English: The Alamo Drafthouse sign outside of the original location in downtown Austin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In my experience, the best way to consume a new anime is to view it privately, alone. While I do love and appreciate my local option to watch the first four episodes of some brand new releases from Sentai Filmworks and FUNimation thanks to Alamo Drafthouse, I don't get to do this for every show, and not every show I watch there is something I feel passionately about continuing. Some of the shows are merely mediocre and the first four on the big screen is all I need of it.
The first time through an anime for me tends to be a very private, personal experience. I don't want any chatter or cross talk or distractions, no MST3K style snark, nothing. Just me and the visual experience. I want to be fully immersed in the experience and not interrupted. I want to relate to the characters directly, not in a hipster-ish ironically detached way.
But I am learning to be a bit more social. I want to share the love of anime, be a kind of Anime Evangelist to my friends. I'm willing to watch things a second time with a small set of close friends and this has been a positive experience so far. I control the pause button. If a friend has a question I'll pause the show and try to answer it in a non-spoiler way. Or I'll pause to interject a funny comment (without talking OVER the show) the move on, or I'll talk in the transitional scenes between dialogue. I'm basically helping friends whose main exposure to Anime are the BIG and LONG series like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, et. al.
Most recently I screened for two friends the first four episodes of Girls Und Panzer. They really enjoyed it, and for the first time they decided they definitely want to continue the series for our next screening together. We tend to go to local minor league baseball games together then gather back at my house afterwards to watch Anime together. It's a fun way to spend an evening together with friends. I'm grateful they're willing to trust my judgement on Anime screening selections and I'm glad we all have good chemistry and can appreciate the shows and gently make fun of them at the same time.
I will probably always make sure that any social screening of Anime is always a 2nd watch through for me, though. I always want that pure, unadulterated experience with a work first. I feel like I can be a better host, too, when I've already seen a show and understand the characters better. Sometimes I see something the second time through that I missed the first time, etc.
