This issue, more of a query really, has been covered numerous times before, but because I just love filler I’d like to give my opinion on the matter and force others to agree with me, here are my thoughts on the best way to watch anime. With actual reasoning!
There are many different ways to watch anime, be it waiting painstakingly for Regional DVD’s, marathoning shows,collecting episodes from currently airing series wand watching them in segments or just watching an episode from among the backlog every now and then. But the two most notable forms of anime watching to me are weekly viewings (most attributed to watching currently airing series) and marathons, which I believe to be watching a large group of episodes of shows in a short amount of time, rather than one epic continuous watch (how the hell Shirukii can watch three shows back to back in one sitting is beyond me). There are both advantages and disadvantages to each type of habit.
With weekly viewings, the creators of the show obviously believed that as each episode of their anime should be watched one at a time over weekly periods, the events in the show should be spaced out or placed together accordingly. That’s the reason we have cliffhangers and plot twists occur near the end of an episode (for any show in existence, really). Anime is first and foremost entertainment, and the creators would want to keep the audience on their toes and coming back for more while still delivering a great story. Even if the show is episodic, characters and events must stil be introduced, a problem presented and the storyline wrapped up within the short space of around 22 minutes, so as to leave the viewer with a satisfying conclusion and ready for the next installment.
Marathoning a show takes away that build-up of suspense and anxiety that’s left in those weekly periods and could create a sense that the plot’s progressing too quickly or awkwardly. It could be said that though the events of the next episode are subsequent to the one preceding, that real life wait of up to a week for the next episode to air plays a large part in the audience’s opinion of each episode. If one of the shows greatest assets is throwing surprsises in your face every now and again, you could easily get bored or disinterested in continuous random plot revelations (I’m looking at you, Code Geass) and notice plot holes and flaws in the storytelling. On the other hand with marathons your pretty much getting what you wish for: quick answers to questions raised in each episode or much more simply, more good anime nao.
But one of the great advantages to watching anime weekly isn’t so much with the anime itself, but the discourse that occurs because of it. Seeing people’s reaction to, well, any episode of Code Geass or from a purely objective standpoint, Gundam 00 (I haven’t seen it, therefore I can be objctive IMO) or recently even Toradora! 13 (three mentions in one week on the blog, a first, I believe) which had almost an entire podcast based around it is always a great experience. Having a platform, as I have done, to express my opinions about such events or episodes makes things even better, and I wouldn’t ever conceive on skipping out on a season of shows since I’d realise what Id be missing out on at least some of the latest blogging dorama. As the ALL-KNOWING SOJOURNER says:
I will keep blogging because watching people blog about anime brings more fun than watching anime.
Though I’d say that watching people blog adds to the experience more than anything else. (Also take note of the fact that this point is in almost complete opposition to my “Lest We Forget” post. Yay for contradictory statements!)
But seeing things this way makes it seem like anime’s something that has to be studied simply for the sake of taking part in discussions, like revising for a test. Only one that no-one cares about. And has no teacher. Or school. Simply the horiibly judgemental tweets and typings of your peers.
This is becoming kind of a ramble, so I’ll try to draw out a concise conclusion from all this. The truth is, the best way to watch anime kind of depends on the type of fan you are, and this is partially in keeping with the theory expressive and amassive that ghostlightning created.) In this case, the expressivists best way to watch anime would be weekly, so as to take part in the discussion that occur all over the blogosphere (incidentally, I love that word, but that’s something for another time) about their favourite shows, whereas the ammasivists best way would be to marathon so that they could watch as much content as possible.
But hey, these are just broad generalisations and my opinion on the subject. I’m a self-proclaimed expressivist (welcome to AA, Animeholics Anonymous) as can be seen both by avid blogging (3 posts in two days, two of which are filler?! What are the odds!?), this comment and the fact I prefer to watch currently airing shows weekly, as morally bankrupt as that may be with all the piracy floating around on my comp. But what’s your “anime eating habits” and how do you best watch anime?
Grand Punk Railroad 
This has come up a few times in my posts as well, typically when I marathon things that I think would’ve been more enjoyable to watch weekly.
I think action-ish shows are way more fun to watch weekly. Things like Gundam, Code Geass, Macross Frontier (which I didn’t get to watch weekly actually), etc really make the wait fun. There’s tons of action to leave you feeling like you got enough in each episode, but there’s usually plot developments (not necessarily twists or cliffhangers) near the end of each episode to keep you guessing and wanting more. It’s also amazingly fun to try to develop theories for ‘what happens next?’ Just reading some of the crazy theories out there is fun, and makes the overall experience more enjoyable.
Shows that are more drama/slice of life, I tend to prefer to watch in a marathon. Watching True Tears recently hit that home once more, but I first noticed it when I was watching Clannad After Story. I was so frustrated at the stupid shit happening and even though the next episode resolved mostly everything, I was still sitting there brooding and RAGING at it and it took me another week to be able to finally simmer down and catch up on it. I also commented on how when I watched ef – a tale of memories, I knew there’d be no way I’d be able to sit still for even a second after watching the 11th episode. I would’ve been livid at having to wait another week to see the resolution. And for that reason, I decided not to watch ef – a tale of melodies weekly either, even though I very well could have jumped in on it at about episode 8 or 9 (marathoning the first 8-9 episodes I mean).
So yeah, to summarize, for me, it depends on the type of anime I’m watching. Unfortunately, I don’t really have the option of going back in time to watch all the series I missed out on in a weekly fashion, I have to marathon them, because they’re all out already. Well, I could try to stop myself from marathoning, but psh, yeah right. Me? Discipline? Hah!
I’m one that likes to be near or at the moment that others seem to be at the same time, so I try to watch things weekly. It sucks when after everything’s done, the enthusiasm for the show that was present at the time disappears, and there are less people that are interested in what you want to say as much as you are interested in what they want to say. I want to share in the experience because it’s fun, and it gives me ways to look at current events in a newer perspective.
I marathon non-current shows. There’s so much backlog in my life that to watch LoGH weekly for 110 episodes seems madness to me.
Watching shows to do something interesting (to me at least) on the blogs is a big motivation. For some reason I find it difficult to post on current shows, I feel apprehensive to opine on shows that aren’t completed. That’s just my own idiosyncracy. I’m more expressive than I am amassive. The latter just fuels the preceding behavior.
lately, i find it much more enjoyable to marathon anime rather than watch it weekly.
but i realize that those are for two different reasons. the shows that i marathon have already been highly recommended by so many friends to be “awesomely *insert adjective*” and depending on my interest on the premise, i usually find myself really enjoying it that i just have to see the next episode. it worked for me when i watched macross frontier because compared to geass, it has a story to follow.
i rarely get that with my weekly viewing because most of the time, i pick up the series blind. it’s not that i don’t like seeing them. but it’s more like… i watch it, i like it, but it’s not really making me rabid that i just have to know what happens next. not even with toradora or ga-rei which are two shows that i really liked this season. my gauge for that would usually be my willingness to DL and watch raws just to know what happen then watch the subs when they get released.
I think, watching shows episodically with the rest of the community exposes you to the dangers of impressionability, and one might not be able to contrive individual opinions of the shows. Just imagine a bandwagon that some people would hop on for the sake of feeling “accepted” by others.
Ah. Ignore my speculation. It was just a baseless claim.
I only discovered the weekly bandwagon experience this year, and found its pleasures intriguing. Personally though I find the time thing more important than the discussions. It totally changes my experience to have something scheduled over several months.
The irritating thing is that I’m not really sure which shows suit that experience better. I think if the appeal of week-to-week is in the community then there are some shows which clearly rely on it. If the appeal is in timeframes then things get complicated. In the end I just pick a show and gamble.
[…] nazarielle Categories: Miscellaneous Tags: lolmetablogging? I’ve seen a few posts concerning the way we watch our anime recently (the former being not really so recent), and […]
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I’ve never really gotten into the weekly discourse on shows. I’m sure it’s fun when everyone has some sort of interest in doing it, but of current shows I just find myself so frustrated with things that my comments would just consists of swearing and random nonsense. Honestly, who would want to read that.
There’s probably another concern that the conversations seem on a completely different level to what I would try to be involved in, but that’s a whole other issue.
For me, marathoning (marathoning in this context I believe is viewing a finished product at your own pace) a show has nearly always, 95% of the time, produced richer experience than weekly viewing. I don’t fully understand exactly why, although I can come up with some half-assed speculations, this I don’t think is a coincidence. And although I enjoy discussing with others, I personally value affective connections I form with anime much more.
Happy New Year Omisyth! May you have a great year ahead.
I best watch anime the marathon version due to time constrain. My preference is due to my busy timetable where I’m unable to commit myself once a week to (on a particular day) to anime. I watch during my free time and free days; whenever I’m free, I’ll catch either 1 to many episodes at a go and continue the watch on another day.
@Nazarielle
Your post says it all and I respond in the same way I did to that.
@TheBigN
Perhaps it just demonstrates that the quality of anime in general isn’t as good as in previous years. We’re seeing less and less true gems that are timeless these days; sure, there are some good, even great, shows but for me are masterpiece like, say Baccano! only comes along once in a blue moon.
@ghostlightning
Basically, you can either express yourself and take whatever discourse that follows, or stay quiet and be left out. That sounds way more harsh thatn I intend it to ORZ.
But what I mean is I’m desperate for any source of human interaction so that’s why I talk about current shows.@biankita
I wish that another show would show up that would make me feel like those amazing shows did, but I doubt that’ll happen for a while. In the meantime, I’m just going to try and cut down on current shows (my standards seem to be getting better the more I watch, so that’s a plus) and try and catch up with those same “highly recommended shows.”
@TheSojourner
I know it’s good to keep an open mind and listen to others’ opinions but those who let their opinion of a show be too affected by others are classified as “sheep.” Then again, I doubt the Internet would be a place that that would happen, mostly because even slight anonymity would give “courage” to others to express themelves /FLAME. The power lies with those who go against the group and can “stick to their guns”.
@coburn
And it even seems like it’s those shows that are most popular. It’s not so much the quality of a show that makes it popular in the community, but that which is able to draw out the inner commentators in all of us.
@Emperor J
Hell, let it be swearing and nonsense there’s definitely room for those who hate everything on the ‘sphere.
@gaguri
You remind me of what Nazarielle said, and I think its the same thing. Perhaps it’s just because I’m emotionally bankrupt, but others seem to connect with shows (especially those they’ve been immersed in through marathoning) much more than I do and I applaud you for that.
@Hynavian
The same to you. By no means does everyone have to have a set schedule, we may actually (shock!) have lives outside the computer. I just find it more entertaining to get involved with all the community vitriole.
I can see why watching current shows provide the most opportunity to participate socially in the sphere. Got it. I realize that writing first impressions about Michiko to Hatchin and Skip Beat got me noticed (linking 4tw) when WRL was only less than 10 posts old (2 weeks).
Since that is your objective, then you win! Anime and blogging are social activities for me as well. Writing about older shows just gives me a bigger hill to climb (or older people to talk to). Well, there’s always commenting.