Why do people who hate a series continue to watch/review it on here?

Setsuei said:
They're need to shit on something outweighs their hatred of it. A normal person world give up on watching something they clearly hated, but so deep is their need to have stuff to complain about that they force themselves to continue watching until the end.

Or at least that's my theory on it.

Attackonfiller said:
Beats me. I can understand people who once enjoyed a series coming to hate it and completing it to see it through to the end, but people who have hated it since day one and continue to watch it because they're too far up the spectrum to move on, are beyond pathetic and they know it.

Catalano said:
Because it's fun, even if you hate the show, maybe you find elements that you like. In the end you write a review to say your thoughts, as long as the review has basis I don't see a problem. But yeah, most of all just write hateful reviews and give no reasons.

zieek said:
The question should be why after finishing the 1st season of an anime you didn't like, you end up watching its sequel if and when it comes out. The reason is "collectability" and "principles". As well as they are insane masochists of which I am a candidate.

alshu said:
Some not-so-great shows are entertaining enough to follow...
Not SAO tho.
I watched the second season because the fans of the books were telling me "the author gets better"...well maybe, but not the anime.
Also I started GGO because "it's a different writer, it's a better book"...naaah, so I dropped it.

Superns18 said:

If you're rating something below a 5 it's not good enough to follow it.

Superns18 said:
At that point it's just illogical.

Superns18 said:
Objectively, the writing does get better though.

Superns18 said:

define principles and collectiability

Superns18 said:
Take SAO for example. SAO is a series that for some reason, a loud minority of westerners love to shit on and hate. Yet, in Japan, it's one of the biggest franchises around.

shanimebib said:
Nah. SAO is just sh!t. It's a fact. Anyone who cannot see that its garbage are just sad beings. And it makes me sad.

ubernewb said:
because in reality they enjoy the show, but their desire to be one of the kewlkids prohibits them from saying anything positive about it out loud. instead, they participate in discussions where they do nothing but trash the show to mask their own frustration over being such a fad following bitch with no sense of self.

Most likely you're right. Deep down they just want to fit in. Easiest way to fit in is to do what everyone else does.




whenever someone makes criticisms of something, fans of the thing they're criticizing usually say something like "you haven't watched all of it! you can't criticize it!" or "those criticisms don't matter because it gets good >insert large number of episodes< in!" watching the entirety of something is just an easy way to get rid of those idiots trying to defend a show they like with stupid reasons, even though those aren't defenses against the criticisms as is, but that's besides the point.

InTheDatabase said:
It really depends. For me personally there is a difference between bad anime and unwatchable anime. There are quite a few anime that I've given a low score but were fairly watchable, but most of my dropped anime aren't necessarily bad, but just very hard to watch overall. I guess one enjoys trash sometimes.

Also sometimes it's way after you finished it, that you really start to hate it

Pullman said:


But it's also one of the biggest franchises in the west? Have people still not understood that being big and having vocal critics comes hand in hand? How often does this need to be explained until people finally get it? It's such a basic truth...


In any case, I'm definitely not a vocal SAO critic these days because I don't care enough to really talk about it much, but I'm feeling motivated right now so I can tell you why I personally keep watching it despite trashing the first season and, to this day, holding the opinion that the writing of villains in SAO is the worst I've ever encountered in any medium (with maybe the exception of Kabaneri).

It's because there is always potential. There's always cool or itneresting ideas/concepts that draw you in. S1 started like that, and only because there was so much potential there ended up being so much disappointment which led to a lot of vocal criticism. It had nothinf to do with random youtubers, I was there while it aired and watched everyone I knew go into the show with hype and come out full of disappointment which, in some cases, turned to rage and hatred. It's the potential that draws people in, makes them come back, and it's also what turns them into passionate haters to vent their disappointment.

Overall I feel the author has good ideas and even slightly improves his writing with each season, at least the pandering and harem elements have gotten less cringy with each season and Kirito keeps growing into an interesting and relatable character that isn't as clearly OP and wish-fulfilment-based anymore as he used to be. I do like how the character interactions developed over time, with Asuna and the others, and as I mentioned I really like the direction the show takes in terms of exploring the VA idea from various angles. There are some really cool sci-fi ideas that have been popping up, especially since the later arcs of S2. The stuff with using VR for coma patients, the aufmented reality stuff from the movie, the weird new technology from Alicization - these are the things that keep sucking me in, along me what drew me in in the first place - my love for fantasy settings and adventures. With that and Kirito growing into a char I actually kinda like, it's always relatively easy to watch and I want to keep going to see where it's all going.

That being said, if I would write a review about Alicization S1 (I've seen 20/24 eps so far) it would probably not look much better than that for S1 because every season keeps getting dragged down by the same repetitive issues, the same formula that has already not worked in S1. Cool idea, lots of potential, some exciting early episodes, and then the story comes to a lull and it all devolves into a harem-collection game, with one uninteresting girl after the other being thrown towards the MC, intermingled with pathetically one-dimensional rapist villains that are as unrealistic as they are comically evil and who probably only exist to make the MC look righteous - although next to them even Kim Jong-Un would look like a hero.

That all happens while minimal progress with the story, the actual thing that drew me in early during the season and made me actually think 'Hey, SAO is finally turning into an actually good show', is made. Usually the storypath will be made clear in advance so for the second half you know exactly what is going to happen, and it happens in a predictable manner only 'spiced up' by the fanservice I mentioned above. Then the final few eps are decent again (save for the antagonist) because they resolve some questions or plotlines that relate to the things I wanted to see in the first place. Then the next season is rinse and repeat.

It doesn't seem to matter that the author has some actually cool ideas and story concepts to aim for, because he always, without a fail, chooses the same basic ass formula to get from A to B (from the setup to the conclusion), and that formula is just not very exciting in itself, plus it's filled with forgettable characters at best (the harem members) and terribly written ones at worst (the villains and side-villains). Bonus points for also sidelining the interesting parts of the show during that phase, e.g. the rl stuff with asuna in Alicization S1 which was set-up as being part of the season early on, and then completely stopped being mentioned.

So while he does improve his overall writing skill with each season, it's not very recognizable during the bulk of each season because he just relies in the same formula every single time, without even trying to improve or change it. It's always dominated by the two elements of girls that are strong (but weaker than him, eventually falling for him in some way) and villains that are weak and so retardly evil that the average serial killer would look sane next to them.

And I keep seeing the potential of the concepts and it makes me curious and I keep hoping that maybe the execution will catch up with his ideas one day, but every single season after the initial phase of me being quite into it, slowly the realization and disappointment sets in around the midway point. And even potential improvements like adding an 'equal' second MC in Alicization, don't really get developed and in the end the guy didn't have any impact and even turned on him so it was all down to Kirito again, because making any other character matter is beyond the author's capabilities apparently.

As far as I'm concerned SAO as at its best when it does shorter arcs, like at the end of S2 or in the movie. Those are my favorite parts.


But yeah to summarize: Every season starts off relatively good with some intriguing stuff going on and you keep thinking maybe this time it'll live up to its potential, but then it fails in the exact same way the previous seasons failed already and disappointment sets in and you start criticizing the show because it unfortunately deserves it.

Basically the answer is that people have mixed feelings about it, at least while they watch it. What you see when people criticize it is only their final judgment, it's not the whole range of what they felt towards the show. If it was just shit and garbage from ep 1, it would not be such a controversial show. It's the fact that it HAS potential, that it KEEPS having potential, and then KEEPS disappointing, that is likely one of the main reasons that people can't let go of it.


I'm not saying that the pure, toxic haters don't exist. Of course they do, every show with such a high popularity attracts them. But:
1. They're not the whole story, there are legitimate reasons to want to keep watching SAO, enjoying some parts of it, and then eventually ending up disliking it again because of its repeating issues.
2. Threads like this, the fact that fans get triggered and annoyed and still give the haters attention, is like 90% of the reason why these haters exist, why they keep going. They go where they can get a reaction, where they can have an effect on people. So every thread complaining about them, complaining about anyone who utters something negative about SAO, is like fuel to the fire. You're not helping your cause by rewarding attention whores (that's what vocal haters and reviewers are) with your attention.

zieek said:


Principle - you watch an anime you find pretty, but its plot, characters, music, backstory and ending is stupid or boring. Still one of those was decent so you got through the series. However a sequel comes out, now you know that its probably going to suck ass. But because you finished the 1st season, you feel obligated to give its sequel a chance. You either watch only one or two episodes then drop it, or you make like a badass and finish all of it. Ultimately you gave it a chance because you finished its 1st season and you can feel good about yourself.

Collectability - You finished a shitty series for whatever reason. However a sequel or, prequel, or spinoff, or side story, or alternative version, or alternative setting comes out. So you are the type to collect the whole paccage, you know that its a shitty series (franchise), but you already finished the 1st season. So not watching all of what's left is uncomfortable.

ryuseishi said:
Because they want to see the series through and have their own opinion on it idk? I more wonder why some people think negative opinions should never be voiced. "Don't like it don't watch it" is the dumbest argument i ever hear on this site. No wonder some series discussions became just handgouts for circlejerks. Try expressing your genuine (negative) opinion on shows like, say, logh or fruits basket, and fanboys will eat you alive.

shanimebib said:
I'm talking about onwards from GGO, that's widely accepted as subpar, Alicization for example.

Superns18 said:


I haven't seen SAO s3 Alicization yet, since I'm waiting for the 2nd half to finish airing. However I reserve judgement for when judgement is due. So I don't know if it will be subpar or not.
Personally I liked s1, from s2 I liked the 1st half.

Red-Berry-Vodka said:
this is stupid. it should be renamed the sao thread.

Preachee said:
It feels like sometimes I just try to finish a show to give it a just score, which accordingly avoid misjudgment and unfairness. However, in cases where I can't find myself to enjoy one bit from a bad show, I probably would drop it. As long as I feel like my time is spent fairly (i.e. it helps me discerning genres influencing certain mindsets and draws attention to a particular aspect, or how despite being bad, it still manages to implement something interesting, etc.).

There's a difference between finishing a show to give it a proper rating and watching 4 seasons of something that you supposedly hate. Big difference.

And yes,

it definitely should.

Superns18 said:
Take SAO for example. SAO is a series that for some reason, a loud minority of westerners love to shit on and hate. Yet, in Japan, it's one of the biggest franchises around. Part of this is due to a few anitubers like Gigguk and MB making videos and everyone wanting to fit in and be cool. Part of it is due to legitimate issues with the first two seasons of SAO, many of which are solved in the source material, but that's on A-1 for adapting, and part of it seems like people just shitting on it because it's an easy way to fit in.

Now, of course there are people who genuinely don't like the series and have their own legitimate reasons for doing so. However, I'll never understand why people continue to watch a series, like War of Underworld, which is the 4th season of SAO, and then review bomb it. You know you don't like the series, so why not just skip it and save your time? The series dropped from 8.4 to 7.7 in two weeks and has now luckily rebounded back to around 8, but If you read many of the top reviews or comments about it, you can tell people are basing their reviews purely on their preconceived notions of the series and not actually watching it.

This is an example, but I'm sure there's other series which go through similar things.

RealTheAbsurdist said:
I think many people just have a sort of fascination with watching something we hate. As humans, we're naturally attracted to negativity. I think when we hate an anime, we become passionate, and when we become passionate, we want to share that passion, even if it is a negative one.

Superns18 said:
However, I'll never understand why people continue to watch a series, like War of Underworld, which is the 4th season of SAO, and then review bomb it. You know you don't like the series, so why not just skip it and save your time?

Dolabella said:

5) You might want to experience a wider range of anime in order to better understand your own preferences - regardless of what anyone says, you can't know you'll hate a show before you've watched it (unless you've already read the source material or something)

AnimeLoverMeow said:
They just want to torture themselves, because they become obsessive when they drop an anime

Superns18 said:


Horrible bait.



Wait, what? You lost me.



The top review for it now says the entire series is garbage and that he hates it. Why watch it? That's what I'm talking about.





It's not one of the biggest franchises in the West. mainstream shonen like BHA, Naruto, HxH, FMA, Haikyuu etc are much bigger than SAO in the west. Hell, even Konasuba. Stop using the word triggered in an incorrect fashion too.





new words, thanks for that

What I saw in SAO s1-2, GGO (only 2 episodes from the last) was badly connected random cliches thrown at the wall and total lack of believable gaming mechanics...so the great idea (yes, genuinely) was trashed in all kind of ways.

ryuseishi said:
Because they want to see the series through and have their own opinion on it idk? I more wonder why some people think negative opinions should never be voiced. "Don't like it don't watch it" is the dumbest argument i ever hear on this site. No wonder some series discussions became just handgouts for circlejerks. Try expressing your genuine (negative) opinion on shows like, say, logh or fruits basket, and fanboys will eat you alive.