Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - How Do You Manage Your Anime Backlog?
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4755 |
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I buy a ton of BDs sight-unseen and watch almost none of them, so I don't think "managing" is the right word.
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nemuyoake
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No backlog for me. I'm waiting for some interesting stuff to be available.
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2253 |
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I've had a to-watch list that feels overwhelmingly long for over 10 years. Maybe 15. I don't actually watch that much anime normally; I'm following three ongoing series this season, and that's about the high end for me. I struggle a lot with committing time to… just about anything.
In the last year and a half, I've found one thing that does help me whittle down the backlog -- watching on the treadmill, a bit like Minos_Kurumada. I've had a lot of trouble being consistent with that too, missing my five-day target more weeks than not, but getting a clamp that can hold my phone at eye level so I can watch anime on it has made the slog more bearable. Walking three miles in the morning, at four miles an hour or a little more, is generally good for getting in two anime episodes. If I could consistently hit five walks a day for four weeks, that'd be enough to watch three cours a month. As it is, I think I'm averaging 2 to 2.5. Recent shows I've watched this way include: Nov 22-Dec 4: Mob Psycho 100 III Nov 7-Nov 16: Bocchi the Rock! Oct 12-Nov 6: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Oct 3-Oct 12: Ping Pong the Animation I spent most of summer watching Vinland Saga on Netflix, and while I was subscribing to HIDIVE for Oshi no Ko, I also watched Oregairu season 1, Flip Flappers, O Maidens in Your Savage Season, Ippon Again!, Akiba Maid War, and Endo and Kobayashi Live! on the treadmill. It's still frustrating, but I do feel like I'm actually more in tune with things as a fan, and watching a lot of stuff I've enjoyed. |
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mewpudding101
Industry Insider
 Posts: 2209 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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As someone who has been in the industry for around a decade, I’ve learned you lose if you consider watching anime as a responsibility. (Unless it’s your job, though that might ruin it for your personal life)
Take your time, watch what you want, weed out the crap. Me personally, I don’t watch current anime anymore. Sometimes I’ll watch older series like Cooking Papa, but that’s about it. |
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blooperboy
 Posts: 137 |
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Tracking websites are my lifeline, I would lose track of what episode I'm on if I didn't have them! I used to me a myanimelist person, but switched over to anilist a little over a year ago and find it much more intuitive to work with. I also really appreciate the fact that it lets you see what shows you're up to date on and which ones you're behind on (the red bottom bar of shame). Also, I super love the fact that I can look at my timeline each week during discord anime club and be able to remember what I've watched that week.
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Azure Chrysanthemum
Posts: 138 |
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We've both been watching Anime for decades by this point, so we're pretty clued in to what we like and will usually watch something while we're having dinner. An exceptionally good season will have something for us to watch every day (this season for example, we have something for every day and two shows for Saturday) so that works pretty well for our routine. Most seasons we don't, so if we end up having something we missed and wanted to try watching that's usually where we'll slot it.
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DamianSalazar
Posts: 752 |
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Okay. I use the wheel of names to help pick what anime I want to watch, whether it's a seasonal anime or an old one. I have 25 anime in the watching section of my account on AniList, currently there are 5 ongoing anime (One Piece, Frieren, Zom 100, Shangri-La Frontier, and The Apothecary Diaries, of which I've watched four (One Piece on a monthly basis, Frieren, SLF, TAD weekly), 1 film and 20 old tv series (of the 20, I'm watching Kamisama Kiss and Nier Automata). I also implemented a queue (First in, first out) in order to watch some of these old series.
Since implementing the queue, I've watched series like Jujutsu Kaisen and Heavenly Delusion, and I'm on the verge of watching series like Bocchi the Rock and My Bride Is a Mermaid, when I'm done with Kamisama Kiss and Nier. It's gotten even more complicated as I've continued. |
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Lily Garden
 Posts: 61 |
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Short answer: unevenly
I started this season checking out like 15 shows and due to to life and other media I'm down to watching just 5 on a regular basis. I'm hoping next season is a bit sparse so that I can go back and catch up; and I still have stuff from previous seasons and years that I need to finish. I need to finish catch up with Jojo's and finish Shadow House for example. There is just too much anime and too little time to watch everything I want to... |
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Glordit
 Posts: 634 |
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Forgot to mention I do use MAL/AL so I at least know if I have watched something and which episode I am on.
Shout out to Taiga to keep things organized, sucks that CR is no longer supported |
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 637 |
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I've been working my way through my physical collection backlog with kind of an unconventional approach: going alphabetically through my shelf and watching two episodes every morning before work. I started doing this during a year of unemployment pre-Covid vaccine, and I liked it so much I decided to keep up with it.
It, no joke, had huge benefits for my life outside of shrinking my backlog. I used to be chronically late to work, and I've only been late once or twice in the years since I started doing it. If I'm getting up early anyway, I might as well fit a yoga routine in, and it has massively reduced the pain I suffered from the physical effects of my job. I prepare healthy breakfasts to enjoy while watching my morning backlog anime. It's a wonderful thing. |
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Shay Guy
Posts: 2253 |
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Oh, I’ve been well past that point for a long time. [can't post upside-down smile emoji] Keeping up with manga is a responsibility. Keeping up with the YouTubers I follow is a responsibility. Keeping up with the other stuff I want to read is a responsibility. Paring down my game backlog is a responsibility. Keeping up with my Japanese studying is a responsibility. My writing projects are a responsibility. Exercise is a responsibility. Taking charge of my diet to a respectable degree is a responsibility. And of course “building something resembling an actual, respectable social life” is the responsibility that falls by the wayside the most, even more than my actual job. [can't post upside-down smile emoji] Aside from my personal software projects, of course. this_is_fine.jpg |
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tsog
Posts: 253 |
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I started out watching free anime on legal sites, back when almost of all of them had full free access (Crunchyroll, Hulu, Funimation, Viz Media, then Daisuki, Go90, Crackle, Amazon Strike (free for Prime anyway), to now TubiTV, Retrocrush, official channels on YouTube), and my goal was to watch everything free on the legal sites. As the number of anime per season exploded, that felt out of reach, but once the sites started locking access behind paywalls that became attainable again. Of course, the side effect is that I'm effectively locked out of recent anime.
Once I'm done watching all the free shows I'll subscribe to one service at a time, binge, and rotate. Looking forward to clearing my Hidive backlog after six years. I did simulcast for one season a decade ago and gave up; I binge exclusively as that just works out better for me. I've settled into a routine of binging one cour at a time, alternating between older and newer shows. I still average 100+ episodes every 3 weeks (according to Malgraph) so I'm effectively watching the equivalent of 30-40 shows a season. I only ever bought physicals for shows I really enjoyed, but that is something of a rarity these years and so I've more or less stopped buying. Not to mention I have several sets I haven't even opened yet; someday, someday.... |
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RealJapaneseGreenTea
Posts: 9 Location: Hoshinomura, Fukuoka, Japan |
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That's the pro method! |
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Aster97
Posts: 161 |
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really enjoyed this article and how relatable it was. back when i was 15 i used to spend all my time watching anime and was rarely behind on anything. 10 years later i get so busy between family work that i bare have time to watch 20 min of anime a day, and that's if im lucky. i used to use the bookmark function in chome for the shows i had to finish, then i got to be pretty good about using livechart to bookmark all the anime i wanted to watch in the upcoming season, but now i just see whats updated on crunchyroll and once in a blue moon will go back and watch something i forgot about.
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