If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know that I am a fan of well defined situations. I like rules and rituals. I promise I’m more fun than I sound… I think…
In my casual daily life, this means I like to have a loose schedule and I feel off whenever I can’t stick to it. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. For instance a sexy date at a fancy restaurant is always enjoyable but it does throw my routine off, so I’m not going to do it every night but when I do, it’s special!
Anime is a big part of my daily schedule. Not as big as for some of you but still. I watch anime for 2-4 hours weekday evenings. I work out at he same time. I started doing so a few years ago and anime has kept me in the best shape of my life. Friday evenings I only watch shows I need to immediately review. Sometimes I’ll watch a few episodes on Sunday evenings as well to ease me into the work week.
For the past season though, I’ve been watching Demon Slayer around noon on Saturdays in order to review it by the afternoon and give Crow enough time to do his part. I noticed that this affects the way I take a show in more than I would have expected.
I work long hours. I wouldn’t call my job stressful when some people drive ambulances or do air traffic control, but it has its challenges. We have folks on burnout leave regularly enough. I’m nowhere near that but some days can get taxing. So when I get home I can be too exhausted to properly appreciate anime. Well some anime. I also find that little things like obvious audience insert or wish fulfillment characters annoy me a lot more under those circumstances.
Then again if I managed to get a good work day in and I’m feeling positive about it, that same tiredness can work in the shows favour. Blinding me to plot holes and making accept paper thin characters or narratives because of the sheer joy of watching anime at the end of a long day.
I can usually tell which way it’s going to go and I pick my watching experience accordingly. But some days slip through the cracks. It also matters which shows I watch first and which I tackle after my brain has settled into a groove, a few episodes in.
And to go back to Demon Slayer. I watch it sometime around noon on Saturdays. Around then, I’ve usually gotten most of my weekend chores done and unless I’m working, I am about to settle into my leisure time. Either way I’m usually relaxed and better rested than weekday evenings. I’m in a good mood and receptive to whatever the t.v. has to show me.
I’m still me, it’s not like I’m already drunk off my rocker at 12pm but .. this is likely to be the time when I am the most positive and optimistic about a series. On the flip-side, my most judgmental watching times may be Sunday and Wednesday evenings. It doesn’t help that Crunchyroll tends to have more issues at those times as well.
I’ve been trying to figure out those predispositions in order to not let them affect my reviews and maximize my enjoyment. And I’ve noticed it makes a bigger difference than I thought. I watch a mix of older shows which I binge watch on consecutive days and current anime as it airs, so always on the same evenings. And now that I’ve been doing so for a few seasons on several different nights, I can better compare.
I seem to have a soft spot for Friday evening anime for instance. I guess I m in a good mood for the coming weekend. I’ve watched and am watching a lot of shows that air on Fridays and I consistently enjoy them. Even series that I know aren’t normally my *thing*. Tuesdays are fairly neutral while Mondays I tend to be impatient so too exposition heavy or too confusing and convoluted will annoy me way more.
Sundays are tricky for me. I’m well rested and tend to be critical. I pick apart elements and am generally less forgiving of series I’m normally neutral about (I rarely stick with shows I’m not enjoying on some level). On the other hand, I am doubly as enthusiastic about series I enjoy. Overemphasizing whatever I consider a strong point and whipping myself into a fangirl frenzy!
As such, there are series that I’m judging unfairly one way or another, simply by virtue of the day on which they air. The inept but harmless Cinderella Nine didn’t do itself any favours with that Sunday slot!
I’ve also noticed that release schedules aren’t evenly distributed throughout the week either although that may have more to do with when audiences are more likely to be at home watching TV than what mood they’ll be in, but you never know. It may factor in.
I know that this type of cyclical receptivity is hardly unique to me. Most people go through something similar although timing and triggers vary from one person to the next. What I hadn’t realized is just how big a difference it makes.
Do you have times when you enjoy anime more or less? Are they always on the same day or is it based on other events in your life? Have you noticed any patterns?
