When I first read Stripey’s appeal to the masses to give anime a chance beyond the first few episodes, I initially have the same reaction as him. It is true that we should all be tolerant and give it some time before making an educated guess on the viability of the series. There is perhaps an element in truth that many anime fans have patience less than a man on stiles. However, something in me started to think when I was walking back home today after having an early day at school.

I decide to politely dismantle each point of Stripey’s post just to be the devil’s advocate for this. As much as Stripey is an idealist in anime injustice, I do not consider much of this phenomena to be harsh. It’s merely about personal tastes. I cannot believe how I left this post in the “draft” section for the last three months.

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It’s a world that wants speed

Let’s face it. Life is too fast for us to spend all the time reading all blogs to know whether a series is bad or not. As much as we want to be objective, the mere existence of blogs is a sign of subjectivity as there is no editorial process in which to control and edit content. In other words, blogs are exactly what many Internet freedom advocates have intended, a “free press” from gatekeeping. That results in news coming out quicker and faster. How often have we see the mass public complaining about how slow a fansub works?

Even Totali of Subculture mentions how people wonder whether the anime is not out in Japan, if he releases his entries just a day slower. That is clearly an indication in the information age that people are getting less patient when it gets to getting information. We are so used to getting what we want, with everything just a click away. A read on Zipf’s law will tell you about how when people have infinite choices and the freedom to choose, they will find the source which is most popular. In this case, it’s usually raw bloggers such as Random Curiosity and Subculture that provides the quickest news.

Some of us might try our best to keep up, but truth be said, it’s a rather impossible task. It’s just like real life. Microsoft is able to monopolize the market because it is currently a giant and often tries its best (though we can all complain about how shitty they are now) to offer new programs to keep their consumers. For a new blogger who comes in wishing to have a bit of audience, the only way is sensationalism. A good example to illustrate this point is the case of newspapers and tabloids. The newspapers came out first, getting the readership but it is the tabloid in many countries that slowly captured the attention and the money. Who are we to judge what is “high class” and what is not?

Little time to watch anime

Is it any wonder that we want everything good within the first 20 minutes? I do not deny that anime has a tough act to follow, but when people are given the freedom of choice, they will choose something that is the best among the rest. Some of us might have enough time to watch everything but the majority probably has enough free time to watch 1, if not 2 series. It is hence crucial to see if the first episode is stellar or not. There is no incentive for them to find someone who tells them everything is fine (even I do not do that, I simply omit those crappy anime in general from the blog).

It’s nothing to do with giving anime a chance, it’s simply whether anime fulfills that desire. Time is at a premium for most. If a movie trailer is unable to capture your attention, do you continue to give it a chance? For 5% of the population, the answer might be yes since they have lots of time in their hands. For the 95% of the people, they will not give it another watch. I do not agree with the notion of negative reviews, but someone has to tell the audience whether an anime is good or bad to give it a better decision. If it’s shit, say that it is shit but it is you. It is usually down to expression and misinterpretation most of the time.

The loud and vocal unenlightened

People are vocal because they like drama. As much as I wish that all journalism should be prim and proper, we always hear about the paparazzi and how invasive it can be. The truth is that people like controversy and something that triggers a reaction allows us to think. As long as it is not about ridiculous juvenile flaming (which is usually not the case except in some places), any extreme negativism should be tolerated for us to understand. Its really a fine line.

Quick triggers are what captures the attention.

Foresight is important to make sure you make the right decision for long term success.

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