Front Loaded Fan-Service is another reason for the 3 episode rule.

I've kind of known this for awhile, but it became prominent in my recent viewing of Fuuka.

Fuuka was a show I'd tried to watch back in 2017 but was turned off by how much fanservice the first episode had.  But lately as Boochi has increased my interest in Anime about Anime Girls starting bands I wanted to give it another shot.  And as I watched the first episode again I really got the subtle vibe that this is not a show designed to be built around that kind of thing, but you have to be pretty Genre Savvy to get that vibe the way I did.

And indeed episode 2 already has way less, episode 3 is the Beach episode which getting that out of the way so early itself felt kind of interesting, and even more so that this Beach episode feels less Fanservicy than the episodes that proceeded it.  After that the fanservice is gone.

But it's frustrating enough in that first episode to effect the overall score.  If the first episode had been written differently I may well be willing to give this show a 10 out of 10.  It's rare for a show to make my eyes water and not get a 10/10, this show didn't get the full crying that Robotics;Notes or Umineko achieved but they did get moist.

It pisses me off that I can't give it a perfect score because of this massive issue right at the beginning that probably turned off many who could have enjoyed the rest of it.  So I gave it a 9/10.

This isn't the only time this happens but a lot of others are more muted.  The first episode of K-On has that shot of Yui landing on her @$$ that is unlike anything else the show ever does.  I remember a Podcast talking about Manabi Straight saying it's first episode has some kinda creepy moments the rest of the show never has.

With the first season of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise the fanservice of the early episodes does disappear but it does take more then 3 episodes to happen.

Update May 2024: Weirdly enough I'll even add Prisma Illya season 1 here.  Most of the big Fanservice moments people meme on from Prisma Illya aren't from season 1.  The first episode features an elaborate sequence the likes of which will not happen again in season 1.