How do you memorize Anime details?

[Uchiha Soul]

Apparently, most of us watch more than one Anime in the same period. How do you memorize all the names and forms of the characters and places in short time especially if there are lots of characters in one anime such as (Bleach, Naruto, One piece, Inuyasha, etc) or mystery and thriller anime like (Higurashi and Umineko) that u need to memorize the dates, habits and all minor details to solve the case.

Well, For me considering I'm watching a lot lately, I'm using a note book (a small one) to write (not all) just the main characters and the ones that I feel he/she will get something in the show .. this note book just used in the few first episodes and as soon I memorized them I leave it .. in the beginning I thought it a stupid way to use but then I discover how comfortable to have one, I keep it as a reference, if I forgot something such as a name, form, place, date, etc; I easily back to my small notes and got all the info I need.

What about you?

[xKeen]

Characters and other normal stuff are easy to remember after a few episodes.But stuff like higurashi and umineko,I wont bother to write it down because I'm lazy enough not to analyze it.
Sometimes its hard to remember if they introduce a lot of characters in one shot,but I just continue watching without knowing the names,eventually knowing them.
Shitty english huh...

[Spectacular_Insanity]

If it's Bleach, for some reason I have trouble keeping everything straight. I've compiled a Word document using info from Wikipedia to keep names and zanpakutou associations straight. Same thing for Naruto, but with ninja techniques.

Those two anime are the only two I can think of that have so many techniques, etc that I have to actually write the names of stuff down, though Shakugan no Shana and G Gundam came close.

With Claymore, I don't even try anymore. They're all blonde silver-eyed beuties who wield gigantic swords. The fact that they all wear almost the exact same uniform doesn't help. Other than the main characters we see a lot of, I can't really tell any of them apart, and I sure as hell couldn't name them from just looking at them. Other than Clare, Teresa, Miria, and Jeane, that is.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by Uchiha Soul

How do you memorize all the names and forms of the characters and places in short time especially if there are lots of characters in one anime such as (Bleach, Naruto, One piece, Inuyasha, etc)

I never bother to, really.

If I am gonna remember something I just hope do it naturally as I watch the show. If the show ends, or if I lose interest in said show, I simply let everything slide as time goes by.

As it stands, I fail to see why I should keep track of all the names, of all the characters, of all the shows I have watched and I am currently watching.

[germanturkey]

it takes me around 4 or 5 episodes to get everyone's name down. and its generally done through repetition of watching the show.

[Kafriel]

It's just all in my head, if the show's interesting then I'll remember it anytime...if some characters are boring and a reference is made 20 episodes later, I'll be like "who was that again?".
When it comes down to skills/techniques, I put it together with what little knowledge of japanese I've accumulated through the years, and as for towns, since most anime use known Japanese locations, they were easy to remember after a while (most also known from games like the MegaTen series or Shadow Hearts).

[Haladflire65]

I don't really bother, but if I'm interested enough I can just remember these things. I have a pretty good memory for useless things For instance, it only took me a few episodes to memorize the names of the dozen or so main mobile suits in Gundam 00. But stuff like Naruto, well, I don't really feel like knowing all those bajillion jutsus and characters and stuff.

[Isekaijin]

There is no need to try. Blessed as I am with a prodigious memory I find that I have already memorized all the characters' names and the settings after 2 or 3 episodes.

If only I could use it to more important matters. BUT I AM LAZY!

[Kyuusai]

I think there's a legitimate argument for documenting these things in certain places, but I don't have a personal need to remember these things beyond my desire to understand and discuss the show. If it's not sticking in my memory... it probably wasn't that important to me to begin with.

However, my memory for names was not always as sharp as it is today. We possess a spider-web tapestry of memories that allows us to commit new things with some level of familiarity to memory with ease. As a child, any new name might be hard to grasp. When my experience with Japanese language and culture was not at the level it is now, I had a lot of trouble memorizing Japanese names that were not similar to the names of my Japanese family (whose names I heard frequently)... yet European sounding names, even if fake, were easier to recall. Now, even Japanese names that are new to me aren't any more awkward to remember than western names that are new to me, thanks to the wider body of experience I have. You'll likely find the same to be true, with time.

Note taking is a skill too few people have, though. Odds are, when you have other things you become emotionally attached to that aren't entertainment, you likely won't have such a desire to keep those notes. I would definitely encourage you to channel your note taking into public reference material collection, though. Wikipedia needs editors, and even if they take their cracking down on "trivial" articles to new levels, there are other places for the information to go.

[Vexx]

If I've watched more than a couple of episodes and I like the show, I already know everyone's name. Sometimes my spelling sucks if I've not heard the name correctly (the dialog slurs the name, etc).

The only name I can ever recall having trouble with was the *title* of one series.
Uwatarerumono.... that one took a while...

I suppose it has more to do with *caring* about japanese language and culture so that your brain puts a bit more capacity into it.

[Izayoi]

It isn't really that effortful, I did have a hard time trying to figure out Jojo's character though. Touhou(+PC98 Characters) was never as much of a problem surprisingly.
*Note How many touhou characters are there? 120+ from the sorting list I remembered. Quite mind blowing that I remember every one of their details and relationships to other character from Reisen II to Reimu. Shows how much I care for my lolis.

[Haladflire65]

Originally Posted by Vexx

The only name I can ever recall having trouble with was the *title* of one series.
Uwatarerumono.... that one took a while...

It's actually Utawarerumono Hard title, isn't it? It's a lot easier if you know Japanese; it's quite a simple word...

Which brings me to another point. Some anime stuff's really easy to memorize if you know Japanese. For instance, Kurosaki Ichigo in Bleach? 'Kurosaki' is a common last name, and the kanji's easy, so it's simple; 'Ichigo' is just strawberry, so that's easy too. Since I do speak the language, I can remember anime things better... But not always...

[Archon_Wing]

I usually just don't watch too many anime series at once. Otherwise if the anime intends on infodumping me and it doesn't work, it's quite their fault.

[Raiga]

Never written anything down; if I forgot a detail, I figure it just wasn't memorable enough. I have a pretty good memory, though, and knowing some Japanese definitely helps with names and titles and whatnot. It's much easier to remember a name as three to five kanji than as a string of upwards of 10 English letters; even if I only know one or two of the kanji it still condenses the memorization significantly.

[Eater of All]

I usually have a memory span of a goldfish when it comes to things I don't care about, but can recall quite decently if it's stuff I do care about. I just let it work out naturally like that; I'm never arsed enough to actively memorize anything unless it's important anyways.

Well, I guess that explains why I can never remember the male lead's name.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Eater of All

Well, I guess that explains why I can never remember the male lead's name.

Yep, a lot of cases you can just call them the "generic male lead"

Speaking of not remembering people's names, the worst case is Umineko where I don't remember about 1/2 the cast's names until lately because I just didn't care.

[Triple_R]

I'll make a confession... with larger casts and/or with casts with a lot of semi-important supporting cast characters, I'll sometimes use a Wiki search of "List of Anime XYZ's characters" to aid me through some discussions.

This is what I tend to do in the early stages of an anime, or with animes that I later dropped and never went back to. If I stick with an anime to the very end, I tend to know all the key names by the mid-way point and remember them for posterity.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Haladflire65

It's actually Utawarerumono Hard title, isn't it? It's a lot easier if you know Japanese; it's quite a simple word...

Which brings me to another point. Some anime stuff's really easy to memorize if you know Japanese. For instance, Kurosaki Ichigo in Bleach? 'Kurosaki' is a common last name, and the kanji's easy, so it's simple; 'Ichigo' is just strawberry, so that's easy too. Since I do speak the language, I can remember anime things better... But not always...

Well, naturally I typo'd it (transposition of phoneme)... and I do know Japanese fairly well, but it doesn't save one from a typo.

[Haladflire65]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Well, naturally I typo'd it (transposition of phoneme)... and I do know Japanese fairly well, but it doesn't save one from a typo.

Ah. Sorry - it's just that that's what I thought Utawarerumono was before. Uwatarerumono. Stupid title

[brocko]

I watch anime for entertainment and not to write a thesis on it. So no, i won't bother remembering every little detail nor will i ever bother writing notes to help me. Things should automatically be sinking into your memory as you're watching the show anyway. And plus do you really need to know the name of the technique used by "bad guy 57" in "episodes 128" of "Never-ending Shounen show 21"?