Why watch anime? Well don’t watch it for the sake of it! Watch anime if it gives you joy, if you think you can derive something from it, watch it as you would do anything else in life.

I’m so glad someone else mentioned Hunter X Hunter! How I love that show… One of my other favourites is Oniisama, E (Brother, Dear Brother)… and a bunch of other animes which you’ve probably already mentioned somewhere in your blog.

Well, best of luck to you! I’ll keep checking back here…

Anime should be enjoyed like fine wine – casually at a sensible pace. If you have to much at once you’ll just feel sick.

Of this last seasons shows there’s only one show that artistically interests me and another that grabs me with its writing. There’s a couple of other shows that press certain buttons for me, but that’s about it. The only show I watch straight after getting my hands on it right now is One Outs.

Had this season come in 2003 I’d probably be devouring three times as many shows. Had I come to it in 1997, I wouldn’t have believed that many shows could be watched.

I used to try and watch every 1st episode, but I think being burnt by one too many GONZO shows put a stop to that (not to mention all the otakubait “romantic comedy” shows). Nowadays I apply certain criteria to the shows I’ll check out. Any show made for WOWOW (particularly the Madhouse ones) and Fuji TV’s noitaminA slot I find are worth at least a glance, as is anything that isn’t an adaptation.

Beyond that I keep an eye on who is on the staff of the shows, and what they have previously worked on. There’s certain directors I’ll check out even if they’ve disappointed me in the past. And with regards to animators moving from key animation to more supervisory roles, if they’ve worked on certain projects in the past, I’ll be interested to see how they do as their career moves forward.

As so many anime are adaptations, I’m less interested in screenwriters, however if Kazuki Nakashima works on another anime, I’ll be there in a shot, because unlike a lot of non-animator cartoon writers, he gets it.

But that could be the main problem. Perhaps it’s this question of quality. At times, it does feel like I’m watching a show simply for the sake of getting stuff that’s “hot off the press” for sampling. Watching an old show that’s been highly rated by the community means that if the premise/genre and setting is to your liking, you’ll most likely enjoy it very much. At least your making a disctinction between watching what you realy wish to watch and watching what’s simply there to watch.