General Discussion

One of my main problems is that I can get distracted easily. For anything, really. I start watching something, and then something else takes over my attention, and I don't feel like finishing what I initially started? Call it ADD. I would agree. xD

How do you guys stay watching a series? I mean, the general answer would be "because I enjoy the series", but I am having trouble enjoying anime as of late. I don't mean to insult anyone, but I have an issue with overrated topics. A lot of my friends really overrate anime to me, and that just turns me off. Sometimes, fans can really destroy a series for me. I have that issue a lot when reading American comics as well. When watching a TV show. Anything really. I have a lot of friends who love anime, and I don't want to be left out, but my drive to continue watching anime has slowly dwindled. I have only seen a few series to completion. In truth... probably only 5. xD Yeah, I know. 5 is nothing, but I just... I have lost that drive to watch anime. The older I get, the less interested I become. Could be due to responsibilities in life that I have to focus on, like work and school. I really don't know what it is, but I don't want to lose that love of anime that I had when I was younger.

Some series are extremely long. And that is a turn off for me. People tell me to watch Fairy Tail, for example. I don't see myself sitting through 100 episodes without stopping halfway and going to watch American Dad or something else, and halfway into watching American Dad I will turn on Spongebob or something. Lol. I just, I guess I get bored rather easily, and it sucks, but I ask this because I'm pretty positive other people suffer the same thing I do - trouble finishing anime series. When Toonami disappeared, anime just slowly disappeared for me as well. I remember watching Encore WAM and waking up at 6 AM to watch Street Fighter before heading off to school. But when anime kept disappearing, I began disappearing from anime. I turned my attention to American comics and media, because I had no clue that there were anime streaming websites online. American shows were what was on. Anime really wasn't. And if I remember correctly... when the midnight run was on Adult Swim? I had to go to sleep by then in order to wake up for school in the morning. I don't remember when the midnight run was exactly, because that was a few years ago. But the point was when anime kept disappearing, all that I had left to watch was American shows.

I just, I really don't want to lose my love of anime, but it slowly seems like I will one day. I know there are good shows out there, but sometimes people do overrate them, and I hate that. I hate when people overrate a show. That turns me off to the show. I dunno. I just, maybe I am over thinking it. Maybe I am not. I don't know. I just need some help.

And before someone addresses "just take a break from the show and come back to it later", let me give you an example -

I have seen up to Bleach ep. 8. I saw that 3 months ago. Haven't seen an episode since, and it doesn't look like I will be watching anymore episodes anytime soon. I just don't have the drive for it.

Gurren Lagann? It took me like 5 months to finish that show.

These time gaps, I won't get anything resolved. Let's be honest here.

Lol. Seriously, the only way I see myself finishing shows in normal time, or at all, is if someone forces me to watch the show sitting next to them. xD

@Destinyheroknight: Taking 5 months to finish Gurren Lagann is kinda... unusual... let's be honest here. Like I said in my second post.

@swaggity: Happened with me when the show used to air on Sci-fi Channel's old Ani-Monday block from a while back. The last series I watched and completed while it was airing on TV before I resorted to watching online, renting or buying titles.

@Destinyheroknight: @Dream: I just don't know if I am just getting bored of anime, or am I just really distracted? Because taking a break from FLCL for an entire year, being on episode one, and still only being on episode one as I type this... that's unusual...

Do I just get bored of shows, but not anime in general? I don't know, because it tends to happen with many of the shows that I watch, so maybe I am getting bored with anime in general.

Like I said, when Toonami ended... that impacted me, especially with anime.

@swaggity: You specifically mentioned stopping at episode 8 of Bleach. The first like... 20 or so episodes of Bleach are some of the worst in the series. I was only able to sit through them because I worked a job with a ton of downtown and my options were literally to either watch Bleach or stare at a wall.

As for your problem at large, just drop shows. It's totally ok to let something languish. I saw the first 3 or 4 episodes of Sket Dance, enjoyed them, but for reasons I can't comprehend I haven't seen a single episode since then. I stopped Future Diary and Black Rock Shooter one episode before the finished and I'll probably never pick them back up again. I've picked up a show, watched three episodes, dropped it for a few months, then finished it off or just let it RIP. My anime life is littered with dropped shows and stuff that I just gave up on. The most recent one for me would be Sengoku Collection. I've seen about... 14 episodes of it, enjoyed 13, loved about 6 but I don't have any interest in seeing it through to the end. I blame anime at large. So many shows are 13 episodes that whether or series is done or not, I'm pretty much calling it quits there and it has to be pretty mindblowing or fill a gap for me to continue. Even then, it's difficult for anime to keep my attention these days. When I first got into anime, I wanted everything to be like 50 episodes... then it became 26, and now I'm all about the 13 or less.

I'm following Hunter x Hunter week to week solely because I miss Bleach and this is the closest anything I'm aware of comes to having ass kicking every week and a well animated fight every 3-6 episodes. I'm continuing with Space Brothers because when it comes to anime, it's pretty rare to find a show like this and even in live-action there's nothing that I'm currently watching that fits its tone. However, either could get the axe depending on the time of day it is.

Every week I find myself less and less interested in anime in general but I don't think it's anything bad. Everything comes in phases and I've been here before. All it takes is one really out there series to get me back in the mood for trying anime and then I'll play catch up for everything I missed.