{"id":129,"date":"2016-07-14T00:45:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T00:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/?p=129"},"modified":"2018-01-14T05:23:48","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T05:23:48","slug":"vetting-anime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/vetting-anime\/","title":{"rendered":"Vetting Anime"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I love anime. Many do. However, like many mediums, anime is pretty saturated. The advent of Crunchyroll and its ilk have increased the amount of anime people have access to greatly. Therefore, avid viewers have devised ways to separate the chaff from the wheat. Enter methods like the \u201cThree Episode Rule\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"SectionTitle\">Three Episode Rule<\/h2>\n<p>Simply put, the \u201cThree Episode Rule\u201d is the notion that the first three episodes of a show are a good representation of the show as a whole. Taken to its logical extreme, it\u2019s usually expressed as \u201cepisodes 1-3 are required viewing before deciding whether a show is worth your time or not\u201d. It seems to be widely recognized, though opinions are mixed on its effectiveness. The origins of this rule are shrouded in mystery (perhaps it\u2019s a Stand Alone Complex in its own right) but shows like Puella Magi Madoka Magica are certainly keeping the sentiment running strong.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"SectionTitle\">One Episode Variant<\/h2>\n<p><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0kQrT8S2Mrw\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, podcaster, vlogger and reviewer Digibro has subtly taken said rule to task, proposing his own standard, of sorts. Take a quick look at Digibro\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/myanimelist.net\/profile\/Digibro\">anime stats<\/a> and you\u2019ll see that a fair amount of anime on his list meet the chopping block &#8211; something he&#8217;s addressing again in his latest series. While he hasn\u2019t bestowed upon it any special moniker, the gist of his point is that the first episode is usually enough to judge a show by. Though it is no guarantee of overall quality, Digibro argues, good shows tend to have good first episodes.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"SectionTitle\">So&#8230;what&#8217;s really the difference, then?<\/h2>\n<p>An adept reader may claim that the \u201cThree Episode Rule\u201d and Digibro\u2019s one episode variant are largely similar, varying largely in scope. I\u2019d mostly agree, but posit that there\u2019s some nuance here that\u2019s worth sifting through. <\/p>\n<p>First of all, Digibro is very analytical. I\u2019ve seen him dissect an episode of GATE, touching upon production and presentation details I easily glossed over during my viewing. In other words, Digibro and his ilk are adept enough at discerning and dissecting the production M.O. that they only <em>need<\/em> one episode. For the less analytical, three episodes may allow one to consume the media and passively discern its quality.<\/p>\n<p>This next point is a little uncomfortable to deal with, but I think a lot of us likely don\u2019t know what we like or would consider good. At least not on a deeper level. Casual viewing easily lends itself to the \u201cas long as I\u2019m interested\/I\u2019ll know a good one when I see it\u201d method. This method is different from the two others in that it is mostly retrospective. It\u2019s like face-checking every bush in League of Legends or scarfing down a bunch of plants and then deciding it they were poisonous later &#8211; it isn\u2019t a vetting method. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"SectionTitle\">Which is right for me?<\/h2>\n<p>That\u2019s not so much an indictment as a caveat. Watching a show purely for the enjoyment of the experience with little to no analytic judgement is a totally legitimate way to experience anime and other media. It\u2019s just that, if you can\u2019t or won\u2019t scrutinize a piece of media on a level beyond \u201cthe experience as a whole was good\/bad\u201d then a one (or any number of ) episode rule won\u2019t do you any good. <\/p>\n<p>So which should you use? If you\u2019ve just gotta dig for every bit of deep meaning in a narrative and composition elements are a deal breaker for you, I\u2019d suggest trying your hand at Digibro\u2019s one episode method. If you\u2019re a little more laid back and are looking for larger narrative elements such as tonal shifts, extended characterization or solidification of a premise, then watching three episodes or so would be best for you. Finally, If you don\u2019t want to run the risk of turning your new show into a high school English lesson, then just watching the show while it interests you is best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love anime. Many do. However, like many mediums, anime is pretty saturated. The advent of Crunchyroll and its ilk have increased the amount of anime people have access to greatly. Therefore, avid viewers have devised ways to separate the chaff from the wheat. Enter methods like the \u201cThree Episode Rule\u201d Three Episode Rule Simply [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[8,17,9],"tags":[33,34,32],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7D5Jo-25","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":515,"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions\/515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/interwebadventurelog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}