c/anime-discussions

Just learned 80% of the top 50 anime on MAL have source material completed

I was digging through MyAnimeList stats last night and found out that most of the highest rated shows are finished adaptations, not original stories. Does that mean we should stick to completed manga before starting a new series?

Tried watching a 'slow burn' anime everyone raves about and almost fell asleep by episode 3

I gave Mushishi a shot because the forums won't stop talking about it. I got through episode 2 and nothing happened, no action, no plot, just a guy walking around forests. By episode 3 I was checking my phone every five minutes. Am I missing something or is this show really just 26 episodes of calm vibes? Has anyone else found it boring or do I need to stick with it longer?

PSA: That guy who argued with me at the con about sub vs dub had a point

At Anime Expo 2023, this random dude in line for the MAPPA panel spent 10 minutes telling me I was missing out by only watching dubs. I brushed him off at first, but then he calmly explained how certain jokes and wordplay just don't translate in English. Watched one episode of Vinland Saga subbed that night and finally got what he meant. Has anyone else had a stranger's take actually change how you watch anime?

Hit my first 100 subscribers on my anime analysis channel today

I was at my desk in my tiny apartment in Portland when I saw the notification pop up. It's only been 3 months but I almost quit last week after episode 30 got like 12 views. Feels good to finally have people actually watching my breakdowns of the themes in shows like Evangelion and Serial Experiments Lain. Anyone else remember hitting that first real milestone and how it kept you going?

Finally gave that mecha anime my buddy recommended a shot

I was super skeptical of Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans for like 3 months. My friend kept saying it wasn't the typical kids-show robots. Then I watched the first 3 episodes last weekend and the politics and character deaths hit way harder than I expected. What anime did you brush off but ended up loving after giving it a real chance?

Took me 2 hours to realize my Crunchyroll was set to 480p the whole time

I was wondering why every fight scene looked like a blurry mess until I accidentally clicked the settings button and saw it was stuck on lowest quality from when I was on mobile data last year.

Call me stubborn but I just couldn't get into Attack on Titan for years

My buddy kept pushing it on me since 2018. I watched the first 3 episodes like three separate times and always bailed. Felt like a weird monster of the week show with screaming. Then last month I was stuck at home with the flu and gave it a real shot. Got through season 1 in 2 days and suddenly the whole political twist in season 3 hit me like a truck. I finally get it now. Anyone else have a show you wrote off for years that ended up being incredible?

One thing that bugs me in review discussions is when people call any show with a slower pace 'anime Malick'

I see this in almost every thread about a slower anime like Mushishi or even certain Ghibli films. Not every quiet moment is a deep artistic choice, sometimes it's just bad pacing or budget cuts. Has anyone else noticed this getting way more common in the last year?

Finished my 250th anime and it just hit me how much time I've burned

Started watching in 2020 during lockdown and now I'm at 250 completed shows according to MAL. That's like 8 straight months of constant watching if each is 24 minutes per episode. Anyone else ever do the math on their total hours and feel weird about it?

Hit 1000 anime watched and it changed my mind about short series

I always thought short 12 episode anime were just incomplete stories that left you hanging. But after I crossed 1000 shows on my list last month, I realized some of my favorites are actually the short ones. Stuff like Hinamatsuri and Barakamon proved that you can get a full satisfying arc in just one cour. The milestone made me go back and check my ratings, and I found 80% of my 10 out of 10s were under 26 episodes. It completely flipped my opinion on what makes a show worth watching. Anyone else find that shorter series hit harder for them?

Last night I compared Crunchyroll subs and Funimation dubs for Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

I was rewatching the big reveal scene around episode 40 and decided to check both versions side by side. The subtitles kept more of the original Japanese phrasing about equivalent exchange, while the dub changed some key lines to flow better in English. I ended up liking the subs more for accuracy, but a friend at my local anime club in Portland said the dub's delivery of 'Ed...ward' gives him chills every time. Anybody else have a strong preference for one over the other with this series?

Still fuming about that filler arc argument I got into on Crunchyroll's comment section

I was sitting in my apartment in Portland last Thursday night, just trying to enjoy the new season of that mecha show, and some guy jumped in a thread yelling that all filler arcs are pointless and a waste of time. I replied saying how the beach episode in episode 37 actually had character development for the side characters that paid off later, and he went off on me calling me a casual fan who doesnt get real anime. The stupid thing is I responded with a full breakdown of three different filler arcs that tied into the main plot, citing episode numbers and everything, but he just kept saying 'cope harder.' I ended up spending an hour arguing with someone who clearly didnt watch past season 2. Has anyone else had a pointless debate like this on a streaming platform where you put in effort and the other person just dodges everything?

Had a chat with my nephew about One Piece pacing and it made me rethink my whole watchlist

Buddy swore I was watching anime wrong, turns out he had a point

My coworker Dave kept saying I needed to watch subbed instead of dubbed because I was missing the real acting. I told him he was being a snob for like 3 years. Now I finally switched and I'm catching way more emotion in the voices - anyone else have a stubborn opinion about subs vs dubs that changed on them?

Hot take: 'Cowboy Bebop' is overrated and I'll die on that hill

I was at Anime Expo 2019 in LA and this guy in a Spike Spiegel cosplay literally argued with me for 10 minutes about why it's the 'perfect anime.' I told him I fell asleep twice trying to watch it and he looked at me like I kicked his dog. The pacing is just way too slow for me and the hype never matched what I actually saw on screen. Anyone else feel like some classics get a free pass just because they're old?

TIL I was skipping the opening credits every episode for like 5 years

Just realized last week during My Hero Academia that the openings actually change up the animation to hint at future plot points and I've been skipping them since season 2, has anyone else missed something obvious like that because they were in a hurry?

Just had to pick between subbing or dubbing for Vinland Saga season 2

I spent like three days stuck on this choice for Vinland Saga season 2. I usually go dubbed cause I like to multitask while watching, but everyone online kept saying the sub actors nailed the emotional scenes with Thorfinn. I ended up going with the sub for the first half, then switching to dub for the second half to compare. Honestly, the sub hit harder during the quiet moments, but the dub had this one voice actor for Canute that was surprisingly good. Now I'm wondering if I made the wrong call on another show I'm about to start. Has anyone else flip-flopped between sub and dub for a serious anime and regretted it later?

Rant: I was sure dub was always worse than sub

I used to think anyone watching dubbed anime was just being lazy, lol. Then I caught the English cast for Cowboy Bebop and realized some performances actually bring extra personality to the characters. Has anyone else had a dub change their whole opinion on a show?

Just realized my favorite anime character is voiced by the same person in three other shows I love

I was looking up the cast for Attack on Titan today and found out Yuki Kaji voices Eren, but also Touma in A Certain Magical Index and Koichi in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. That blew my mind because I never connected those voices at all. Where do you guys usually check voice actor credits?

Why does it take 3 whole episodes just to explain one power system in modern shonen

I started watching this new shonen anime last week and I swear I spent like 2 hours just trying to figure out how the magic system works. They kept throwing terms like 'resonance levels' and 'core binding' at me without ever showing it in action. I sat through three full episodes of characters standing around talking about their abilities instead of actually using them. Compare that to something like Fullmetal Alchemist where Ed just transmutes stuff and you get it right away. By episode 4 I had to pause and look up a wiki guide just to understand why the main character lost a fight. Has anyone else dealt with an anime that overexplains its own rules to the point of being boring? I feel like I wasted a whole evening when I could have been watching something that just lets the story move.

Overheard two guys at a con talking about how filler arcs are actually better than manga canon now

I was waiting in line for the restroom at Anime Expo and these two dudes were arguing that filler arcs in modern shonen have better pacing than the source material. One guy pointed to a specific 12 episode stretch in Boruto that apparently fixed a lot of plot holes. Has anyone else noticed filler getting legitimately more watchable lately?

That one convo with a Ghibli purist at a panel still bugs me

I was at Anime Expo 2023 waiting for a late night panel to start. Some guy next to me starts going off about how the English dubs ruin everything. He said anyone who watches dubbed Ghibli films doesn't really appreciate them. I told him I grew up on the Disney dubs and still love them. He literally said my opinion didn't count because I never saw them in Japanese first. Been thinking about that interaction for over a year now. Has anyone else run into these gatekeeping types at cons?

That week I watched the wrong anime order and ruined the whole experience

Last month I decided to finally watch the Fate series but I looked up a watch order online and picked a random one that said to start with Fate Zero first. I got three episodes in and thought okay this is pretty cool but something felt off. Then I mentioned it to a buddy at work and he laughed at me saying I just spoiled every major twist in the whole franchise by watching it out of order. I was so mad at myself because I really wanted to go in blind and actually enjoy the reveals. Now I have to wait like six months before I can rewatch everything and forget the spoilers. Has anyone else messed up a watch order that bad or am I the only dummy here?

That moment at a con panel made me rethink how I watch dubs

I was at Anime Expo in July, sitting in a late night dub panel with maybe 30 other people. The voice actor for a side character in a show I love talked about how they record scenes out of order and sometimes don't even know the full plot until months later. It hit me that I always judged dubs against subs scene by scene, but that's not really fair when the actors are working blind. Ever since that night, I started judging the whole performance instead of nitpicking single lines. Has anyone else had a con moment that totally flipped your view on something?

The moment I realized I was skipping OP sequences too fast

I used to always skip the opening sequences in every anime I watched. Thought they were just filler time. Then last week during a rewatch of Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, I actually let the first OP play through. Turns out it shows key scenes from later episodes in the background. I missed so many hints and foreshadowing because I was skipping OPs for like 3 years straight. Has anyone else caught hidden details in an OP that totally changed how you saw the show?