Anime/Manga Getting back into anime

So it's occurred to me recently that I have lost all interest in anime.

This is a fairly common complaint I've had over the years as the number of shows I've enjoyed has dwindled - the last time I enjoyed a show unreservedly was Cross Ange - but these days I can't even rewatch my favourites without getting bored. Perhaps there's simply too much to choose from, or I've suffered one too many disappointments with shows I thought were going to be good but turned out to be garbage, but for whatever reason, I just...don't watch anime any more.

And that really bugs me. I'm fairly sure there are still some good shows airing that I've not seen yet, but I don't know what they are, and frankly I don't have time to waste on more rubbish. I've never been a huge believer in that nonsense "three episode rule" as that is often too much or not enough. Every show has a different pace, and if I followed that rule I would have missed out on a lot of good shows over the years.

I'd like some reccomendations, please. What show that has aired within the past two or three years would you recommend to someone who previously watched a ton of anime but no longer watches any? Have you ever lost interest in anime yourself? If so, what show did you watch that rekindled your interest...or at least, got you watching again? Or is this a media I should give up on? Is there a very good reason I've lost interest - that it's all garbage now?

There are only four things I know I don't want to watch:

- CGI. It's lazy and ugly. Small or subtle CGI scenes or elements are acceptable, but where it's visibly noticeable or comprises the entire show...nope.
- Manga/Light Novel promotion material. I think this is a huge contributor to what put me off in the first place: half the anime out these days is unfinished because it's based off an ongoing manga or LN I'm never going to want to read and probably will never get finished anyway because they take their sweet time getting stuff done.
- Anything like Shokugeki no Soma. Japanese food porn makes me feel ill, and I get bored when characters start going on about food anyway.
- Sports anime. This should be fairly self-explanatory.

Other than that, I'm open to whatever. I have my preferences in genre, but perhaps it's confining myself to those that has ultimately put me off - there are only so many variations on a theme, after all - and made me miss out on better shows. What I used to like is no longer a reliable indicator of what I would like now...I mean, you would think I'd be all over the new Cardcaptor Sakura anime, for instance, but that bored the hell out of me and I gave up on it. So yeah.

That's about it. Thanks for reading~

Honestly, if you're looking to renew your interest I'd be open to older and more obscure series as well as the more recent. A couple of quick recommendations of recent anime by genre

Romance
Tsuki ga Kirei
Koi to Uso

Action
Boku no Hero Academia
Boruto (It recaptures a lot of the vibe held by the earlier half of Naruto)

Comedy
Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon
Tsurezure Children

Other Drama
Shouwa Genroku Rakgo Shinjuu

Thriller
Zankyou no Terror (4 years not 2-3 but close enough)
Boku dake ga Inai Machi

A Bit of Everything Idek
Norogami (Again 4 years but close enough)


I'd also recommend maybe looking into movies instead of series for a while as a change of place.

Woops, I forgot to link my MAL. I've actually seen a lot of those shows! My MAL doesn't include the things I dropped, though. Like Haruhi, which bored me to tears. What older/more obscure things would you recommend though?

...worth noting with MAL I've deleted a few things as I was in the process of shifting everything. Seen a few As. xD

I watch a fair few movies, and I've enjoyed a few, but honestly I want to get back into series again, if only because they can provide a more intricate plot. I don't want to watch anything based on ongoing LNs/manga, no matter how good it is because I want a complete story in what I watch, otherwise it feels like I'm wasting my time. Not to mention they often end at the most inconvenient or utterly irrelevant points.

I'll look into the ones you suggested that I haven't seen, though~

I'll give a proper response with recommendations later on but I'm going to pick you up on something first. Why would sports shows not being to your liking be 'self explanatory'? Not liking sports in real life is absolutely not a legit reason, I've definitely seen that reason given before.

Lipstick Vogue said:

I'll give a proper response with recommendations later on but I'm going to pick you up on something first. Why would sports shows not being to your liking be 'self explanatory'? Not liking sports in real life is absolutely not a legit reason, I've definitely seen that reason given before.

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Why is that not a legit reason? If I'm not even remotely engaged with the subject material, I'm not going to enjoy the show all that much, am I? It's off-putting from the very start to me. I know that character development can make a sports anime more interesting, but I guess I can't really relate to or empathise with characters whose entire development revolves around something I find so boring.

And one issue I have with any anime that involves competitions in general is that the protagonist almost always wins, and there is very little suspense in a show like that - it gets very predictable very quickly, and it falls into the same sort of pattern. I suppose I'm just tired of seeing things like that. I'd rather watch something where I can't instantly predict the outcome of it. I know having an OP protagonist is not limited to sports anime, but I find it all the more obnoxious in a competitive setting where they show up characters who are far more skilled than they are, or pull wins out at the very last second - wins you KNEW they'd pull out because the plot demands they win.

I suppose...if there was a sports anime that contained very little sports in it (kinda like how Wixoss was a show about card games with barely any card games in it) and the protagonist didn't win every single time or wasn't guaranteed to win even after the obligatory training episodes (think Aichi from Cardfight Vanguard in the first season, who had a very erratic win rate even as he improved at the game...or just think of Yuri on Ice in general for a slightly more relevant example that I was shocked to find myself enjoying) then I'd be willing to give it a chance. Or if there were more sports anime that were completely off the walls, like Keijo was. But looking at these more "serious" sports anime, I just don't find them appealing at a first glance, and I'm not motivated to take a second.

I suppose it's not limited just to sports anime, but in general - I'm fed up with predictable shows. I'd like to actually be surprised by a show again for once. It's not interesting if I already know how it'll end. I suppose I find sports anime especially off-putting because of that lack of interest in the subject material, but I will admit the issues I have outside of that are not confined to that genre alone.

Simply because watching sports anime and watching sports are completely different experiences. When you watch sport you're watching sport, when you watch sports anime you're watching characters and everything that goes with that. It'll be the characters, drama, romance and comedy that make you love a sports show, not the sport itself. A knowledge of the sport those characters are playing can be both positive or negative in my experience, you're not losing out there.

Can take the point about things being predictable, in a sense that the hero does win more than he loses. As you've said, that's not solely a sports series thing, or even an anime thing. A lot of sports shows do follow the battle shounen formula which in your current state obviously isn't a good thing. I drift in and out of enjoying it myself, but when I do it's some of the fun I have with anime. How a man manages to write a story about a guy throwing a ball faster and faster entertaining for 6 seasons is beyond me, but he did it. Same with Hajime no Ippo, It's fight-train-fight-train but it's just so good.

Mitsuru Adachi's Touch is probably my favourite manga of all time, it's a baseball series which has a heavier focus on the lives of it's characters than the sport itself. I'm not silly enough to recommend you a 100 episode 80s sports series like that straight off the bat though (see what I did there????). Cross Game is a similar story by the same guy, far more recent and half the episode count.

Meyneth said:

What older/more obscure things would you recommend though?

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Some really amazing series I've seen which may predate 2015 (okay that definitely do) and don't seem to be on your list.

1. Serial Experiments Lain (10/10)
2. Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora (10/10)
3. Higurashi (10/10)
4. AnoHana (10/10) isn't there either
5. ef; a tale of memories (8/10)/ef; a tale of melodies (9/10)
6. Hourou Musuko (9/10)
7. Shinsekai Yori (9/10)
8. Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo (Ignore the synposis, it's better than that. So much better) (9/10)
9. Little Busters (8/10) and Little Busters: Refrain (9/10)
10. Gakkougurashi! (9/10)

Ten series I'd recommend and how I rated them. I'm not easy to impress generally if that is any encouragement, but everyone's taste is different I guess.

As general advice, I think a large part of it is finding a niche that you can explore. A rabbit hole to fall down, so to speak.

Even as the Vice President of a college anime club, I just wan't excited to watch just about anything recently, besides Yuri on Ice - which only truly impressed me because it's some of the only representation of myself that exists in anime outside poorly written or overly-sexual yaoi. I wasn't super interested in watching some of my favorite titles when they came up in our club's rotation , and I was beginning to lose faith in the art form just a little, for a multitude of reasons. I was in a space where I knew what I wanted could exist, but I wasn't sure if it did yet.

The show that surprised me and pulled me back in was Made in Abyss. That show hit just the right notes and resonated in just the right way, and it honestly had a pretty profound effect on the kind of material I look for recently. I briefly went off my normal track and watched In This Corner of the World for the feels bit, since I'm kind of a sucker for that stuff, but right now I'm looking for more content in the aesthetic and thematic style of Made in Abyss - the most recent thing that's caught my attention has been Children of the Whales, which I really, really like so far.

It might be that the thing that pulls you back in, like in my case, does so for very specific reasons and in very specific ways. I wouldn't give up trying, but don't force yourself to try to like something or anything like that; I did quite a lot of that and just ended up greatly disliking a lot of series for it.

If you had told me that you were an anime club vice president and that you'd only been excited about 2 airing shows in the last year and a half, I'd have literally known that they were Yuri on Ice and Made in Abyss. Honestly, that's perfect. lol

...are you telling me that there have only been 2 series worth watching in the last year and a half? No wonder I've been struggling. xD

I think I have a fair amount to be getting on with now, although I'm not sure how far I'll get...my tastes are generally eclectic. I'm phenomenally easy to please if the action is over-the-top or the humour is good (but not repetetive - Sakamoto was funny for 2 or 3 episodes before I got tired of it, for example) but when it comes to plot, I want something intricate and/or surprising. Very little surprises me these days...

I think there's been more than two worth watching in the past year, but that's just my personal tastes, which probably don't match up well with yours.


As for a rec: Animegataris might be worth a trial but it's kinda filled (intentionally) with cliches and tropes so it might be an absolutely horrendous ordeal for you. Personally, I found it started solid, sagged in the middle by beating a particular plot-line into the episodes repeatedly, then enjoyed the final few episodes where it actually changed its plot-line.

There's been quite a few worth watching. That's why cool people don't go to anime clubs.

Lipstick Vogue said:

If you had told me that you were an anime club vice president and that you'd only been excited about 2 airing shows in the last year and a half, I'd have literally known that they were Yuri on Ice and Made in Abyss. Honestly, that's perfect. lol

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I mean, it's probably important for me to reiterate that they were shows that resonate with me personally and that there's quite a few that have aired since Winter 2016-2017 through now that I am now excited to watch, catch up on, or broadcast at club functions as a result of simple getting back into anime at large.

It's definitely not that I perceive some lack of value in what the art form has been able to produce for the last two years; it's just a personal case of layers of genre and medium fatigue and a desire for things that more deeply apply to my identities and experiences.

But on the flip side, I guess, my reinvigorated interest has come with the realization that I'm pretty basic and mostly here for the mechs and the gays. Oh well!

I've had this problem myself, so I can totally relate to where you're coming from.

For me, the reason (I think) I kinda wained off was because I'm actually a filmmaker who specializes in darker, character-driven works with rich visual symbolism. So I always fall in love with stories that capitalize on this. Recently, most of the anime coming out have been more on the harem-ish/sports/action with no plot side. That's not to say I don't enjoy a crap ton of shonen series or anything. But when all you watch is shonen for a long time, it gets a bit boring.

Here are some series that are incredibly rich, thought-provoking series that will "refresh" you so to speak. I checked out your MAL and I saw that these were not on it. I'm only giving you two for now so as not to overwhelm you.

91 Days
-- this is one of my absolute all-time favorites. It's something I hope to one day adapt for the screen. It revolves around the mafia's rise to power in America during the prohibition because they were able to control pretty much all alcohol in the country through illegal trade routes.

Violet Evergarden
-- This one actually just finished airing, and pretty much got me back into anime. First of all, the animation in this is spectacularly gorgeous. It focuses on an ex-child soldier learning to adapt to a society without war. However, she is not able to understand emotions due to how she was treated during her time as a soldier. She ends up deciding to become a ghostwriter so she can understand why her commanding officer said "I love you" to her before he died (and what "I love you" even means). The story focuses on her rehabilitation and her realizing her PTSD more than the actual war.

I mean, LOOK at this animation. It's insane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CJeDetA45Q (idk why it's not letting me properly insert the video...?)

Sounds like you're maturing past the mentality you had when you first discovered it. I think all anime fans go through it eventually.
I remember when I began finding out how terrible the shows that got me into it actually were, but with anime, there's so much stuff under the sun, you'll soon find new things that wow you far better than you could've hoped.

For me, my top anime series are the Shakugan no Shana series. They are based on light novels, but were finished at the time, and the original author worked on the anime to ensure the tightest script and best representation of his work, and man oh man, if you like drama, action and some really interesting world building and lore and ideas and want a series like this with a mostly female cast and zero fanservice, this is the show to watch.

There are 3 series, Shakugan no Shana, 2, and then Final in the main story and I'd highly recommend them. About 60ish episodes total.
Japanese only, of course.

Keep in mind though, it's so detailed, it requires a lot of effort to keep up with. Watch the official Funimation subtitles too; the free subs make it very hard to follow.

Here's a music video to give you an idea; it uses clips from all 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6j5bbYG1z4&index=106&t=0s&list=FLzH9mvbl2Jh1iZCsLJvr8oQ

Suggesting Shakugan no Shana to somebody that hates anime. It's a bold strategy Cotton.

I will correct you on most things though, were you purposely trying to misrepresent it? It's so wrong I can't tell if you're being serious.

The first anime series aired in 2005, 3 years into the novel series 9 year run. I don't believe Takahashi ever worked on the anime series, let alone to that extent. There are 3 main series with 24 episodes each plus an ova with 4 episodes, so 76 episodes. There's also a film (recap irrc) and specials. It had loads of fan service, not necessarily ass and tiddies (although it did) but Shana's character is at least 90% fanservice.

Never use Funi's subs if others are available, and there's plenty available for Shakugan no Shana.

Also don't understand why you would link an eyecancer AMV, let alone one which essentially spoils the main guy's development. Come on, dude.

Lipstick Vogue said:

Suggesting Shakugan no Shana to somebody that hates anime. It's a bold strategy Cotton.

I will correct you on most things though, were you purposely trying to misrepresent it? It's so wrong I can't tell if you're being serious.

The first anime series aired in 2005, 3 years into the novel series 9 year run. I don't believe Takahashi ever worked on the anime series, let alone to that extent. There are 3 main series with 24 episodes each plus an ova with 4 episodes, so 76 episodes. There's also a film (recap irrc) and specials. It had loads of fan service, not necessarily ass and tiddies (although it did) but Shana's character is at least 90% fanservice.

Never use Funi's subs if others are available, and there's plenty available for Shakugan no Shana.

Also don't understand why you would link an eyecancer AMV, let alone one which essentially spoils the main guy's development. Come on, dude.

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Did I misread the original post? It sounds like the person wants some anime recommendations that don't fall under certain criteria. Shana did not, thus I recommended it.

I've tried watching it with free subs, like Eclipse, and it's pretty hard to follow. Shana is one of those shows that requires really great subs because it's so detail heavy, and a lot of details from the light novel are only inferred due to a lack of time, thus everything has to be as close to perfect as you can get. Funi's are the best ones around.

Apart from reading the light novel (impossible as only 2 volumes are in English), the Japanese funimation subs are the best way to experience Shakugan no Shana.


The music video means nothing to people who have never seen the series before. I showed it to a friend before I got her to watch it and nothing from it stuck. That video is just action if you have no idea what the series is. It's a good glimpse into the tone, art style of the series without having to watch any of it. Nor is it eye cancer. At all. It's one of the best ones of it around.

They way the action shots are just slapped together, it's unsightly. Should have just posted one of the early openings or something if you had to link a video to show it's (outdated) art style. lol

On the sub issue, I never had any trouble following back in 2010. Obviously I might be wrong here and Funi's might be better, I've just never experienced good Funi subs.

Lipstick Vogue said:

They way the action shots are just slapped together, it's unsightly.

Spoiler:

Seeing somebody that looks suspiciously like the the main guy fighting the main girl. It's true they won't get context but how does it not take away from seeing that organically? You could say it's just a villain lmao but they literally kiss at the end. It's dumb.

Should have just posted one of the early openings or something if you had to link a video to show it's (outdated) art style. lol

On the sub issue, I never had any trouble following back in 2010. Obviously I might be wrong here and Funi's might be better, I've just never experienced good Funi subs.

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Different videos require different editing. The tone they were going for worked for me.

I'd love to post the openings, but honestly, they give off a vastly different vibe than the show itself, and they'd have to watch all of them (all 9) to get a good glimpse of how the series really is.

When I first started it, that first opening made me worried because it looked almost like a shojo anime, which is about as far from as you can get from it. The openings, especially because the titular character looks like a moe, can be deceptive. So I thought an AMV would be quicker and a better representation.


One of the reasons I love Shana is its deep attention to detail, so while I had the first series on DVD, I couldn't find the rest of it anywhere but online, and halfway through 2, my head was pounding of "Wait... I am so confused. Why is this not as good anymore?"

And when I actually got the official DVDs for everything, no such issues the second time around. Because of the subs.

It gets very very technical later on, with Unrestricted Methods, hidden agendas, etc, and I like to understand everything, so it's a must for me.

It's not a show I'd recommend for the casual action fan who just wants something big and fun; it's quite a bit heavier than that, and it's more for fans who enjoy that kind of thing. And in that case, the Funi subs are a must.

I suppose liking the editing in the video is subjective. I'm just not super keen on seeing a bunch of flashy fight scenes smashed together and stuck over a crap (I know, subjective again) song.

It was still wrong to show something like that to somebody that hasn't seen it though, too much end game stuff for it to even be a trailer. You say you picked it because it shows the tone, I don't really agree. Think back to how much of the series was just slice of life/romance or love triangle (sort of, mostly in s2), the guy training and just other not key stuff. It's very much a shounen light novel series with a cute battle waifu, I'll agree that it's not for everyone due to that fluff it's still pretty damn mainstream.

There were more moving parts in the third series but I honestly can't believe how complex you're making it out to be. Without trying to be condescending (genuinely mods, no infractions please) were you quite young when you watched the series? I'm also not speaking down on the series, I enjoyed it for the most part.