As the industry slowly but surely shifted from just home video releases to doing streaming of various shows and then building stronger and stronger simulcasts offerings, fans were getting what they asked for for years. Shows as they happen in Japan. Well, nearly, since most are delayed a whopping hour and sometimes a few days to a week depending on licensing agreements meant to protect the home market. Each season has seen a growth in the number of series being offered and a bit more competition along the way. While there is a dominant service, there are others as well that are carving out their ventures while utilizing other means such as Hulu and Netflix to get their shows out there.

But the simulcasts… there are many. When we started covering simulcasts, there were but a handful and we only did one at first with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Since then we picked up a few every season and then as the home video market shifted more and more to sets, we added more simulcasts. And more simulcasts. The previous season was decent with some ongoings and a bunch of new simulcasts so we expected about the same for the spring 2012 anime season. Boy, were we wrong. Between a few reviewers here now, we’re covering twenty-nine new simulcasts this season. Just when I thought I reached my threshold a couple of seasons ago, this one nearly goes and doubles what we were covering just a year ago.

Knowing some long time readers from the DVD side of the world who have hundreds of backlogged shows to watch sitting on shelves, the question has to come with the simulcasts. How much is too much? Not in terms of being acquired, but how much is too much for you to watch? Do you limit yourself to a certain number of shows? And then find yourself adding one or two more here that look interesting? Or are you able to manage it fairly steadily and keep it under control? How many shows are you watching from this season?

Sound off in our comments section below (via Twitter, Facebook and other services) or drop in to our forum for the subject and let us know. No registration is required for that particular section, though you can certainly register and you can connect via Facebook as well to post.

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