I think this is basically why we disagree, since I’d think another one or two more seasons can somewhat redeem (of course not completely make up) for the previous flaws. Perhaps that is why you also thought my examples were misused because I was trying to demonstrate how one or two more seasons have better chance of making up for the first crap 26 episodes of Lost (which you’ve said is impossible) than having last episodes of anime destroy the first 24 first episodes. I don’t think we’re off topic but it is getting bit long so I’ll end it there unless I end up saying something misleading again.

Your examples, while valid, misrepresent what I said; both were less than one season. I didn’t use the word season arbitrarily – this means that the director had time to plot out what he wanted to accomplish, and I gave him sufficient time to come up with a plot in the TV series format. If he failed, the second chance I give him (if I give him one at all) will be seriously marred by the fact that I watched 26 episodes of crap.

Tying this all back to the Lost example, you’re correct that I’ve only seen one season of it. However, since what I’ve heard is correct, simply that they haven’t come close to solving everything they’ve brought up, then it’s just a stagnation of the one major gripe I had with the series that flows through all of the subsequent seasons.

So the series do make big turns even at the very late stage, that can make one’s overall emotional response quite drastically. Even after watching a whole season, that’s still an opinion of a season. You can make speculations based on that, and from what people spoon feed you and sure, you can talk about them as in ‘general opinions’. But I don’t think you can argue, as in serious debate in literature with your classmates who have seen Lost on the same ground because unlike their assessment based on a completed experience, you only have speculations.

In my English class, the subject of Lost was somehow brought up. I, along with a few others in the minority, think it sucks. The rest say that I have no right to say it sucks because I stopped watching it. I disagree, because after a point it does become evident whether a series is good or not.

Finding a bright line is far harder, unfortunately. If I had watched, say, one episode, then I would be in the wrong. But I didn’t; I sat through an entire season of that crap. By then it was apparent nothing was ever going to get solved.

So in my opinion, I formulate that if one is going to review something, then they should render all initial judgment as moot until completion of the series, since the purpose of a review is a holistic analysis. However, just as a general opinion, the answer becomes a lot more gray. Obviously, there are certain anime where if you don’t like the first few episodes, you’re never going to like it. Hikaru no Go comes to mind; little knowledge of Go is needed to love the series (me), but if you find the topic boring then there’s no point in watching it. And yeah, right off the bat you can tell people that if they don’t find watching people play a board game then they probably should avoid Hikaru no Go. Conversely, other anime like My-Hime (had to bring it up since it’s your title picture) if dropped in the first like, 4 episodes will generate an opinion that’s totally unrepresentative of the anime.

It’s hard to give a brightline for anime opinions of incomplete series. So I think that when formulating opinions of partially watched anime, one should take it on a case-by-case basis and figure out whether or not it’s fair to voice that opinion.

Of course, I’m not disagreeing with you SK – the idea of watching only an episode or even a portion of an episode and then talking as if you truly did watch the entire series is stupid. However, I think the idea of streaming youtube episodes intrinsically takes away the enjoyment of the anime to begin with; and yeah, I think it cheapens it to an extent. Do I think this is elitist? Nah, but I’m sure someone will think I am. Then again, I’m not advocating everyone go out and buy all of the DVD’s – torrents are free.

I think there are times where you can judge a series based on the first few episodes. Usually these are shows like Naruto, where you know they aren’t going to drastically improve.

Heck, even Narutards admit large chunks of Naruto suck.

BUT: I only do it because stupid-ass weaboos come to me and claim Naruto’s good.

I, like you, believe that you can’t form total judgement on anything without seeing it. But at the same time, I think when you do a partial review, you can only speak for the SPECIFIC EPISODES that you’ve seen in the first place. Like you said, you can’t just go around forming opinions on shit you’ve never seen.

I think people do it sometimes to be cool, really. They want to be in on their friends’ conversations, bt they can’t. So they take some pre-packaged opinion from a review and reiterate it word for word.

I think dropping a series is justified; I see no reason to watch something that you think is complete shit. While I don’t do it unless it’s completely evident that it’s only going to become worse, I can understand the reasoning behind it.

Now… with something like Kyoshiro… that’s a different story. >_>

Yes, I think there is a distinction between openly speaking your opinion on a partial viewing and dropping the series because it’s not to your taste. As far as I see it, if one has seen enough of a series that they’ve convinced yourself that they’re wasting their time by watching it, one should do what they wish with it (ie, drop it). Hell, even I drop series sometimes (eg, Chokotto Sister), just probably not as often as most other people. It’s when people try to tell the world that their opinion on a partial viewing is indistinguishable from opinions on a total viewing and that they can comment on episodes they haven’t seen, that I’m not a fan of. If anime was totally predictable and always followed the same patterns then partial viewing opinions would have more weight, but it doesn’t, and if it did, I wouldn’t watch it.