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Answerman - How Do You Get Over Anime Burnout?

I have a similar, but completely inverse problem.

I barely watch anything in any medium, and I always feel I should be watching more. But whenever I say, "Hey, friends, what's good," this ends up happening:

Friend: "Watch [x]."
Me: "What's [x] about? I'm not familiar with the title."
Friend: "It's really famous and good, lol. Go watch it."

I ask because there's certain tropes I want to avoid, ranging from "this makes me uncomfortable" (i.e. sexual assault, lolicon) to "I just don't like this cliche" (harems, love triangles), and I base my decision on a plot synopsis. I also sort of live in a pop culture hole, so to speak, so even if it's famous and well-liked, I probably haven't heard of it. Any tips for rectifying this?

I've never had a full burnout in my 15 years of watching anime, but I've had genre-specific burnouts. Eventually, the same tropes wear thin, so I watch other types of shows, and will work my way back when I find something that piques my interest later.

Well, in my case i try to follow ANN news and see what is been made in Japan.
Usually they announce new anime months, if not a year before they are broadcast.
Im also a avid reader of manga and LN's so i usually know what is the anime about, if is a adaptation and in the manga or LN's they tell if there will be a anime adaptation. But there are also the trailers and of course ANN season previews and reviews.

Than i give the anime 2 or 3 episodes to see if I'm interested and then watch the rest or drop it.

I don't ask my friends because i prefer to make my on opinion.

Anyway, my advice is that all information is already here in ANN and you should make your on opinion regardless of others.

I tend to ask my friends because I value their judgement/our similar interests, and because there's so much coming out that my eyes honestly glaze over, and it gets overwhelming. (I guess I'm easily intimidated?) There's also decades of backlog for me to watch-- I've always been pretty much flat broke, so I own next to no DVD's (or VHS'es), no light novels, and very little manga. So I'm also looking for recommendations on anything older that I might have missed.

Quote:

watching eight to ten shows at the same time

lol I laughed at this because that's what I go down to when I'm burnt out. Normally doing 20-30 shows a season for the last decade or so. Now and then I have to intentionally cut as much as possible. Summer 2017 looks like mostly garbage, thankfully....so I'm only looking at around 10 shows at best.

and I full agree with the statements that no one should watch anime simply to "keep up". It's supposed to be enjoyable. Plain and simple, IMO.

You don't get over it. You chase that golden bough called perfection, never satisfied, dying a little inside every day until one day you can't even remember why you liked this garbage and spend entire weeks in a near coma because sleeping is better than being awake and you can't remember the last time you were happy, or if you ever were.

Or, you know, find other interests instead of letting your life revolve solely around anime, allowing your appreciation for it contrast with your interest in other forms of entertainment so that you don't exhaust yourself. That could work, too. Either one.

...Is this a subtweet? Or maybe a group-subtweet, if that's a thing?

The odds of you being able to successfully predict which shows will end up being worthwhile aren't very good.

My current burnout is a combination of increased workload and the fact no one talks about anime anymore. its all twitter strings or social media posting. The days of sitting in an IRC channel and discussing the new happenings of the week are over, especially amongst the younger crowd.

Why share thoughts with your friends when shallower statements can generate 'likes' and 'favs' and 'retweets'? Talking with your friends is nothing when compared to a non-consequential numerical value.

It was pretty much the only media I was consuming and it wouldn't be uncommon for me to be watching eight to ten shows at the same time.

I think the first step to combatting that is to stop trying to keep up with current shows. Your time is valuable, your sanity is finite, and frankly, the odds of you being able to successfully predict which shows will end up being worthwhile aren't very good. Wait a season or two, listen and find out which shows people are still talking about months after they stopped airing. THOSE are the ones that, generally, are worth your time.

H. Guderian wrote:

My current burnout is a combination of increased workload and the fact no one talks about anime anymore. its all twitter strings or social media posting. The days of sitting in an IRC channel and discussing the new happenings of the week are over, especially amongst the younger crowd. Why share thoughts with your friends when shallower statements can generate 'likes' and 'favs' and 'retweets'? Talking with your friends is nothing when compared to a non-consequential numerical value.

No offense, but "not talking about anime on IRC" or "my friends aren't talking about anime" aren't the same as "not talking about anime. There's plenty of places to discuss currently airing shows, from dedicated discussion threads on the ANN and Crunchyroll forums to a plethora of blogs.