As an individual, we each have our own distinct and unique likes and dislikes. That being said, there is no one Anime series that can please all the Anime fans out there.
So, it brings us back to the question of why you drop Anime series or more specifically, the factors that do not work in an Anime’s favor for you.
Personally, when I watch an Anime, Animation and Voice work take a backstage to plot and characters. So, Animation and Voice work don’t really affect me much when I watch an Anime, so much so that I consider dropping a series solely because of it. Similarly, I don’t choose what to watch based on these factors, but that’s another story.
However, I do drop Anime if I personally don’t find the story interesting, or just not suited for my tastes. Sometimes, the story is simply horrible, silly or non-existent (not in a good way like Lucky Star or other SOL Anime, the non-existent part anyways.).
I also tend to drop series if I find some characters or a number of characters to be really, really, irritating, though this doesn’t happen really often and irritating characters usually pop up in shows with horrible plot.
Sometimes, when I drop a popular Anime, I feel really guilty as I get really jealous of other people who are able to enjoy the Anime. Similarly, this also happens in the reverse when I really enjoy Anime that doesn’t seem popular. Have you ever experienced this before?
Some examples of Anime that I dropped because of either a single or a combination of the above reasons is (and I know I’m going to get a ton of slack for this):
– To Love-Ru
(Really annoying characters and show’s direction is, to me, not well done in general. Yami is the only great thing in the show and yet, is not done justice by this show. Watch black cat for the REAL Yami, Eve, which Yami was based upon.)
– Magical Girl Lyrical StirkerS
(Will be airing my opinions about StrkerS in a separate post…)
I seriously can’t bring myself to finish the above two series. (^.^;)
There are also cases where people drop Animes mid season or even to the end due to perhaps, a slow moving plot. I could never understand why people would do that as when I watch a series, I always see it through as I feel like I’m not doing the series justice by just quitting halfway.
Finally, when I drop Anime, I also feel like I’m missing out on the series. For instance, in this age where Animes are being pumped out by the dozens each season, it is impossible to keep up with all of them and some of them have to be skipped. Who knows, I might have liked the series later on, but dropped it within the first few episodes.
Anyways, I really wish to hear your opinions, reasons and examples on dropping Animes.
Actar's Otaku Life 
I’ve dropped To-love-Ru the anime as well I love the manga ALOT but the anime really wasn’t all that good when you sat it next to the manga, even at the start of the DVD releases it wasn’t worth much (in term of “Extras”) which is the only good reason I think someone would watch it…But the OVAS just released are great! and a news OVA series is coming out soon. And I have one more comment on To-Love-Ru(ANIME) the only good (in my opinion) value of the show is YUI and Yami or Eve,I dropped the Black cat anime a few episodes before it ended cuz it seemed a bit cliche and it was rather annyoing to me,the first 16 episodes were great though(but that’s Gonzo for ya), but the mangas really good.If a series though has a medicore plot and the “DVD BONUSES”/fanservice are really great like Kanokon theres a good chance I’ll continue watching the series.
Well, I do tend to drop many anime but for different reasons.
Reason 1: If it isnt in english dub
Reason 2: If the first episode or two isnt on the internet, therefore forcing me to buy a series I might hate(but I guess that doesnt count becuz thats not the serires fault)
Reason 3: If it drags out longer then need with a season or 2 filled with filler episodes.(example naruto)
Reason 4: If the english voices are terrible/ the english voices dont even come close to matching the translation of the original japanese script. (example Dragon Ball Z: Company that dubbed it: Ocean dub)
Reason 5: If it’s not funny! But there are many acceptations for this like, if its a mecha like Code Geass, or its a really serious series like Death Note (although I think there were a few funny parts in death note… I think I cant remember)
Those are some of the reasons. And I loathe myself for that, I hate watching eng subs becuz I’m to lazy so I’ll missout on so many great series. Thats why I can never be the full Otaku I wish to be, I can only be an partial otaku… Well an otaku that only watching english version of the animes… Point is I cant watch super awesome animes becuz I want to watch it in english, plus if you were to watch an anime that you’d have to really think about you wouldn’t be able to fully grasp it becuz you wouldnt be able to fully understand it.
Anyways (wow this is long) I think the real reason I drop animes excluding the reasons up there is because I just lose interest, like Air TV I only watched up till Episode 10 and Genshiken Well that one had terrible english dub but I only watched up till episode 10… I kinda liked Welcome to the NHk but I got bored of it and dropped it… I only seen a few episodes of Full Metal Panic! Fumoffu and omg it looks good, that and Full Metal Panic!… Oh and I dropped Soul Eaterv which rules but it’s not in english so I dropped it, same with FMA brotherhood I love FMA but Brotherhood isnt in english so I dropped it… okay Now I’m just rambling.
If you guys have any good animes that are in english dub send me a message on youtube my username is crossman456.
I’m much the same as you Actar the voice acting and animation (sometimes character design) take a backstage to the character and story plot too. They animation and voice acting are still important but if the characters have a good background and personality to them and the plot of the story is good and in depth I can look past the other stuff.
I drop animes usually due to poor story line which has no plot and rubbish characters with no personality to them. When I drop animes I don’t feel guilty or bad because like you say its not for everyone and we all have our preferences. Sometimes I do feel like i’m missing out as you will never know if they will get better, but I tend to just pick up another anime when I drop one so although I might “miss out” on one there is another one I might not have got to watching to take its place.
I also dropped To Love-Ru for the same reasons as it had a poor plot and some annoying characters. I also dropped naruto and bleach not because I didn’t like it but because it was never ending and had to much filler episodes even filler series. Other than that I cant really think of much anime I have dropped as I try to choose my anime wisely.
I have tried to watch Kamen no Maid Guy. I love the guy’s “kukuku” laugh but there was virtually no plot but boobs, panty shots, sexually frustrated teenagers, and did I mention boobs? There’s a better plot going on when my cat is grooming herself every five minutes. I’m a completist so it was hard to give up on this with only having watched five episodes.
Another anime that made me want to tear my hair out is the second season of Emma. I don’t know how I got through reading the manga but I finished it. I thought it was good. Then I watched the first season and it was okay. Then the second season. I wanted to bash Emma’s head on cobbledstone street. I got as far as maybe episode three and dumped it. It was romantically frustrating to watch.
And do I really need to explain the useless filler episodes in Naruto after Sasuke ran away to join Orochimaru? I want the time I wasted back.
I just started watching Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de and I want to scoop my eyes out with a rusted melon baller. It has a lot of my favorite seiyuu but that probably won’t stop me from dropping the series plus all its subsequent sequels and whatnot. The plot is lame and weak. There’s no cohesiveness to the plot. Miyaka panicked more in Fushigi Yuugi when she traveled to another dimension than the three main charas in Haruka. I won’t give more details to avoid spoiling it to others.
I am a sucker for seiyuu and so far I’ve only gone hunting for one particular anime (it was an OVA) that featured a seiyuu’s first work. I found it and it turned out to be dubbed. Aside from that I haven’t gone hunting for particular seiyuu’s work.
I just needed to say that I found your site via Goolge and I am glad I did. Keep up the good work and I will make sure to bookmark you for when I have more free time away from the books. Thanks again!
@ Evan Cooper: Thanks so much! I really appreciate your praise! (^.^)
Would be interesting to hear how you found my blog. (^.^)
I drop animes that seem boring to me. If it has boring characters, boring plot, and boring everything, I drop it. Some animes I found boring were Naruto, One Piece, and Last Exile. I couldn’t enjoy them, so I dropped them.
Superbe journée à vous tous ,
Premièrement, donnez-moi l’opportunité de vous montrer mon appréciation pour chacune des excellentes infos que j’ai trouvées sur cet imposant forum.
Je ne suis pas convaincue d’être au meilleur section mais je n’en ai pas vu de meilleure .
J’habite à Saskatoon, usa. J’ai 33 années et j’éduque quatre très gentils enfants qui sont tous âgés entre 8 ou 15 ans (1 est adoptée ). J’adore beaucoup les animaux et je tempte de leur présenter les items qui leur rendent la vie plus agréable.
Je vous remercie à l’avance pour toutes les formidables discussions qui suivront et je vous remercie surtout de votre compréhension pour mon français moins qu’idéal : ma langue de naissance est le vietnamien et je fais de mon mieux d’apprendre mais c’est très compliqué !
Ciao
Arthru
Found this post after doing a search on Google. Thanks for the good work.