Shoutout to the 3 episode rule, I wasted 11 hours on a show before I learned it
I finally sat down and counted how much time I lose to anime I don't even like, and it came out to 11 hours in one month just from finishing shows out of guilt. It started with a 24 episode series someone on here swore was a slow burn masterpiece, so I kept going until episode 18 waiting for it to get good. That is 7 and a half hours of my life on a plot that never showed up, and I was mad at myself more than the show. Now I give anything 3 episodes and if I am not hooked I drop it right there, no wiki checks, no skipping to the ending. Saved me from a 50 episode shonen last week that everyone loves but I could not stand. What is your cutoff, do you bail at 3 or do you tough it out longer?
Episode 18 of a 24 episode show is wild. The part most people miss is that "slow burn" is a phrase made up by fans who already finished it and want to feel smart about the time they lost. Nobody sits down and plans to make a show that gets good in season two, that's just a show that doesn't work. My cutoff depends on the length. Three episodes for anything under 30 episodes, but if it's a long runner I give it five, because some of those take a while to find their footing. Still not watching 50 episodes on a promise though.