@Drm: @________________@ HANYYYYYYYYYYYYYUUUU~…what’s that?

@Mutio: Arr, blogs are really good, especially random curiosity since he has a huge audience which proves that what he writes is timely and accurate for the masses to go to his site often. Nevertheless, I try not to watch that many shows myself, what with my new job coming.

Still, I can fully understand why most people will not check forums or fansubs, because they just have no time. Soon, i will be like that. Sob!

Also, FOLLOW THE AWESOME.

HANYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~~ :3

So I’ll say you are very successful as a promoter. (and also I’ve always enjoy reading you analyze animes, so you don’t need to be so humble! )

@Random: Ehh? It was actually someone’s comment who triggered my interest in it. I probably will never think of such a topic if you ask me.

@Psgels: Hah, it’s close to it. Well, i do follow what I preach, and I always check your blog because if I want to know what is under appreciated, all i have to do is to click on your site, hehe ^^

@Elvyse: this almost sounds like self promotion, but I usually tend to trust blogs quite a bit more compared to the aggregated websites like animenewsnetwork and the likes. I have my favorites for what I read on the blog and in a way, that is perhaps the few sources that I checked out for my daily digest when a season is coming.

Maybe, it’s just my preference but blogs of the anime nature tends to have a decent credibility, especially when you know that the writer/blogger that you are reading has a very similar taste as you.

@Gold bug: That will work if you are looking for dated series but I am ascribing this more toward new series in the season that you want to pick up right at the start ^^

@Gaguri: heh, i am quite a lazy bum to be truly honest. With work piling up on me, the time I have to choose series gets really low and despite my wanting to check out every single anime before dropping it, I really cannot afford the time. Hence, I prefer to do a bit of research and all that jazz to reduce time wasted.

@Arcane: lol, for a blogger like me who is immensely curious, I generally tend to watch it even before the subs come out. Hah hah, what a bad thing to be curious, yes?

@Briar: I gonna lynch you for that slice of life comment lalala~ But honestly, it is always my goal as a blogger to recommend good series. Yes, I can be superficial but I generally try to cut down ranting as much as I can, since i see myself more as a promoter, rather than an analyzer of anime. I am not smart, nor am i a great person when it comes to deciphering stuff.

Hence, I prefer to praise series where it’s due and keep mum on series that are not up to par. Silence is often the best way to comment about a series’ quality in my opinion.

Sometimes I go to websites, forums and blogs and see what they recommend. If the recommender rouses my interest, I’ll pick up the recommended anime. Lovely Complex is an excellent example.

Zero sense pictures. What’s the world coming to?

it is my version of pre screening what series i want to watch without the pain an agony of filtering it myself (I just don’t have the time) also once it reaches your level of votes you should have a glut of the series to watch so you can watch a full hour or 2 of your anime of choice and then you can follow the series from there all that is required is a little patience.

Preparation is all indeed. I usually starts at PukiWiki or AniDB, then check all the official sites and then read blogs (and sometimes forums). I find seasons’ previews on blogs really helpful, if only to know what an anime will talk about. After that I do a flat list and a second one with priorities. I don’t set a limit on the number of shows to watch (since I’ll probably drop many), nor do I check which fansub group is doing what (this is mostly irrelevant as there’s always going to be someone to sub even the most obscure shows).
One thing that you didn’t mention but that I find very important during the preparation is the “experience” gained after watching so many seasons. My experience helps me greatly in spotting animes that I won’t like. Of course it’s not bulletproof but it rarely fails me. It’s like having a 6th sense
One other mean that can help me decide is when there’s a scanlation of the manga upon which the show is based. For instance there was a lot of hype surrounding Hayate no Gotoku a few months ago, but I couldn’t understand why from reading the description, so I read a few chapters of the manga (a bit more than the first volume). Since it really bored me, I didn’t even bother with the anime.

And then I wait for the season to start.

Since I check blogs (via RSS) and download sites daily, it’s very easy to cross-reference with my list and spot new animes that are on it. After 2 or 3 episodes of each show I can see 3 categories: those that I will watch till the end, those that I’m not sure, and those that I drop. If a show is in the 2nd category I usually create a backlog of 3 or more episodes that I watch all in a row (I find that watching several episodes in a row makes me more forgiving on the show’s shortcomings). If after that it doesn’t move in the 1st category, I drop it. The trimming goes on like this, and after 5 or 6 episodes max. (often less) per show I know if I should drop it or not. The most important thing is to know when to stop, and to actually stop watching a show. Never believe that a show will get that much better that it will make you forget how bad the first episodes were. Even if everybody and their mother watches and praises it, if you don’t like you don’t like it. Period. If after 6 episodes you don’t care about the characters and fail to see the point in the story, then STOP watching it. Seriously. You’ll appreciate the remaining shows even more.

Once the season is well advanced and that my watchlist has been well reduced, I check blogs to see what they say on shows that I didn’t try to see if there’s something that I missed. Sometimes you have good surprises this way