Has anyone noticed how sequel bias is an anime only thing?

I don't see that at all, I think sequel bias is present in all media.

When it comes to movies (especially trilogies) usually the second one will be perceived as weaker than the first one. And the third one will usually be better again. The reason for that is that the first one will most likely be a full story, while the second one usually has an open ending which will be completed in the third one.

In anime you usually only get a sequel for a popular first season. With anime shows though there is a gimmick present a lot of times which made the show popular, which might wear off in the sequel. So once agian the 2nd season might be perceived weaker simply because of that.

@Gator yeah but like.... that only applies to movies that tell one story within the trilogy.

your reason doesn't apply to any of my examples. not even one.

@APolygons2 That's because I haven't watched a single movie you mentioned, so I can't say anything about them.

@Gator BRUH

How? these are like... pretty big titles. you have got to fix that.

Watch the first 2 kungfu panda, they are genuinely fantastic movies, and I think they would have a strong appeal to anime fans.

3 is good too, and 4 is.... ok I guess. but the first two are amazing. trust me.

Do anime movies have a sequel bias? If not, I blame the format.

It's probably not so meaningful to compare sequels of series with movie sequels, because the timewalls are vastly different and the longer it takes to watch the prequel, the higher will be the percentage of biased fans within the audience who watches the sequel.

Anyway, I found a good example of recent sequel bias:

Dune = 8.0
Dune 2 = 8.7

I think comparing movies to anime is apples to oranges. TV shows vs. anime might be a better comparison; they're both longer, "continuous" experiences.


By whom? If you're talking about film critics, I don't think that's true. Plenty of critics I've seen rank The Godfather Part II, Aliens, and Toy Story 2 higher than the original.

Or do you mean Imdb scores or some similar user metric?

Maybe because those movies are their own separate stories whereas anime seasons are just a part of the whole series. People maybe rate them while keeping it in mind that different movies are completely separate. Which might not be the case for animes.

Also many people goes for the sequel without watching the previous one. Like me who watched kung fu panda 2-3 but didn't watch 1.

That's because the movies you listed are all original works, compared to anime which follows a source material. In other words, movies are initially planned as a one-time thing. Sequels would often try to copy the formula of what made the first movie a success, and not only fail at doing so but also have a chance of contradicting some of the prequel's lore. With anime you don't get to have that issue, as first seasons are intentionally incomplete. That's why when the second season comes around and characters develop or the story progresses, viewers appreciate it. Because it was designed to be the payoff to whatever the first season was setting up.

On MAL , for an example , it’s mostly fans of a certain show that’ll keep watching the sequels , and since they like the show they’ll give it the same rate or a closer one to the first season which means the sequels are mostly rated by fans so why would it have a lower score ?

But an example of a lower s2 score , you have the promised never land … the sequel was pure awfulness that no one wanted it to have a high score , I’m still surprised it even still has a 4-5 score and not even lower …

@Yonahim_Zz That's a funny joke. Cause they NEVER made a the promised neverland season 2.

What do you mean by "sequel" here?

Honestly, I was at first very confused by and still to this day very strongly disagree with the way I've seen some MAL users use the term "sequel" here. I definitely don't use it that way. It's never been the way I understood the term sequel and never will be. I don't consider a second or third or fourth season of the same exact series a "sequel". They're only separated in the first place due to some bureaucratic administrative technical BS-type reasons on MAL.

Is the third season of The Sopranos a sequel? It's all one show. And it's used totally inconsistently anyway, since now-older series on the MAL database, which often had many dozens, over 100, or even hundreds of episodes, weren't organized that way. One of the longest-running anime series, One Piece, is still listed as a single series, besides any movies or bonus/side content. My favorite series, Inuyasha, has the vast majority of its run listed as one entry of 167 episodes, and only its last season of 26 episodes titled and listed/archived separately (plus the movies and some bonus/side stuff).

So, for instance, using Inuyasha, because it's a good example. I don't consider the last and final season, titled on here The Final Act, to be a "sequel" to Inuyasha. It is Inuyasha. It's all part of the same series. As are the four films, honestly (though those could be looked at separately and one titled a sequel in relation to another if just referring to them as movies). If you want to see a sequel to Inuyasha, then there is exactly one. The sequel series released in 2020, Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi. That is what a sequel to a series is and looks like to me.

I don't see that at all, I think sequel bias is present in all media.

When it comes to movies (especially trilogies) usually the second one will be perceived as weaker than the first one. And the third one will usually be better again. The reason for that is that the first one will most likely be a full story, while the second one usually has an open ending which will be completed in the third one.

In anime you usually only get a sequel for a popular first season. With anime shows though there is a gimmick present a lot of times which made the show popular, which might wear off in the sequel. So once agian the 2nd season might be perceived weaker simply because of that.

That's like the literal meaning, but if we take it to the logical extreme, then every scene in a series or film is a sequel to the scene which preceded it (unless flashback; then it's a prequel...).

Before coming on MAL, I had never once either used (and still don't) or heard ever used by anyone else the term "sequel" to refer to seasons of the exact same TV series.

So to me a sequel to an anime series is only an entirely separate series but which has some connection to events/characters/setting of the preceding series, like film sequels.

@Gator

Do you have some examples?
Because your reasoning doesn't work for most trilogies I can think of.

@IKKIsama As I mentioned in a previous post, I think Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Carribean are good examples where the rating of the trilogy parts is 1 > 3 > 2.

@IKKIsama As I mentioned in a previous post, I think Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Carribean are good examples where the rating of the trilogy parts is 1 > 3 > 2.

@Lucifrost It's hard to say, cause I can't really think of anime movies with sequels.

The only 2 that I can think of right now are Towanoquon and The Garden of Sinners , but I haven't seen them so it's hard to say if they have sequel bias or not.

I assume by sequel bias you mean "if you rate s1 10, you'll rate s2 10"?

Personally i've observed both extreams of sequel bias and everything after the OG is milking in the anime fandom

As for my own perception on sequels, i wouldn't say bias, but i am more lineant with sequels of series i'm already invested in the story and characters, i still won't rate it the same as previous seasons if i don't think it's as good, same as i'll rate it higher if i think it's better

I've never really seen people say the original is always best in anime though. If you look at the ratings the second season tends to be rated better because the people that didnt like it didnt watch the following seasons.

@traed I mean yeah, that was the point.

I was saying anime has sequel bias, but movies have the opposite.

No, I'm surprised you didn't know this since it's a common discussion on mal.

when people talk about sequel bias around here, they are talking about the fact that only the people who liked s1 watch s2. and a lot of the people who would disliked the series, would obviously not continue it.

Which means as a series goes on, more and more of the people who are still watching, are the people who actually enjoy the show, which should a lot of times results in the show getting a higher rating.

An example of this is konosuba, I do think the show has some ups and downs, but it is generally fairly consistent. but the score still increases with every entry.

Or the fact that natsume's book friends season 1, has a way lower rating than all the other seasons which are pretty close to each other.

I do think s1 has been the weakest season so far, but not by a huge distance, natsume is also very consistent. the biggest reason for the gap is the fact that anyone who didn't like the show would have dropped it by then.

It's pretty obvious by the members. there is a massive drop in memebers from s1-2. but after that, there is barely any drop.

@APolygons2 Oh xD

I don't really see that as a bias though, i mean it seems pretty normal to want to watch the sequel of something you like but not of something you don't like, it doesn't necessarily have to be something you'd rate a 9 or 10, but there has to be some sort of enjoyment for you to want to continue something (unless you're a diehard completionist), and yes the avarage ratings will reflect that

Well it's easy to have sequel bias on handpicked movies. I definitely don't think most people have Shrek 2 over Shrek 1, let alone Kung Fu Panda 2. But if you pick things like Godfather Pt. 2 and Aliens, over course you will feel like there is a sequel bias.

They mean bias for the average rating, not the individual. so I think that's what you're confused about here!