Comments on: The Compromise of Batch Watching/Blogging

By: nekosasu

nekosasu — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:48:40 +0000

So agreed with environmental factors weighing into viewing experience, although the impact might not be that apparent. Best anime for sunny days? Rainy days? Interesting questions, perhaps.

I wonder. Going on a boat ride on a quiet lake, preferably on a sunny day, and just watching loads of animu at once… I wouldn’t dislike that, I guess. Especially if boat = yacht, and quiet lake = sea. How much further can you spice up your experience!

By: Ryan A

Ryan A — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:38:07 +0000

Yea, I can totally identify with that. I used to marathon things, but usually not all at once… only started doing that around 2007 I guess. It was usually a couple episodes each day until it was all over. For some reason, having a daily habit like that (esp. during good days) is really enjoyable. ): haven’t had a scheduling like that in quite some time… well, can’t say that. I did watch Keroro and Gintama in such a way, few episodes/day… and it holds to the hypothesis.

There are so very many ways to experience an anime. Depending on the mood, weather, season, time of day, regularity… the effect can add some great magic to the mix.

By: Will

Will — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Well it does happened: with my brother’s PC and games. I started playing Age of Empires 3, and marathoned trough all three campaigns in one sitting, with a little pause in-between.

By: nekosasu

nekosasu — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:06:26 +0000

I feel you. It’s in fact exactly the same I have been doing for a long time in the past – pure procrastination. Too much free time, so much to watch, but there’s simply no motivation or impulse to do it. And eventually, you will come to the logical conclusion that will find a justification, relieving your conscience: marathoning… If ever.

It may be hard, but do start out with a simple episode, even if your body refuses to do it with all its might. Just a little impulse. It might work ;)

By: nekosasu

nekosasu — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:50:51 +0000

Well, some would argue that the most true way to watch anime is to do it in a weekly fashion, because, cliffhangers are meant to be digested and pondered about weekly or something like that… some might even find it actually enjoying, I can’t disagree. But beyond that, the collective thinking and debating online is what usually is most attractive to anime watchers, be it on blogs, forums, or chats.
But once again, it’s up to the individual whether they prefer weekly/batch/marathon, whether they want to participate in/contribute to discussions etc. The choice is usually harder for bloggers than for casual watchers anyway, at least that’s how I see it.

By: Will

Will — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:19:11 +0000

Well, I started to watch animes once in two weeks a while ago, because I’ve noticed that one episode from a certain anime is not enough for me. Now I have problems keeping this habit as well, I already have two animes I’m not following… I have to watch those 6 episodes of them I’ve missed. It’s not because of the lack of free time, no I have plenty. But somehow… I can’t watch them. Similar case with my brother’s pc: now that my brother is in Japan, I can use his more superior PC to play games what my PC can’t run… but somehow, I don’t want to leave my room for that. Maybe I’m just that lazy. I just sit here, browsing the same sites and doing nothing. I don’t know, like I’m not in the mood for anything.

By: Reltair

Reltair — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:57:05 +0000

Hmm, I watch new episodes every week for the current series because I simply don’t feel like waiting on them when the episodes are available. As for older anime that are already completed, I just marathon them because the episodes are already available for consumption. Marathoning Monster in 3 days was an awesome ride.

Each method has it’s advantages/disadvantages, but I like marathoning because you get to see the entire story and don’t have to wait on cliff hangers.

By: nekosasu

nekosasu — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:10:40 +0000

Agreed with copying text, although it often does not come naturally since most people expect stuff to work without a hitch. (I plead guilty!) There’s nothing more frustrating than having to retype a long comment. Copying the text into clipboard should be some kind of automatic feature of WP or browsers in general or something.

Either way, yeah, its quite hard to get the structure of a series, many of which often segue in irregular patterns. I’ve often found myself catching up at the right moment, while sometimes, I even ended up in the middle of a big cliffhanger.

It’s actually a nice feeling to have bits of both elements, it’s a nice blend of recency with suspense, but that would be only pleasant to me as a watcher; to the blogger in me, it’s outright frustrating, since it will make me blog non-episodical, with all the features of episodical blogging: incomplete, hesitant, and hypocritical. Of course it wouldn’t hurt to wait one more week instead, but yeah, spoilers and all.

It is often a hit and miss, really.

By: Michael is Low on Hit Points

Michael is Low on Hit Points — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:38:46 +0000

First off, thank you for the shout out. Secondly (to the other commenters), I personally always copy the text of a comment before hitting submit, just to be safe. It’s a simple tip I feel I should share to hopefully help erase potential future commenting frustration.

Back on topic, batch watching could really work for certain series that are structured for it. Certain recent anime that would be perfect for that method are Bakemonogatari, Umineko, and Spice and Wolf. All three of these series have well defined arcs where you could wait for that arc to end, watch it start to finish, blog about it, and then hold off on watching until the next arc concludes.

The only issue with that is you need to know the structure of the series ahead of time. And the only way I can think of getting that information is to monitor other blogs following said series. Of course, that’s always a scary endeavor, what with spoilers and all.

By: nekosasu

nekosasu — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:01:21 +0000

Wow, I had a whole reply ready for you and it suddenly disappeared… well. I don’t know where to start now?
Sorry again for the plugin mishaps.

Well, by marathons I usually mean, watching anime successively without necessarily doing it all at once. Watching in much shorter intervals would be a lot more accurate for most of what I do, since I often can’t spare a lot of time for watching anime. So, two episodes a day until catching up/completing often sounds reasonable to me. But it is exactly as you say, recency is the key.

And I am certain that the non-communal experience you mention is pretty akin to batch viewing. After all, there is no pressure to be the first to watch/not to be spoilt offline, and people can build their own ideas without any influences. The difference is though, that an entire week wait often tends to diminish recency. I remember when I started using the internet with my modest ISDN line, I was thrilled to watch, say, Stellvia every week, and back in the days I did not know about forums, blogs, and the likes yet. But that in turn cannot really be a comparable example since I was young and pretty much clueless about anime in general so I only saw cute, funny and dramatic stuff without thinking too much about it.