I sit down with my cold protein shake after a long session at the gym. Glory be to another productive day. Now it’s time to watch two anime and get caught up on this amazing season of content that studios have provided to the common man. I open up my anime site of choice and begin to check out the new Demon Slayer episode. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Tanjiro’s heroic face and I’m ready for some more ufotable action baby. Hey what the fuck? 48 MINUTES? FOR A SINGLE EPISODE?? That’s two other anime combined! Okay forget that for right now, I still want to get a shower and cook dinner tonight. Uh how about checking out Oshi no Ko? That anime is producing a ton of buzz. Ah yes, a fine choice. Let’s see I oughta be done in ONE HOUR AND FUCKING TWENTY MINUTES???

This season of anime is fucking insane. There’s a reason my seasonal introduction article isn’t out yet, and it’s because I’m attempting to keep up with and review so many. When anime are so abundant and so good, it becomes difficult rather quickly to stay on top. This season has been an extra thorn in my scheduling side considering we have anime that want to drop ENTIRE movies as their first episode. Today I wanted to touch base with you guys and see how you respond to these enormous starts. Personally I’m so used to the twenty minute format for anime, I don’t think I’m that excited to see a longer runtime. The exception of course is for top quality series, but when they first debut I have no fucking idea if they’re going to be executed properly. Sure at this point if Vinland Saga were to make a movie, I’d be hyped as I would have incredible faith that the producers would deliver a grand experience. But some new anime on the block that I’ve never heard of? It’s a 50/50 chance that you could waste an entire movie’s worth of time that day, unless you peruse insider info from the manga readers at which point you run the risk of spoilers. I’m still having a hard enough time adjusting to so many shonen anime releasing movies, so for now I think I’m still on the side that most anime should not be attempting a movie production, and certainly not for the first damn episode. That being said… Oshi no Ko was lucky that it was so damn good cause your boy is hooked.

The movie was worth it... this time.

Like it or hate it, many anime these days are invoking the movie format for certain arcs. I’m curious to know how you guys respond to this idea of going hog wild on the first episode’s runtime and then returning to the regular twenty minute format afterwards. Do you enjoy long first episodes? Do they help you determine if you’re gonna stick with a series, or deter you from even giving it a shot in the first place? Should more anime do this or stick with the regular release pattern? Carve out twenty minutes, sit down with a small snack, and realize you came entirely unprepared for a two hour event in the comments below!