Is the three episode rule real?

>>144685024

Watch the first three episodes and find out.

>>144685024

It applies to all except SAO and OPM

its actually six

Generally you can figure out by the first episode if this is really something you wanna watch or not, but if you still are on the fence, then watch the second episode, and if you are still on the fence, watch the third. If the third leaves you still sitting on the fence, then don't bother.

3 episodes for a 12 episode series and 6 for a 24 episode one give a very good idea whether you should keep watching.
Dropping a longer show earlier if it seems really bad can work too.

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>watch 3 Episodes of TTGL
>then episode 4 happens

>>144685024

When watching battle academy shows, you skip the first episode.

>>144685024
No, the first episode is enough to decide if something's worth it or not. If someone tells you
>xD it gets better soon
>It's good from episode 15+!!
It's a shit show.

>>144685129
If you're on the fence after nearly an hour, the show's garbage m8

>dropping anime

I watch things entirely on character design, I don't even need one episode to drop someone

>>144685221
>forcing yourself to endure shit

>>144685191
This sure is a wrong opinion.

>>144685189
Why did ep 4 have such a shit animatio?

>>144685261
There's a certain mental clarity when you let yourself swim in the vast ocean of indisputably horrible garbage.
Though I suppose plebians wouldn't even be able to grasp the concept of what I'm speaking about.

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>>144685191

I watched Hunter x Hunter and didn't enjoy it that much for 30+ episodes. And only when the CA arc started did it finally get fantastic and that was 60+ episodes in.

>>144685350

Truth. Where would I be not if I had not finished Divine Gate.

Exactly what this anon said >>144685129
The three episode rule is best used for shows you aren't sure about. A few shows have notable terrible starts but as long as you aren't a newfag you should know about them.

>>144685024
There's no need for the three episode rule. /a/ can just tell me is a show is good or not.

>>144685325
Terrible guest director who tried to play of his lack of talent as some sort of parody of gradual decline in animation quality after the first few episodes in a show.

>>144685374
Divine Gate was a masterpiece you fucking retard, kys.

>>144685024
I drop fujoshit or shit anime just by skipping through episode 1.

>>144685189
Gurren Lagann is too inconsistent to judge whether or not you should drop it early on. It took me 17 episodes to decide to drop it for good.

>>144685629
Eureka 7 is too inconsistent to judge whether or not you should drop it early on. It took me 45 episodes to decide to drop it for good.

No, it's the "i don't really give a shit anymore" rule

>>144685677
But Eureka 7 was solid for the first half. The second half was when it goes to shit though.

>>144685024
I don't know, I don't care about those rules. I usually pick up whatever I may like and just start watching it. The moment it starts being a chore to watch an episode I drop or stall it and watch something else instead, whether I'm on episode 1, 4, 9 or 11. I have dropped a show 10 minutes in the first episode and I have stalled another 550 episodes in. I hate chores so that's how I work. That doesn't mean I like all shows I finished or that they're good. Sometimes a show is bad or aggravating in a way or another but I have to see it to the end.

>>144685024
"Three episode rule" is a meme. As long as your power level is high enough one episode or in some cases just a synopsis is more than enough to tell you if the rest is worth watching or not.

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>>144685803
>a synopsis is more than enough to tell you if the rest is worth watching
This is only true if it's written by /a/.

>>144685993
Why would you read any other type of synopsis?

>>144685993
That's a pretty shit example,m8. All you needed to know before going into Valrave was Sunrise and Okouchi.

>>144685024
Whether they learned it formally or just picked it up naturally, scriptwriters think and write in discrete acts, each of which has its own mini-climax. There are three- and five- act structures found throughout traditional theater around the world (the most well known of which might be exposition-rising action-resolution), and many screenplays are written to follow one of them. In contemporary television, writers are often specifically told to use commercial breaks as act breaks.
The same logic is applied to composing seasons of television. If a 12-episode cour is broken up into three to five acts, then the first three episodes or so should comprise the entire first act. As a microcosm for the complete show, it should give you a good idea of where they're going with this and how the main plot will likely be resolved. If you go through the process of rising and falling action and still aren't feeling it, then you've given the show a fair shake.
Now, not all shows deserve a fair shake. But you can say you at least tried something and got a representative sample of it if you sat through the first act.

>>144685374
>needing 60+ episodes to start enjoying something
Instead you could have watched 4 actually good shows.

>>144685024
I've heard Conan gets good in episode 500. Is this true?

>>144686221

Hunter x Hunter is one of my all time favorites now though. I don't regret it at all.

But nice try.

>>144686265
It's more 498 actually.

>>144685024
Well yes. I use it all the time. There are shows that are so bad though that I drop them on the first episode, though.

>>144686265
I also heard that Sazae-San gets really good around 2200 episodes in.

I'll watch it until I'm bored, but if I'm already half-way through the series I'll just power through it.

>>144685677
Re:Zero is too inconsistent to judge whether or not you should drop it early on. It took me 14 episodes to decide to drop it for good.

>>144685024
It didn't work with eureka seven

I'm not sure if it's my taste or just the way my mind works but I've always hated the first episode of any show regardless of how much I come to enjoy it. So far that reason the three episode rule is a standard for me.

It's a meme, literally.
If you need over to watch over an hour to decide if you want to keep watching or not, you are just dumb.
Took me like 2 minutes to see that New Game sucks ass.

>>144687086
New Game gets good in minute 7. You fucked up.

>>144686693
Gintama is too inconsistent to judge whether or not you should drop it early on. It took me 197 episodes to decide to drop it for good.

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>>144685024
>Is the three episode rule real?

What the fuck do you mean "real"? Is it a real rule that real people actually use? Yes. Is it mandatory? Fuck no. Do what you will shall be the whole of the law.

It is true that there are a ton of shows where the first episode gives a bad picture of it. There are also a ton of shows where the first six or eight episodes are still giving a bad picture of it. The optimal point to stop giving things a chance varies per show and per person watching.

>>144685024
yes. the first 3 episodes of monogatari were good. the rest of the series is trash

>>144685024
There's some truth to this. 1st episode is where most of the budget goes and let's people see the series's theoretical 'high point'. 2nd episode is the exposition episode, where they lay out all of the background information and let's you see if you like the world-building and character's personality or not. Third is essentially the 'normal' episode, as once the exposition and high budget scenes are out of the way, you can see if you like what the majority of the episodes will be like.

Am I a real anime person if I dropped NGE 10 episodes in? Bored me

>>144685993
Fuck. Now I want to watch all of those, but I don't recognize them.

>>144690755
Eva is a show where the beginning is far more rewarding after you've finished.

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>>144692135
They're all from the same show. Valvrave, anon

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>>144685024

>>144692135
>all of those
It's a one series

3 for 12 episodes

8 for 24+ episodes

>>144687223
Detective Conan is too inconsistent to judge wether or not you should drop it early on. It took me 458 episodes and 3 movies to drop it for good.

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Only if you're an imbecile who treats anime like reading books and don't understand how to analyze visual media on even a beginner level, i.e. most people on /a/ who parade about their "good taste"

I'd elaborate on this but people would just say I'm parroting Digibro's video even though the guy has been reading my /a/ posts and taking influence from them since the day he found 4chan

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>>144685325
Don't listen to >>144685492 he's a fucking moron and is parroting Grant Alexander's mistranslation that he edited out and apologize for

Osamu Kobayashi is an above-average director as proven by things like his Panty & Stocking episode and Paradise Kiss. There was no "irony" to the style; episodes 4, 5 and 6 were all designed to look like epsodes of a different show.

The problem is that Koayashi's ideal place is series with a down-to-earth urban atmosphere and not action shows. It's why his Kemonozume episode wasn't one of the best ones of that show either.

>>144694315
>Digibro's video
I suppose this is some Youtube celebrity and explains why your post quality is pretty shit.

>>144693406
>8 for 24+ episodes
I donno about that man. 8 episodes is a pretty big investment just to decide if you want to watch a 2 cour show. I kinda feel like the 3 episode rule still works in that case because the plot has to have started at that point.

>>144694315
>being this full of yourself
wew

As real as the three dates rule.

Some people like rules so they don't need to blame themselves when they make bad decisions.

Generally one episode is enough to know where you absolutely hate something. In every other scenario, the 3 ep rule is the best compromise of waste time and missed out anime.
Any less and you will be missing out more anime when the first episode was shit but it then picked up. Any more and you're wasting too much time for shows that don't redeem themselves.

One episode will basically tell you if you like the core of it. Basically if you dislike retarded girls doing retarded things, just one episode is enough to know where you will hate a show. But it says nothing about liking it.

The rule obviously isn't real. No one enforces it. But it's a way of not missing out on decent shows based on the subpar or bad first impression.

I use the twelve-minute rule myself.

>>144697395
Also, if a first episode has things that are bad or get on your nerves (questionable direction, bad pacing, bad dialogue, etc.), the rest of the show is likely to be plagued by the same problems.