one season of but don’t really have a desire to watch beyond that if they do end up continuing, depending on the series in question. A lot of series I end up rating 6/10s or lower I feel that way about. Even some 7/10s which in my mind are low 7s. Like some ones from last year and the past few years: Sentai Daishikkaku, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability, Puniru wa Kawaii Slime, Yofukashi no Uta, etc. All ones I was fine watching a season of but didn’t really care to continue further either at the point the next new season was released or at all ever in general.
But just looking at the ones I’d consider my favorite from each season, if they received another season then it would be a nice development and I’d likely watch, but if they don’t I’m not going to be despondent. There are dozens of other series releasing every new season and hundreds of series on my PTW backlog. Some of which I’d have to exert some effort to hunt down and acquire, some of which are at least temporarily in limbo from being partial lost media or requiring fansubbing to become watchable, etc. And nothing, including the vast majority of seasonals, even come close to touching some of my top favorite series in anime which were concluded airing years prior to when I originally watched them anyway, and which I’d often rather and enjoy more rewatching in whole or in part or watching reviews and critiques of or analyzing and discussing, etc. then I do going though the average 6/10 seasonal.
Like, I can look at my Top 5 or Top 10 from this year and if none of them continue with additional seasons it won’t amount to a fraction of the frustration I feel over series in my favorites like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Noragami not having third seasons. I view seasonals comparatively almost more just as something to pass the time in-between the true greats, like programming on TV you don’t expect to fall in love with and flip through just to occupy yourself, and occasionally if you’re lucky you inadvertently stumble upon a great one in their own right among them.
