AnimeSuki Forums

Akito Kinomoto · 2011-02-19, 19:00

Let's not mince words here: sometimes you run across a show that might have been more enjoyable had you watched it while everything was new and exciting. If you rewatch some anime from that time period, some titles will appreciate the second thought better than others, and some not at all. After doing this, I found myself knocking down quite a few works.

However, I wouldn't say it's become more difficult for me [to enjoy anime] so much as it is losing tolerance for anything less than very good. I'll attribute it to the fact that, recently, I encountered several excellent anime in consecutive order or at least within close proximity to each other, hence the lack of tolerance. It's sort of like being spoiled by a 5 Star Restaurant for nearly a month.

That said, has it become harder for you to enjoy anime?

ChainLegacy · 2011-02-19, 19:16

100% yes. There was a period from the age of 12 to the age of maybe 16 that I could gobble up all types of anime and get a high return on my time investment by being fully entertained. Nowadays, I hesitate to even invest 20 minutes to watch the first episode of a new series.

I think there are a few reasons for this. One is that I exhausted a great deal of amazing anime series during that above mentioned period of my life. Another is simply youthful naivete, in the past five years I feel like I've become slightly more sophisticated in how I choose to spend my time and thus hesitate to waste an hour a night on anime (don't get me wrong I still waste time lol, just much less). Lastly, and this probably contributes the least but is nonetheless still a factor: modern anime have begun to drift out of the realm of my tastes; less focus on sci-fi and action and much more focus on high school children/other similar things. I greatly enjoy high quality romance/slife-of-life shows, but they are not enough to keep my interest usually.

OceanBlue · 2011-02-19, 20:35

I wouldn't say I get less enjoyment from anime. I just enjoy it in a different way now than I did a couple of years ago. It's like with reading books, watching movies, or playing games: even if I've experienced a lot of them, seeing the different way they convey their ideas is always interesting. The differences in each series, even if they're small, keep things interesting. Plus, there are some conventions I haven't grow tired of.

I can't claim to have been around for a while though, but that's my take on it.

Master_Yoma · 2011-02-19, 22:37

Nope I still enjoy anime more then every and I have been hitting it harder then ever. But the only hard part it watch anime im going to watch next

roriconfan · 2011-02-20, 04:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChainLegacy

100% yes. There was a period from the age of 12 to the age of maybe 16 that I could gobble up all types of anime and get a high return on my time investment by being fully entertained. Nowadays, I hesitate to even invest 20 minutes to watch the first episode of a new series.

I think there are a few reasons for this. One is that I exhausted a great deal of amazing anime series during that above mentioned period of my life. Another is simply youthful naivete, in the past five years I feel like I've become slightly more sophisticated in how I choose to spend my time and thus hesitate to waste an hour a night on anime (don't get me wrong I still waste time lol, just much less). Lastly, and this probably contributes the least but is nonetheless still a factor: modern anime have begun to drift out of the realm of my tastes; less focus on sci-fi and action and much more focus on high school children/other similar things. I greatly enjoy high quality romance/slife-of-life shows, but they are not enough to keep my interest usually.

Same here

Ahiru77 · 2011-02-20, 04:33

^ Me too last year.

Now not anymore, now that I have something to fall back on. I have probably grown to be more of a critic though.

j0x · 2011-02-20, 11:19

after i graduated i got bored of anime and focus on work more, but now im NEET i got addicted again, i think its just a cycle

and your right too about that statement that your like spoiled by a 5 star restaurant

Vexx · 2011-02-20, 13:08

I enjoy anime as much as always.. .finding *TIME* to watch anime can be challenging.

What I *am* less tolerant of are 'lazy' anime... that which is capitalizing on elements already done really well or much better in recent history.

Le Communard · 2011-02-20, 14:12

Yes and no. I'm a much more sophisticated consumer than I was in the past, so instead of just simply enjoying things, I like to have an engagement with the text. This makes it a lot harder just to lose myself in a show, to let myself go and just feel it. On the other hand, I now actually enjoy some things more now than I might have in the past now that I have a new perspective, especially stuff I would have found a little boring in the past. I now have a much higher tolerance for mediocrity--it's OK not to be wowed every time as long as I got something out of watching (although this goes hand in hand with a much lower tolerance for derivative work, which puts nothing new on the table). On one hand, I sort of miss that fanboy enthusiasm, but I think I'm much better off for having grown out of it.

Gamer_2k4 · 2011-02-20, 14:34

It's always been hard for me to enjoy anime. I've gotten lucky and been exposed to some of the most highly rated animes, and if my feelings about those are only mildly positive, then it really worries me as to what the rest of the genre is like. People will gush about a particular set of voice actors ("Haruhi's VAs are SOOO good!") and I think, "Uh, they sound like you'd expect professionals to sound." People will say that a particular anime's animation is good, too, and I'll think back to Akira or some of the older western animation (Disney, Looney Toons, etc.) and realized that almost all of anime has yet to match that.

Really, the only part of anime that draws me in is the plot. Sometimes the characters are excellent too, but they can only carry an anime so far. And once you've watched a couple of animes with plots that interest you, similar plots just seem like rehashes. They lose their spark and originality, and if I'm not getting anything new (or if there are new aspects but the anime doesn't hold up from a technical perspective), I'm just not going to really enjoy it.

Look no further than my anime list. Only three animes have made it past a score of 7, and only another three are higher than 6. If half of the anime I've seen is average or worse, and I think I've only been exposed to the better ones, that really says something.

Kotohono · 2011-02-20, 14:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master_Yoma

Nope I still enjoy anime more then every and I have been hitting it harder then ever. But the only hard part it watch anime im going to watch next

This is how it is for me, seriously though picking thru series to decide what to watch next is tough XD.

SilverSyko · 2011-02-20, 14:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konakaga

This is how it is for me, seriously though picking thru series to decide what to watch next is tough XD.

It must be nice having absolutely no standards at all.

As for the topic at hand, no, it's not very hard for me to enjoy something as long as it has redeeming qualities about it if the rest of it is crap. Taking an interest in a series entirely is what's hard for me.

Triple_R · 2011-02-20, 16:23

I think it has become a little bit harder for me to enjoy anime.

My tolerance level for certain anime tropes has gone down considerably over the last year or so. A tsundere who's just a tsundere now grates on me, for example, whereas there was a time when I didn't mind that so much.

It's hit a point now that for me to like an anime, the anime in question needs to have an element of "good literature" to it (as I perceive it, anyway). Basically, it has to be something that if you wrote it all down on paper and sold it as a hardcover no-pictures book, people would consider it a good book to read.

This is probably why a light novel adaptation (Haruhi) is my favorite anime of the past five years.

erneiz_hyde · 2011-02-20, 16:56

I used to like Tsukihime anime (*gasp* OH MAI GAWD THERE WAS TSUKIHIME ANIME!?

)

I used to be able to enjoy what I watches as it was and not complain about much,
but I'm an elitist now (though perhaps not so much as most internet elitists out there). I have to say I missed being able to enjoy anime the way I did.

Bri · 2011-02-20, 18:01

For me it's the reverse, over the years I found it easier to enjoy more and more anime. Mostly because in time my tastes broadened so I am able to accept and appreciate material I would have considered boring or uninteresting when I was younger.

When in a given season there are not that many shows I like, there are still dozens if not hundreds of classics available I still want to see. Don't think I'll get bored with anime any time soon.

The greatest difficulty has become to choose what to watch as there is so much to chose from. Not to mention finding the time to watch it.

Genten · 2011-02-20, 18:04

Well, yes and no.

First, I have this weird mix of mediocre and weird taste. I'll use my love of film as an example: I love Sharktopus and Inception but didn't really care for Annie Hall. So I have this weird spectrum of things that I enjoy so as long as something interests me on a basic level I can watch it and get into it. I sometimes refer to it as 'having no standards' but while my tastes vary wildly I do have standards. Namely, I'll take the bad and the good but can't stand the mediocre, middle of the road series. If something doesn't strike me as interesting or different then I become disatisfied with it and stop watching.

So because I'll try just about anything I tend to pick up a lot of series. So there is no shortage of anime offered that interest me (I mean, I have at least eight shows I'm interested in for Spring 2011). However, keeping my attention is what keeps me from watching all of this anime I pick up. As I've stated before, a series/film/novel/whatever form of entertainment I'm looking at doesn't strike me as unique enough to capture my attention then I drop it. So while I have very low standards for trying series I have very high ones for sticking with them.

The current amount and diversity of anime being produced and released doesn't discourage me from trying something out. I have very little complaints about anime being currently produced: I don't have any wish for more series to be produced of one genre than another and I don't have any vendetta against current storytelling methods. I'll try just about anything so I don't have any complaints about current seasonal anime. Besides, if I am not interested by anything produced currently then I can go back and watch older, finished series like Eden of the East or Waiting for the Day After Tomorrow. There's no reason I have to stick with the newer anime being produced.

Master_Yoma · 2011-02-20, 22:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

It must be nice having absolutely no standards at all.

As for the topic at hand, no, it's not very hard for me to enjoy something as long as it has redeeming qualities about it if the rest of it is crap. Taking an interest in a series entirely is what's hard for me.

Well I think of it as an open mind and watch a little bit of every thing. But more like I really dont care on what I watch as long it kill a lot of time and keep my brain silent. There are worse thing to watch then the crappiest anime out there

Hooves · 2011-02-20, 22:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bri

For me it's the reverse, over the years I found it easier to enjoy more and more anime. Mostly because in time my tastes broadened so I am able to accept and appreciate material I would have considered boring or uninteresting when I was younger.

When in a given season there are not that many shows I like, there are still dozens if not hundreds of classics available I still want to see. Don't think I'll get bored with anime any time soon.

The greatest difficulty has become to choose what to watch as there is so much to chose from. Not to mention finding the time to watch it.

Bri, you have exactly explained what I was going to post

well it has not become harder nor easier to watch anime for me. It is still just pretty much normal for me, enjoying all genres, but the only problem is finding the time to watch all the animes that I have in my 8 page notebook.

gsilver · 2011-02-20, 23:11

It has its upswings and downswings. 2008-2009 was a big downturn, which reversed direction after I got really into several series, starting with Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (which I started mid-run), followed by Pretty Cure franchise, Tatami Galaxy, and Shiki. Those all played a big part in getting me back into anime.

I guess at different times, I've been drawn to different things in anime. I can't say that I've enjoyed any anime recent as much as I used to be able to. I certainly can't see myself ever being awestruck or feel as deeply connected to the characters as I once was, nor will I ever nerd-over anything as much as I remember.

One huge part of this, besides the whole (crappy) getting older thing, is that there's simply so much more anime that I have available now. I used to be completely obsessed with Flame of Recca, after seeing the introductory episodes. I had hardly seen any anime at that point, and due to VHS fansub trading, new episodes of anything were hard (and expensive) to get. So, instead of a massive queue of new anime to watch like I have now, I would have to carefully look over the (limited) list that a VHS trader had, pick what I thought would be the best, and only be able to follow a few series... which was the only way something like Flame of Recca ever got so highly regarded in my book. (though even with that system, I grew tired of it once the big tournament started...) Recca may have dropped like a rock from my favorites once anime became more accessible to me, but some other shows from that era, like Please Save My Earth and Kodocha, remain high on my list of all-time favorites.

Still, even if I can't get into new series like I got into Kodocha, Berserk, or Utena back in the day, I appreciate new shows in different ways, and yes, new shows can still make it into my top 10 (most notably Kaiba).

Spectacular_Insanity · 2011-02-21, 00:58

As all things of popularity, anime has it's ebbs and flows. Late 2010 was kinda tough for me, as there weren't a lot of series I particularly enjoyed, aside from the standard serializations. There were, of course, exceptions (Toaru Majutsu no Index II, Bakuman), but for the most part I wasn't seeing any NEW series that immediately caught my attention.

However, 2011 is giving me new hope, as several series have caught my attention:

Beelzebub
Infinite Stratos
Rio ~Rainbow Gate~
Level E

And of course I'm still following Naruto, Bleach, and Fairy Tail. My stubbornness to see them to their conclusion, no matter how long that may take, keeps me from dropping these series.

2011-02-19, 22:37	Link #4
Master_Yoma Nekokota Festival Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Lost in the Fairy Forest	Nope I still enjoy anime more then every and I have been hitting it harder then ever. But the only hard part it watch anime im going to watch next __________________

2011-02-20, 13:08	Link #8
Vexx Obey the Darkly Cute ... Author Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ... Age: 66	I enjoy anime as much as always.. .finding TIME to watch anime can be challenging. What I am less tolerant of are 'lazy' anime... that which is capitalizing on elements already done really well or much better in recent history. __________________ "It Really IS Rocket Science", Novel series rough drafts; vol. 1 thru vol. 3 complete Volume 4 in work, Visit the thread for short stories!

2011-02-20, 14:12	Link #9
Le Communard Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Ca-li-fonh-yah	Yes and no. I'm a much more sophisticated consumer than I was in the past, so instead of just simply enjoying things, I like to have an engagement with the text. This makes it a lot harder just to lose myself in a show, to let myself go and just feel it. On the other hand, I now actually enjoy some things more now than I might have in the past now that I have a new perspective, especially stuff I would have found a little boring in the past. I now have a much higher tolerance for mediocrity--it's OK not to be wowed every time as long as I got something out of watching (although this goes hand in hand with a much lower tolerance for derivative work, which puts nothing new on the table). On one hand, I sort of miss that fanboy enthusiasm, but I think I'm much better off for having grown out of it. __________________ "Did I know Szat would betray us?" Urza asked quizzically. "I was counting on it" MAL

2011-02-20, 14:34	Link #10
Gamer_2k4 Anime Cynic Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: USA Age: 35	It's always been hard for me to enjoy anime. I've gotten lucky and been exposed to some of the most highly rated animes, and if my feelings about those are only mildly positive, then it really worries me as to what the rest of the genre is like. People will gush about a particular set of voice actors ("Haruhi's VAs are SOOO good!") and I think, "Uh, they sound like you'd expect professionals to sound." People will say that a particular anime's animation is good, too, and I'll think back to Akira or some of the older western animation (Disney, Looney Toons, etc.) and realized that almost all of anime has yet to match that. Really, the only part of anime that draws me in is the plot. Sometimes the characters are excellent too, but they can only carry an anime so far. And once you've watched a couple of animes with plots that interest you, similar plots just seem like rehashes. They lose their spark and originality, and if I'm not getting anything new (or if there are new aspects but the anime doesn't hold up from a technical perspective), I'm just not going to really enjoy it. Look no further than my anime list. Only three animes have made it past a score of 7, and only another three are higher than 6. If half of the anime I've seen is average or worse, and I think I've only been exposed to the better ones, that really says something. __________________

2011-02-20, 16:23	Link #13
Triple_R Senior Member Author Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Age: 42	I think it has become a little bit harder for me to enjoy anime. My tolerance level for certain anime tropes has gone down considerably over the last year or so. A tsundere who's just a tsundere now grates on me, for example, whereas there was a time when I didn't mind that so much. It's hit a point now that for me to like an anime, the anime in question needs to have an element of "good literature" to it (as I perceive it, anyway). Basically, it has to be something that if you wrote it all down on paper and sold it as a hardcover no-pictures book, people would consider it a good book to read. This is probably why a light novel adaptation (Haruhi) is my favorite anime of the past five years. __________________

2011-02-19, 19:16	Link #2
ChainLegacy 廉頗 Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Massachusetts Age: 34	100% yes. There was a period from the age of 12 to the age of maybe 16 that I could gobble up all types of anime and get a high return on my time investment by being fully entertained. Nowadays, I hesitate to even invest 20 minutes to watch the first episode of a new series. I think there are a few reasons for this. One is that I exhausted a great deal of amazing anime series during that above mentioned period of my life. Another is simply youthful naivete, in the past five years I feel like I've become slightly more sophisticated in how I choose to spend my time and thus hesitate to waste an hour a night on anime (don't get me wrong I still waste time lol, just much less). Lastly, and this probably contributes the least but is nonetheless still a factor: modern anime have begun to drift out of the realm of my tastes; less focus on sci-fi and action and much more focus on high school children/other similar things. I greatly enjoy high quality romance/slife-of-life shows, but they are not enough to keep my interest usually.

2011-02-19, 20:35	Link #3
OceanBlue Not an expert on things Join Date: Jun 2007	I wouldn't say I get less enjoyment from anime. I just enjoy it in a different way now than I did a couple of years ago. It's like with reading books, watching movies, or playing games: even if I've experienced a lot of them, seeing the different way they convey their ideas is always interesting. The differences in each series, even if they're small, keep things interesting. Plus, there are some conventions I haven't grow tired of. I can't claim to have been around for a while though, but that's my take on it.

2011-02-20, 04:33	Link #6
Ahiru77 あひる Join Date: Feb 2007	^ Me too last year. Now not anymore, now that I have something to fall back on. I have probably grown to be more of a critic though.

2011-02-20, 11:19	Link #7
j0x Giga Drill Breaker Join Date: Jan 2009	after i graduated i got bored of anime and focus on work more, but now im NEET i got addicted again, i think its just a cycle and your right too about that statement that your like spoiled by a 5 star restaurant

2011-02-20, 16:56	Link #14
erneiz_hyde 18782+18782=37564 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: InterWebs	I used to like Tsukihime anime (gasp OH MAI GAWD THERE WAS TSUKIHIME ANIME!? ) I used to be able to enjoy what I watches as it was and not complain about much, but I'm an elitist now (though perhaps not so much as most internet elitists out there). I have to say I missed being able to enjoy anime the way I did. __________________

2011-02-20, 18:01	Link #15
Bri Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009	For me it's the reverse, over the years I found it easier to enjoy more and more anime. Mostly because in time my tastes broadened so I am able to accept and appreciate material I would have considered boring or uninteresting when I was younger. When in a given season there are not that many shows I like, there are still dozens if not hundreds of classics available I still want to see. Don't think I'll get bored with anime any time soon. The greatest difficulty has become to choose what to watch as there is so much to chose from. Not to mention finding the time to watch it.

2011-02-20, 18:04	Link #16
Genten has a custom user title Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: In a Mitten Age: 29	Well, yes and no. First, I have this weird mix of mediocre and weird taste. I'll use my love of film as an example: I love Sharktopus and Inception but didn't really care for Annie Hall. So I have this weird spectrum of things that I enjoy so as long as something interests me on a basic level I can watch it and get into it. I sometimes refer to it as 'having no standards' but while my tastes vary wildly I do have standards. Namely, I'll take the bad and the good but can't stand the mediocre, middle of the road series. If something doesn't strike me as interesting or different then I become disatisfied with it and stop watching. So because I'll try just about anything I tend to pick up a lot of series. So there is no shortage of anime offered that interest me (I mean, I have at least eight shows I'm interested in for Spring 2011). However, keeping my attention is what keeps me from watching all of this anime I pick up. As I've stated before, a series/film/novel/whatever form of entertainment I'm looking at doesn't strike me as unique enough to capture my attention then I drop it. So while I have very low standards for trying series I have very high ones for sticking with them. The current amount and diversity of anime being produced and released doesn't discourage me from trying something out. I have very little complaints about anime being currently produced: I don't have any wish for more series to be produced of one genre than another and I don't have any vendetta against current storytelling methods. I'll try just about anything so I don't have any complaints about current seasonal anime. Besides, if I am not interested by anything produced currently then I can go back and watch older, finished series like Eden of the East or Waiting for the Day After Tomorrow. There's no reason I have to stick with the newer anime being produced. __________________

2011-02-20, 23:11	Link #19
gsilver Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007	It has its upswings and downswings. 2008-2009 was a big downturn, which reversed direction after I got really into several series, starting with Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (which I started mid-run), followed by Pretty Cure franchise, Tatami Galaxy, and Shiki. Those all played a big part in getting me back into anime. I guess at different times, I've been drawn to different things in anime. I can't say that I've enjoyed any anime recent as much as I used to be able to. I certainly can't see myself ever being awestruck or feel as deeply connected to the characters as I once was, nor will I ever nerd-over anything as much as I remember. One huge part of this, besides the whole (crappy) getting older thing, is that there's simply so much more anime that I have available now. I used to be completely obsessed with Flame of Recca, after seeing the introductory episodes. I had hardly seen any anime at that point, and due to VHS fansub trading, new episodes of anything were hard (and expensive) to get. So, instead of a massive queue of new anime to watch like I have now, I would have to carefully look over the (limited) list that a VHS trader had, pick what I thought would be the best, and only be able to follow a few series... which was the only way something like Flame of Recca ever got so highly regarded in my book. (though even with that system, I grew tired of it once the big tournament started...) Recca may have dropped like a rock from my favorites once anime became more accessible to me, but some other shows from that era, like Please Save My Earth and Kodocha, remain high on my list of all-time favorites. Still, even if I can't get into new series like I got into Kodocha, Berserk, or Utena back in the day, I appreciate new shows in different ways, and yes, new shows can still make it into my top 10 (most notably Kaiba). __________________ ◕‿‿◕

2011-02-21, 00:58	Link #20
Spectacular_Insanity Ha ha ha ha ha... Graphic Designer Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Right behind you. Age: 35	As all things of popularity, anime has it's ebbs and flows. Late 2010 was kinda tough for me, as there weren't a lot of series I particularly enjoyed, aside from the standard serializations. There were, of course, exceptions (Toaru Majutsu no Index II, Bakuman), but for the most part I wasn't seeing any NEW series that immediately caught my attention. However, 2011 is giving me new hope, as several series have caught my attention: Beelzebub Infinite Stratos Rio ~Rainbow Gate~ Level E And of course I'm still following Naruto, Bleach, and Fairy Tail. My stubbornness to see them to their conclusion, no matter how long that may take, keeps me from dropping these series. __________________