Is 3 episodes enough to judge an anime? I just hit a weird milestone that changed my mind

I got into a heated debate on here last month about how many episodes you need before dropping a show. I always thought 3 episodes was the magic number, like everyone says. But then I hit exactly 50 anime completed on my MyAnimeList last week and I started looking back at my ratings. Turns out some of my all time favorites like Steins;Gate and Madoka Magica barely made it past that 3 episode mark for me. On the flip side, I gave a full season to a show that never got good and regretted the time. So I'm wondering now if 3 episodes is too harsh or if I'm just being too patient with bad openings. Has anyone else noticed their drop rate changing after hitting a big number like 50 or 100 completed shows?

2 comments

2 Comments

briancampbell24d ago

Stick with the 3 episode rule but treat it more like a flexible guideline than a hard limit. I've had shows where episode 3 was decent enough to keep going but episode 4 really hooked me. For slower burn series like Steins;Gate I'd say give it up to 6 or 7 episodes if the writing feels smart even if nothing crazy happens yet. The trick I use is asking myself after episode 3 if I'm curious about anything at all in this world or these characters. If the answer is no then drop it for sure but if there's even a tiny spark of interest then another couple episodes won't kill you.

stone.jesse24d ago

Oh man, that's exactly what happened to my friend with Madoka Magica. He was ready to drop it after episode 3 because nothing too wild had happened yet, but I told him to hold on just one more. Episode 4 hit and he texted me like "okay now I get it" and ended up binge watching the whole thing that weekend. So yeah, that little spark of curiosity can really pay off sometimes if you give it a bit more room to breathe.