Giving anime a chance to bloom

As I run this blog and expand my knowledge of anime, I'm also learning a lot of things.  I'm not talking about the latest news or distribution details, but instead, I'm learning about how to approach an anime.  With so many different types of anime out there, it's silly to think that I can start viewing one feature with the same mindset that I had for the previous feature.

I'm learning that this is definitely a problem for me.  There are anime out there that I expect to be certain things, even when I don't consciously know that.  Rather than letting an anime be what it is and taking it for what it's worth, I'm looking at it from a stance of knowing what I want and what I believe will be involved.  When I don't see those things happen, then I start to feel poorly about that anime.

Gurren Lagann is the perfect example of that.  I can't even say that I had preconceived notions of what the show would be about.  I just had certain feelings and was going into viewing with a specific mindset.  As I watched, those things weren't coming true in the series, and thus I was feeling a bit stilted.  After watching the second disc of the series, I was realizing just how poor my approach to the series was.  From there I looked at how I go into most anime, and how I really need to be more open.

I do believe that I'm open-minded, but now I'm realizing that I had a few hangups.  I need to view anime with a completely open mind in order to let the series show me what it wants to.  I have to give series' a chance to grow into their full potential.  Watching a handful of episodes and deciding against an anime just doesn't make any sense.  Gurren Lagann has shown me that, and right now I'm seeing just how silly I was for how I originally felt.

From here on out, I'm truly going to give any anime a shot, and I won't make a decision after the first couple of episodes.  I could end up missing out on something truly great.