Nostalgia factor with anime. (Not watching anything new.)

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1000Knives
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26 Apr 2013, 2:05 am

I notice with me and anime, it's very hard for me to wanna watch new stuff. I'll watch stuff I either wished to see as a child (a bunch of stuff, had 56k back then, downloading anime was in general harder) or rewatch stuff I saw as a child and loved (like Outlaw Star.) My friends, meanwhile, continue to actually try to watch new anime that comes out. For some reason for me, what happened was, I forget the exact date, but right when Full Metal Alchemist was coming out, the first series, I got really into wanting to see new anime. I'd download just anything and everything, and I got really amped about FMA especially. So I got through like episode 1-3 of the fansubs. Then we lost DSL internet and had to go back to dialup for like 6 months at my house. Then since I couldn't keep up with any of the shows I was watching, I felt like I got lost and after that never really recovered and watched much of anything new.

The only NEW animes I've watched since that time (as in came out after that,) besides appearing on TV (maybe I'll include those) are:
Initial D 4th and 5th Stage
Wangan Midnight
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Sayonara Zetsubuo Sensei (Goodbye Mr. Despair)\
Kino's Journey (watched a couple episodes of and liked)
Usagi Drop (don't remember how much of it I saw, but a decent amount of the anime?)

I didn't watch Bleach and Naruto on AS much. I thought Naruto was really overrated and dragged on. Liked Death Note but it got a bit too grand in scale for me. One anime I really liked was on AZN Channel, and it was called "World of Narue." Cool dopey love story anime about a geeky lame middle school boy who meets a cute girl who's the best girl ever, but nobody likes her because she's really hot and is a space alien. Animation Runner Kuromi was funny, too (wait, that was from 2001 I think.) Also on AZN before the channel's demise (RIP.) Didn't like Code Geass for some reason. Wasn't Gundam was probably why. I watched Big O Season 2. Liked GITS SAC, but only watched it on TV.

So besides two racing animes, one of which is continued from a series from 1997, and Wangan Midnight, which is just finally getting an anime adaptation after the manga being out since 1991, I've not really watched anything. The three animes I've watched my friends pretty much had to sit me down and make me watch them. I liked them, but I just don't find them memorable compared to the childhood favorite animes. Besides childhood favorites, I tend to watch things I didn't get a chance to watch as a kid that I wanted to. If I will pick out a "new" anime, I'll usually pick something old. Like I'd probably pick up like. Votoms or Southern Cross or something if I made more time for anime watching. Or Zeta or ZZ Gundam.

I think oddly a big thing for me is digimation. As a kid I was obsessed with the cel animation process, I made my own flip books, and made cells, and just loved the animation process. I feel like digimation ruined that all for me. I also just HATE the look of digimation. It just doesn't look right to me. It looks too perfect, or worse, too bright and colorful. I don't know why really. Even now, digimation's improved, but it still doesn't look as good as well done cells did. Some animes make use of it's effect pretty well (GiTS SAC) and run with it well.

So anyway, I don't know entirely why, but I've pretty much watched no new anime since like 2004. Is it because of a psychological kinda thing, or is new anime just terrible? When I watch new animes now, it doesn't feel the same for some reason. I wonder if I just watch anime now because I thought it was cool as a child. But I don't know if it's really nostalgia, though. I feel JUST as amped as I did when I was a kid, when I'd like, see the Outlaw Star opening. Outlaw Star opening. To be fair, the same thing's even happened with video games, too. I just stopped caring after a while about new titles. Sometimes gems come along (Fallout) but for the most part, I'd be happy playing whatever old games are around from, well with games, the cutoff tends to be like post-2007, but whatever old games from before then.

Can anyone else relate at all to this? Has anyone else, not just stopped liking anime, but not liking anything new like this? Like you're just set in what you like and that's it? Is this normal? I mean, I know adults tend to apply this thought process to music, but not to everything else totally (ie, still watch TV series, still go see new movies coming out.) Am I a cranky 67 year old man who hates all new things at 22?

Thoughts?



vixx
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
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26 Apr 2013, 6:47 am

I am basically the opposite. I will spend a bunch of time trying to find a new anime to watch, then if I like it, I watch the whole thing and I'm looking for the next anime to watch. Yay media consumption! I just think back to the animes that I loved most and think, "wow, what else is out there.." I wouldn't say the one I'm watching are new as in recently released, just new as in, I haven't seen them before. Ghost in the Shell was one of my favorites. :]

As for new games, most of the new ones do suck, so I am kind of picky and do play old ones more. I've been on a GTA: Vice City kick for a few weeks, hah. I still use my PS2 regularly, but enjoy games from much earlier eras. But for example, I got the new Tomb Raider when it came out because of nostalgia and was pleasantly surprised. I'll be getting Deadly Premonition when it comes out. It's a remake of an xbox game on ps3 and it's kind of like absurdist humor mixed with survival horror. I tend to stick to rpgs though. I'm playing through all the final fantasys. I have been known to play FFVII, FFVIII and FFX repeatedly. Then again I still play Crash Bandicoot games and sonic and the legend of zelda. Nostalgia factors into gaming way more for me. I'm hopeful for new games, but I've learned not to expect much. Gears of war and call of duty type games dont do it for me. One series that has been with me through childhood and is still coming out is the Metal Gear series. I go crazy for that. haha. definitely nostalgia-related enthusiasm.