Anime I Judged too Early
I got this idea from user @ avvviso!
Here are some anime I ended up really liking despite being skeptical/judgmental of them before watching. Let’s get started!
Spy x Family
This might be a shocking first choice because so many people have been raving about this show recently, but due to all the hype I was skeptical that it was just another overrated comedy that had no substance. I was totally proven wrong by the first episode, it really is a sweet funny show that has good characters and an interesting plot. I don’t think it’s the best anime of all time but it’s definitely worth a watch if you enjoy light, cute comedies with a fun concept.
Dr. Stone
I had a friend recommend this show to me years ago, and I was pretty hesitant to try it because I don’t really care for isekai (which this show... technically is?) plus I am not a big science person, but after watching a few episodes I really appreciated how interesting and funny the show is, even if you don’t care for science. I genuinely learned a lot and I was on the edge of my seat. (I was also judging the character designs pretty hard but you get used to it/even grow to like them)
So for years online, all I saw about this show was a looooot of ship content. Which is fine, it’s just not my cup of tea and gave me the false impression that the show wouldn’t have a strong plot. This is my bad for judging a show from its online presence, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I actually gave it a shot and realized how emotional and deep the stories in Haikyuu actually were. And yes, even though I don’t usually ship stuff, after watching the show I understand where the most popular ships are coming from and why they’re so beloved. But the show has a lot more facets to it that I didn’t know about.
Madoka Magica
I had been fortunate enough to avoid any spoilers about Madoka Magica for years, but because of that I almost had the opposite problem where I had actually no clue what it was about and genuinely thought it was some cute Sailor Moon type anime or something. I had no idea that in reality it was a very dark, surrealist show that was entirely up my alley. I really am glad I gave it a chance, because it’s in my top 10 anime of all time now.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
I’ve said before on this blog that I am not a mecha anime person, and since that was all I knew about Evangelion, for years I was like yeah no thanks. I didn’t know that it was intended to be a subversion of that genre until I had so many friends recommending it that I couldn’t take it anymore and just gave it a shot. I wouldn’t say this is one of my favorite anime ever or one I even love a lot, but I appreciate what it’s trying to do thematically and I definitely misjudged what the show would actually be about.
As a counterpoint to this post, there have been tons of shows where I pre-judged them and was completely right, but imo all shows are worth a try, even if that try is only watching 15 minutes of the pilot.
I know some people have a 3 episode rule; for me, if I can’t make it through the first episode I generally will just give up, but if I can do that much I will push through to 2 and by then I’ll know if I want to continue the show or not. Just in case people were curious about my process.
Anyway, thanks for reading! And thanks again to avvviso for the idea.
-threecheersforinking