If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you’ve dipped your toes into the waters of casual anime viewing but have yet to take the plunge into the deep end of watching anime seasonally. Admittedly, moving into the deep end can feel like a very tall and intimidating task once you look into it. What is one supposed to watch first? And where do you go to watch these titles legally, anyway? Fret no further, because we’re here to help you navigate these tricky waters and seamlessly transition into a full-blown anime connoisseur.
When to Watch
The first order of business is deciding which season you will start with. There are four months each calendar year which marks the beginning of a new season; winter starts in January, spring starts in April, the summer season starts in July, and finally, there’s the fall season which starts in October. No matter which season you start with, you’re going to be given a plethora of choices. The good thing about the seasons is that there’s never one season that is “better” than the others. This means that every season has the potential to be huge in terms of popular titles.
Deciding What to Watch
After you’ve decided which season to start with, the next step is to figure out which series you will attempt to keep up with that season. This will probably be the hardest step because every three months there are anywhere from 30 to 50 new television series appearing on television and the Internet in Japan, and that number generally doesn’t include the series with five-minute episodes, OVAs, and movies.
You’ll want to do yourself a big favor and do some research before you sit down to watch seasonal anime. Read plot synopsis and, if at all possible, get an idea of what the original source material is like (without spoiling the plot for yourself, naturally). With so many titles to choose from, it can be tempting to just go in blind and watch anything and everything. This is actually a very easy way to scar yourself for life because you saw some cute official artwork and went into a series expecting a fun, comedic slice of life series only to end up with a series that is suited more for an adults-only audience. There are several websites that you can visit to find this information, such as AniChart.
Where to Watch
There are a multitude of websites where you can watch anime legally, with the three biggest in the world currently being Crunchyroll, Funimation, and HIDIVE. There are also plenty of smaller, regional streaming services available around the world, so definitely go to Google to see which services are offered in your area.
Crunchyroll is the leader in legal streaming anime with hundreds of series available. If you want to watch an officially licensed and subtitled anime, there’s a good chance that it’ll be here waiting for you. If you’re more interested in anime that has been dubbed into English, Funimation will be your primary website. If you want a mix of the two, you’ll want to head over to HIDIVE. As mentioned though, there is always a chance that the series you wish to watch will not be available due to region restrictions, which is why it’s a good idea to check to see which other legal streaming websites are available in your area.
Additionally, there are websites that have a healthy selection of anime, including Netflix and Amazon Prime, but anime is not their primary focus so you’ll have to do some navigating to find their selections.
Tips and Tricks
Now that you know the when and the where of how to watch seasonal anime, please allow me to impart some final words of experience and wisdom upon you. These are all things I wish I had known when I started watching seasonal anime over a decade ago.
Pace Yourself
At first, you will be tempted to watch everything that the new season has to offer, but fight off this temptation. Attempting to watch everything that a season has to offer is equivalent to attaching yourself to a rocket ship that is headed straight towards planet Burnout. Do some research and pick out a handful of shows that you want to watch. If your spare time and energy levels permit, slowly add a couple of additional titles until you’ve reached your limit and then re-evaluate at the beginning of the next season.
It’s OK to Drop Titles
If you take nothing else away from this feature, please make a mental note for this truth: it’s OK to drop titles you are not enjoying. There, I said it and there will be a quiz on this later.
When you’re watching anime on home video or binge-watching an older show, it’s easy to just power through a bad series for whatever reason. When you’re watching weekly, however, you will find yourself in a position where you don’t really want to watch the new episode of a series but you feel obligated to because you’ve already managed to get through the first couple of episodes. Here’s the truth though, in this case, it is perfectly fine to put that series away and either come back to it later or not watch it at all. There is no law that says you have to finish every single series that you start. No one will judge you if you have a mountain of dropped anime left in your wake. Stick with what you enjoy. Anime is, after all, supposed to be fun.
Not Everything Will Have an Ending
This is the most frustrating part of watching seasonal anime, and it can lead to a lot of annoyance. The thing is, not every anime will get a second season, which means you will be subjected to a lot of open, vague, or just generally unsatisfactory endings. This can be a real pain, but it is something that you will have to get used to.
The main trick here is to not get frustrated when a series you enjoyed doesn’t stick the landing because of lack of time or because the original source material hasn’t gotten that far yet. Every series has the potential to get a second season (well, most of them at least). Being an anime fan means adopting the virtue of patience as you hope, pray, and wait for the magic words “A second season has been green-lit!”
So that’s it from me. Now you not only know how, but where and when to watch seasonal anime! Watching anime seasonally can be a real joy; there’s really no emotional equivalent to discovering a new show and counting down the days each week to when the new episode streams on your favorite website.
