Otaku Taste Test: We are the Litmus Papers of the Media

It’s the second week of the new season. Some of us might think this as the time where shows are tested on their abilities to follow on the impressions they made during the first episode. But the basis from where the discussions are coming from is somewhat confusing and biased, which may enlighten or cloud our judgment on the shows we have decided to watch. We are talking about the entirety of the otaku populace, after all.

We are to necessarily note that the ways people take the show in question are the embodiments of their opinion. How it influences you in any way is something that is at your own discretion and disposal.

There are people who watch shows in a way that lets them savor material in an attempt to gain or retain a liking for the franchise. There are people who also pick shows out of a whim, and see how they go regardless of how good or bad the shows turn out. Then, there are some who simply took the impression of the first episode head on, regardless of satisfaction or dissatisfaction by the latter episodes. And finally, some dared to watch for the show’s aftertaste, a somewhat similar way of reading the back of the book for its ending before even touching the beginning of the story. You can say this as the standard operating procedures on a show’s thorough analysis. Simply put, these will determine if a show gets a tag-team Double Final Atomic Buster with the author who watched it, or a betraying Quintuple German Suplex of disapproval. And I trust the slams that they generate will echo through the different realms of the blogosphere.

There is no predetermined reaction, even with the methods of dissection laid out. Even if you add a set of rules according to your preference, it is never the same. That means that even with the same method, or even with the same rules and preferences, the reaction is as unique as it is similar or different to others. We do have our own ways to read a book, yes. But we, as humans, are also social animals.  Regardless of any factor that we have to attain the reaction, we still cluster together to people with similar reactions, only to argue our differing factors and methods, resulting to us dividing ourselves further.

Media is like a box of chocolates. You’ll never know its form, taste, size, amount of effort, and reasons behind its creation till you open the box.

So is this us testing the media for our tastes, or us tasting the media to test our tastes? We are the ones who consume the material, and yet the various actions from the various reactions from media is generalized and given judgment without deeper understanding. I watch shows to gain a liking, and even if that liking is lost or regained, I would watch it regardless. That means liking something that is either entertaining or interesting, or neither. It is never wrong to state or or hear opinion about how it went, because what is bad to you may be good to others, and vice-versa.

In the end, every piece of litmus paper registers a different and unique effect, albeit the hues can be generally recognized as contrasting or similar. We are who we are, the spectrum of hues that is our litmus papers for the media.

Further Reading

Trying Something Exotic for the Taste Buds:

Harsh! Consuming Media Not-So-Related to Our Interests – We Remember Love