This does mean that if the show turns out to be bad, I get hurt more. Still, considering that I’m an anime fan because I’m supposed to love anime, I think it’s a fair tradeoff. The alternative is to always go “OMG Worst Season Ever” every single anime season, which I believe is undesirable, if only for the hyperbole.

Anyway. Let’s look at several examples of first episodes which were significant, or perhaps significant in their insignificance.

Lucky Star – The first episode pretty much gave us the characters’ names and general conversation style, and nothing else. Supposedly it lost a lot of viewers, although I’d put that down to unjustified expectations. However, since the episode is representative of the entire series, it should probably be considered in that light.

Card Captor Sakura – We get introductions to the main character, her family, her best friend, and the animal mascot. Everything is done in a fairly standard manner, down to the “good luck on your future adventures, just not beginning” at the end. It does what a first episode of a children’s series is supposed to do, and does it well, with no pretensions or distractions. A good first episode, but, as much as I like the show, not a great one.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – This one has the advantage of having two “first episode”s. The DVD/Kyonological version has the student movie, which fulfils the basic criteria of a first episode: we are introduced to the characters, and we learn their habits and quirks. The animation quality is deceptive, being the sort of “bad movie methods” that is actually quite hard to do in animation.

And then we have the chronological first episode, where we do all the introductions all over again, but this time in a more “normal” setting. Personal biases and viewpoints will determine which one is the “better” first episode.

Yoakena Mae Ruri Iro Na – The first episode was very promising. Yes, it was a pretty standard-looking harem anime, but the humour was sweet and light, and the characters looked suitably soothing to the eyes. Plenty of people, myself included, had high hopes for the series.

And then the cabbage arrived.

Until now, a lot of people still have problems trusting others’ recommendations, since “you recommended Yoakena”. But based on that first episode, there wasn’t anything not to recommend for those who liked the genre.

So what I’m trying to say is that for my case, I try not to judge in either direction based on the first episode, but try to keep a constant low-grade cautious optimism: it could end up like Yoakena, but it could also end up like Lucky Star.