Dropping Anime
Asking the question: why do good people watch bad anime?
It’s that time of the month again – editorial time! That’s right, by some miracle or black magic I have not run out of ideas yet. Which is good, because it means I can still post things to Metanorn despite having no shows to actually blog about right now. This month, I’m going to rant about the importance of consistent pacing/quality in anime, and how you should choose to invest your anime-watching time wisely. The reason I decided to talk about pacing this month was to address the issue of anime where you have to “grind” through episodes to get to the good stuff as well as shows that start off wonderfully only to burn out in the final stretch. Hopefully by the end of this you’ll realize that dropping an anime series isn’t such a horrible thing.
Starting off slow
After watching Steins;Gate, I questioned the point of having to slog through boring episodes to get to the good ones. Is it really worth it in the end? As a form of entertainment media that’s sole purpose is to keep the viewer amused, watching poorly made episodes because “it gets better!” just isn’t acceptable. When people say a series starts off badly due to pacing, story, animation or any other factor, I lose all motivation to watch it. Yeah, it may get good later on, but I’d rather watch a series that keeps up the quality from start to finish. As a university student, I’m busy, and I want to MAXIMIZE the amount of fun I have in whatever way I can. GO GO ANIME SNOBBERY!
I’m not the type to be completely black and white about things, and I’m not going to just leave it at “if it starts off bad, it’s not worth it.” It’s a shame that you might have to start justifying whether an anime is worth watching by comparing the good halves and bad halves but sometimes it’s actually worth it to hang in there for the greatness you get in the end. Steins;Gate plods through 12 episodes of long dialogues and slowly setting up concepts and character connections as if it had all the time in the bloody world. However, the second half is an incredibly riveting depiction of time travel and the rifts it causes in the lead characters life. That was worth it because the first half may have been ¼ the speed of the second half, but it wasn’t outright bad. It’s generally only worth it if the number of bad episodes is small, the sketchy episodes in question aren’t dreadful, and if the prize at the end is really worth it. The problem is, judging whether something you haven’t see yet will be worth the wait is hard. You can only tell from what others say, and anime is a subjective medium.
There really is no solution to this, I’m just making your life miserable by pointing out all the time you waste watching bad anime episodes. Consistent pacing is hard to achieve, and sometimes the beginning starting off slow just cannot be avoided. Sometimes the best answer is to just skip it. Reborn! dedicates its first 7 chapters to gags before it finally becomes a decent shounen, battle manga and season 2 of Haruhi is plagued with the infamous Endless eight arc. Do yourself a favour and skip it.
The funny thing is, some people refuse to skip anything and treat watching anime like more of a mission than a fun hobby. People comment with things like “Oh, I really should watch the latest episode now” or “I’m so behind, oh noes!” as if it was their civic duty to sit and wait for Mawaru Penguindrum to get subbed. It’s that mindset of having to finish a series just because you started it that confuses me. While not everyone is like that, I don’t understand people who don’t mind punishing themselves with bad anime, offering no other reason for their actions other than how good it feels to complete a series. I think otaku should be critical of what they watch, and carefully draw a line between what is worth watching and what should be discarded.
A Weak Finish
No, I’m not done bitching yet! Let’s not forget anime that start off strong then go out with a whimper. Weak ending case #1 is when you can tell the author just wanted to end the series ages ago, but was forced to drag it on. The plot becomes shallow, the characters stop developing, and things have a tendency to dissolve into a panty shot parade. Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko should have really ended at episode 4 or 5, once Erio took off her futon and decided to integrate into society. Instead, it stretches out into 12 episodes of haremettes prancing around. I dropped it with 3 episodes to spare until the end. Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? has a similar feel, where the charm simply wears off over time and the story becomes dumb.
There’s also case #2 where the ending is a cliffhanger due to the manga still running and the desire for a season 2. This happens a lot, but usually only affects the last episode, which isn’t too bad. The problem arises when the cliffhanger is just the end result of rushing. Deadman Wonderland decided that it had a certain spot it wanted season 1 to end at, and just said “fuck this” to everything else and crammed a frightening amount of chapters into a mere 20 or so odd minutes. It was a mess, but you could argue that most of the series was kind of awry.
Case #3 is just when an anime has to scramble to wrap up the story in the final few episodes. Fractale is guilty of wasting away precious episodes on doing laundry and having the characters screech “ecchi!” at each other before it remembers it actually has a story to tell in the last episode. So although it started off with a nice, promising pace, it had two horrible dips: one where it slowed down to a snail’s pace and another where it went bonkers.
In my opinion, anime that start off well and slowly degrade are harder to drop. A show that begins with an unpromising premise is likely to be dropped on impulse by most people, while it’s a bit harder to give up on something that was previously reliable. This is essentially the sunk cost fallacy – where when you spend a resource that cannot be recovered you will follow through anyways, assuming you’re past the point of no return. Furthermore, you will trick yourself into thinking it was better than it actually was. People then assume because they’ve invested so much time, that it’s worth it to trudge through the last few episodes. Well, no, it isn’t. I’m willing to drop a show with one or two episodes to spare to the end, because I have come to firmly believe that it won’t get any better. If anything, I want to stop as soon as possible to avoid wasting MORE time on something I don’t really enjoy. If I’m dying to know about the ending, there are always summaries to read (on blogs like Metanorn! Hint hint!). Being picky is my style, and it means I have more time to watch anime I love and have fewer regrets about pouring my resources into junk.
Your Turn!
Time to strike back!
I’m especially curious to hear from those of you loyal otaku who will follow an anime to the end, like a lemming who will jump off a cliff after its comrades. Is it really worth it to plow through an anime that starts off bad or has a bad ending? How do you feel about dropping series and how often do you drop them? Have you ever regretted watching an anime all the way through? Comment away! (Or just poke into the bonus mini art spam at the end and slip away into the night)
Bonus Art Spam:
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 79 comments
I don’t really have any shame about dropping shows, which has served me well more than it’s hurt me. I’m fairly picky about what I watch in general, and it’s a good bet that I’m not going to stick with most of the shows that I begin watching in any season, though when I actually do the dropping kind of varies from show to show. Shows that fail the three episode test or are just really average are nice, guilt free drops that I can forget about, but it’s tougher for shows that I enjoyed before rot set in. It took me until Episode 14 to realize that Hanasauku Iroha was never going to be the show that I wanted it to be from the first 2 eps, for example, and I dropped it because watching it just put me in a bad mood.
As for slow starts… I’m willing to excuse some slowness, but mostly on older shows that have finished so we can tell that it’s worth it. I’m a lot more hesitant with currently airing shows, and I freely admit that Steins;Gate was something of a gamble, albeit one that paid off in the end. Of course on that note, you could make a pretty good argument that watching anime seasonally is a trap and that you should wait until shows finish airing before watching them. Knowing at least that your time will be rewarded or not makes it a lot easier to go through buildup.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
ARE YOU ME? I’m quite picky as well and feel no shame dropping something. It’s just a hobby, watching what you want is natural. If it’s your job, you have less of an option. For bloggers, watching anime seasonally is a must. It’s also a good way to avoid spoilers (except I get spoiled anyways. Thanks Twitter peeps for ruining everything I love!). Since a lot of diehards also watch seasonally, it kind of forces you to watch seasonally as well to keep up with what everyone is talking about D: Peer pressure.
POWUH: 400-499 with 489 comments
*me talking to an anime show* it’s not like I hate u or anything it’s just that i’m really busy *watches better anime shows*
-months later-
*goes back to first anime* It’s to late to watch u now the season is over im sorry *watches other better anime*
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
That’s right, dump that anime! He didn’t love you in the first place!
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Critique with 1024 comments
Oh, God…Reborn! Man I wish someone had told me just how bad and frequent the fillers were. I dropped it after the first decent arc because I saw it slipping back into those 20 or so episodes of filler before something actually good happens. I just couldn’t wait that long, and didn’t know where to skip to. And there is always that worry that you will miss something important.
I suffer through a lot of bad anime for Jun, but that being said, looking back the merits tend to outweight the negatives. I mean, I enjoy him so if the anime is actually bad it doesn’t bother me so much, if that makes sense? It’s also introduced me to some anime I would never even glance at usually, like MM! which I really enjoyed. It’s hit and miss, like Kuro Usagi ended up wretched, so it was like for every good show I get to see because of him there is one bad…Which sounds fair!
I think the reason some people tend to finish anime that they start but don’t like is so they can be sure and educated in their opinion of it. Like Me and Anaaga detest Clannad with a violent passion, but we still stuck with it and watched all of it so we know exactly what we don’t like about it and can give a reason if we were ever called up on it.
The reason I like watching “bad” anime is for the laugh value, I like making fun of things. I drop an anime if it’s boring, but if it is bad then I find it enjoyable with the attitude of “how many jokes can I make about this?”
It is hard to tell, though, when to drop an anime and when to stick with it. There was a period where I wanted to drop Exorcist, because it just became god awful, but I would be kicking myself now if I had, because it got soooooo good again. But with Kuro Usagi I kept going “maybe it’ll get better” and it didn’t (i probably shouldn’t have had expectations of that one though, lol) So it is hard, and you raised some good points. I believe even bad anime can have it’s good points if you look hard enough. (with a super duper magnifying glass in some cases)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yeahhh it’s a real shame that some incredibly intense battles are chased down with LAMBO DOES A THING! IT IS FUNNY! :/
If there’s one saving grace that can pull you through an anime…hey, that works. For a while I watched Ghost Hunt just because Rin’s seiyuu was in it SOME OF THE TIME. Not even always. But watching something just to be able to say more things in an argument? Not worth it. If I don’t like it, no one’s gonna convince me otherwise even if I can’t verbalize it. Whether I like or dislike something is a feeling that I know right away, not something I need to analyze. That’s my take on it. :B
Bad anime CAN have good points if you’re willing to laugh at it and as you said, make jokes. Add friends and you’ve got yourself a bad anime watching party!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I’m easily entertained, so unless it’s complete garbage I can enjoy a show. I try to watch as much as I can, so new anime seasons are always hectic/interesting (OMGNEWSHOWGOTTACHECKITOUT) – start of a season means I put most series I’m currently watching on hold and sample the new crop…like next week 😉
I usually look at overviews to get an idea of what an anime is about. If it’s sounds remotely interesting, I’ll give it at least 1-2 episodes to wet my feet. If it’s decent I’ll probably finish it, unless it gets boring or I lose interest.
Last season I dropped:
Double-J in 1
Ikoku Meiro no Croisée about 4-5 episodes in
Yuruyuri about 4-5
Morita-san wa Mukuchi in 1
NO.6 in about 4-5
BLOOD-C after 2-3 (and I was really looking forward to this too – I liked the original Blood+)
Nekogami Yaoyorozu after 1
R-15 in 1
So dropped 8 out of 17 last season…
Occasionally I’ll pick back up a dropped show if I hear good things – Madoka is an example that I dropped after two episodes but picked up after the OMGWIN Homura episode.
Funny that you people found Steins;Gate and Lucky Star boring initially… I watched the first episode and was hooked. But then again, I’m easily entertained =)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I try a bit of everything (and just silently drop it if I can’t stand it. eg. Dog Days) but end up dropping quite a bit over time. I don’t blame you for dropping most of those (although I quite liked no.6) XD
Steins;Gate had a good first episode, but got boring after episode 3 or 4 for a bit…It all depends on taste, really. Different people just like different things~
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
No.6 seemed pretty interesting… but the BL undertones were too much for me to handle. =/
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 304 comments
I actually have a tendency to drop a show if it starts off good and then starts going downhill. Although, my dropped list isn’t really permanant. I want to try to finish all the anime that I’ve started watching, unless it’s really incredibly stupid.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I won’t go back and finish almost all of the anime I’ve dropped. I dropped it for a reason, you know? But sometimes I do go back and watch things I’ve put on hold because I was too busy or wasn’t in the mood. If it’s decent, it’s worth re-visiting.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 22 comments
For me it comes down to age. From ages 16-22 I wouldn’t drop anything and I would finish it even if my eyes bleed a the end. Now I am willing to drop series 7 episodes in and not even look back. If there is any potential in there I will keep going because it could get better. Potential is key to any series and whether you see it in the story, action, characters, or comedy as long as one thing has a slight spark I am willing to keep with it. Once that spark is gone then I move on.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I must ask you…HOWW? How did you do that and WHYY? D:
Potential is hard to judge, you mostly just have to feel it out and take things one episode at a time. Most shows you can generally tell what direction they’re going in from the get-go though.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 305 comments
I’m probably one of those people you’re talking about. XD I like to finish something when I start it, even if it ends up bad. I guess it’s just a genuine love for anime, like what Jrow mentioned. I’ve never really regretted watching something bad. It’s more like…I think as a blogger, it’s good to have some experience with good and bad, popular and obscure- I feel like, if I’m going to write about something, I should have some knowledge about a wide variety of different shows (but I probably just take this too seriously. =w= )Plus, if I’ve already invested a significant amount of time into something, it feels like the time I already spent on it would be for nothing if I just stop without at least seeing the ending. I guess it’s just a personal thing, but I feel the need to have a complete story I guess, even if it doesn’t end up being a particularly good story. That’s also one of the reasons why open endings drive me crazy.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 305 comments
Oh crap, I just realized how many times I said “I guess” in one paragraph. I have to stop typing at 2 a.m. ^^;
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Aiyaa, I could never do that. I can experience bad anime by watching a few episodes and that’s enough, I don’t need to watch 12 episodes to know what’s wrong with something @_@ It’s admirable for a blogger, but I’m not sure if it’s really all too helpful…XD
You are falling prey to the sunk cost fallacyyyy. I know it feels bad when you’ve come so far to drop it but you have 2 choices: 1. not waste any more time or 2. waste more time. :/ Unless you’re dying to see the conclusion. Sometimes I really do want to see how something ends so I stick in there a bit longer because I feel like it will be worth it.
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
^guess im the same as elyon who’s over me.
I have the loyalty of an otaku that makes me continue to keep watching the shows I started unless I dropped it at ep 3, which is actually pretty rare. once I pass the 6th episode, I feel obligated to finish it.
ironically, the real reason I drop shows is not due to it being bad but due to time schedule. another is because I want to explore the other animes that seem interesting so I sort of end up dropping some 24 eps anime despite those having more potential thanks to being longer.
case in point, I dropped hanairo and steins gate. though the former was a bit due to it losing steam imo while the latter was purely due to less time now thanks to school.
so as you can see, im much more weird than the obsessed otaku. its also cause I tend to have lots of anime per season now. I pick a few series and keep on watching them. maybe add a few more depending on the anime blogs I see.
my taste is pretty diverse so I can appreciate most animes. I can watch those that range from kids to adults.
ah yes, another thing thats similar to elyon’s.
I dont watch anime just cause I want something good but to see how it will end(though I do prefer to watch the good ones). il see it til the end then judge it if its good or bad. whether its a hidden gem or a train wreck, il watch it to decide.
it could get better or worse but hey, the experience can be good for you and you’ll know better.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
You’re not actually obligated to finish it though. Huh, I guess I just don’t get that feeling of attachment if it’s something I don’t like enough. I’m really learning a lot about how otaku feel about their anime watching experience from the comments in this post. This is why I love writing editorials, seeing the opinions of people who vary from me :3
I totally understand dropping things because of being on a tight schedule. I don’t know what I’m gonna do when med school time rolls around. Eek. Still, if you drop currently airing series that you like for the sake of time, you can always come back to them.
POWUH: 400-499 with 406 comments
For me ‘dropping’ an anime happens because of one of three things. Spoiler for length.
Show ▼
In general about animes I usually watch a few episodes at the beginning (3-4) before I consider whether I should drop it or not. If it is good/mediocre at the beginning and I realize that it got bad in the last few episodes, I just watch to the end of it just for the sake of finishing the series. (Deadman Wonderland)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I go by friend’s recommendations a lot (unless their taste is completely different. Then I just tell them to stop giving me series to watch because they all suck). It’s the primary way I find new series to watch. At least, ones that have finished airing.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
I believe the only reason why I watched & liked Starry Sky is just because I’m not familiar with any of the games but In Spring and wanted to see what all the other characters are like. Because of the anime, I have a general idea of which characters I adore/liked over which I don’t.. so I can go thru and play the game like I normally do with my otome games (lonely ending – only if I don’t know any of the characters yet > secret characters – lol, which applies to Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side atm > least favorite characters > moderately liked characters > favorite characters!). Gosh, I know once I hit In Winter, I’m going to be at a loss of what to do, since I do like all three guys. XD
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
I watch more anime then I should or could. There are times that I cram or even speed watch; Itsuka Tenma for example which I only watched for seiyuu cast.
I have peculiar taste in anime and thus I end up enjoying the bad ones even because they just make me laugh. I guess, I work on the well informed policy so I check out everything and unless its something like Manyuu or some lolicon shit, I pretty much plough through anything. Though, I would never watch school days for mental scarring and most probably One Piece because it’s too long!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
School Days… I’m still not sure why I watched that to the end. It was a train-wreck but it wasn’t even an enjoyable train-wreck.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I have to balance too many hobbies, I have a long way to go to catch up to you in terms of anime-watching, I think XD
I tend to try almost everything too (and even the ecchi series every now and then. Don’t ask how I got through that Samurai girls anime ahhhhh). I’m not afraid of long series AS LONG AS they have a manga. After reading One Piece, series length doesn’t scare me any more XD
…As for School Days..ergg…no thanks…
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 28 comments
I give it two-5 episodes chance. If it doesn’t get interesting after 2-5 episodes, DROP. I have other animes or other things to do besides watching boring episodes. That sounds horrible, but seriously, why bother watching it when I can SKIP those episodes and still understand the good stuff that happens later?
Also, blogs and other people’s comments do help, (Thanks metanorn!), and their opinions might be different than mine, but if an anime gets -10 by 10 people, I probably wouldn’t watch it.
Plus, screencaps help me judge whether I’ll like the anime or not. After all, ART is a big factor.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’m pretty cut and dry like that as well. Not fun? It’ll take a lot of convincing to get me to pick it up again.
I judge a lot by screencaps too. You not only get a feel for the art, but the general tone of the anime as well. The colour palettes used, the expressions (cartoony or more realistic) and things like that are actually good indicators. I primarily judge by the summary though. If the premise is good, I’m going to watch and see how the studio and director handled it.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
When looking back, I really don’t have any anime that I’ve dropped (yet). It’s normally just placed on hold because of the lack of interest in anime and started gaming instead. (lol, it’s happened already — minus watching PenguinDrum every week — since all I want to play is Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side all the time now.)
But I do normally rage over series, a lot. Mostly because of the fillers (Ao no Exorcist, D.Gray-man, etc) or important details from the original source that’s missing in the anime (like the Deadman Wonderland series).
Ao no Exorcist is seriously pissing me off because it’s mostly fillers. If you think about it, over half the series IS fillers. Like a total of 14 episodes, which only about 3-4 of those filler episodes had bits of the actual manga in it. I think the only main issue I have with the anime (since I haven’t dropped it because of the great casting~!) was the important character development that occurs during everyone’s trip to Kyoto. They’re completely negating it with the fillers that they’ve made since episode 16.
I know, even tho I AM going to watch the New Prince of Tennis in January (yay~ birthday present for me! TY Konomi-sensei~ .> It doesn’t help that I was first introduced to Suwabe Junichi via PoT’s Atobe and LOVE the character & seiyuu.)
Deadman Wonderland… I kinda of marathoned that because my boyfriend said “lets wait for an uncensored version to watch.” Which… in the end, there wasn’t an uncensored version. I am a fan of the manga and while watching the anime, felt horribly disappointed with stuff that they took out/added/changed. I agree, where they stopped was a decent spot to stop at (especially if they were thinking of doing a second season) but I wasn’t too impressed with it as a whole. The voice acting wasn’t impressive, like I thought it was going to be. They left out most of the Deadmen that Ganta was suppose to have met when he started participating in the Corpse Carnival/Carnival Corpse. (Even if they didn’t really have a big part in that part of the story. They should have showed them all, as a heads up for people who don’t read manga — like my online friend Kiyoshii.) And the key female character for the “next part” of the story was completely missing (even tho you were only going to see her like just in one episode).
Some of the other series you’ve mentioned I haven’t started/continued yet. But thanks for the heads up (especially on Fractale). I watched part of the first episode of that, I believe, and wasn’t really impressed.
Though a question about D.Gray-man. I’ve seen almost all of it. I skipped everything that looked like fillers to me. Tho I read somewhere that some of the fillers were from the novels. Is that true? XD *always forgets to actually go and check it, but really doubts she’ll go back and watch the first season* The second season is amazing, compared to the first. :3 (I especially <3 Cross and his awesomeness!)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
You’ve never dropped anything? Yoooo, you’re a tank! Impressive! Will you eventually come back to watch everything you put on hold?
Is it weird that I didn’t notice any filler in the Ao no Ex anime? I haven’t read the manga, so it all seemed pretty important to me. But I’m totally with you on being excited for the new Tenipuri anime (DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT WAS COMING OUT! I just knew about the manga). Tenipuri is always love~
I read the Deadman Wonderland manga after the anime, and it’s much better. Still a bit ridiculous, but at the very least the pacing is better and the battles are actually intense. I would tell anyone to skip the anime and just read the manga at this point :/
D. Gray Man is another one of those series I’ve read but haven’t watched. As for the novels…I have no clue. The fillers could be from there, or maybe they’re anime originals. I don’t recall any filler-like chapters in the manga, so it’s probably not from there. Whatever the case, just skip it if it’s too boring XD
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
Well, some of the series that I have no desire to continue (mostly fanservice-y titles targeted to the males) are ones I’m watching with my boyfriend. We watch a few episodes of an anime every Monday when we babysit his nephews & niece. He’s not in a mood to watch anime atm, so everything’s on hold. lol, it sucks though. I kinda want to get rid of them now, but he wants to watch them, eventually. -_-;
Well.. I kinda read the manga first for AoEx, to get a feel of the story and didn’t want to blindly go into it just for two voice actors. Which my love for the cast has increased the number of actors that I adored, lol. Yes… Amaimon, I’m looking at you. Kakihara Tetsuya, you gained a new fangirl. XD (Nakai-san~ I’ve been your fan solely because of Date Masamune from Sengoku Basara, lol.) It’s still a great series even with all my ranting about the important character development being negated with this ending that they created. -_-;
Tenipuri’s just going to be pure love and awesomeness~ even with whatever fillers we’ll probably getting. XD OMG, the earcandy. <3 *heads off to pick up her otome Tenipuri dating game on the DS* Though, this makes me wonder if Konomi-sensei's new Tenipuri series will be getting otome games too. XD
I agree. I tell everyone I know to skip over the DW anime, since the manga is better. But that's mostly from the POV of someone who read the manga first and was disappointed with the anime (with sooo many different reasons). But I couldn't stop watching the anime, just so I could see Owl, since I LOVED his character. (*cry~*) But for people who are too lazy to check out the manga, they get to watch the anime and then have to deal with my constant ranting about how I didn't like it. XD (lol, my friend hates it whenever I rant about AoEx since he's okay with the fillers.)
Similar to the Reborn! anime, the DGM anime rearranged the manga chapters and put in some fillers to prolong the first series before the big arc about going to Japan to find Cross (the awesome second season!). Tho… both Reborn! & DGM had a great voice cast, so I was able to endure the series. And… only my opinion for the series, but DGM has one of the best streaks with OPs and EDs. I enjoyed all of the songs, unlike Reborn!/Bleach/Naruto/etc. (lol, which I don't even watch the last two.) Ao no Exorcist's OPs & EDs are great too… but not too keen on the Wired Life song and I always play heads/tails on which OP I adore the most. XD (I ALWAYS choose Take Off over Wired Life, but that's only because I'm more a fan of Korean music over Japanese music right now. The only Japanese stuff I listen to are mostly seiyuu songs from animes/video games I like. Yes… I'm looking at you UtaPri and Starry Sky.)