Anime/Manga When did you check out with anime and/or manga?

[NipahRika]

I know this maybe a weird thing to ask in the anime and manga forum. Why'd you stop reading manga and/or watching anime?

For me I just felt like I was losing interest in anime/manga and even western cartoons.

 

[The Mega Champion]

I've only stopped reading manga because I feel like I have to FORCE myself to do it and I shouldn't have to FORCE myself to do anything and if your forcing yourself... your not enjoying it.

 

[NipahRika]

I've only stopped reading manga because I feel like I have to FORCE myself to do it and I shouldn't have to FORCE myself to do anything and if your forcing yourself... your not enjoying it.

Agreed. I loved anime way back during junior high and most of high school. I just checked out with anime and manga both due to the reasons I said above. I just cannot get as into the new anime stuff including the big shonen anime and manga. I checked out with Naruto during The Fourth Shinobi World War. It was in the middle or so of it anime and manga wise. I did go back and read what I missed later after Naruto's manga ended. Did the same with the anime too when it finally came to it's closure.

 

[gimmepie]

I know this maybe a weird thing to ask in the anime and manga forum. Why'd you stop reading manga and/or watching anime?

For me I just felt like I was losing interest in anime/manga and even western cartoons.

Could be that its the genres and typical genre conventions that you were getting bored of. Might be worth trying something outside of what you'd normally seek out in the future.
Or not. It's also perfectly fine for your interests to shift.

Personally, I still watch anime and read manga but I've gotten a lot more selective about what I'll take a look at these days. I went through a patch where I was making a point of broadening my horizons and watching/reading as much different stuff as I could but with so much media to consume in general and so many other things I need to do, I have to be a bit pickier about things these days.

 

[GameBunnyAdvance]

I haven't watched anime for a while now because it feels like the majority of it is nothing more than promotional material for an ongoing manga or light novel. I've never been a huge fan of manga (I just can't get the hang of reading it) and I want to watch a complete, self-contained story, not an advert for a more comprehensive version of another piece of media.

That, plus everything I see seems to be either a) isekai, b) a comedy with an absurdly long and descriptive name, c) too short to tell a satisfying story, or d) all of the aforementioned. It's just...not appealing. I'm sure there is more out there than that, but nothing has really leapt out at me as interesting in a long time. The last new show I watched was Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, and that was not particularly good as far as Gundam goes in my opinion.

 

[NipahRika]

Could be that its the genres and typical genre conventions that you were getting bored of. Might be worth trying something outside of what you'd normally seek out in the future.

Yeah, could be that. I do not really care or mind the current shonen anime/manga, but admit I've not watched every episode/season.

That, plus everything I see seems to be either a) isekai, b) a comedy with an absurdly long and descriptive name, c) too short to tell a satisfying story, or d) all of the aforementioned. It's just...not appealing. I'm sure there is more out there than that, but nothing has really leapt out at me as interesting in a long time. The last new show I watched was Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, and that was not particularly good as far as Gundam goes in my opinion.

This is so true. I just cannot get over how many anime I see like this nowadays. At least it's way past the "anime has become too moe!!!" times. Also IMO some anime and even manga can be...questionable with the cast who are in high school or so. That's another reason I heard some friends say why they do not watch anime or manga as much nowadays.

 

[GameBunnyAdvance]

This is so true. I just cannot get over how many anime I see like this nowadays. At least it's way past the "anime has become too moe!!!" times. Also IMO some anime and even manga can be...questionable with the cast who are in high school or so. That's another reason I heard some friends say why they do not watch anime or manga as much nowadays.

I can relate to that, at least in part. Fanservice isn't something that necessarily puts me off a show persay, but I do find it to be extremely tedious and unnecessary in most circumstances. You can have a good show with fanservice, but it's often in spite of it rather than because of it. I think the age factor does get more awkward the older you get too, even if you're completely desensitized to the sudden close-ups and "funny" compromising situations.

Another factor with teen casts, at least for me, is the repetitive nature of the drama you'll get. I understand that teenagers are typically the target demographic and having characters around the 13-20 range is to make them relatable and appealing, but...well, I've watched plenty of light-hearted anime aimed at kids that manage to handle general coming of age topics with a lot more maturity and grace. The way anime frames it, you would think every teenager is a walking hormone bomb looking to go off at the slightest provocation in the most melodramatic and dramatized way possible sometimes, and it gets very old, very quickly.

I think that it'd be safe to say there has been a narrowing of focus in anime - at the very least, mainstream anime - over the last decade or so. I'm finding it harder and harder to find shows that are clearly targeted towards older audiences that aren't isekai, unnecessarily edgy (confusing "dark" and "mature" seems to be a common mistake in anime) or just promotional material for something I don't want to read. Maybe I'm just picky, though.

 

[SteCisGreendog]

I am not invested in manga/anime in the least with that stupid sweat drop that appears practically everywhere in the pages but my last big year was in 2019 when I read through JoJo's Bizarre adventure parts 1-3, both the manga and the anime and enjoyed it immensely. I think I burned out when I started Part 4 towards the end of the year though, and then 2020 happened.
Another reason sticks true with me today, and I'm sure to ruffle a few feathers when I say that I am godamn sick and tired of the sweatdrop trope they throw in almost every damn third panel. So distracting, so unhygienic, so cheap. I hate that shit with a passion. Worst thing is, I live in a country that endorses this dumb aesthetic. That 'u' or a 'j' seeping down a characters face like an open pore (yuck) or even worse, multiple sweat beads put me off so much I wouldn't even spend a second looking on it. Even Pokemon is not above the trend.
I hate it, they cannot change. So I live with it. It's not like I can change their opinions. I can't sell ice to penguins.
Short rant there, but I hope at last someone picks up on my frustrations with the art form.

 

[Cherrim]

I stopped reading manga for like 15ish years save for adaptations of my favourite video games and during that time usually watched like... one or two anime in a good year, if that. I dunno what made me so disinterested but most of that time I was more interested in playing video games than anime/manga. It's only in the last few years that I got really into manga and even then, mostly just because I got an iPad and it's a joy to read on that. (The fact that my library has so much of it doesn't hurt.)

I guess hand in hand with all this is I don't really bother pirating stuff anymore--it just seems like too much effort and it seems much harder than it was back in the day when fansubs were more ubiquitous. Now everything is generally pretty simulcast and you also need to subscribe to a half-dozen sites to see everything you want in a season so I end up not subscribing to anything. I'm pretty invested in the localization side of anime/manga now so I can't really fathom it anyway. It's hard enough for people to make a living doing it professionally and I don't want to be harming that by going to the same garbage scan aggregator sites that stole my own translation work to repost and make money off. But it does mean it's harder to get ahold of stuff officially (and on a budget) than maybe it wouldn't have been back when I was at the height of my fandom for all this, so that's probably part of it too.

 

[Setsuna]

I'll only watch anime every so often when I really get in the mood or whenever something new comes out that appeals to me. Like, Demon Slayer is something my bf is really into so we'll watch it together as it comes out because of that. So I suppose I check out pretty often because I've seen what I wanna see and feel finished? I almost never read manga but if I do the only times I'll check out is when I'm finished and I want to let the emotions sit for a while (Like Horimiya or New Game!) or because it's ongoing and I either got busy with something, or because I'm eagerly awaiting for any new translations (like Machikado Mazoku).

 

[NipahRika]

guess hand in hand with all this is I don't really bother pirating stuff anymore--it just seems like too much effort and it seems much harder than it was back in the day when fansubs were more ubiquitous.

I will admit this is how I used to watch and read stuff back in those days. It was a bit easier to find sites to find your favorite manga or anime. Naruto had a dedicated site, and think Bleach did too.

 

[ReKoil]

I haven't permanently stopped watching Anime, but it's been like a good 6 months since I've seen any just due to doing other stuff instead.
I pretty much watch Anime when I have nothing else to do =P

 

[Palamon]

I never stopped watching anime or reading manga, but after the pandemic, I stopped reading manga regularly. I want to get back into that.