Anime How do you tackle your anime backlog / watchlist?

[Tsukishima]

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about what makes someone start watching an anime we had our eyes on, and it made for some really interesting conversation. Especially when it tells a story about how you as a person may approach things.

This is a pretty recent change for me, since I used to just randomly jump on watching something if I was particularly interested or curious enough to take a look. But now I organize anime amongst other sorts of media through a clean and thorough order of the dates they were aired on my notepad, and then start from the oldest one to a gradual progression to the newer things, like from the 1970's all the way to 2026.

My reasoning for this is that through doing this I can gradually see the improvement on quality and see a time capsule of the history of animation and vice versa. I think this new approach of mine has vastly improved my watching experience overall because now I feel like I get to appreciate history (which was always a subject I was interested in) for a gradual but enriching experience.

What about you?

 

[Dr.Kisaragi Dr.Kisaragi]

Well I watched since I was five because my dad loves anime so he collecting a lot of anime this why I watch many classic

For me though dosen't matter how I tackle my anime watchlist I watch what I feel my eyes trained switching from old to new.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

If it catches my eye, it will go in the to-watch, then its there and I will watch it eventually/when I feel like it.

If I have read the manga/VN/LN its based on, or if I see good memes about it, its bumped up in priority.

 

[DinoRexMax DinoRexMax]

I don't...

I simply let the grief of my failure consume me as I go back and watch something I already watched for the fifth time...

 

[Tsukishima]

I don't...

I simply let the grief of my failure consume me as I go back and watch something I already watched for the fifth time...

You might be posting this in a way that's meant to be perceived as negative but i dunno man, i have nothing but respect for people to stay loyal and constantly paying respect to things like that. I myself am like a leaf swaying in a wind and don't stay around too long on just one particular interest or thing, i need the variety, but that doesn't mean i don't have respect and appreciation for the others on the completely other side of the spectrum.

 

[Burzuru Burzuru]

i just watch what i feel like. if i think i might want to watch it later i'll add it to my watch list.

 

[_Axl]

...or at least I don't. God knows how many shit I have on my backlog that I have to watch, yet choose not to because "I don't feel like it/I don't feel in the mood"

 

[polter99]

When the stars aligned then I might watch whatever in my backlog. I just watch PreCure and Kamen Rider/Tokusatsu, and call it a day.

I have like three full season anime downloaded (NazeBoku, Bakarina X, and Tenten Kakumei) sitting in the cuck corner waiting for me to watch 'em instead of playing MonHun World for the 1,200 hours or tunnel vision to Meitantei PreCure. Someday certainly.

 

[otogirisou]

by watching them

 

[AdeptPlayer]

Depends on the time of day and my mood, but I will look over my 'To Watch' list and consider their tags. Is now time for ecchi, comedy-ecchi, school club-ecchi, action-ecchi, or sci fi-ecchi? And at the moment I've mostly focused on pre-2000 anime because there are plenty of gems I missed out on from that era. It's also interesting to see how much of a change happened so quickly based on "events in Japan in the early 90s;" if you're familiar with that bit of history.
But it's mostly just, "I want to relax, what's still on my list and looks somewhat interesting."

 

[Mirai1412]

Yeah... i don't tackle anything... my curiosity always get better of me...

 

[Ikagura]

I go by the feeling.

 

[Heidegger of Shinra]

I don't...

I came here to say the exact same thing...

...or at least I don't

And it turns out I wasn't the only one.

 

[Fietto!]

I do what you used to do.
To jump at what makes you click, & focus on it tons or move on in case it sucks.
Though most of the time, it's rare to be disappointed.

(Edit: God this site's load buffer is ass.)

 

[JustLooking456]

My backlogs don't get tackled, they get shoved around.

 

[Pearly]

One thing at a time, unless something forces itself by sustaining my attention long enough that it gets priority.

Frank Herberts Dune got my attention by sheer force of brilliance and I read all near 700 pages of it in four sitting in under 5 days. I would not consider myself a "book" reader but I clearly showed with this, what could be considered a "pro-gamer move" but I applied it to the medium of "literature". I put reading this book over all shows, games etc. until I read it through fully.

I became a sweaty book nerd for the first time in my life and it was glorious.

I apply this to my list of things I must play/read/watch, if it can't hold my attention, it gets removed from the "backlog".

 

[Tsukishima]

One thing at a time, unless something forces itself by sustaining my attention long enough that it gets priority.

Frank Herberts Dune got my attention by sheer force of brilliance and I read all near 700 pages of it in four sitting in under 5 days. I would not consider myself a "book" reader but I clearly showed with this, what could be considered a "pro-gamer move" but I applied it to the medium of "literature". I put reading this book over all shows, games etc. until I read it through fully.

I became a sweaty book nerd for the first time in my life and it was glorious.

I apply this to my list of things I must play/read/watch, if it can't hold my attention, it gets removed from the "backlog".

I have a collection of books that I haven't yet explored myself, that being No Longer Human, The Selfish Gene, and Metamorphosis alongside the complete collection of H.P Lovecraft's works.

I really want to discover a book that 'does it' for me, like Dune has for you. And just between me and you, I really hope it's Lovecraft's stuff.

 

[Pearly]

I have a collection of books that I haven't yet explored myself, that being No Longer Human, The Selfish Gene, and Metamorphosis alongside the complete collection of H.P Lovecraft's works.

I really want to discover a book that 'does it' for me, like Dune has for you. And just between me and you, I really hope it's Lovecraft's stuff.

I found his stuff very easy to read, just not as compelling to marathon because it's all short form as it was intended for magazines. I loved Robert E Howards Conan, but I would burn out on the short story format very quickly. So even if you love his works, you'd likely break it up a bit. At least that is what I've found. I could be wrong, you may find Lovecrafts stuff so compelling you pass out from sleep deprivation from being glued to his prose. I hope his stuff lives up to your hype for it, it is great.

 

[PrismRed]

I don't, simply make a flexible schedule and watch on your own pace, there is no point consuming a media for the sake of consuming it. This applies to everything in general.

 

[Tenshishi]

I've got a 5 TB drive specifically full of this stuff, but I have difficulty engaging with a lot of anime these days because I'm always multitasking, and subtitles require a concentration I just don't often want to dedicate (or when I do, it's for a single movie, not 8 hours straight of an OVA)... Between that and my dislike for Funimation's in-house dubs (except FMA for some reason), it's usually my Live Action or Western drives getting all the play.

I'm not convinced that my drive to watch it is based on anything in particular - I hear my more dedicated friends ramble on about how good Jujutsu Kaisen or Dandadan is all the time, and before that it was MHA, and people have consistently talked about One Piece... But when it's anime time for me? I think I'll go with Hell Teacher Nube, or maybe Gregory Horror Show. There's almost never a direct reason I go for anything, I just get an itch and boom, it's Zatch Bell time!

The one exception in recent memory was Gundam - getting back into building the model kits made me want to learn more about them, so I started watching... And I watched for a WHILE before I tapped out. I finished all of the UC series except Victory (took four episodes for me to decide my time would be better spent), moved on to Wing, then G Gundam (the exact breath of fresh air I needed at the time), and then tapped out for good about halfway through X - after all of UC and Wing, it was enough already! I can see why so many audiences tapped out with X (though X is probably the best the standard Gundam tale had ever been up to that point)... But then they loved SEED? There is no logic to this. I'll go back to Gundam at some point because there's still a lot more left, but I feel like the break hasn't been long enough yet.

Since there's just so much Western animation out there and a lot of it is much better than people will give it credit for, for me to check out an anime these days requires for it to be really gripping - stunning animation and excellent stories like Kaiba or The Tatami Galaxy, thrilling episodes and great casts like Tekkaman Blade, really weird freaky stuff like Betterman, or just consistent fun shows you can always visit at any point like Dr. Slump and Ranma 1/2... These things catch me. But the latest "My Girlfriend Opened a Portal and Now We Own a Goblin Pet", or whatever the shonen flavor of the year is?.. Hard, almost cruel pass.

 

[Tsukishima]

I've got a 5 TB drive specifically full of this stuff, but I have difficulty engaging with a lot of anime these days because I'm always multitasking, and subtitles require a concentration I just don't often want to dedicate (or when I do, it's for a single movie, not 8 hours straight of an OVA)... Between that and my dislike for Funimation's in-house dubs (except FMA for some reason), it's usually my Live Action or Western drives getting all the play.

I'm not convinced that my drive to watch it is based on anything in particular - I hear my more dedicated friends ramble on about how good Jujutsu Kaisen or Dandadan is all the time, and before that it was MHA, and people have consistently talked about One Piece... But when it's anime time for me? I think I'll go with Hell Teacher Nube, or maybe Gregory Horror Show. There's almost never a direct reason I go for anything, I just get an itch and boom, it's Zatch Bell time!

The one exception in recent memory was Gundam - getting back into building the model kits made me want to learn more about them, so I started watching... And I watched for a WHILE before I tapped out. I finished all of the UC series except Victory (took four episodes for me to decide my time would be better spent), moved on to Wing, then G Gundam (the exact breath of fresh air I needed at the time), and then tapped out for good about halfway through X - after all of UC and Wing, it was enough already! I can see why so many audiences tapped out with X (though X is probably the best the standard Gundam tale had ever been up to that point)... But then they loved SEED? There is no logic to this. I'll go back to Gundam at some point because there's still a lot more left, but I feel like the break hasn't been long enough yet.

Since there's just so much Western animation out there and a lot of it is much better than people will give it credit for, for me to check out an anime these days requires for it to be really gripping - stunning animation and excellent stories like Kaiba or The Tatami Galaxy, thrilling episodes and great casts like Tekkaman Blade, really weird freaky stuff like Betterman, or just consistent fun shows you can always visit at any point like Dr. Slump and Ranma 1/2... These things catch me. But the latest "My Girlfriend Opened a Portal and Now We Own a Goblin Pet", or whatever the shonen flavor of the year is?.. Hard, almost cruel pass.

I started with Gundam some odd years ago on my birthday. I think something inside me just snapped and decided it was time to watch something like this. My interested in mecha was fleeting at the time, a slight interest and yet nothing more. Played an Armored Core here or there before it but never for too much. That kind of interest.

But that watch legitimately clicked. It was a massive binge I felt like that did a lot of things right for me. Getting into something massive like this gave me the realization that no matter how dauntingly long something might be to get through or watch is nothing but such a small whisper compared to how long someone's life may be.

That, of course is not the only reason i stayed around on that watch. The franchise felt like the incubator that really kicked off my fervor and passion for everything that had robots and mecha of all variety. I don't know, nor comprehend that impulsive desire at the time that made me start that marathon but I sure am thankful of it.

I never understood why and whichever Gundam shows got popular at the time. The original 1979, After-War Gundam X, Turn-A and Thunderbolt were my favourites. I've also just never cared about the popular anime everyone is gripped about because I just don't really care for shonen, nor the low-hanging fruit of appeal which is 'hype moments and aura' alongside 'insanely good animation'.

Based on reading a lot of comments on this thread, it seems everyone prefers the impulse of just going into whatever they feel like at the time.