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

As part of my podcast’s Mamoru Hosoda celebration month, I recently got around to rewatching the film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It was, when I watched it, an immaculate film that perfectly captured the capricious carefree days of being a teenager as you divert your expectations from tomorrow and just revel in having the best today you can (and also time machine walnuts). The message stuck with me and each subsequent rewatch within the next few years after I originally saw it were hugely rewarding and gratifying to my spirit. In simple terms, I loved this film.

Flash forward to today almost ten years later and I still really enjoy the film but it isn’t the absolute zenith of anime film making as it was on my first few viewings. I could chalk it up to growing identity and philosophical standards from maturing or that maybe my tastes have become more distinct as I consumed more media and anime in general. Regardless, it made me aware of something profound: I absolutely cannot rewatch some of my favorite anime for the sake of my own sanity.

It feels profound to pronounce that I love some anime so much that I’m never going to rewatch them at the risk of them losing their weight but it’s actually a really personal truth. Some anime are just never going to strike the same chord twice due in part that I’m in a constantly developing head space that sometimes fails to leave me in the exact same spot I was before. The sentimentality of one piece of media could easily become maudlin and overly soppy on another viewing and now I’m left with a different feeling entirely. If you’re going to critique anime or anything really then I suppose you should dispose yourself to multiple watches for a full comprehension of the media. Anime, however, can be up to 12 hours long for just one watch and we don’t one just the same candy bar, do we? We want EVERY candy bar and different ones too! With that said, I’m going to list off some anime that I loved so much that I never want to rewatch them again just because of the sheer enjoyment I had on the first go!

MY NEXT LIFE AS A VILLAINESS: ALL ROUTES LEAD TO DOOM!

Oh, Catarina, how I love you. I love you so much that I never want to see you again because I would hate to start hating you. I don’t know about you but I am always intrigued by the “trapped in an otome game” isekai trope even I have only two or three otome games under my belt. I know the tropes and they’re always so predictable but the subversion and the humor in these kinds of shows never cease to give me polite smiles. Next Life as a Villainess is probably the progenitor to a lot of the big shows that tried to walk in its shadow but it wasn’t particularly revolutionary when I watched it. I binged it and I had fun. It was almost workmanlike with how quick I came in and watched the show just to dispose of it from my mind palace. I always say it’s one of my favorites though if people ask me about it. I’ve read the novels and the manga including its many spin offs but I just won’t rewatch this anime. I feel afraid that I’ll give the show a viewing once more and the tropes will collapse in on themselves and all the luster will be swept away. I guess I’ll just have to be content with one of the many other anime that attempt to replicate your magic, Villainess. From Bureaucrat to Villainess is pretty fun though!

DANCE DANCE DANSEUR

Good lord, the melodrama in this show had me hooked in the worst way. It combined some of the peak aspects of shonen storytelling as I saw talented character hone the craft they’re perfectly adept at while having some absolutely ludicrous soap opera moments at the same time. I was enthralled and recommended this to everyone who asked me about my seasonal anime in the year 2022 though. I was fixated on this show in the best ways yet I don’t feel like I could ever return to it. I rarely watch anime week to week yet DDD succeeded in having my routinely return to it which is high acclaim if you can believe it. That said the spell was suddenly broken when I tried to get the next sequence in the story from the manga. I, who was some formerly spellbound in the worst way, had no interest or care. What happened? Was I truly only tuned in on the show as it provided me the release of insipid melodrama? I don’t know and I probably never will since I don’t think I’ll ever return to this show for a rewatch unless kicking and screaming.

JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE

JoJo’s fans ruined JoJo for me. In one short summer, my ex and I absolutely gorged ourselves on JoJo’s from Phantom Blood to Stardust Crusaders and awaited Diamond is Unbreakable with such fervor that it consumed both of us. We did a JoJo’s Bizarre Aerobics panel at our local con and cosplayed the characters and our apartment was filled with JoJo’s merchandise. Much like Shrek, JoJo was love and JoJo was life. Then we broke up and now I cannot stand JoJo! See, JoJo fans did ruin JoJo! It just turned out it was my ex who made all my passion evaporate. In all seriousness, I still think JoJo is one of the most unique and thrilling experiences that you can find in anime. It will either absolutely repulse you or hook you in and, while it is possible, I find it hard to be in between with it. I adored Diamond is Unbreakable and believe it to be the actual highlight of the franchise but I’ll never put in again lest I find myself lapsed into that special sort of melancholy that you can only achieve when you find yourself reminiscing on how a piece of media used to be a meaningful wonder to you and your former partner. I’ll never rewatch JoJo as high as I hold it in my personal esteem. It’s just an anime that I used to know.

TORADORA

Every time I some how rewatch this mess, I hate it more and more and MORE. Therefore, I’m not going to watch it again for my own sanity. It’s a shame too because it was a huge 9 out of 10 experience on the first ride. What a pity.

THE GOD OF HIGH SCHOOL

If I don’t rewatch this show then I can keep lying to myself by saying “it wasn’t that bad! my favorite webtoon didn’t get that bad of an adaptation!” and I think I’m content with that.

KISS X SIS (OVA)

Okay, hear me out. You’re in college and you’re back into the wild world of anime and you finally discover your first pure unadulterated trash heap steaming pile of ecchi anime. It’s a magical experience and you’re left with the provocative question: was anime a mistake? I’m not making a regularly scheduled shitpost here; I really don’t want to rewatch the Kiss x Sis OVAs because I’m afraid of that magic escaping from my mind. Nothing will beat sitting around at my college friend’s house as we watched what felt like very adjacent to pornography anime. It’s honestly kind of suspicious that we just did that as such a casual activity. Is it wrong to watch lewd anime with the homies? The world may never know and I don’t want to have an answer so I won’t ever give this show another watch so I can still pretend those halcyon days still exist somewhere in some fragmented memory of a time that has long since passed. Bet you didn’t expect poetic nostalgia from trash like this, yeah?

These are just a few of the surprisingly many anime that I just can’t go back to because of my own feelings (or just the fact that I’m in denial). I’ll always stare at them on my queue on whatever platform they may be on but I just don’t think I’ll ever press play again. What are some of the anime that you enjoyed that you just won’t ever watch again? Let me know so we can talk about it!

As always, thank you for reading my blog! If you want more of my unsolicited anime opinions then please go check out my podcast, the Anime Brothers podcast (episode 200+), wherever you get your shows! I’d love to hear from you so comment if you have something you want to talk about and I’ll try to get back to you!

がんばって!!!