It feels like every day, another friend is talking about being tired of anime or anime blogging. I sympathize; not all anime is good, and watching duds repeatedly can bring you down.
Well, I sympathize, but I do not relate. This has been an unusual year for me in that I was in the middle of a show pretty much constantly. This may be the Twelve Days of Anime series, but if I count up how many shows I watched this year, it was more like 17.
And that’s when I realized that while a lot of my friends are experiencing burnout, I’ve got the opposite problem:
- Let’s say there are 264 minutes in the average show (12 episodes by 22 minutes).
- And I watched 17 of them, conservative estimate. That’s 4,488 minutes of anime.
- That’s 74.8 hours of anime. Or more dramatically, 3.116 repeating days of anime.
- Averaging out to 12.3 minutes a day watching anime in 2013.
That’s a ton of TV. And what’s more, I probably did watch more than that. And for me? It’s way too much for one year.
So for next year, I’m setting a few resolutions to keep myself from a 2014 anime binge:
1) Do your homework
The aniblogosphere is a milieu of diverse opinions. Just because a show is getting a lot of hype from some corners doesn’t mean it’s going to turn out to be my cup of tea. Case in point: Samurai Flamenco—sorry, everyone else!
Otaku Journalist is not an anime tastemaker blog. If I’m honest with myself, it’s more of a mid-season or season’s end anime analysis blog. So instead of watching a bunch of first episodes myself, I’m going to wait and see other bloggers’ first impressions. This is the whole reason we have review blogs, so I don’t have to slog through the new season alone.
2) Drop bad anime
Be more discerning. If you realize you’re not going to enjoy the rest of a show—or, bonus points: it’s good but not great—then drop it.
I watched several anime this year just for the sake of finishing what I’ve started. I have nothing notable to say about Maoyu or The World God Only Knows: Goddess Arc. And readers know I had nothing good to say about the second season of Oreimo.
Nobody cares if I suffer through a show for completion’s sake. And here’s a hint for Future Lauren: if you don’t like it by episode four, you’re not going to like it.
3) Spend as much time creating as consuming
Watching three days’ worth of anime in 2013 isn’t something to be proud of. Spending three full days writing in-depth anime analysis, however, is something I’d be falling over myself to brag about.
Before I mindlessly turn on Crunchyroll for the night, I’ll ask myself: have I written three blog posts this week yet? Are they the most thought-provoking/helpful they can be? Have I worked on my digital journalism guides this week? (Remember those?)
Watching anime all year isn’t a bad thing, though different amounts satisfy different people. For me, the important part is that I’m always analyzing and dissecting what I watch on my blog, so it’s not just mindless consumption.
Thanks for joining me for the Twelve Days of Anime this year! How many shows did you watch in 2013?
This post is the twelfth installment of The Twelve Days Of Anime, a blogging series in which anime fans write about shows that inspired or impressed on them this year.
(Screenshot from fantastic 2010-2011 anime Squid Girl).
14 Comments.
According to BLS, the average American over 15 spent 2.8 hours per day watching TV in 2012. Your 12.3 minutes is about 7% of that. Not a big number, considering.
@Eadwacer, that’s true… and also terrifying. Because I definitely watched lots of American TV this year, too. My number is just as high, if not higher!
I kind of follow Resolution #1. It’s rare that I’ll jump right into an anime with episode 1 as it comes out. I like to hear some feedback and weigh that first.
On the other hand, I really, really need to adopt Resolution #2. I need to adopt it and hold to it with novels as well. I have this horrible complex about starting something and then finishing it. Like you, Lauren, I should have dropped Oreimo season 2 right away rather than making myself complete it, simply to find myself very annoyed at the time I wasted and the taste it left as they destroyed the character I’d truly loved from season 1.
On the four episodes and out thing, I have to admit when I turn people who aren’t into anime (and often have horrible pre-conceptions about it) onto the old Cowboy Bebop, I always tell them to hang in until the episode where Ed is introduced. After that one, if they aren’t hooked, it’s just not going to happen.
you got a good point in there for this article. it’s not their fault for saying this anime is bad. it also depends on the hype,the story, and sometimes, whatever studio that animates it. PA Works, Silver Link, Madhouse, A-1 Pictures (to name a few) are good studios to look forward to.
I dont really watch tv that much, yet i’m 20 and still watching anime since childhood. take a look at animenewsnetwork (ANN), they’ve been blogging since 1998 and their site is still updated. they’re not getting tired of it and probably never will be.
i dont wanna get tired of watching anime myself, yet naruto manga is about to come to an end lol. naruto manga will always be remember and so will be the anime once it is near its ending.
Let me count. As of Winter 2013.
Seen:
-Vivdred Operation
-Love Live!
-Tamako Market (Disappointing SoL)
-Yuyushiki
-Zettai Bouei Leviathan
-Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya
-Kiniro Mosaic
-Hyperdimension Neptunia TV
-Stella Academy Group C-3 (If I wanted Spec-Ops: The Line, I would rewatch Gunslinger Girls. The 2nd half felt so out of place, even though I understood completely why the writers went in that direction)
-Love Lab
-Symphogear G
-Gatchaman Crowds
-Gen’ei wo Kakeru Taiyou
-Fantasista Doll
-Free!
-RWBY (It still counts as an anime despite being made in the US)
-I Wanna be the Strongest in the World
-Non Non Biyori
-Oreimo 2 (The season was worse than the first one but I still respect the writers for having the balls to end it the way they did.)
-Kill La Kill 1-12
Leftovers to finish later:
-Attack on Titan
-Ultra Pee Pee (Psycho Pass)
-Railgun S
-Chihayafuru 2
-Doki Doki Precure
-Aikatsu
-Samurai Flamenco (I know it’s ongoing)
That’s all I can remember right now.
Yeahhhh…for #2, I learned my lesson by watching shows like Guilty Crown and SAO. I now heed that call as best as possible. Of course, a show could turn terribad by the end, but at least I can say I saw it not being good early rather than late.
3 is also something I plan on keeping in mind as well. But I’ll definitely use my time wisely to watch some anime ;)
Oh I so wish I’d done that with SAO. I loved the first half. Suddenly, in the second half, the strong female protagonist became the “damsel in distress.” It made me so mad. I wish I hadn’t wasted the time to keep viewing until the bitter end.
Yeahhhhh, both halfs had its issues but ALO was…was something. Something bad. If only we had just given up at its first warning signs ;_;
Indeed! Dropping anime that don’t grab me or rub me wrong is going to be my new resolution. There’s just so much to watch that we shouldn’t waste our time being “completionists.”
The bad taste SAO left will keep me from watching the new year’s special. Doubly so since it sounds like it’s going to be nothing but a fan service beach episode.
I said on twitter that I taste tested something like 94 anime that premiered this year, which doesn’t count the things I picked up for leisure like Rose of Versailles and Flag and the constant influx of One Piece from Funimation.
But I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced burnout. I was really close when I was watching the Dragon Box, because I was marathoning it, which is the worst idea. But I always wanted to go back to the newest simulcast.
Now, I’m following something like 13 shows this season, some of which have ended. But that seems like regular consumption for me, at least for now. And I have to review three of those.
But consumption of media is different for everyone. I try to think critically on everything I watch, which is why I finished less than half of the 94 simulcasts I started this year.
I am facing the con running equivalent of that, so what I’m doing is cutting back on the level of stress with conrunning for a year or so. I made a promise not to do anything pre-con wise for cons for the next year. We’ll see how that goes on that front here.
[…] Dec. 25 — Burnout, what burnout? A year in anime consumption […]
[…] year, I estimated that I spent 12.3 minutes a day watching anime. This year, it was more like 1.6 episodes every […]
thats stupid i only watch one anime a day