I posted the first version of this graph back in 2017, and just on a lark decided to update it. It seemed I watched an awful lot this year, but the numbers don’t lie… This was actually a pretty slow year compared to some others.
If you keep track (I know not everyone does), what do your numbers look like?
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
I don’t keep track, so I don’t know. I wasn’t watching as much as usual this season, but other seasons this year borke the 30 shows mark (which usually means a lot of 3-5 min shows). No idea how that compares, though.
Your numbers don’t look especially low to me; it’s just that there was no break-out season this year (but there also was no really slow season). Let’s see:
2014 – 37 shows
2015 – 34 shows
2016 – 43 shows
2017 – 42 shows
2018 – 37 shows
That’s too little to really guess at a trend here, but considering that 2018 is the most consistent season yet, it’s possible you’re settling into a rhythm and that around 9 – 10 shows a season is the optimum? Not sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
2018 is a little low compared to the two previous years though…
LikeLike
It’s lower than 2016, but it’s about the same as 2017 if you correct for the exceptional Fall season. It’s not that 2017 was a busy year; it’s more specifically that fall 2017 was a busy season. (If you had started one season earlier, and you counted from fall to fall, this season would have boosted this year.)
I’m just looking at the liveChart for that season, and I’m wondering what you were watching:
Mahoutsukai no Youme
Net-juu no Susume
Just Because
Blend S
Kino no Tabi
Shoujo Shuumatsu no Ryouko
3-gatsu no Lion
Konohana Kitan
Yuuki Yuuna (listed as two shows á 6 episodes)
Wake Up Girls
Anime Gataris
I’m getting 12, though I might be missing some (I can’t remember if you watched Houseki no Kuni, for example). If you count shows you dropped, there’s some or, like Urahara, Juuni Taisen, or Two Car [wait, did you finish this one?].)
Ah, I think I’m forgetting Inuyashiki (so I’m now at 13 without drops). But, yeah, reading this list, it was a very good season, actually. Better in terms of quality:quanity ratio than anything in 2018.
If you do count dropped shows, too, that relativises the picture some more, as you’d have to look into the try-drop ratio, too, and what that says about viewing habits.
(Sorry, sociologist geeking out again.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
What I watched and dropped in Fall 2017:
https://apprenticemages.com/2018/01/14/fall-2017-season-roundup/
So, yeah, I watched Houseki no Kuni and dropped Inuyashiki and Two Car.
Setting aside the OVA’s and correcting YuYuYu to one season (though the linked chart below lists them seperately) and we get 13… So your memory wasn’t that far off! :)
https://www.anime-planet.com/users/DerekL/anime/fall-2017/watched?include_types=6
Now I forget where we were going with this… stats/math are so not my thing.
LikeLike
You said that you thought you watched a lot this year, but it was actually a slow year – numbers don’t lie. I maintain that numbers have to be interpreted, and to do that I’d need to know how they are made. For example, the graph says 18, but we’re both getting at 13. Where does the difference come from? What anime contribute to you feeling it’s a busy year or not? Can we improve the data to be more meaningful with that in mind? What I’m saying is that the numbers don’t necessarily discredit your original gut feeling, and even if you didn’t watch as much as it felt, it’s probably not a slow year. (The data suggests that 2016 was above avarage, and that 2017 had one breakout season.)
Now, comparing the 18 in the data, and the 13 we got here in itself doesn’t say anything either, because the same bias may be present every season to some degree or other. Numbers are easy to spin any way you want; if you want to make them meaningful, you need to determine what they mean (in this case in terms of filling out time). For example: maybe a lot of good shows feel less busy than a few so-so ones, because you don’t put them off and watch them straight away? In that case, the disjoint between sheer numbers and a “busy feeling” would be systematic. But you’d have to go back through the shows that make the number and weight them accordingly. Your ratings are probably not fit to do the job, because you often say that the same rating doesn’t always mean the same thing, so it’s probably a manual job.
It’s also maybe not so interesting that it’s worth the labour and extra thought put into this. It’s just that my present job has little to do with my education, and at times like these I geek out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I actually don’t keep track of the number but from what I can guess at, I watched less anime. I purposefully chose to watch less because I needed to concentrate on other stuff. Plus, I do feel like last year was a slow year for anime overall in terms of the number of really good shows that came out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, there was a steady pace of good/decent shows, but overall a slow year. But a couple of the good one’s were real doozies!
LikeLiked by 1 person
i don’t keep track even tho i try to sometimes (maybe i should try for this year!) but i DEF think 2018 was my slowest year. i don’t think i finished any anime :000! or if i did it was like 2-3 of them that i can’t remember. i did pick up a few but i never watched enough of the series to really say i watched it
LikeLiked by 1 person
Didn’t finish any current season stuff? Did you get into your backlog?
LikeLiked by 1 person
nope and nope, i hardly watched any anime in 2018 :”(
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wasn’t actively tracking this year, but it was definitely a slower year for me than where I was in 2014/15/16. I probably didn’t first-time watch more than about a dozen TV shows and movies, if that many. In fact, I’ll wager I had at least as many rewatches as first-time watches.
That said, I do have a goal to get back to more first-time watching this year, starting with catching up on most of the Fate franchise anime that I haven’t seen yet. This is going to be a huge year for Fate anime anyway, with the second Heaven’s Feel movie coming out this week in Japan and two more TV series (Grand Order Babylonia and El-Melloi Case Files) due out later this year that I want to see both of, so I might as well get busy! I already started watching the original 2006 Fate/Stay Night anime beginning on New Year’s Day (currently 8/24 episodes in), and I’m planning to go right on to Fate/Zero (which I have seen, but can’t not watch again) and then Fate/Apocrypha after that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, from your comments over the course of the year I got the impression it was on the low side.
Speaking of catching up/rewatching, my wife and I are currently debating over whether or not we should do so with Chihayafura with the sequel coming up next season. It’s been how many years now?
LikeLike
Second season aired in the first half of 2013. I thought that was the first season, but that actually aired as far back as 2011! Time flies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
For me it’s about 4-5 seasonal anime every season + probably a similar number of non-seasonal shows + various shorter things like OVAs, films and stuff. I guess it ends up being a fairly average number, though it’s about a limit for me. I’ve always wondered how some people can survive keeping up with like 20 shows a season…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Getting through that many in a season… I guess it depends on what other hobbies you have or whatever else you have going on in your life. Depending on the season (I.E. what’s going on outside of anime), I always feel a little bit rushed if I’m watching more than about ten or so.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Precisely. You can’t only watch anime all the time. For season anime my ultimate limit is probably 6 for a season. Otherwise it’d really become a hard chore to keep up every week no matter the circumstances in life. And if several of season shows turn out to be pretty bad… As for non-season stuff, at least one can deal with that at one’s own pace.
LikeLiked by 1 person
i think i’ve seen ten last year. hahaha, just 10. beat that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll leave intentionally exploring the lower limits to others, I’m having too much fun! :) :)
LikeLike