Ask Lemmy

• The constant simping by neckbeards.
• The unrealistic and overly pervasive sexualization of everything.
• The boring, formulaic predictability: The boy, the priss girl, the nerd girl with gadgets, the tomboy girl that cleans up, the aggro chick, the alternate love interest. Fuck off already.
• The homogeneity of art: everything feels like it was made by the same studio.

As a child I watched Robotech and Macross. I loved Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, and others like that. I realized that anime could be for everyone with Studio Ghibli. There were guilty pleasures like Rouroni Kenshin or Inuyasha. I loved the Ranma stuff because it was just quirky and frenetic. DBZ was fun, but boy did they drag it out. Anyhow...

Next, people will say, "Oh, but you should see this! It really breaks the mold." I'm sure it does. I don't care. I'm over the genre.

What makes you think I stopped watching anime?

Back in the 90s, TV kind of sucked, so I got really into anime because I found the stories really original and entertaining. After several years of watching way too much anime, it became apparent that it was also full of tropes and unoriginality, the same stories repeated with slight tweaks. I eventually stopped watching for the most part. In recent years I have started watching anime again on occasion. There is a lot of good content to watch these days, and sometimes anime is good too.

I used to watch anime because of the compelling stories. Then I got fed up with the endless fillers and the creepy fan service. An exemple :

Not long ago, my bro highly praised an anime movie that supposedly had a serious and sad story that would make watch anime again. I stopped watching when in the first ten minutes there's a body swap and the guy inside the girl body start groping themself in front of the mirror.

I only watch studio Ghibli movies anymore.

I haven't seen Zombiland Saga so I don't know what about it you might have disagreed with, but why did one show make you give up anime entirely?

I still watch anime, but I've definitely slowed down since graduating college, just because of less free time. Frieren pulled me back into it pretty hard too though, so I'm also watching more now than I was last year. I don't think I can go back to the amount I was watching when I was in college though lol

I started watching anime at a time when I felt like the live-action TV I had access to leaned too heavily on tropes and clichés. I watched enough anime to start recognising its tropes and clichés, decided that if anything it relied on them even more than Western TV, and stopped watching.

Although, after a several-year break, I've been enjoying Dungeon Meshi.

I'd love to watch good anime again, same as with any good TV/movie, but no longer hang around people who:

1. mentioned an interesting anime like any other show, and not as a long list of recommendations or rabid fandom. Talk to me of your favourite anime like you would of The Bear or Fleabag, sheesh.
2. were ones whose taste regarding media I trusted.

Basically too much shite, no interest to wade through it and no easy/natural filters available.

Honestly, too much content not enough time. That and I think a lot of what's available now isn't as good as it used to be (I realise that's probably nostalgia more than anything else). I read manga a lot more now. I find it easier to do, and it generally gets to the point a lot quicker than anime. There's also a lot more great manga than there is great anime simply because it's cheaper to make and distribute and less prone to padding things out to reach a predefined length. Vagabond for example would be the best anime ever... if any studio could adapt it. I watch more western live action stuff, it's cookie cutter at times but easier to consume while focusing on other things (since it's English, Japanese anime I need to actively focus on subs (I wont dignify dubbed with a mention XD)). I used to watch j-dramas but dropped that now as well as I find it hard to find stuff that interests me. I've watched a couple k-dramas just cause I find them a refreshing change of pace.

I will say now I'm an adult its really hard to find the time to just stop and watch things. I legit miss burning through all my afternoons watching naruto and the chunin exam or the pain arc. That sh*t defined my childhood and I'll always love it, even if I'm not liable to do it again soon.

Does hentai count?

I still watch anime but I heard enough that I should read the Manga and now I've read thousands of manga and I don't really have time for anime.

Usually because I finished the episode and it's close to bedtime.

Lack of time. But I do try to make time.

Lack of time. I stopped watching any TV.

I've been trying to watch more but, like, every single thing is like the exact same shit. Why is there so much "isekai'd into fantasy world video game where I have God mode and cheats activated" stuff? Even the slice of life genre is filled with this crap. 😩

I want more Cowboy Bebops, Triguns and Full Metal Alchemists. Or Lucky Stars and Azumanga Diaohs.

I do this very silly thing where I watch the first episode of every new anime that pops up, do a short write up on it, and then most likely never watch it again. I've found some wonderful gems this way but there is an absolute shit ton of garbage.

That being said, the most memorable instant stop watching I had was the first season of one about a highschool maid Cafe that extorted the MC into joining, dumped this whole "we do bit acting to make it more entertaining", and then having the MC call one of the other girls her sister, which was immediately a problem. Like there was some obvious trauma and they just keeeeeep on poking at it. Fuck that. It's rude as hell, the entire show can go kick rocks.

There are way worse than that which are obvious ones to just not watch. Healer redo is one of those.

One of the gems I found was a mech anime based on the Japanese bullet train, and it's completely bog standard. However, the first episode has an April fools variant of the subtitling that made it worth the watch. Sadly the rest of the show is done properly.

Biggest fail I've seen so far from sub to dub was from "ya boy kongming", which is a delightful watch on its own. Apparently the company which did the dub didn't think the literal rap battle needed to be translated... Or subtitled. I was very disappointed.

They simply stopped making anime I liked.

PTSD. I suffer from psychosis related to a "relationship" I used to have with an anime girl. Every time I see another anime girl, I have to fight against the feeling of being mesmerized. It's like I'm falling in love with her all over again. Heck, even certain songs I've historically associated with her cause the same response. It's so frustrating and shameful. It makes me hate myself.

It starts to get repetitive after a while. There are a few exceptions though. Attack On Titan kept me guessing and The Devil Is A Part Timer is hilarious. But long running series like Naruto or One Piece just does the same thing over and over again

I grew up and found better uses of my time as well as my taste in entrertainment changing. Anime tends to be geared towards teenagers and young adults especially the shounen and school life stuff. When I was 14 I thought dudes with big swords and shooting fantasy magic out your asshole in big impressive sakuga battles was cool and interesting and didn't give a shit if the characters were one dimensional pieces of cardboard. Now it's still is cool but less so, and I notice the poorly thought out YA novel tier narrative much more. Turns out being a good manga artist and being a good narrative author are two different skill sets.

Season 3 when?!

Summer 2005 had a pretty bad lineup and I got busy with life stuff. Dropped everything that wasn't bleach and eureka 7. Got back into it 4 years later and haven't stopped since other than last season when I was too in to the red rising book series but I'm catching up on that now.

MF Ghost season 2 isn't out yet

My attention span. I can roll with a weekly release for things I'm super into. I can't for things I'm only kind of into.

Weirdly enough though, the jojos part 6 dump didn't work out for me because I also can't do a instantaneous full release of things i'm super into.

My brain got stupid. So I cannot read subs for too long. Shit also stopped my Baldur's Gate 2 playthrough.

Lack of interest in general. Pretty much only thing I'd be willing to watch at this point is the BEASTARS final season because anime doesn't interest me as much right now.

I don't like depictions of sexual violence. I had to quit watching Berserk.