A rather intriguing question this week and one I am keen to get into. I’m also excited to know what other people think of this one. As always though, if you have a question you’d like me to tackle please feel free to complete the survey below or follow this link.
If you could reset your memory of two particular anime series — one that you don’t mind forgetting about forever and one that you want to re-watch again without prior knowledge — what would those two series be?
From Mei
Okay, let’s start with the one that I wouldn’t mind forgetting about forever… the thing here is I actually don’t mind having watched most things even if they are bad. That is because it gives me something against which to compare stuff that is only kind of okay and stuff that is actually good. So forgetting something terrible would just make me more critical of stuff that is actually kind of competent.
Still there’s a definite temptation to throw Hand Shakers into this one. I just couldn’t find anything to recommend about that anime and it was an incredible time suck that gave very little back. Diabolik Lovers would be another anime I’d like to just pretend I hadn’t given in to temptation and watched it.
However, anime I’d like to rewatch again without prior knowledge is actually a harder question. There’s quite a few that I’d love to experience again for the first time.
The one that immediately springs to mind is Natsume Yuujinchou. I love that anime and I’ve rewatched the earlier seasons a lot of times and it certainly doesn’t have diminishing returns as that lovely relaxing and calm feeling as well as the general cathartic nature of the anime really hits home each and every time. But the first watch was something special. Watching it was genuinely like experiencing falling in love and while the anime remains amazing after repeated viewings having that initial rush of emotions and that unexpected blossoming love would be amazing to re-experience.
The other anime I’d like to throw in here (though there are plenty of others) would be March Comes in Like a Lion. Meeting Rei for the first time and seeing his growth all over again and how he struggles, moves forward, falls back, is lifted up and helped by the sisters, finds his own feet and moves forward, to continue to struggle… there was just something really incredible about his character journey and while rewatching March Comes In Like a Lion was a great experience, seeing it the first time was almost overwhelming emotionally.
So those are my two picks for the second part of the question. But again, I’d love to know what my readers would choose so be sure to leave us a comment and if you have a question for me it is as simple as completing the survey below.
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I see Natsume, I like! I was wondering if you managed to catch the movie, I really loved it. It was basically a feature length episode lol
The movie hasn’t come out in my region. Hopefully I’ll eventually be able to see it.
Brain bleach: My Wife is the Student Council President season 2, because it took most of what I liked about season 1 and tossed it straight into the garbage. I can’t blame the producers because it was just following the manga, and I’ve heard talk that the manga was a victim of some serious executive meddling, but that still doesn’t change that I’d be happy to enjoy season 1 for what it was and forget that season 2 ever existed.
I don’t have a specific anime in mind to say that I’d be happy to blank it out and rewatch from scratch, but if I was going to pick one it would probably be a sports anime, since there’s no recapturing the in-the-moment tension of not knowing how a key match is going to play out the first time you watch it. Like the first time I watched Saki, I was planning to watch episodes 13-15 and go to bed, but episode 15 went into the opening hands of the final table, and it was immediately so gripping that I ended up watching all the way through episode 19 because I just couldn’t put it down. Didn’t end up actually getting to bed until about 3 AM. You’re just not going to get that from a rewatch, no matter how good the series is.
That’s true. That initial tension and excitement just won’t be there on the rewatch no matter how enjoyable something still is.
I think the mark of a truly great series or film is that you can watch it again after a while, still be enthralled by it and find new things you never noticed before.
That said, I would probably nominate Death Note, Bleach, and Spirited Away as they were the three main ones that kicked off my anime journey (I know, late bloomer) and whilst I still get a nostalgia kick from rewatching them, you never get a second “first time”…
I would love to see Death Note again for the first time. That would be so great to experience all over again.
I can’t honestly think of anything I’d change. If an anime is really good I’ll rewatch it over the years, each time picking up on something new. The next watching becomes even better than the previous. Lost count of how many times I’ve watched Evangelion and I still don’t have a shred of respect for Shinji.
I wonder about “forget to see again”… I’m not the same person I was when I first watched whatever the series was, and if it’s not current-season the the community isn’t there either.
Would it have the same impact?
I often wonder that. Would I have fallen as ridiculously head over heels in love with Yuri on Ice if not for the wave from the community and the shared experience of watching each week, writing about it, sharing screen caps, finding great fan art, etc, etc. Would watching it now for the first time have the same impact?
It does however make you realise how subjective viewing can be when you can watch the same thing at different times and have a totally different viewing experience.