Animisery – A Blog About Living Miserably with Anime (Among Other Things)

you can’t get better by getting worse

As you may or may not know, I’ve hosted some form of anime podcast for the last five years of my life. Be it the one I started with my friend Audrey, Otaku Melancholy, or the one that I ended up becoming a host recently, the Anime Brothers Podcast, I’ve had anime be a regular facet of my life. It should come as no great shock then to read that I’ve gotten sick of anime more times than I can honestly remember in that five year period.

It’s just a fact that you get burned out. Anime is a hugely diverse media that is full of so many series and franchises that illicit wonder and joy… but sometimes you just exhaust yourself with seeing the fresh splendors of the world after being in it for so long. I admittedly ran myself ragged early on in my podcasting career (I’ve gotten paid a dollar at least for doing it so I’m considering it a career now) by exhaustively trying to binge through seasonal show after seasonal show and not savoring the real flavors that were on the buffet known as anime. I’m not especially proud of it considering when I listen back on those old episodes and have my sphincter clinch hard enough to crack diamonds with how moronic my takes could be. It’s like I watched all of these shows that I didn’t really enjoy and didn’t walk out any the wiser on how to actually appreciate the art around me.

That is to say that anime burnout is a very real and ever present danger. I don’t think I’ve honestly ever met a weeb, otaku, anime enjoyer, etc. who didn’t reach a point in their hobby that didn’t have to take an absolute huge hiatus on watching at some point. You’ve sailed enough of the seas and at some point you have to dock at some point and just rest before you go out to sail again. It’s a particular issue too because if you’re a fan of anime then you’re more than likely taking up another hobby as well. I was actively playing video games well before I was acquainted with anime (mostly due to lax parents who just let me have unlimited access to a Super Nintendo) so gaming is honestly my base passion underneath it all. I love playing games and finding new experiences in the ever expanding field of independent video games and there’s nothing quite as tantalizing as a huge triple AAA game project that doesn’t look like it’s going to be absolutely riddled with greedy practices and nickel and diming (that’s becoming hugely rare though). Also I’m a Sonic fan so I’ve got to suffer with that mental handicap on the regular too.

Anime is just an easy interest to lose between the couch cushions while finding television and film to watch or games to play. You could have some other actual physical activity hobby that you might enjoy but you’re here on my blog right now so I’m going to assume you don’t. If you do then why haven’t you told me about it? I’m very disappointed in how our relationship is panning out.

Anyways, you’ll forget anime is even there if you’re isolated in that interest bubble with no other person to discuss it with. It’s why having a community to engage with and give you feedback on anime is so important in my opinion. I’m in a more rural area of the southern US and anime just doesn’t command a fan group here or at least maybe I should say that they aren’t very vocal (if they are actually even there). I just don’t have the chances to regular talk about the shows I’m feeling from the current season and that means that I don’t really have opportunities to spread discord by slamming down my trashy hot anime takes. I’m just in a void of talking to myself in real life. It makes anime a hobby where my biggest source of liberty to have discourse is almost exclusively online unless it’s about some battle shonen show because I have plenty of co-workers into that but I don’t want to talk about Dragon Ball Z, I want to talk about Yakuza Fiancé.

Which brings me back to what little I’m actually trying to say: it is okay to be burned out on anime especially when you’re in the soulless void of having no one to share it with. There are so many times you might find yourself in the rut of consuming shows that aren’t doing anything new and exciting to stimulate you. It’s unfortunately true that anime can fall on to some of the most exhausting and tiresome tropes known to media kind like the unnecessary fan service tropes or the miscommunication that becomes the whole plot point trope and it’s just so bothersome when you see it ad nauseum and you just want a fresh flavor to rejuvenate your palette. Maybe it could be my or your fault that we’re only tasting the foods at the buffet that interest us and those treats could have the same MSG in them that fills us up and makes us want to leave early. It could just be that we don’t want to eat at this buffet any more. The one thing it could not be though is that all buffets are bad and we should never go to them ever again. I’m using this buffet analogy as I’m typing and realizing I might be hungry.

If you get sick of anime, don’t blame anime. Anime still loves you and will always be there for you when you need the thrill of stories unlike any other. Just take a little break. It could be a month or two or hell, if you have to, it could even be a year. Anime will always be there waiting for you to jump back in and drown yourself in its loving arms.

Taking a break is always okay. I know that I should’ve taken one when I was writing this to eat.