Ever feel afraid to watch certain anime?

[SWPIGWANG]

How many of you have looked at an anime and say: "no, I don't really want to watch this" and not for technical reasons on whether the anime is good or bad.

Right now I'm staring at a number of anime (Lain and so on), manga (NHK), games (Narcissu) and don't know if I want to start on them. It feels like those things are potential traps that could send me on a week long depression, and in a bad way.

I remember that Grave of the Firefly sat on my harddrive for a good 6 month before I watched it.

Has anyone felt the same around here? Something that simply can't be watched not because it is bad but because it is too good to maintain emotional detachment and not get dragged into hell?

[Wandy]

yes, i am afraid to touch shoujo genres...for the fact it gives me the creeps >_>
IE: Princess Princess (no offense to the people who watch this)

[jedinat]

I had the Beyond the Clouds movie on my HD for a long time and was too scared to watch it . Eventually I started it and then skipped to the end, lol. It looked like it would have been okay, but a bit depressing, but I ended up just deleting it.

Truthfully, whenever I start a new romance anime I am a bit anxious.

As for manga... it's even worse, because you never really know. I get really really depressed whenever the girl is raped or otherwise abused in a manga. And that kind of thing seems to happen a lot. One manga I recently read, called Bitter Virgin, I felt reasonably safe... Because of the word "virgin" in the title I figured at least there wasn't the whole sexually abused as a child background (something annoyingly common in manga and a lot of books I read). Well, it so happens the high school girl hadn't only been raped frequently by her step father, but had gotten pregnant twice, once having an abortion and the other time putting up the baby for adoption... at the age of 14. God I was so annoyed, its like tell me before I start reading!

[Komataguri]

Koi Kaze was the only anime I was scared of watching.

and it turns out, my fear was well justified >_<

[Shay]

Well not really the same mentality but I often avoid watching things. Grave of the Fire Flies sat in my hardrive (Still there) for ages before I watched it. (Awesome by the way)

I also often watch like two episodes of a series and then just jib it for ages. It's really weird. I always tell myself 'Right! I have time for this!' And still prolong it.

Can't really explain why....

I'm also kinda picky. People may say oh this is great you gotta watch it and I say yeah, I will. And it honestly takes me months to get round to it.

Crazy...


*Shay is PUI'ing again*

[wingdarkness]

Shay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You stole my avatar idea!!! I was gonna use that in 2 more days (I was trying to get a matching sig before I unveiled it)...Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >_<;;;;;;; I sent that image request to a member a couple of days ago...*sighs* Are we this similiar of people??!?!?

As for the topic I hate $hit like patlabor xwii with slimy, nasty looking beasts and gore...Just not my taste at all and I guess it frightens me a bit...

[Kamui4356]

Afraid to watch, no. However, I did refuse to watch Hikaru no Go for the longest time.

Then one day I was hanging out in the anime club, when another member brought in some episodes of HnG. I decided to leave and get something for dinner, as my classes were done for the day, and I didn't want to watch an anime about a board game. However, when I got to the door, I saw it was raining heavily, and my car was naturally parked on the other side of the campus. Thus I went back to the club and watched, having nothing better to do. When I finally went home that night, I downloaded the entire thing. (This was well before it was licensed btw.)

Ever since that time, I've been much less picky about what I watch, in fear I might miss out on another great series.

[Radiosity]

The only time I'm picky about something is if it got a Mature rating on ANN. Generally speaking I went through my mindless blood and gore phase years ago with Aliens and Predator and so on. Nowadays I tend to prefer happy and comedic things over gore. So yeah, I'm wary of watching certain things (Elfen Lied is a good example) but otherwise I'll watch anything if it takes my interest.

[physics223]

It's hard to watch Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. It's not bad, it's fucking scary. But I watch it intermittently, I guess.

[Tatiana Razajev]

Originally Posted by physics223

It's hard to watch Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. It's not bad, it's fucking scary. But I watch it intermittently, I guess.

When it comes to that anime, I prefer to watch each arc together. So I tend to wait until an entire arc is subbed before I watch it. I'm afraid to watch it before then because I don't want to be left hanging as it were. You can never predict sub speed and well I'd rather now watch the episodes raw then sub. It's sometimes hard enough to watch it subbed.

[Chiisa]

Not so much afraid to watch as too lazy to watch or personally ignoring it.

I had the the sixth dvd of Cowboy Beebop on my shelf for about 8 months or so because I was too lazy to finish it :]

I avoided Inuyasha for a long time because I didn't appreciate the fandom.
When I finally did watch it, I knew I had been right all along about it :/ (no offence)

I don't think that I've ever been afraid to watch a series unless you count watching a Hentai dvd alone no knowing when your mum is going to get home and having the volume really low... *shifty eyes*

[Sailor Enlil]

If it's in general, I tend to avoid most anime of the Horror genere (eg Hellsing), those with really graphic stories and scenes (eg Lain, Elfen Lied), and those that can be a bit too tragic, or end with tragedy (eg Saikano).

[Ziv]

I was disturbed just listening to someone summarize the plot of Battle Royale. I hated The Lord of The Flies, and I'm sure as hell not gonna watch something that sounds 10 times worse.

[madlobster]

For some reason, I had this bizzare feeling that I would die soon after after watching the last episode of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. Couldn't bring myself to watch it for more than five years, finally watched it in 2004.

[andromeda0201]

well i'm afraid to watch Lain and Elfen Lied, just because lain hs this really depressing drawings that made me feel like....i'll probably go into depression after watching it...
and elfen lied? well i dont think i can stand the extreme graphic violence with all those lolis...besides the opening theme scared me
this doesnt mean I'd avoid the horror genre, I went through gantz and I actually enjoyed it
Another type of anime is yuri based....i just dont think i'll appreciate those

[Vaines]

The only ones I'm afraid to watch are the ones which I fear, from what I read, that they could make me feel sad, Saikano, and the one anime made by a single person about people IMing each other in space. Still haven't got the want to start.

[jedinat]

Originally Posted by Vaines

The only ones I'm afraid to watch are the ones which I fear, from what I read, that they could make me feel sad, Saikano, and the one anime made by a single person about people IMing each other in space. Still haven't got the want to start.

Yeah, I won't watch Saikano after reading this: "A bit of advice upon finishing the series. Find the nearest ditch, crawl into it and die. It will just about be the only relief after experiencing the tragic greatness known as Saishuuheiki Kanojo."

I did see Hoshi no Koe... very sad...
But it's only 20 minutes long, so not too devastating.

[Decel]

Anything with a bittersweet and/or sad theme. I have this "I want to watch it, but I feel kinda happy and energetic right now and don't want to slump into depression" mentality. What's even worst is that sometimes I skim them, and see that my fears will come true if I actually get to watch it.

And I've yet to watch Hoshi no Koe either. It's been sitting in one of my drives since the first day of the fansub release.

The only mangas I've been devouring lately are Adachi series. Let's face it: I'm a wuss

[Vexx]

I get really annoyed when what appears to be a comedy turns into full blown tragedy. A bittersweet ending I can handle but being blindsided really rates some ire from me. I've run into a few live action American films listed as "comedies" that pulled this (lets be funny-haha then have a main character die) and Mr. Horse don't like it, no sir.

I keep meaning to watch Higurashi and keep putting it off.... I have yet to be able to start a rewatch of AIR... or even load up the movie version to watch the first time.

[npal]

Well, I don't like horror, gore, etc. I'm not really friendly with overly dramatic stuff (like, say, Saikano, AIR, etc). I've heard so much about Saikano, that I was watching it in small screen most of the time, so as to not completely intrude in my brain. Or Grave of Fireflies. Or anything that has too much gore. Same with KimiNozo, although that wasn't particularly dramatic, although I had been spoiled. Although I liked Air in the end. KimiNozo, I'm not watching again, nothing special. Saikano, I'm not watching again. Ever.

I don't even know how I keep watching Higurashi, that last arc is too disturbing, with the abuse and all.

But if I have downloaded it, it means I've decided to watch it, so it's only a matter of finding time.