Image of 08th MS Team anime footage from one of my older posts
Despite that this blog talks a lot about toys and now and then news on anime or merchandise annoucements, I rarely talk about the anime themselves, or rather in this post, about me watching them in the first place.
I do watch anime, but not as much as I used to (around 5 years ago I think). Real life keeps me busy along with expanding hobbies (figures, Gunpla, games), and perhaps not knowing what series would suit me are what keeps me from watching more actively.
Blogger and artist Radiant Dreamer's mascot Melody, image taken from his blog
Though what has been keeping me at bay the most is probably the last one - not knowing what series will be something that I would like to watch. So far I have mostly stayed with the "safe" choices, like Gundam metaseries and perhaps what's popular out there and go with the flow, abeit I usually tend to avoid comedy or fluff series since they are not my cup of tea. If it's a series that may tickle my interest but not enough for me to start and follow it, then I'd wait until it's finished and listen to the feedback, though I often have the tendency to leave it n my backlog and procrastinate. And the anxiety of that what I anticipate may end up with a sour taste and make me wished I'd have used the time to watch something else (it makes me imagining myself stepping on an unknown ground that might be a potential treasure or a landmine). The observation with apparent increasing amount of fanservice has also put me off a bit, which I can see why there are a group of fans who yearn for the older series in the past decade or two, and don't like the changes that take lead nowadays, but that would be another topic to discuss on another day.
With Steins;Gate having just finished very recently and lots of people fanboying over Kurisu (aka Christina) or Mayuri (aka "Tutturu", a pet phrase that she often goes by), I thought I would give this a try while overhearing the deeper and darker parts of the plot (it's far too easy to get spoilers even while staying out of forums due to the availability of social network). And while I won't talk about how it is since reviewing anime is not something I am good at and I am not much of a thinker on this department, I can say that it has been a while since there has been a series that has put me to a natural smile at the end after watching it, perhaps since Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood has ended last year.
With a list of anime series announced for the coming Autumn season (or Fall if you prefer American English), I must say that it has been the first time since I have wanted to watch and follow more than 2 series at once. Yes I know a lot of people watch much more than me at once, but for me it's a first. While Fate/Zero and Shakugan no Shana III (read "Final") are in the list for the sake of completing what I have watched in previous series, the seemingly radical Gundam AGE and the reboot of Hunter x Hunter are also in my list, with the latter whose its original manga being the only long running manga series I still follow even now.
Then tonight out of the blue my sister asks me to start watching Dancouga Nova with her. A bit of a random thing, but since this is just a 12-episode series I guess it won't hurt to give it a shot. Besides super robot is not a genre that I have much experience on.
It's a bit of a random post, but let's say that this serves as a prologue of some sort for one of my other anime-related post - to be more precise the "My History with Anime", which is a project that Nopy has started some time ago. Hopefully with the Autumn season coming soon with a few series that I do plan to watch, this will give me a bit more motivation to finish up the post.
If you are really inquisitive on what I have watched so far you can always have a look at my anime list.
What is your view on recent anime? Do share out your thoughts!
I find anime has its ups and downs. I was struggling to find things to watch last year, and this year it seems there's too much to keep up with. I like to stay in the loop so my preference is to check out everything myself before anything ends and people start reviewing them, but that usually means less games for me.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your History with Anime post :)
Anime, huh?
ReplyDeleteWhile I might want to debate on how nowadays anime has so many fanservices, I can't feel safe watching it without wearing earphones and in fear of my parents walking into my room (They apparently doesn't know what it means to knock), and how many series adapted light novels that haven't even finished their runs which in result made the anime goes seasons after seasons (JC Staff is a huge criminal in this), but that's a debate for another anime blog.
Even so, I've been watching quite a bit of anime for the last 4-5 years, and there has been both junk and gems laying around (unfortunately, I haven't watched Dancouga Nova, but I heard that it's a disgrace to the original Dancouga ;^^).
Unfortunately, I haven't watched anime since around 3 months ago because I'm too busy with intern work (but at least managed to watch Carnival Phantasm, can't miss that as a TYPE-MOON fan).
Now that I have free time, I'm actually confused on how to get back on track, especially since my new developed habit of watching let's play and podcast cuts some more time from me.
That said, I'm looking forward for Fate/Zero and Persona 4 anime :). For Gundam AGE... maybe I'll watch it in hoping it won't be as bad as I thought, I hope.
I haven't been watching much either. Just not a lot interest me, whether it's slice of life/romance/whatever is out there these days. And to be honest, I usually don't see the big hype over series like Fate/Zero, but that's just me.
ReplyDelete@ Nopy:
ReplyDeleteInteresting to know that you too found it hard to look for something good to watch last year; I had no idea what to watch for a long time after Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ended. Hopefully with the influx of series that interest me it may get me back in the loop as I have been doing a bit of gaming in between.
Watching a series before it ends is good as you won't get spoiled and you'd get to form your own opinion. I often find myself difficult to come up with structured and thoughtful feedbacks on what I watch, and what's more easily influenced by other people's reviews or opinions, which is partly the reason why I don't do reviews or blog much on anime myself.
I still need a bit more time on my History with Anime post; I'm trying to polish it to my satifaction while not going all over the place. Hope I can get it out soon!
@ hiroy_raind:
The tendancy for anime series to become more fanservice-oriented, as well as being split to 1- or 2-cours seasons for light novels/mangas to catch up is indeed becoming more and more noticeable, along with several other signs that reflect on how anime has become nowadays, but this is something for another day for another post or even another blog to discuss on due to the direction of discussion and the complexity involved there (as well as it not being my forte for discussion).
Despite that anime is changing a lot, and possibly in a way that we may not like, there are still some gems out there along with the not so pretty ones out there. Maybe now it's just not as common as it used to be though. But then again some may argue otherwise in different perspectives.
Dancouga Nova has some rather mediocre reviews and scores. I'm a tad worried, and it's unusual for someone to recommend a series that is not exactly that popular. Oh well I just hope it isn't as bad as I would have worried.
Real life and other hobbies or interests keep me from wanting to try out more anime series unless I know it's good or that I'm really interested. Though not knowing what to watch has put me on check too, which got me slowly back into gaming instead (since Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ended). I do finally have a few series to follow this season, so maybe this will be a nice change of pace for me from my usual stuff, and hopefully not ended up in disaster like Hidan no Aria (which didn't even get into the main plot by the end of the series apparently).
There is now about a week left before Gundam AGE airs. I am anticipating and wanting to see it through, but am a little anxious at the same time. Well we shall see what it really is like once the time has come.
@ Tom:
I too tend to struggle to cope with genres that you mention; a lot of the series I prefer tend to be rather solemn, so anything too fluffy or awkward gets me wanting to hit the pause button and take a break very often.
Typemoon's Fate series does have a great amount of hype and fanbase. It does have a big background settings though. I am not a fan of the series, but it's still quite interesting to watch IMHO, so Fate/Zero is just something I would like to watch to complete the series in a way.