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I Watch Anime Alone

The manliest song without an AMV?

Anything worth doing is worth doing alone. Can’t exercise by yourself? See if I care when you get a heart attack. Don’t want to eat alone? Go ahead and starve. People who need others to hold their hands to get them to do things they already want to do are tools, plain and simple. If you like something, you should be perfectly happy doing it yourself. Chances are, if it’s not an inherently social activity, it’s better done alone. How are you supposed to talk with food in your mouth? Can you run your fastest when you’re gossiping with the person next to you?

How are you supposed to watch anime when people around you won’t shut up?

I used to watch anime with my college roommates. It was a marriage of convenience:

  • Only one person has to download the episode.
  • One person has the superior viewing environment set up.
  • Even if you’re both downloading the same episode, somebody’s going to have it done first.
  • If you’re in the room at the same time and don’t want to watch with your roommate, you have to avoid that entire area of the room for the entire episode to avoid being spoiled.

We rarely spoke during the episodes (I’d say never, but we did watch some Naruto Filler together, including the infamous Kakashi’s Mask episode). No discussion, no commentary, no shitty jokes, no sound effects, no singing, no nothing. We’d save anything we had to say for the end, which was usually nothing more than a nod and grunt to indicate “play the next episode,” because after a watching enough anime with the same person, you should be able to read his mind.

Back in high school, it was a forgone conclusion that I’d join my college anime club. Then when I got to college, I didn’t attend a single meeting. I figured it’d be pointless to walk across campus to watch some shows I’d seen before and a bunch more I could watch on my own time, just so I could do it all with other people, none of whom I’d want to have sex with.

This is why I was shocked when I found out that people are listening to each other watch anime via Skype. No, really. Are people this desperate for attention? Do people really need to hear each other snort and giggle and play virtual grabass over an episode of anime? I face three main barriers to watching anime whenever I please: work, health, and other people. Assuming you’re in good health and don’t have any work, congratulations, you’ve contaminated a previously sterile environment with that disgusting third factor.

But Baka-Raptor, even if talking ruins good shows, doesn’t it make bad shows better?

No, crappy shows suck no matter how much you talk about them. Sure, you could do a good job making fun of the show, in which case the credit would go to you and your comedy act, not the anime. Too bad that’ll never happen because most of your jokes are horrendous. I’ve sat through hentai panels at anime conventions. Not only do audience jokes get old fast, I’ve already come up with most of the jokes on my own and dismissed them as stupid moments before they’re told. Don’t make me suffer through them twice. What makes it even worse is that the geeks show no prudence or restraint because they’re overempowered around other geeks as a result of being repressed by society at large.

If you think you’re any good at making fun of anime in real time, try taking screenshots and writing the jokes down as captions. Feel free to edit or improve them as much as you want. If your jokes still look bad, just imagine how much they sucked when you did them live. Even if you got good at comedy, or got good comedians to join your Skype sessions, why do you have to watch bad anime? Couldn’t you watch bad anything? In any case, shouldn’t you always prefer good anime to bad anime? There’s no denying the comedic value in the super crappy stuff, but I’d never trade a Berserk for a Parappa the Rapper.

I do occasionally participate in KSK Live Blogs. Unlike anime, sports naturally lends itself to live commentary, which can definitely suck, but audience submissions to the Live Blogs have to be approved by moderators, and the audience is large enough that most of what gets approved is pretty good. Even I’ve submitted lines that have been rejected. I’ve been thinking for years about a way to carry over the Live Blog format to anime. Unfortunately, I can’t come up with anything that would work to my satisfaction.

(Until this week, my draft of this post hadn’t been touched since July 2008. That’s 1 more draft post down, 149 more to go. Then the moon crashes into the Earth.)

78 Replies to “I Watch Anime Alone”

  1. but I’d never trade a Berserk for a Parappa the Rapper. – great joke . well , it’s true watching anime alone is best because you are not forced to watch anything that you don’t want to watch . hey baka raptor , do you have a list of best anime or manga of the last decade ?(i know your list will contain DMC , what about others ? )

  2. Baka-Raptor, I heartily agree with you. People who need someone with them for everything they do need to become more independent. My high school friends used to call me to ‘talk because I’m bored’ when I was watching anime. Thankfully they eventually got the message that I have more interesting stuff to do, and yes I don’t constant company while I’m doing it.

    I will admit though that I am guilty of making comments while watching anime >.< However, I restrict my commentary only to anime that I watch with family members, to limit the number of victims/sufferers. Actually, I will make it my new years resolution (if it isn't too late) to cut down on the amount of comments I make while watching anime =D

    • Reminds me of an awesome scene from when Family Guy was good. In the episode, Peter gets in touch with his feminine side…

      [Phone ringing]
      Quagmire: Hello?
      Peter: Hey, Quagmire.
      Quagmire: Hey, Peter. What’s up?
      Peter: Not much.
      Quagmire: Well, what do you want?
      Peter: Nothin’. I’m just calling to talk. What you thinking about?
      Quagmire: What do you mean? You called me!
      Peter: I just wanted to say hi. So, what are you…
      *Quagmire hangs up and walks away*

      Sometimes while watching anime I’ll grumble to myself and hit things. This is all stuff I have the courtesy not to do around other people.

  3. This reminds me of how I was watching Perfect Blue for my very first time in an anime club meeting, and there were these two girls that just WOULDN’T SHUT UP =.=;;

    They kept randomly giggling, laughing, or stupidly commenting at every single serious moment of the movie, and almost made me walk out of there.

    Safe to say, they ruined the movie for me, so I rewatched it later on my own.

    • That reminds of a time I was watching a porno. You see, at CMU, there’s a movie club that shows a “TBA” film every semester, which is code for porn. A few of my friends thought it’d be a funny experience to watch a full-length porno in the biggest auditorium on campus, so we went. There were two girls sitting behind us who kept saying, “ewww, this is gross!” the whole time. Except no, they didn’t think it was gross at all, seeing as how they sat through the whole thing, meaning they were just as perverted and debased as the rest of us. It’s hard to ruin porn, but geez, they made a pretty good run at it. (The movie was Pirates, in case anyone was curious.)

  4. That’s why I keep my activities to myself. I find it awkward when I watch my badass movies somewhere then some guy scatters along and sits next to me, making me feel compelled to lend an earphone or I’d look like a complete jerk. Then it gets even more awkward since whoever watches is just silent, and due to one earphone missing you’d think of shitloads of paranoid thoughts and whatnot and whatever other crap swims into your mind at the time. Then there’s all the other people who walk by and ask ‘Hey you watching your cartoons again?’

    I’m a loner, man. No way will I want to watch anything serious with someone else. Light-hearted shit, sure, since that carries the atmosphere on its own, but never anything serious. Especially shows with plot. Then you’d had to answer metric craptons of questions like ‘Who’s this?’, ‘Why are they fighting’ blah blah blah. It’s all a load of hassle that amounts to nothing in the end, except being a complete waste of my time and ruining the viewing experience.

    • A few years ago I won a portable DVD player in a raffle. So far I’ve used it twice. What exactly am I supposed to watch in public? Why couldn’t I win a lower prize and get something I’d actually use?

      I was totally fine watching heavy stuff with my roommate. He never cared to talk about it and neither did I. Next episode, next episode, next episode, food, next episode, next episode, stop: gotta finish up some work/go to sleep. It’s just as good as watching by yourself.

  5. I’ve been thinking about going to my college’s anime club, just to see if there’s any girls who are remotely hot, and then if there are, I could stay and most likely score some easy sex. Any girl willing to join an anime club must surely be desperate for a penis. However, I know that that would be a waste of time, so I don’t bother.

    Anime is one of the only things I like doing by myself. The other being masturbation. Doing any of those things with other people totally defeats the purpose.

  6. Yeah, I’m mostly in agreement with you. I wouldn’t mind trying out this new skype viewing thing as a one-off novelty, but the fact I purposely don’t own a headset to avoid getting too obsessed in online activities knocks that idea on the head anyway.

    Seeing as my RL friends think anime is (rightly) weird/stupid, I’ve given up on trying to show them the better stuff. I gave up on my family after End of Eva caused my brother to throw up and go to bed to get the show out of his mind… yeah ok, it transpired he was completely stoned at the time, but I’m still blaming Eva for being a mindf**k! XD. Watching with non-anime fans is a horrible experience.

    Then, when I did join an anime society at uni, I realised there was a big difference between meeting like-minded people to talk about anime, and watching it with them. To be fair, it wasn’t so bad with the comedies (Hare/Guu, Excel Saga, Cromartie High), in fact in lot of cases it was really fun; however, any attempts at watching anything serious (Last Exile, Wolf’s Rain) was a complete waste of time, with incessant babble ruining the shows.

    The main thing I learned was that there was a huge difference between being a big anime fan and a hardcore otaku. I made some friends but at least half of that group freaked the hell out of me! I seriously wasn’t ready for all the whooping, squealing and downright creepy comments. And then there was the fanfiction… ughh!

    So yeah, watching anime (and exercising) on your own is the only way for me.

    • I won’t judge you if you try it once. As they say, once a philosopher, twice a pervert.

      I could see comedies being ok since we’re used to hearing audience laughter in real life and on TV sitcoms. I’d also be curious to hear if/when exactly people are laughing during comedies like Lucky Star. I wouldn’t accept any audience jokes though, unless they were:

      1. Not distracting
      2. More entertaining than whatever was going on at that particular moment
      3. Worse than the show in general (to justify watching the anime in the first place)

  7. I initially became attracted to the idea because “editorialists” and smarter bloggers than me promised great in-depth discussions of anime in the group. While there were some such moments, most of it were, as you’d expect, jokes to fill dead air. To make things worse, many were 4chan references that I don’t understand. We watched Tamayura together, and I had to rewatch it later alone because many people were soooo in love with Momoneko-sama.

    But it was still much better than going to an anime club. I went to a club viewing once in college… Never again.

    I don’t go on the Skype thing much anymore because I’m too lazy to synch-up schedules with others and re-install Skype, but it was a fresh experience while I was there. Most of the time, we just chat. I guess for me, it was less about the particular anime, and more about hanging with other anime fans. It’s something I don’t get to do much since none of my rl friends watch anime.

    Most people are inherently social creatures. Though I still prefer to watch anime alone most of the time, especially for atmospheric-dependent anime (Aria and such), there are times when I want to share an experience with others. It’s why I drag my siblings to watch anime with me. And it’s why the Skype thing isn’t such a terrible idea once in a while.

    Anyway, I’m sure the group would love to have you. I haven’t been on the thing for some time now, so I don’t know what it’s involved into… But in any case, it might be fun to give it a chance some time.

    • You bring up a great point I forgot to mention. I don’t like scheduling my viewing around others. I don’t like waiting for people or having to rush so I can catch up. Wow, I can’t believe I forgot to add the “i hate people” tag. Thanks for reminding me of the depths of my misanthropy.

      But it was still much better than going to an anime club. I went to a club viewing once in college… Never again.

      I have enough decency not to ask for details. The first rule of anime club is you don’t talk about anime club.

  8. What’s the point of criticizing the way other people want to have fun and enjoy their shows, when it doesn’t harm you in any way?

    The main lure of the chat’s not the actual watch of the episode, anyway, but the discussion of other things. (Well, it is for me. Probably for others too, considering how long we delay watching the episodes.) So eh.

    • What’s the point of criticizing the way other people-
      – Oh meffy-chan, you are as sweet as your rl voice is moé . I’m guessing that Baka-san doesn’t need to be harmed in any way to have a reason to criticise other people.

      The main lure of the chat’s… the discussion of other things
      – I partly agree with this. That is, I certainly have no interest in wasting time watching anything ‘bad’ because ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ [which, for the record, means ‘it’s so bad it’s still bloody bad’, sheesh], but seeing as none of my rl mates are into anime, I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity that the group that ghosty writes about has given me to meet and actually speak to each other about anime (and anything else we fancy talking about), which would be nigh on impossible because we all live so far apart.

      Clearly, if you don’t like watching anything with other people then it’s probably not for you, and I would never group-watch anything ‘terribad’ (see above) or requiring a lot of concentration in order to keep up with intricacies to do with plot etc, but, personally, it’s fun watching light-hearted stuff such as comedies and rom-coms. As with any social networking activity, the experiences vary and it depends on who you may or may not ‘click’ with soon after you all meet for the first time in a large-ish session, but when you do find yourself gelling with people then it’s a great alternative to just commenting on each other’s blogs posts and twitter feeds, for obvious reasons. (Er, for the it’s-fun-to-make-friends type of obvious that is, in case it wasn’t, lol.)

      Finally, there’s obviously no way in hell you, B-R, would have been interested in this, but I sincerely and really, really, really wish I could’ve seen your reaction when you heard of it. Nuff said.

      • it’s fun watching light-hearted stuff such as comedies and rom-coms

        Really? Just imagine watching a rom-com with me. Would I not completely ruin it for you? Perhaps even ruin the entire genre?

        I sincerely and really, really, really wish I could’ve seen your reaction when you heard of it

        It was not unlike my Don’t Watch the Super Bowl with Girls expression.

        • Reminds me of my friend’s recent facebook ‘news’: Overheard: “I am from Brazil; we have the same colors as the Packers, and I have been a fan ever since I found out.”

          A)Although the status was gender neutral, I can only assume this was said by a female. If it was a male, then I have even less hope for humanity than before…

          B) I replied by stating that the only way such stupidity could POSSIBLY be acceptable would be if she was ridiculously hot. Then again, maybe not.

    • 1. Take out a few sentences about Skype and the remaining 90% of this post would’ve been the same back in July 2008.

      2. These things do cause me harm. Even if Skype viewings in particular haven’t, Skype isn’t the first social networking scheme to come around, nor will it be the last.

      3. I may be the center of the universe, but I’m not the universe itself. Lots of others, like digitalboy, may try this out and regret it. I’m providing the opposing view that ghostlightning’s post neglected. Why doesn’t he care if digitalboy is harmed? Poor digitalboy.

      4. This post may give you some ideas on how to make your sessions more attractive to wary viewers.

      The discussion before and after the episodes is fine. I’m not into that stuff either, but it’s harmless. Talking during the show, on the other hand, can seriously ruin it. I’m speaking from personal experience here too.

  9. I am in complete agreement with you here BR. I watch anime with my brothers and best friends, and we all watch with seriousness, not speaking except to make small remarks that are not so much jokes as confirming one-another’s thoughts.

    I attended one of these Skype meetings, in which Hidamari Sketch episode 3 was to be watched. I did not make it 5 minutes into the episode before leaving. They laughed at inappropriate times, overreacted to the events on screen (nothing in HidaSketch is so out there as to provoke a ‘what am I watching?!’), and generally pissed me off until I closed the window. I wasn’t even missing much, as I’d seen the episode at least three times already, but I just can’t watch anime with someone who’s not seeing what I am.

    I ran a “film and animation” club in my senior year and would enter a blind rage at my fellow students who couldn’t shut up during the movies. Eventually, the club was shut down because I skipped all the meetings where the teacher made us watch something lame, since I didn’t want to have to both watch something lame and do it surrounded by idiots who didn’t really care.

    From now on, I only watch anime with people that I trust.

    • (As real men don’t need words to communicate, I’m simply transcribing this comment for the rest of you.)

      I approve of your anime-watching habits. This is what I’m talking about. If you’re watching with the right people, you don’t need to talk. You understand them. They understand you. What’s left to say? Just enjoy the show.

  10. As you opened up your example in the post, it only really works when for the most part, people are on the same wavelength in regards to watching anime. In my college anime club, for the first two years, for the most part, everyone pretty much save their comments for after shows were shown. And as the freshman group in my third year came in, their mindset regarding watching anime seemed to be more in tune with the current teenager watching anime in the US, so there were some attempts at MST3K-ing shows. We (as in the old guard) managed to calm that sort of thing down, but I wouldn’t be surprised if after we left, things sprang up like that again.

    If I’m there to watch anime, I want to keep my focus on watching anime, and have no problems if I’m watching with others who do the same. I’ll only have problems when I feel like my time’s wasted by someone trying (and usually failing) to be a smartass. I only have so much time.

    • I figured you were the kind of guy I could (probably) enjoy watching anime with, at least in real life.

      I need to watch an episode of MST3K someday. I’m curious if it was any good, and, if so, how it pulled it off. I love The Angry Video Game Nerd’s reviews of crappy video games, but like sports, (most) video games don’t require your full and constant aural attention.

  11. It goes like this for me:
    – bad anime: will only watch if I’m suffering with others. If they invited me to watch it, they’ll either watch something I ask them to next time, or they’ll compensate me with beer/etc. It’s just more tolerable with the MST3K effect, since the anime’s not good enough to hold my interest otherwise.
    – borderline/good anime: can’t stand watching them with others the first time around. Someone will invariably say something to ruin borderline anime for everyone else, or it’s too fucking distracting. Subsequent viewings, it depends on whether I want to continue enjoying it, or get other people’s opinions.

    Some outliers, of course, namely with confusing-as-fuck anime like gag comedies (FLCL, Biyori) or twisted mysteries like Umineko. And then I’ll only watch them with carefully-selected peers/friends, not just on a whim, because I know they’ll add to the experience instead of detracting from it.

    The old anime club was only really worthwhile to introduce me to shows before the Internet made them obsolete, though I will admit it helped me find some like-minded people that I still keep in touch with.

    Circlejerk blogging and the like I’ll leave to the professional bloggers to worry about. I have enough fun watching anime with my wife and friends, and don’t need to watch everything that comes out, nor watch it as it’s airing in Japan.

    • Heh, back in college I’d go to pretty much any meeting of any club that was offering free food. I don’t recall the anime club ever offering free beer, or pizza for that matter; otherwise I would’ve been there in a flash.

      I imagine anime clubs being essential back in the day. I’d absolutely join to have access to a library of video tapes before easy access on the internet. Bittorrent was getting popular about a year before I left for college, so I had it easy.

      The bloggers who blog about every show each season are tools. For what they’re worth, tools are useful. I’m not heroic enough to watch every crappy show and warn others that the shows are in fact as crappy as they sounded.

  12. Hhhmm… in my case, it depends.

    pros in watching alone for me:
    – no distractions. the noise and questions that others make could be annoying. sometimes I’m even made to pause the vide just to explain what’s going on
    – my opinions and impressions won’t be influenced by the person watching with me.

    pros in watching with someone for me:
    – there’s someone I can ask asap if ever I missed a line or something and didn’t get a scene
    – it’s very enjoyable to watch horror shows with someone who’s afraid and easily screams… they amuse me. haha!

    • Independence of judgment is key for blogger. If you can’t form your own opinions, why am I reading you? I might as well read the person you’re stealing them from. Of course, if you’re good, you won’t let anyone’s opinions influence you even if you’re watching with them.

      I don’t know anyone who screams during horror movies. If I did, I’d do my best to un-know them.

  13. I’ve watched a few anime series with my sister, and like you, we watch and don’t really say a word. It’s just click, click, episode done? Right to the next.

    I can understand the fun in a MST3K type of thing, but I just never got into that. Back in high school, I’d have friends who’d talk about how much fun it was watching terrible movies, and I just never got that. There’s a million things I’d rather be doing than sitting around watching a bad anime or a bad movie.

    • You know a girl who can keep her mouth shut for 20 minutes? I envy you.

      Terrible movies can be funny, but I’ve found that for the most part they make fun of themselves. I don’t need some smartass next to me pointing out the obvious. If the jokes are scripted and refined to the point of being consistently good, that’s one thing, but you can’t expect an amateur to improv anywhere close to that level.

  14. I can’t really comment on the experience of watching anime with others as I haven’t yet seen one with any.There are hardly any anime fans in my place (it would be a miracle to find one!)
    Anyways even I prefer watching anime alone although I don’t think Yi’s idea is bad too!

    • It’s probably not as hard as you think. You just need to know where to look. Not that you’d want to, but still…any anime clubs in your area? Any Japanese language classes? Any Japanese restaurants? Any book stores that sell manga? You’re bound to find someone there.

  15. Hmm. Does this apply to doing drinking games to shitty anime? Or, for that matter, any anime? Best drinking game I ever did (we drank every time someone swore) was to The Departed, which is a good movie, so…

    I think its too hard to focus when watching things with others. I go to the movies almost exclusively alone for just that reason.

    If you finishing off your drafts makes the moon crash into the planet… please don’t. I’d rather wait for the Rapture to happen and for all of us to get tortured by the Anti-Christ. It sounds like it could be exciting. I think the moon would kill us off too quickly.

    • Do you still not see the connection?

      I used to go to the movies alone. Then I stopped going to the movies altogether. I’ll probably break that for Gantz in a few days and regret it. Movies are expensive. So is drinking. Doing both at the same time would kill me faster than the moon crashing.

  16. I was totally going to do the SCCSAV thing with Garzey’s Wing but I completely forgot. Now I just stick in the group so I can finally sucker someone into playing Halo PC on poorly made custom maps.

    Two of my friends are fun to watch stuff with, but neither of them is too far into the field of anime and we’re generally never awake for anime blocks on Adult Swim/we never hang out that late. Instead we usually end up watching stuff like Avatar: The Last Airbender or movies or other random things on TV. But usually it’s mainly video games. Watching my friend who is married play Halo is always a treat because he overreacts when crazy stuff happens in a rather hilarious way.

    • I have no idea what SCCSAV stands for or why anyone would make an acronym that’s impossible to pronounce. If that’s as creative as they can get, I can only imagine how dull their comments are during the showings.

      Watching married people doing anything fun is a treat.

  17. You know, when I was reading this, I decided that I’d comment on how this really just seemed like the sort of article you’d have written three or so years ago back when you were clearing the air about being curmudgeonly in case anyone missed that vibe.
    As if the black/ochre color scheme didn’t give that away immediately.
    But there the answer was, clear as day, at the end of the article. You must be some kind of goddamn psychic.
    No wonder you think everybody’s jokes are predictable.

    Personally, my biggest beef about watching anime with other people is when they’re trying to sell you on an anime, if only because the people I hang out with like vastly different things than I in a show, and quite frankly, your appeal to how MOEH this shit is, is getting tiresome, Prince Asshat.
    Sorry, where was I? Ah yes.
    I fundamentally disagree on one point that seems relatively common down here; I believe that having a (minimal!) commentary with a brain-having friend during a LOLDEEP movie/thematically dense show CAN enrich your viewing experience.
    I find it a little bit egotistical for one to think that they could pick up on every subtext or theme or symbolism on their first or even second or third viewing, by themselves. When the writing is especially rich, it’s actually advantageous to have someone bring their separate thought process into the party.
    I relent, however. Not every show or movie is an Oshii production.

    • For what it’s worth, I wasn’t psychic enough to predict you’d call my font color ochre.

      Sure, other people can be useful for sorting through the stuff you don’t get, but if you’re watching is that intelligent/deep, can you really afford to talk during the episode and possibly miss out on more? I still say leave it for the end, or watch with someone who has very good sense with the pause button. The latter can’t be done over the internet as far as I know, unless someone’s a big enough loser to write an add-on that can simultaneously pause/unpause everyone’s media player over a Skype session.

  18. It is tough for all this loneliness huh baka ? But i do agree, 95% of all anime i watched, it was alone, the other 7% of the 5% was with friends and the rest was re-watching series with my sister, girlfriends et cetera… and due to re-watching shows with girls, they naturally can’t shut up most of time, so i don’t know if it really counts as watching anime, because we were talking most of the time.

    One funny thing about it, is that girls are curious enough to keep asking you what will happen next (because they know you already watched the show), instead of just watching it… i always lie of what will happen next, or don’t say a thing… hahahah,
    it is funny to watch anime with other non-otaku girls, but not for the sake of watching anime of course.

    But when watching movies or TV shows with others, everyone shuts the fuck up. can’t understand why people don’t tolerate anime in general and understimate the high value they have to us, humble anime tards 😛

    one more draft filler comment less.

      • I did with a different name (and a different story however) 😛

        I hate TV commercials, am i suppossed to buy all those bulshit they sell ?

        At least the anime episodes i download don’t have them (except for nana shizue bargain shit).

        Well, i can’t manage to make a girl be quiet if she doesn’t want to… unless i do some dirt trick 😉

  19. Hey BR I know all that stuff about not watching current anime, but Freezing ep 1 was pretty fucking badass and right up your ally. The main chick is played by Mamiko Noto and she kills at least 10 other bitches in the ep.

    • I’ve read some early impressions claiming it’s like a “better” Queen’s Blade. Sounds intriguing. However, I do have at least four other shows to watch first, so I’ll wait.

  20. I’ve sat in on a few of these sessions but 1 was for an anime I didn’t care about and then I watched episodes of a current airing show I had already seen so I didn’t loose any information while people spoke. Watched the Gundam 0080 viewing and that was fun because of the company I had. Again already seen. Last night the people didn’t want to type chat while watching the Trigun movie so I had em all muted but still watched the show at the same time. I took part in the after discussion for a while but it certainly trails off very fast.

    This kind of viewing isn’t for everyone but I wanted to give it a try a few times. I don’t think I’ll be doing more of this with people over Skype because I really prefer using irc or msn to watch something with someone. If we wanna talk to me we type it out. No annoying voice comments to deal with there XD

    • I’d be more open to type chatting, similar to the KSK Live Blog format, if only because if you miss anything it’s your own fault for not paying attention. It’s easier to ignore text than voices, though I’m pretty good at ignoring both.

      It’d be less objectionable to group watch something I’d already seen, but I don’t rewatch much anime in the first place. I’d rather watch something new.

  21. Finally, someone that has some sense when it comes to these things. Watching this crap together results in the opposite of sophisticated, nuanced discussion.

    You stay classy, Baka-raptor.

    • the opposite of sophisticated, nuanced discussion

      You mean slovenly, obtrusive masturbation? Sounds about right. I can think of no other way to describe distracting commentary that nobody cares about but the speaker.

  22. I, too, watch anime alone. Occasionally I’ll watch with a few specific people (because I know they’ll keep their mouths shut until we’re done). But really, I prefer to watch it with just me. I can focus. I can acknowledge only what’s going on without having to backtrack because someone said something and I paid attention to THEM instead of the SUBS. Definitely agreeing with you here.

    • I remember when I was first getting my brother into anime. He said something along the lines of, “If there are subtitles, does it matter if you turn the sound off?” I got a good laugh out of that. Sound is necessary, and talking ruins it.

  23. “Too bad that’ll never happen because most of your jokes are horrendous.”

    I lol’d, but in all seriousness if you can’t have a fun and rewarding experience watching anime (or whatever else) with someone else, I’d chalk it up to either your choice of company or some kind of social complex.

    • I can definitely have fun watching with others, provided they shut up during the episode. For example, having more people around may lower the cost of food per person.

  24. I think you’re thinking more ‘wanting to watch anime, and talking about it with other people’, rather than what I think their opinions are; ‘wanting to talk with other people, and using anime to fuel that purpose.’

    The second one exists in the form of these viewing events, and the first one also exists in the form of my school’s anime club – though rather, a all-silent rule is imposed :X

    Of course, I’m probably wrong on all counts too.

    • I think you’re thinking more ‘wanting to watch anime, and talking about it with other people’, rather than what I think their opinions are; ‘wanting to talk with other people, and using anime to fuel that purpose.’

      People who say they’re about the second and not the first either aren’t serious or can’t be taken seriously. There are smarter, sexier, more interesting, more diverse people doing all kinds of things that are a lot more popular than watching anime. You chose anime because you love it, and if everyone else suddenty disappeared off the face of the planet, you’d keep watching anime without a second thought. All this “wanting to talk with others” psychobabble is nothing more than a cheesy, romantic rationalization.

  25. I can tell you why this site is being censored and it has NOTHING to do with the images that are posted here. Basically, the various crawler bots count how much and how often words like porn, nudity, hentai, etc are on this site. And if they exceed a set amount/percentage, you are listed as containing pornographic content. Crawler bots generally only look at the textual content, they ignore images and flash videos. I should know – I’m a web developer. I’m not even sure if a bot is capable of detecting a pornographic image. Incidentally, I just increased the likelihood of the site being blacklisted (oops).

    • I was under the impression it was text-based, but that still doesn’t explain why some sites aren’t blocked while mine is. Is my porn/non-porn text ratio really that bad? Porn jizz fuck dick tits to that.

  26. I pretty much watch anime alone as well, I watch anime 90% of anime from my computer afterall.

    However, for normal non-anime shows and movies I’ve watch with people who talked the whole time and it was perfectly enjoyable. It’s probably just a difference experience if you’re watching something with funny, enteraining people rather then dumb ones. And of course I’m only half-interested in non-anime shows these days anyway so I don’t care too much if I miss half the movie most of the time.

    Talking with people on Skype while watching an anime seems a bit strange but I guess it might be okay for shows like “Index” or “Infinite Stratos”. They are the kind of shows which you can miss half of and still enjoy, it would depend on the other people being entertaining and not stupid though I suppose.

    • It’s probably just a difference experience if you’re watching something with funny, enteraining people rather then dumb ones.

      …it would depend on the other people being entertaining and not stupid though I suppose.

      Where do these people exist? Are they more entertaining than me? If they’re not, I might as well talk to myself the whole time. Maybe I’ll do that for a future post…

  27. For many, many years I frequently watched anime with my brother. That worked out well as we generally think the same, so any conversation was just mostly factual discussion on the episode (lines we missed, ‘who was that guy again’ type things, and confirming plot points) and of course the ‘nod’ to watch the next episode. Also not too bad watching with my best friend as it’s pretty similar.

    ————
    Back in high school, it was a forgone conclusion that I’d join my college anime club. Then when I got to college, I didn’t attend a single meeting. I figured it’d be pointless to walk across campus to watch some shows I’d seen before and a bunch more I could watch on my own time, just so I could do it all with other people, none of whom I’d want to have sex with.
    ————

    Best line of your post, so true! I went to the anime club at my university once, it was horrible. Almost everyone there were horrible, annoying nerds who made the worst commentary (how’s yaoi joke every minute sound?) and were generally getting on my nerves. Also, not even remotely a looker in the group’s “girls” which made things somewhat worse. The only positive thing was I got to watch the Kenshin OAV which I didn’t have a copy of and was excellent.

    I don’t mind watching stuff with people. Watching the re-release of Empire Strikes Back in the theatres and hearing everyone’s laugh when Luke was happy that Leia kissed him was totally awesome. Watching the South Park movie in the theatres was really memorable. But there’s some things I like doing alone or at least with only very select people and anime is one of them.

    • I believe I said earlier in my comments: The first rule of anime club is you don’t talk about anime club.

      The Star Wars re-releases were the first time I saw the trilogy. Darth Vader was spoiled for me, but Luke/Leia was not.

      I saw the second Lord of the Rings movie on opening night. Everyone in the theater cheered whenever ANYTHING happened. Gandalf shows up. Cheering. Legolas shoots someone. Cheering. Legolas shoots someone again. Cheering. Sam does something gay. Cheering. It would’ve been better if I’d waited a few days, but it wasn’t too hard to drown out to noise. Specifically identifiable words are a lot more distracting than general crowd noise.

  28. i generally don’t share the same the hobbies as friends of mine

    and most other anime fans make me sick.

    i drink alone

  29. I prefer series that use the brain and don’t insult the audience, so I usually watch alone. I’ve only watched Tokikake in cinema, and I had companions, but we had enough respect for anime to shut up through the movie and then talk afterwards. That’s been my experience. The women who are open to anime actually shut up when watching good series.

  30. I probably watch anime alone since it was very entertaining…

    But sometimes I do watch with my sister or my big bro… When I have the mood.

    but, mostly I don’t because I was trying to get absorbed in understanding the whole plot itself…(except for K-on!)

  31. Oh LOL

    One of my main reason I always watch animu alone is because I don’t like people looking at me while I’m having weird faces… I usually forget what’s my face is doing specially when I see moe…

  32. i’m exactly the same, i always watch it alone, even when my brother lived at home and he downloaded the anime on one server that we both shared we’d still watch it separately. It’s very rare for me to watch anime with toher people, most of the time people talk and i just want them to STFU! only time i’m able to watch it with a group is with people who like me, know that while watching anything it’s best to stay quiet and talk during commercials. So with no commercials, it’s all silence.

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