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I put my favorite shows on hold. Yeah.
If I see a show I like, I'll try to stop myself from marathoning it and try to pace myself so I can enjoy it for as long as possible. It's something I like to do to get the most out of a single show. However, if I find something that I really, really like, I'll most likely put it in my On Hold list, saving it for a day when I'm in the perfect mood to finally watch whatever I'm saving. It's a habit of mine I compare to when I'm eating a meal: I'll finish my plate, but I'll start with the stuff I'm just okay with, and work my way towards my favorite parts.
It's also a mental trick I use so I don't spoil myself on good anime all at once. During this summer of 2013, I'm catching up on a crapton of anime from the past decade, so in order to survive it all, I'm mixing a lot of "ehhhhh...maybe..." stuff with stuff that I'm almost certain I'll like. I feel that watching great shows right away is like getting to the savory part of the meal right off the bat, the rest of the meal is gonna taste like crap in comparison. Going in reverse, eating the not-special part of the meal first just makes that savory part all the better, or at least that's how I see it.
I see a lot of "anime is dead" or "I can't find any more good shows" or "anime today sucks" type of complaints, and the last thing I'd ever want is to come to that conclusion, where I've finally finished my backlog and have no choice but to watch anything and everything that's currently out. I don't got much time as of late to watch anime, and future prospects say I'll have even less. Because of that, any time I have, I'd want to be watching something great. That's where my mental trick comes into play. I watch shows that aren't...All that praised, then work myself up to stuff I have high expectations for. It gives me a lot to watch since I can get used to the large amounts of regular stuff before moving on to the few really hyped stuff. Something like, after already eating the best part of the meal, the rest of the meal is just sitting there, getting cold and looking meh.
Of course, this results in things like
Aria the Animation living in limbo in my On Hold List since I'm so afraid to go past the first couple of episodes. It's a strange relationship where it's, as of 6/24/2013, my #1 favorite anime, but I can't bare to watch it. Makes it hard to talk about, even though I like it so much. I'm almost certain that this eventual building of hype will somehow disappoint me at the end, but it's that uncertain ride there that makes it worth it. At least, that's how I see it.
As an extra note, I've also found a lot of gems hidden in these bottom-up viewings. By going bottom-up in my Plan to Watch list, I also accidentally found things that I never seen before and come to like. There's nothing better than walking into a show with absolutely no expectations and coming out of it refreshed and refueled for more anime. Here's a couple of them, along with my thoughts.
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Niea_7. The strange comedic/dramatic take on poverty by the Serial Experiments Lain creator Yoshitabe Abe. The stark contrast between the two is, in my mind, an observation on how hilariously terrible the situation is.
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Natsu no Arashi. It reminds me of a FLCL with a time traveling gimmick and with the power of Studio Shaft's trademark quirkiness.
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Yomigaeru Sora: Rescue Wings. If there was ever a straight up honest anime about human drama, this is it. No extravagant plots, no crazy twists, no high school kids being wise beyond their years; these are adults going through adult dilemmas. It's the story of the Japanese Self Defense Force and how they desperately try to rescue people from disasters. If there was ever an anime that might as well have been a live action drama, this is one of them.
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Koi Kaze deserves praise for addressing incest in a disturbing, unsettling, yet thought-provoking and honest way. It holds nothing back, and is something that should seriously be seen by anyone who is tired of incest being treated as a joke or a fetish. No half-siblings or adopted kids here, they're straight up blood relatives. Without spoiling anything though, the ending didn't really seal the deal, but the attempt is something to respected.
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Shion no Ou is a show about shougi, or Japanese Chess, and manages to have a cute mute girl in the middle of some pretty tense and dramatic situations. I walked into this show knowing nothing about shougi, but that didn't hinder the underlying mysteries one bit. I wasn't just impressed, I was outright surprised that it turned out so well.
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Zettai Shounen. It reuses a lot of its music, it is slow-moving as an idiot walking down an up escalator, and its two arcs differ in tone enough to feel like different shows. What it did right, however, was to make a magical and mystical show told in a quiet way. It wasn't afraid of taking its time to show off its world and its characters, and although it's hard to get into for someone who isn't a nut like me who's into slow stuff, it's certainly something very special.
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Rec. This show is 9 episodes long, runs 12 minutes per episode, and manages to pack a romance that is more mature than most full shows that I've seen. To put it briefly, it's the conflict between home and work. It's the breakdown of communication and how miscommunication develops. It's funny, dramatic, cute, and honest. It's not the greatest thing ever made, but it's a breath of fresh air from the stagnation of the romance/comedy genre.
tl;dr - As an explanation to why my On Hold list has a couple of my favorites on it, I love them so much that I can't bear to finish them. In the spirit of saving the best for last, I'm watching assorted anime on my Plan to Watch list before moving on to the really hyped stuff, and the stuff that I know I will like, at the very end. That way, it'll take forever to run out of stuff to watch, and I'll always have something waiting for me if I ever get into that "everything is crap waaaaah" state of mind. It's a small part of how I live and, and it's my mentality as an anime fan.
