AnimeNEXT 2011

Summer's here which means the con season is about to start. What better way to start of the season than the 10th anniversary of AnimeNEXT in Somerset, New Jersey. This mid sized convention was held in the Garden State Exhibit Center and the nearby Double Tree and Holiday Inn hotels. This year the convention grew even bigger in size with crowds beginning to choke the convention even on a Friday. Despite the crowding, I've been pleased with the panel line-up, the constant presence of staff, and the overall atmosphere of everyone there.

Damn those trees!

First Impressions.

This is my 3rd time at AnimeNEXT and not much has changed since last year. Coming in on Friday I noticed that there were quite a bit more people than usual. Picked up my badge pretty quickly and had plenty of time before the first set of panels. Usually Fridays are more laid back, but this year almost every good panel was scheduled on Friday and felt like I had fun non-stop the entire day. Lining up for popular panels seems to have become a norm at animenext.

This is justice!

Panels and Guests.

Although AnimeNEXT is only mid-sized con, it is able to attract some big names in the Japanese anime industry. Studio I.G.'s animator, Satoru Nakamura, and episode director, Koudai Kakimoto, were the guests of honor this year around which was quite awesome as they are responsible for working on Moribito and Eden of the East. There were no big name musical guests this year which was somewhat disappointing but the ones that were featured were still very cool.

I attended many panels which were mostly hosted either by the Reverse Thieves, Anigamers, or Charles Dunbar who run many high quality panels. Whenever you see their panels listed in the con guide, make sure you attend them. I've noticed that panels were not scheduled until after 11 AM which is pretty good for most people. But there were still some problems with panel rooms being too small for popular panels. In addition, they put panels in workshop rooms that had no projectors which caused problems to panelists that depended on powerpoint for their presentation. I noticed that AnimeNEXT seemed to have a shortage of panels, with a few of them being programmed for all three days to fill in time. If you have a great idea for a panel, now would be a great time to think about submitting it for next year's AnimeNEXT.

@hisuiRT, @Poetic_Ink, and @VamptVo presenting a panel

Dealers Room, Artist Alley, etc.

Since the convention is in the same location, the dealer's room is the same size as it was, crowding near the entrance was somewhat of an issue but once you leave the area it was pretty smooth to navigate. The variety of dealers wasn't as good as last year mainly due to the fact that AnimeNEXT was scheduled at the same time as another bigger convention. There were noticeably more booths for guests and such than before and Funimation, who's usually at AnimeNEXT, was completely absent.

They located the artist alley in a completely different place than last year. Last year the artist alley was in the double tree hotel. This year they moved it to right across the dealer's room next to the main events stage. This was a good decision as it enlarged the artist alley and allowed for more walking space.

Once again, the anime screenings and the video games were in the training center and the holiday inn hotel as last year. Unfortunately, this will always be the issue of the venue. Fortunately, I was not troubled by the detachment of screenings and video games as I never really had time to check them out.

I scored her at the con. She now protects my anime.

Closing words.

In short, AnimeNEXT continues to be one of the best anime conventions to attend in the North East US. This year, there was a significant increase in attendance and the convention will continue to grow. Although the convention will still take place in the same venue next year, I can foresee AnimeNEXT to outgrow the convention center and eventually move once more to a bigger venue. Hopefully, next year, the convention won't be scheduled on the same weekend as another bigger convention.

They Sure Grow Up Fast: Zenkaikon 2011

Although I have only been to Zenkaikon for 2 years, even in a year's time it has grown a lot bigger. This year it was Zenkaikon's 5th year running and it grew from being in a small room to 2 floors of the Valley Forge Convention Center.

Unfortunately, the massive growth wasn't without some growing pains. Last year when the convention took place inside the Radisson Hotel next to the Valley Forge Convention Center, it was very crowded. The crowding made the small con experience feel like a big con despite having small con guests and events. Fortunately, the change of venue to the convention center solved the crowding problem and allowed the convention to grow comfortably to several thousand attendees. In addition, the convention is still in it's sophomore stage as the staff are still unable to work the A/V well enough to allow for panels to start on time.

The high growth can be attributed mostly to the location. This is the only anime convention in the Philadelphia / East Pennsylvania area. In addition, it also attracts con goers from New Jersey and even New York. Another anime convention was being organized to take place nearby, but these plans were eventually scrapped.

Of course I have to mention the earthquake/tsunami that ravaged North-East Japan because Zenkaikon did their part in raising money to help those in need.

A Very Merry Review

It's the week of Christmas and you know what this means: The unveiling of my secret Santa review. During late October my secret Santa has given me three options (which I originally planned to watch) and then select one for a review. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I was unable to watch all three of them. Instead, I am going to review the one show I was the most intrigued with: Invincible Super Man Zambot 3.

When I began watching this anime I was not aware that it was co-created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino who is well known for his Gundam fame. However, eventually it became clear to me that this was a Tomino show... but not just a Tomino show, a pre-Gundam Tomino show. Zambot 3 is where Tomino began building his particular storytelling reputation. It is apparent that many elements in Zambot 3 are later then seen in Gundam series.

Zambot 3 in action.

Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 was a super robot show that aired in Japan in 1977. The age of the series was very obvious to me as I began watching. The dated visuals and sound was at first, quite repulsive. In addition to that, the story started out somewhat childish as the show was aimed at a teenaged boy audience. Fortunately I endured the beginning of the series and was treated to a much darker, much more complicated story.

The heroes of the show.

It begins with Kappei Jin who is having a quarrel with a gang leader, Shingo Kouzuki. In a middle of a friendly little fight, a giant robot called a Mecha-Boost attacks the harbor which is where they live. At the same time, Kappei's grandfather is finishing excavating a large spaceship, and within, a human controlled transforming mecha called Zambot-Ace. While running away, Kappei ends up on top of this spaceship. His grandfather then instructs him to "shoot in" into the Zambot. Somehow he already knows how to pilot the robot. His grandfather explains to him that he has been teaching him how to pilot through sleep-learning. Unsurprisingly, Kappei manages to defeat the mecha-boost after finding its weak-point.

The first episode was very simple and quite frankly, somewhat boring. The following episodes introduce Uchuta Kamie and Keiko Kamikita who are also Zambot pilots and Kappei's cousins. To battle the mecha-boosts the three Zambots combine to form the Zambot 3. Eventually, we learn that the mecha-boosts come from an alien entity called the Gaizok who wants to destroy humanity and that the Jin family are actually descendants of aliens from planet Bael who settled on earth after their planet was destroyed by the Gaizok. Now that the characters and settings has been established, Tomino tells a story of fighting for acceptance. A colorful kids story turns into a dark story of death and constant struggle for war-zone survival. Without spoiling anything, the series beholds drastic events and an epic ending. The ending also throws in some philosophical consideration and emphasizes an overall moral of the series. What I really liked was that every relatively major character in the series underwent significant change. Kappei didn't just stay as a snotty rowdy kid, he turned into something a lot more grander. The story of this series is definitely its strongest asset and makes this old series worth watching even today.

Manly tears.

I can sing praises about the story all day long, but now comes the more negative side of the series: The visuals. Unfortunately, this show was animated on a very low budget in 1977. The colors are muted. The whole presentation is grainy. There are lot of reused stock footage to cut costs and animation is somewhat sluggish.

Obviously, just like the visuals, the sound is just as dated. The soundtrack is of a cheesy 70s variety. The recording of voices is low fidelity in a single channel. The Japanese dub could use a bit more work as some of the minor characters were poorly casted. Despite all this, the ending theme is very powerful, especially near the end of the series.

If you can get through the dated visuals and cheesy late 70s sound, the series is worth watching. Unfortunately this series has never been licensed for an English release so picking up a physical copy is nearly impossible since the series is so old, and is more than likely, out of print. Fortunately, there is a readily available fan-sub of this series. I give this anime an 80/100

NYAF, the redheaded stepchild of NYCC?

Feel the Love

As many of you already know, there were two major East Coast convention taking place at the Javits Convention Center in New York City last weekend. Or at least, there were supposed to be two conventions. New York Comic Con, the biggest convention on the East Coast was hosted along side of the New York Anime Festival. This was a result of ReedPop's plan to merge the two conventions. A total of 96 THOUSAND people attended the combined convention. New York Anime Fest found itself secluded in a small basement area while New York Comic Con took over the rest of the convention center.

Why would you do that?

So was NYAF really the redheaded stepchild of NYAF? It's hard to say that since NYAF is usually in the basement area anyway and that there were still as much NYAF programming as usual... or at least that is what Lance Fensterman claims. However, I noticed that in fact there was less room than usual for the NYAF convention floor minus the dealers. NYAF took place on the other side of the convention where the cell signal is even worse than the other side as well as fewer rooms for use. Still, ReedPop had their priorities, since at least 70% of the attendees came for NYCC and not NYAF. So NYAF got the shorter end of the stick.

NYAF opening ceremonies and the 10 people there to see it

But overall, the convention experience was still fairly enjoyable since there were some decent and interesting guests such as Minori Chihara (well known as Yuki Nagato) and the creators of VOCALOID. The programming had absolutely no gaps where nothing was going on. And even if you were not interested in screenings or panels, NYCC had a lot going on at the showroom floor. What sort of made this experience a chore, was the massive crowding on Saturday. I didn't even attempt to get through the exhibition hall (dealer's room) because it was just insane. The lack of cell signal in the basement didn't help things especially when you wanted to look up the schedule or live tweet during panels.

Feel the wrath of Minori Chihara's laser eyes!

Looking back to NYAF 2009 I noticed some disturbing things. First of all, I did not see ANY workshops in the programming for 2010. Although there were screenings, in 2009, there were so many more. Since NYCC is supposed to be a family friendly con, almost all 18+ programming was cut. I am not even going to mention LARP. So it's pretty obvious that this year's NYAF was shrunk due to NYCC's enormous size. It also came to my attention that the amount of dealers that usually sell at NYAF has shrunk and were not present for NYCC/NYAF. I am not sure if this was because they either couldn't afford it, or perhaps ReedPop allocated only a number of tables for anime-centric dealers.

If that looks crowded, keep in mind that it's only Friday.

So what can ReedPop do to not make NYAF look like an embarrassment? For starters, they need to restore NYAF back to its previous size. Perhaps use some of linecon's (the space used for lining up to get in) mostly unused space to allow for this. Put it back to where it usually takes place since the cell signal there wasn't so bad. The crowding in the anime/manga spaces at the exhibition floor was unbearable, they need to allocate more space for walking/browsing as well as allow for more anime merchandise tables. That's really all they need to do.

The "linecon" area shown here, is empty during the rest of the convention. Perhaps it can be utilized in the future.

If you want to know more about what happened at NYAF, check out Janaiblog's great post on it.

What is wrong with Otakon?

Every year, in the hot and sweaty middle of the summer, Otakon, a large Anime convention is held in Baltimore, Maryland. The convention is so large that it practically takes over Baltimore for the weekend. To con-goers, Otakon is the Mecca of the east coast conventions and an absolute must go convention if you live on the east coast. You are almost guaranteed to have a good time if you attend the con. This year's Otakon has been my 7th year and I can comfortably say that it was the worst Otakon yet.

Don't get me wrong, Otakon is still a great convention and it is easy to list all the great things that it had to offer this year. Every year it has been always well organized despite the steady attendance growth to over 29000 this year. The quality of the panels at the convention was superb and there were fresh screenings anime and movies. The dealer's room as always had a large variety of dealers. The video game, as always, massive.

However, describing the shortcomings of the convention is a lot more difficult because it forces you to think a little more about the reasons for the shortcomings. Also, criticism is somewhat useless if you don't offer alternate solutions.

Overcrowding

"Welcome to Otakon, anime and Japanese culture and freaking lines!" -fellow attendee waiting on the line to the dealer's room

This is a problem that every large convention is faced with. This is a problem that simply can't be solved by regular means. Otakon has been taking many steps in alleviating this problem and so it isn't as severe a problem as linecon. However, the symptoms are still there: inability to get into popular panels without lining up an hour before, large lines to get into the dealer's room, masquarade, and the rave. If you're claustrophobic, you're screwed. Unfortunately, not much can be done about overcrowding at Otakon without changing the venue completely. With the recent addition of the Hilton, a change of venue seems unlikely in the near future.

Getting Into the Convention

This problem was introduced last year. In the past, once you got your badge, you could pretty much enter through any entrance. For some inexplicable reason, they opened the convention floor with just one entrance and thus people who got their badges on Thursday night were screwed as they had to wait in a line to get in anyway. This problem became so ridiculous last year that many people who picked up their badges on Friday or even just registered, were able to get into the convention sooner than people who picked up theirs on Thursday. Oh yeah, and no one that was waiting got in till 10 AM. This year, was a repeat of the same problem but not only of Friday, but on all 3 days! Even though the convention is technically supposed to open at 8:30 AM, they didn't actually start letting people in till 9:30 AM. I have no idea why you would screw over panelists who had their panels scheduled at 9:00 AM like that, but the idea of only one entrance being open is ridiculous.

Is the Dealer's Room Shrinking?

In 2008, Otakon's dealer's room was at its largest size. Taking up the size of this year's dealer's room plus the artist alley. Last year, for what I thought was economic reasons, they shrunk the floor to what it is this year's size. However, I noticed a disturbing number of dealers that were at Otakon for many years and suddenly didn't show up this year. The additional space seems to have been allocated to dealers who needed the extra space, but the variety of dealers has shrunk noticeably. I really hope this isn't a trend that is to follow for the upcoming years.

Where Did All the Cool Guests Go?

Last year was probably the most amazing Otakon for guests ever. With many known musical guests and interesting anime production staff, Otakon 2009 was easily the best Otakon. This year, Otakon understandably toned down on the amount of concerts and musical guests. I would have been okay with this change as long as the guests that were brought over were just as good as in previous years. Unfortunately for Otakon, that did not happen. Home Made Kazoku was the best that they were able to do this year despite the fact that other conventions on the east coast like AnimeNEXT, Anime Boston, and New York Anime Fest had a much better success at getting interesting guests. I understand that acquiring Japanese guests is a very difficult especially on the east coast where it becomes more expensive in both money and time. It is also becoming apparent, that with the con industry booming, the competition of getting quality guests has really heated up. Otakon is in danger of losing it's east coast crown as the biggest convention to NYAF which merged with New York Comic Con.

Was the Staggered Schedule Necessary?

I figure someone has suggested a staggered schedule to try accomplishing two things: Allowing panelists time to set up or pack up; Giving people time to get to the next panel. Unfortunately, there were obvious setbacks of this idea. Since there was 30 minute break between panels, it was painstakingly obvious that there was about 50% loss in time that could have been filled with more panels. The staggered schedule sacrificed panel variety as well as added 'dead' time between panels. This made the schedule boring with fewer interesting panels. Now Otakon wasn't the first convention to have used a staggered schedule. New York Anime Fest uses a staggered schedule with much success. So why couldn't Otakon get it right? Not only does NYAF keep a 15 minute break between panels, but it keeps a much more constant panel schedule which Otakon also failed to do. I really hope next year, they try to improve on this.

Hotel Reservations

So Otakon offered reduced rate hotel rooms if you reserved through Otakon. Fair enough they were indeed cheaper. However there was an important catch to this deal. If you reserved through Otakon and not the hotel directly, it means that hotels will treat you like a second class citizen and were allowed to downgrade your reservation if they wanted to. So if you (attempted to) reserved a room with two queen size beds for two people and one guest, tough shit, the hotel can give you a room with one queen sized bed if they want to. I wish that Otakon made it clear to everyone reserving hotels through them of possible issues concerning room reservations.

Having Fun Not Permitted

Just like many jaded veteran con goers, I too get annoyed by people yelling catch phrases and sudden hallway huggers. Over the years, Otakon went out of their way to enact rules to stop people from annoying others. Unfortunately, this is a double sided sword because at the same time, you are restricting people's expression of excitement and subduing the atmosphere of the convention. Suddenly, the con felt less lively, and more bland. I really think there can be a middle ground on this issue. Surely, the vuvuzelas can stay banned, but there is really nothing wrong with signs as long as they don't incite disruptive behavior. Catchphrases allowed as long as they're not racist, inflammatory, or vulgar. And really, what's wrong with consensual hugging?

As everyone already knows, there was a fire alarm that went off at around 2 PM on Saturday. However, I can't really blame Otakon for the fiasco since it was completely out of their control. Regardless, Otakon did an excellent job handling this matter.

These were most of the negatives that I feel turned Otakon 2010 into a mediocre con experience. Please feel free to comment on anything here, whether it be agreements or disagreements.

Con Report: AnimeNEXT 2010

I realized I haven't updated my blog in a while. Been kind of busy with life in general and didn't put any time into blogging. Fortunately, the summer con season is upon us with AnimeNEXT and I took this opportunity to write up a con report. Enjoy!

Thursday: Day 0

Thankfully, AnimeNEXT had pre-registration pick up on Thursday as well as regular registration. Picking up the badge on Thursday alleviates anxiety from having to deal with missing out on panels or programming while you wait on-line to pick up the badges. The pickup went pretty smooth and it only took me about an hour of waiting in line. Already, people there were upbeat about the con and some actually cosplayed even though it wasn't a convention day.

Friday: Day 1

I wish more conventions would do this: Open the con at 9 AM, but schedule panels a few hours later in the day. AnimeNEXT did just that. This allows people who didn't pick up badges on Thursday to not worry about missing out on an interesting panel. By the time the first panel started, most people already had their badges. AnimeNEXT changed up the convention layout this year. There were 10 rooms in the Doubletree hotel dedicated to panels and workshops. Artist alley was enlarged, and video games moved to the Holiday Inn hotel in across the street. Once again the video screenings were in the training center.

@TheDigitalBug: Always impressed by #anx2010 variety in the dealer’s room.

@TheDigitalBug:…but no touhou in sight…

Panels, Panels, and more Panels...

The majority of the time at cons, I spend attending interesting (or so I hope) panels. Today was no exception. I started out my day by attending the "Rando Me!" panel. It was a fan panel about random gag anime such as Excel Saga and Cromartie High School. Other than that, there was nothing note worthy to say about this panel.

I was very impressed by the panel I attended next: The "Inside the Lives of Congoing Otaku" panel focused on a discussion about: What is to be a congoer. How do others view congoers? General behavior of congoers. What is the past, present, and possibly the future of conventions? The panelist predicted that conventions are going to continue to grow and that many more are going to show up. Concurrently, new small conventions will appear that specialize in a genre of anime or a very large series like Gundam.

“You don’t want to be glomped by a 400 lbs slave leah.”

AniGamers and Uncle Yo presented a panel on "Fandom & Criticism: The Art of Active Viewing" which discussed techniques on critiquing Anime, Manga, and Video Games. This was a very useful guide for bloggers and writers who spend a good amount of time reviewing an object of interest.

"FAN-WANKING"

As any convention, AnimeNEXT has opening ceremonies. Unlike other conventions, AnimeNEXT attempts to introduce the convention to the attendees with a humorous skit. This year, they did a silly awards ceremony which although wasn't of the best execution, managed to keep everyone in the seats at least amused.

The Japanese guest of honor for AnimeNEXT this year, besides the musical guests, was Kenji Kamiyama: A high profile director and screenplay writer of Production I.G. Some of the shows he worked on was Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Seirei no Moribito, Jin-Roh, and most recently, Eden of the East. A usual, a Questions and Answers panel took place and everyone had the opportunity to ask Mr. Kamiyama questions about him and/or his works. The crowd managed to ask him some very interesting questions and Mr. Kamiyama was very open with answering most questions.

This year, the musical guest was a mostly-girl band from Japan titled "Stereopony" who are responsible for a few songs that appeared in Bleach, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Darker than Black OAV, and Yatterman Movie. I was pleased by the fact that the concert ACTUALLY had standing space for a change as opposed to just seats. Stereopony's music is a colorful melodic rock and the crowd responded very lively. Their concert went very well despite the fact that press were hassled by the staff for taking pictures even though they're press!

I finished the day by attending a Hello! Project Idol Madness panel. Since I know very little about Hello! Project idols, I came mostly to see if I can learn more about this Japanese phenomenon. Even though I expected a discussion panel, it was mostly a game show that gauged your knowledge of Hello! Project idols....*sigh*.

Saturday: Day 2

@Thedigitalbug:

Crowd today is noticeably younger. #anx2010

I fired up my AnimeNEXT day with some Rock Band at the Holiday Inn hotel and checked out the video game rooms there. Basically, they took three rooms and took out the walls in between them. There was a large abundance of fighting games, only a little bit of first person shooters, some rhythm games and plenty of old school console games on SNES, Sega Genesis or Dreamcast. Rockband was in a room by itself as well as Dance Dance Revolution. As usual, there were plenty of tournaments going on throughout the whole weekend.

Just like any other anime convention, AnimeNEXT had anime screenings. But unlike most other conventions, the screenings were playing 24/7 and there were a total of 5 rooms just playing anime non-stop. Funimation also brought in Master of Martial Hearts to screen at AnimeNEXT so it was a good opportunity to get a preview of the whole show.

In attempt to master the art of spending money on a con, I attended the ConBudget panel which was loaded with tips and tricks for minimizing the expenditure of a convention trip such as how to travel, stay overnight, shop, etc. Following the ConBudget panel, I cought the better half of the Otaku: Through the Generations panel which featured more discussions on verious generations of Otaku.

Funimation was the only company that had an industry panel at AnimeNEXT. We had the opportunity to meet Josh, the new man that will be hosting most Funimation panels from now on since Adam Sheehan was promoted to a different position in the company. Unfortunately, Funimation had nothing new to announce at AnimeNEXT and so if you already saw the news from Anime Boston or Anime North, you pretty much knew everything that was going to be shown at the panel. Josh wasn't as lively as Adam, but once he gets the hang of his job, he'll get better.

A weathered veteran of the anime industry, Greg Aryes, mainly discussed the impact of piracy on the anime and manga industry as well as the recent scanlations shake-up. Greg Aryes has already talked in the past about how piracy and fansubs are ruining the anime industry hoping that his voice would at least inspire people to take a stand. He was questions whether his efforts are in vain or whether they actually cultivated fans to respect copyrighted works and perhaps stimulate the industry. He does not know, but I believe from what I seen, that his struggle did indeed sway fans toward a more legal approach to appreciating anime and manga.

Ever wondered why older anime has such different drawing style? How bishounen came to be? Evan Minto of AniGamers answered these questions and discussed the evolution of character design at The Changing Faces of Anime panel. He discussed all the styles that became building blocks for later styles in modern anime one time period at a time.

Uncle Yo provided an hour of nostalgia at the "As the Otaku Grows" panel where he discussed all the old shows and cartoons that most of us grew up with. As usual, the panel was filled with plenty of humor as well as revelations of cartoons that got away with some perverse stuff.

I wrapped up the day with a hentai panel...but unfortunately when I got out of a previous panel there was a long line of people waiting to get into a small room. Surely I wasn't going to get in, but I persevered and midway through the panel I was finally able to get in. The panel focused mainly on series that were not licensed (yet) . But they did show a good list of quality titles.

Sunday: Day 3

@hisuiRT: "Best" #anx2010 experience. Walking in on someone masturbating in the bathroom!

Sunday at three day conventions is always a day of relaxation. A day to cool down after two days of partying. For some people Sunday was the only day that they attended the con so the energy was still there. I didn't do much other than do some last bit of shopping and then sat in some interesting panels.

Every convention should have one of these: A panel on otaku by otaku for otaku. The discussion ranged from how otaku are potrayed by the media, how otaku are viewed by normals to what makes otaku tick.

I have not seen Legend of Galactic Heroes, but I was intrigued by it since I keep seeing and hearing people talking about it. So I took the plunge and watched the first movie of it along with fan commentary. Pretty good stuff.

Appearing for the second year, a Psychology and Anime by Charles Dunbar discusses philosophies in psychology and how they apply to anime and anime fandom. This was a very insightful and educational panel where we got to ponder the implications of how we perceive and interpret anime.

To close off, AnimeNEXT 2010 was a blast. Although a moderately sized con, AnimeNEXT is able to provide the congoers with plenty of things to do, and very interesting guests. Although there are still some issues that AnimeNEXT needs to iron out for future years, AnimeNEXT is going to continue to grow and bring quality entertainment for attendees for years to come. On a completely different note, here's my weekend spoils:

Other AnimeNEXT 2010 reports to check out:

Reverse Thieves

Anime Almanac

Out of Time Productions

Finish What You Started

I've noticed a viewing habit among general anime viewers, that many anime series get started and eventually dropped. There are many reasons for this. Some which are legitimate; A show really sucks, why finish it? But most of the times, it's for the reasons such as lack of patience or the viewer believes there are better shows out there. More importantly, dropping anime becomes a poor habit where worthwhile shows end up getting unfinished.

There are some direct and indirect consequences of this habit. First observation I made is that, although not necessarily always true, people who drop anime don't own it on dvd or bd. If I am going to buy anime, I am more likely to watch it completely through. So if you poke around profiles on myanimelist.net, you can see who the 'real' anime fans are. In addition, people who chronically drop anime are more likely to miss out on a great series that just happened to start slow.

A nameless anime fan with a chronic dropping habit.

Now I am not saying that you should not drop any anime at all. As Brent of Otaku no Video put it, there is an opportunity cost when you start an anime. If the anime is so terrible, it would be smart to drop it and watch something better instead. For the record, I have not dropped an anime series so far. I usually try to stay away series I won't enjoy.