Embarking on an Anime Journey

Growing up I was never a fan of anime. It wasn’t until 2 years ago that I decided to take a deep dive and see why the anime community is obsessed. I started with Naruto and started making my way through all the most popular anime series. With just a few shows, I realized everything that I’ve been missing in life. I needed to consume more.

I got to a point where I would scroll through Twitter looking for recommendations for new shows. The anitwitter community is awesome but most suggestions were popular shows that I’d already seen and scrolling through pages just reading descriptions of shows wasn’t enough to get me to watch. There are too many to see and I couldn’t make decisions. While there are times where reading the description of a show or looking at the thumbnail lets you know what the show would be about, other times it won’t do the show justice. There is always a possibility you may miss out on a potential show that may become your favorite due to a terrible description.

Last August, I made the leap and signed up for Funimation. There I could watch all the episodes latest of shows like Black Clover and Fairy Tale. One of the downsides is their recommendations aren’t tailored to my interests; they recommend the shows that are popular. After all my shows ended for the season, I was stuck sifting through their 33-page catalog of content with each page displaying 20 or so shows. With that many shows and movies available, it becomes impossible to choose. Either everything sounds good to watch or terrible.

Tired, indecisive, and craving more content, I took on a new challenge.

New challenge: I would start with the first page of Funimation and make my way through the entire show list in Alphabetical order.

Taking on this challenge meant a number of things…

First: I wouldn’t consistently ask myself “What show am I going to watch next?”

As long as I go I alphabetical order, I would always know what was coming next. No more spending hours of scrolling looking for a new show to watch.

Second: I would stop reading the descriptions.

Once I started, every show, I would go into it with a clean slate. Zero prior knowledge. Since I mentioned before descriptions and thumbnails could be deceptive. Now I could let the first few episodes speak for itself, then decide if it was worth the watch.

Third: I knew I would find shows that are hidden gems.

In television, there are always shows that may be “Over-hyped” and others that have been forgotten. This would allow me to view shows that people weren’t talking about. Viewing them with no bias or expectations. By the time I finish, all thoughts or views of the show would be purely my own.

Fourth: I would be able to recognize characters from posts on twitter.

Many people post about their favorite Waifus or characters they enjoyed from a series. I often find myself scrolling through the thread trying to find the “sauce” or find out where I can find this person. With so many characters, I can finally interact with the community on my opinions on character development and arcs for the show.

As it stands now, I started this journey in March and have barely scratched the surface. Just getting to the letter C. None of my friends watch anime so my talks fall on deaf ears. Now I’m reaching out to the world to find others that love watching anime just as much as I do.

For those that like reviews, I will share my thoughts on all the shows I watch on this list and give my honest opinions about the series. Hopefully, with these reviews, it will help you decide what to watch next or give you the courage to become apart of the anime community..