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How do you feel about rewatches?




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Flash33



Joined: 06 Jun 2024
Posts: 155
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2024 4:18 am Reply with quote
Rewatching is the act of watching a program (usually a tv show) more than once. This can be for a variety of reasons such as comfort & enjoyment. Recently I've read comments from people saying that rewatches ruin the experience and memories you had of the first watch, that you only need to see it once to get the full enjoyment out of it and/or that with all the shows and movies out there there's no need to dwell on the past.

I disagree that rewatches always weakens the overall experience as a show/movie can still be entertaining, enjoyable and comforting despite that. It's the same reason we replay games & songs, reread books or revisit places like amusement parks. Not only that but you can sometimes catch certain clues and hints to future developments on rewatches that you might have missed or misremembered the first time. Shows like Gravity Falls for example encourage rewatches not only for the ciphers (some of which are only on screen for a second & are easily missed if you're not looking for them) and certain background elements but also some scenes get recontexualized thanks to information revealed later on. There's also the chance that your first watch was hindered or clouded by bias, and a rewatch could present the opportunity to approach it with a fresh perspective and as unbiased as possible.

Maybe in some specific cases it can make the experience worse but as a whole I disagree that rewatches inherently make the experience worse. You can still have those memories of the first watch but now with the opportunity to make new ones as well.


Last edited by Flash33 on Wed Nov 26, 2025 8:37 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2024 7:10 am Reply with quote
I would say that this is one of those issues that is completely a matter of personal preference. If you want to rewatch an anime, do so. If you don't, don't. It doesn't matter to anyone (unless this is being shown to a group and then it is majority rules).

I will say that claiming a rewatch will spoil the memory of the initial experience is a bit hard to accept. Most anime (and live action) is simply not that profound. I suppose that there are people out there who form strong impressions or memories about every show they have ever watched but I don't think I have met any. I suspect that this is one of those questions where the answer is immediate and made on an emotional basis. Any reasons given later are just post decision justification. "I don't want to rewatch a show" is reason enough, there is no need to say why.
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FishLion
Crazy Fangirl



Joined: 24 Jan 2024
Posts: 863
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2024 10:51 am Reply with quote
I agree it is personal preference, but also think a good rewatch is definitely a sign of quality. As you mentioned with Gravity Falls, there is sometimes too much to fully enjoy the first time around. Sometimes having the first part of a story recontextualized with what you know later adds depth to the earlier parts. I tend to repeat view a lot once I get attached, a few I love to rewatch are Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, and Promare.

To be fair I am also the type that picks a favorite album and listens to it over and over for a month, so I'm probably a little weird in how much I enjoy digging into my faves.

Edit to Add:
Dungeon Meshi makes for an excellent rewatch as well, there are so many little details that are nods to the great worldbuilding and I have watched it two and a half time already.
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RupanSansei



Joined: 20 Sep 2024
Posts: 258
PostPosted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 8:31 am Reply with quote
I only ever buy anime is stuff plan on rewatching so for me it is a way to keep my Autistic brain to prepare to function in a more relaxed state before going to sleep.
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 9:48 am Reply with quote
If I watch anime just before bed, I'm almost guaranteed a replay of the characters or situation in dreams. I suppose a healing anime such as Aria, Non, non Biyori, or Flying Witch might help with sleep.
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Beltane70



Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 4200
PostPosted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 1:18 pm Reply with quote
I rewatch anime that I really like all the time, especially some of the older titles that I watched from back when I originally started watching anime in the mid-1980s.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 5321
PostPosted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 2:32 pm Reply with quote
As far as I'm concerned, if a show isn't worth rewatching, then it probably wasn't worth watching in the first place. A good story should benefit from a second look to find connections and foreshadowing that weren't visible the first time. And at a more basic level, if you really liked a show, why wouldn't you want to go back and enjoy it all over again?
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 25691
PostPosted: Sun Sep 22, 2024 2:54 pm Reply with quote
I'm not a huge re-watcher because I prioritize watching new stuff over stuff I have seen and loved before. However, sometimes you just get in the mood to visit an old friend. I recently had the urge to rewatch Saga of Tanya the Evil prompted by reading the fourth LN volume. I also tend to rewatch something if it gets a sequel and it's been a while since the the earlier material came out. I did that recently with Kimi ni Todoke, to prep for the third season which came out 13 years after the last season! Actually that was my second rewatch of the first two seasons of KnT. Re-re-watching is extremely rare for me, but it does happen with especially beloved shows.

Most of my rewatches are of shows I first watched when they streamed, but later bought a physical copy (Tanya falls in this category). Getting to watch a number of episodes in a row instead of week by week also makes it a different kind of experience and makes it easier to pick up things that blew by me the first time.
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RupanSansei



Joined: 20 Sep 2024
Posts: 258
PostPosted: Mon Sep 23, 2024 9:31 am Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
If I watch anime just before bed, I'm almost guaranteed a replay of the characters or situation in dreams. I suppose a healing anime such as Aria, Non, non Biyori, or Flying Witch might help with sleep.


Personally i love using Chibi Maruko-chan
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Sakurasawa



Joined: 24 Sep 2024
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2024 2:29 am Reply with quote
Compared to the first time, watching a anime for the second time will definitely bring more insights to your mind, and that's for sure. And when you watch a anime again after half a year or a year, you know what will happen.
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AnimeGeek88



Joined: 12 Feb 2025
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 4:53 pm Reply with quote
When I'm in need of a good laugh I will watch something like "Ghost Stories" English Dubbed, and for a good scare I like "Ghost Hunt" also in English Dubbed. I will also re watch things like Tokyo Ghoul once in awhile like maybe once a year or so when I feel like watching something that is a bit longer. Otherwise I wont really watch a short series repeatedly unless its something I'm hooked on. Like Black butler and such, but only once there is something new for it like a ova or movie or new season starting.

So I do have a few Anime repeats.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2568
PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 5:23 pm Reply with quote
My only serious rewatches were the Monogatari Series because I watched the TV releases and then later the Blu-ray versions, since I liked noticing the not-few differences Shaft made, but I stopped after Owari - there's just so much more to do than rewatch something I've already seen. Ever since I've only """"rewatched""" Planet With and Kyousougiga but by putting an episode on, pressing the forward button and only really watching the impactful bits
I much, much prefer retreading a story through a different medium, though obviously that's not available for everything
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Zayita



Joined: 12 Aug 2025
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2025 1:18 pm Reply with quote
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Last edited by Zayita on Sat Feb 28, 2026 1:15 pm; edited 2 times in total
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KyuuA4



Joined: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 1371
Location: America, where anime and manga can be made
PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2025 4:36 am Reply with quote
Flash33 wrote:
Rewatching is the act of watching a program (usually a tv show) more than once. This can be for a variety of reasons such as comfort & enjoyment. Recently I've read comments from people saying that rewatches ruin the experience and memories you had of the first watch.


I rewatch stuff, because I think that they're that good. They're worth spending the extra time watching and rewatching. I gave up on anime some 3-4 years ago, only to be picking up on a select few recently. I can tell you: Anything that I watched just once in the past -- I don't even remember much of them. Maybe a few moments here and there - but that's about it. It's to the point where I question why I watched some of them in the first place.

The more I rewatch something, the more I'm able to remember them. And this is not limited to anime. TV shows and movies are also included.
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gsilver



Joined: 04 Nov 2007
Posts: 768
PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2025 12:24 pm Reply with quote
I'll rewatch things for various reasons:
1. To revisit some particularly interesting stories or animations
2. To show to other people
3. Simple 'comfort food'

So basically, if something stood out for a particular reason, I might rewatch it. I end up thinking that I'll rewatch more than I actually do, though.
There's usually a span of several years before I rewatch something, but there are exceptions. With Revolutionary Girl Utena and its initial DVD release, I was rewatching the entire show up to the current volume as it released, but that was a *very* unique case.
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