Deciding Factor for Trying out an Anime/Manga?

[anselfir]

based on the mood really. as for the animu itself, character and story.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by qtipbrit92

Code Geass, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Fullmetal Alchemist?
Those aren't hyped?

Now that I think back, I actually watched Fullmetal Alchemist and Code Geass because of their hype.

I haven't seen much hype for Code Geass, personally, but I have seen a fair bit for the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Fullmetal Alchemist. The latter two I tried out largely due to hype. I liked what I saw well enough to keep watching in both cases.

Speaking personally...

Recommendation > Character Designs > Voice Actors (if I watch it in English; don't care if I watch it in Japanese) > hype

... is the chain for me.

I have two good friends that got me into anime in the first place, and who's tastes are similiar to my own. If either of them recommend an anime to me, I'll almost certainly try it out.

Character designs are important to me, in that if an anime's artwork style is a big-time miss for me I usually can't get into it (Lucky Star can be very clever and funny, but I find it hard to get into because of its art style). On the flip side, exceptional art style/character designs will keep me watching an anime even if I otherwise have some major complaints with it.

There are certain English voice actors (Crispin Freeman, Wendy Lee, Lisa Ortiz, R. Martin Klein, etc...) that I really like, and if an anime features one or more of them, it increases my chances of giving it a try.

Finally, hype can be a factor in me watching an anime if it's a case where "Wow, a lot of people can't stop talking about the characters from this anime - I probably should watch the anime to see what all the buzz is about!". The hype has to at least be at FMA-levels before I'll try an anime just for hype, though.

[ForgedGlory]

Personally... I don't notice an anime's popularity until after I've already watched it. So, hype has never been a factor.

FMA was a great series, with a terrible ending, even the movie was terrible. I'm kind of surprise that the ending didn't kill its popularity.

[SeijiSensei]

I've rarely dropped series midway because I'm very selective about which series I begin watching. Recommendations usually play the biggest role. Like Vexx I pay attention to the opinions of a small group of people on AS. I recently watched Yomigaeru Sora -Rescue Wings- (a very under-appreciated show) because of a recommendation here. I gave Baccano! a second try after reading opinions here as well. I had dropped it originally because of the slow and confusing opening episode and the dauntingly large cast.

The other factor that plays heavily into my decision making is whether there are adult protagonists. That quickly eliminates a good three-quarters of the shows (perhaps more) in any given season right off the bat. In the anime world you have to apply a liberal definition to "adult," of course, but for me that usually starts around college age (Nodame Cantabile and Welcome to the NHK! are good examples).

Studios matter, too, but directors matter less since I know only a few by name or reputation. Generally I'll try anything from studios like Production I.G, Madhouse, or Satelight if it's in a genre I might enjoy. I'll also try anything that's shown as part of the Noitamina block on Fuji TV, which consistently includes very high-quality shows targeting more mature audiences.

Finally I look at titles and plot summaries. Bartender, for instance, caught my attention because of its title. Almost by the time the OP ended in the first episode I knew I'd be watching this show to the end. I'm currently watching Chi's Sweet Home right now because of the summary.

[X10A_Freedom]

Mainly recommendations. I've got two people from my middle school days who I chat from time to time about anime.

[D a m i e n]

i go to animenfo.com
i hit refresh a lot of time and click one of the various 5 randomly selected anime
i download the anime choosen through this process.

[Kyrie]

If I'm looking for a new one to watch, I go around on some sites and check some series out. I see if I like the art first, then check the story, and sometimes see what other people have to say about it so I know what I'm getting into

[ForgedGlory]

Originally Posted by D a m i e n

i go to animenfo.com
i hit refresh a lot of time and click one of the various 5 randomly selected anime
i download the anime choosen through this process.

lol, that is a very interesting way of choosing a series to watch, haha

[Seditary]

If it appears in the list on TT.

Pretty much that's it, whether or not I continue the series after trying it out depends on many things, but I rarely objectively look at things I like and don't like about a series.

[aka Providence]

To me, almost always none of the above choices. Genre might be a factor that I use once in a while, though when I think about it the synopsis would be the one to win me over. Studio and Author is almost always never a factor, the same with Trailer as I don't watch any. Character Design rarely interests me until about ten or so episodes, methinks. Finally, I never use Recommendation a factor these days -- in fact, the more people who try to get me to watch something makes me less motivated in watching them.

I'd watch almost any anime I come across, though I never finish a large number of them on account of my brain shutting down from boredom. Though, in anime I seem to be drawn in by good opening songs, while anything goes in manga.

[ForgedGlory]

Genre surprisingly seems to be the top reason, odd, but then again not really.

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I haven't seen much hype for Code Geass...

Ehh?

When March came around, maybe a third of the anime world was talking about Code Geass's second season almost exclusively.
Maybe a tenth of all of the threads in /a/ right now are Code Geass threads.

Of course, it's not as hyped as Fullmetal Alchemist and Haruhi, but it's a bit newer than Haruhi, and it's been barely a year since it finished airing.

Originally Posted by ForgedGlory

Personally... I don't notice an anime's popularity until after I've already watched it. So, hype has never been a factor.

FMA was a great series, with a terrible ending, even the movie was terrible. I'm kind of surprise that the ending didn't kill its popularity.

If you only notice an anime's popularity after you've finished watching it, it just means that it's not very hyped.
Endings never kill an anime's popularity, only increase it (Nice Boat, in Code Geass' case, it created negative hype due to the fail that was episodes 24-25.)
Of course, I didn't think Fullmetal Alchemist wasn't deserving of its popularity. It was pretty good, but nothing stood out except its annoying characters.

[ForgedGlory]

I think people are generally oblivious to hype... to me, it seems that only advent internet users notices hype

[wao]

I was thinking whether I'd put "Genre", but then I figured that most of the time "Character Design" was a better indication of the kind of genre I tend to be interested in.
I almost never check out ero-ge/bishoujo-ge adaptations etc., and most of the time a show's intended audience - and hence it's genre - is made somewhat clear in the character design. How well the character designs are done (in combination with who the studio is) also tells me of the skill/effort I can expect from the studio, in general (a rare exception was AIR, I still loathe those designs but I fell for the Kyoani trap)

Of course there are exceptions where the character designs aren't representative of the show they belong to, and where good character designs lead to a bad show (Kissdum... hahaha...) etc but obviously I don't decide everything on this one factor. It's just a hook.

Maybe this is a rough method of how I generally decide whether to try out an anime (I hardly read manga).

Hooks:
1. Involvement of certain big-name staff/people I personally am interested in (eg Kenji Nakamura, Masaaki Yuasa, etc)
2. Character designs/promotional material
3. Some people posting on the Unaired forum [1]

Decision (in... no real order I suppose)
1. Plot/synopsis etc on main site
2. Staff/studio (if I have not noticed them previously. If the plot/characters sound mediocre but I can guess they'll be presented well for a while, then I'll be more likely to watch it)
3. Recommendations for or against a show (very important for shows I'm on the fence on - you guys better be right about Soul Eater, dammit)
4. First episode (this is after all the abovementioned filters)

[1] Not recommendations but, say, if I see maybe duckroll or MrProphet or SeijiSensei (or other certain people) posting on or starting a particular topic in the Unaired forum, I usually check it out even if I'm totally unfamiliar with the show... unless I can guess it's got their interest only because of particular elements that I'm not interested in

I'd say that once a show's aesthetic goes through my oh-so-wonderful sense of intuition, it's mostly up to recommendations, first episodes, and then recommendations again (mostly as to whether I should keep watching). I can entirely understand why people would choose recommendations first, but I have my guilty pleasures that aren't shared by people whose recs I trust, so I do brief checks on places like Moonphase to give most things at least a 0.1 second chance.

But I'm rather stubborn in the way I think, so usually once I've made up my mind on a show it's awfully hard for me to give a whole show another chance. In this area, the only things that work are:
1. Recommendations (thanks for Baccano!)
2. Brainwashing (...)

[Reno]

Recommendation..

Ehe whenever I get an idea for an anime I want to watch I ALWAYS ask for suggestions on here. Suppose genre plays a small role too.

[StainGlass]

Generally the art. If I like the style I'll give a few episodes a watch.

Even if I hate the story the art is still enjoyable then XD

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by wao

Not recommendations but, say, if I see maybe duckroll or MrProphet or SeijiSensei (or other certain people) posting on or starting a particular topic in the Unaired forum, I usually check it out even if I'm totally unfamiliar with the show... unless I can guess it's got their interest only because of particular elements that I'm not interested in

I'm flattered, wao. You've been on my select list since I read your postings in the Noein thread.

[HayashiTakara]

I typically go by Character Designs, I watch all genres, except for Yaoi.. ugh... anyway, If I like how it looks, and everything "flows naturally", I'll give it a shot.

[nixie]

Genre - I favour fantasy/action and I tend to avoid sports and extreme fanservicey shows.
Studio - I watch every new BONES/Production IG series (if genre's right).

Hype/Recommendation - Mainstream hype, elitist hype, if the show's popular I'll give it a try regardless of genre. Hype is my biggest deciding factor.

[Robotnik]

What makes me choose a show/manga:

Character Design - not that I'll *keep* watching a show/reading a manga simply because of the art, but I've passed on/stopped following stuff because I didn't like the art.

Author - If I liked the author/artist/director's previous works I'll give their new one a chance, but that doesn't make it an instant sale either.

Recommendation - provided that I know their tastes are somewhat similar tastes to mine; for me this is more about checking out blogs than visiting the (ugh) Suggestions subforum here...

What makes me *not* chose a show/manga:

Hype - I react negatively to hype; it usually makes me much less interested in a show or manga. It's a conditioned response to old friends who seem to love every overhyped POS that comes along. Which is not to say that I didn't watch Haruhi or Lucky Star, but it definitely pushed me away from 3/4 of the shows that get their own subforums here...

Trailers - I've seen enough misleading trailers that they're almost worthless to me

What doesn't matter:

Studio - could be positive or negative. For instance, J.C. Staff has incredibly uneven production values but I still enjoyed Shana; Gonzo is ... well, Gonzo (uneven writing and production values), but I still enjoyed Vandread, Gatekeepers, FMP, and so on.

Genre - my tastes have changed enough/gone in cycles often enough that this isn't an automatic factor either; I like mecha shows, but not *every* mecha show...