Forum - View topicHow to Destroy your Anime Backlog
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Dr. Cakey
 Posts: 13 |
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Watching a broad swath of anime as they air can be a good way to preemptively eliminate backlog, so to speak. If you watched the first episode of everything from Winter 2015 and, a year later, somebody recommends you Yoru no Yatterman, you already know whether or not you're interested. You don't have to watch the first episode of literally everything, but I try to catch the first ep of everything that catches my eye, everything people are talking about, and everything that looks like it could be entertainingly terrible, though your mileage may vary on that last one. Of course, this way of doing things only works if you're the kind of person who ruthlessly drops shows.
Also, and I assume most people know this already, don't feel like you have to follow the three-episode rule. Consider two episodes, one episode (my personal favorite) or, if you're feeling particularly saucy, just the first five minutes. Most of the shows I like (and almost all the ones I love) hooked me not just from the first episode, but the first couple minutes. Not that they were necessarily thrilling from the first minute, but they were interesting. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7983 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Amusing timing for this article, since I'm working on clearing some the backlog today.
In my pile is: Chihayafuru Chihayafuru Season 2 Claymore Flame of Recca Gargoyles Season 2 Part 2 K: Missing Kings Lupin the 3rd: From Siberia with Love Shakugan no Shana Season 1 Space Battleship Yamato: Ark of the Stars Sparticus: Blood and Sand Season 1 Suzuka XXXHolic Several are rewatches but I just recently replaced or upgraded them so I need to watch them again and make sure the new discs aren't defective. Last edited by Kruszer on Fri Jun 05, 2015 1:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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WashuTakahashi
 Posts: 415 Location: Chicago, IL |
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Never feel like you have to enjoy what the masses enjoy. Take Madoka Magica - I gave it 3 episodes, and couldn't stand a minute more of it. For me, it was the art that did it in. I just couldn't watch it. That doesn't make it a bad show, but it makes it a bad show, fore me. Similar with Kill la Kill. The hype was crazy so I figured it HAD to be good. I only gave it 1 episode. By the end I knew it was too much fan service for my tastes, though friends tried to tell me that the whole point of fan service was to make fun of fan service. Still, wasn't enjoyable for me. Attack on Titan. Decided to give it a try since it was going to air on Toonami. I was totally good until the end of the first episode where the titan spoiler[EATS THE MAIN CHARACTER'S MOTHER]. Nope nope nope, not for me. Not a fan of blood and guts anime. Just because you don't like what's popular doesn't mean you have bad tastes, you just have different tastes. Ask around and you're sure to find plenty of people who feel the same way about a particular title. Not everything is for everyone, even if it has a wide fanbase.[/spoiler] |
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navycherub
 Posts: 233 |
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There is no such thing as good or bad taste nor objectively good or bad media. Don't let it get to you when you don't like something "critically acclaimed" or the other way around. |
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SpeckTech
 Posts: 195 |
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This was a pretty cool article. I understand how watching old stuff is "work."
Damn shame I haven't started Mikagura school suite yet. Now it's gonna be work. Just like haganai, which I thankfully liked so I binged it, all 25 episodes, in 2-3 days. |
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EmperorBrandon
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 2209 Location: Springfield, MO |
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Around a year and half ago, I made up a big list of backlog titles for a thread at Fandom Post. Since I took so long with it, I decided to copy and paste it into a simple Notepad file, and I've been removing (as I complete something, or in some cases, realize it's not for me after a few episodes) and adding (as I get interested in something) things since then. I don't add anything to it that's airing or has aired in recent seasons, or that I've just got in the mail and don't plan on putting off for long. Those are on my mind enough that I don't need a reminder of what I'm prioritizing. But if I'm through with those titles for the time being, it's a great way to check what I've really been meaning to get around to or getting around to again (since I like to watch both language tracks, I also list what I have only watched in Japanese, or only watched in English, when I'm curious enough to try the other). Looking back on the original incarnation of that list, I'm really happy with what I've gotten to since then.
I think as I've gotten to know my tastes better and better, and realize how much more worthwhile it is to focus on the gems (rather than just trying to cram in everything that's passable to me), I've gotten to dropping things as I need to quicker and more often. |
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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Sounds like your 'friend' is an insufferable butthole. There are plenty of 'good' shows i'm either not interested in or can't get into (like Darker than Black, for example). Everyone has individual tastes, so watch what you enjoy. There isn't some 'gold standard' of anime taste you have to adhere to. |
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Waffitti
 Posts: 55 |
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Great article Zac! Personally my backlog is gigantic so I try to chip away at it based on availability (pretty much whatever Crunchyroll & Netflix have on their Brazilian sites, which ain't much) & length of anime (most of my backlog is movies & OVAs).
Will all these editorials be bullet-pointed semi-listicles or will we get more stuff like Nick's Shirobako essay? And who holds the streaming rights for Brand Spankin' New Doug!? |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Thank you! And yeah a lot of them will kinda be like this but we have more like Nick's (from Nick and some other folks) on the way. Those take longer to produce. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2261 |
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I pretty much already do everything that was mentioned in the article. I had to change the way I was consuming media because about 4 years ago my physical backlog was getting too large for my tastes. I had around 100 titles on my shelves that I hadn't watched. I usually had separate shelves for the backlog. I started making an effort to reduce that backlog, by watching or marathoning on the weekends. The tough part was sticking to the plan because of getting distracted by everything else that was available. This is when the advice of getting tough and making hard choices makes a difference and having a plan and a list really help.
The advantage of having a list for me is that when you finish something you can put a check mark next to it and then feel like you are accomplishing something. Previously when I was trying to get thru my backlog I wasn't keeping a list so I only had a rough idea of how much I needed to watch and roughly how much I accomplished. Now I know that I'm down to 37 titles (movies, shows, etc) in my physical backlog. I can probably knock off another 6-10 titles by the end of the year and by the end of 2016 I should conservatively have about a dozen titles left in my physical backlog, which is manageable. However, I have to make time to watch stuff on my backlog and not allow that backlog to keep growing. This means no more "blind buys" off RightStuf sales and controlling what I watch during the year. So yea, I pretty much follow the 3-4 episode rule. Also I'm not afraid to drop something halfway during the season or even 2/3 of the way thru if its turned into a stinker. Its time saved that I could be using on my backlog. I used to watch 10-15 shows a season. Now its between 2-5 shows/season (this also helps avoid burnout for me). Sometimes the choices really aren't that hard, like do I really want to watch another harem anime in a high school setting? We all have our favorite genres and our not so favorite. But if you come home from work on autopilot mode and just start watching whatever is new for the season you may end up watching something that is a waste of time or just good enough. You can't let your inner zombie make the decisions for you by being a vegetable and watching whatever is on that night. So read up on what's upcoming for the season and read the preview guides before you get into a pattern for the season. This lets me whittle down stuff that I know I'll have low interest in or has elements that I generally don't find appealing. Having a rough plan alleviates the burden of watching everything in a season ("to keep up with the Joneses") and tackling a backlog. It certainly helps me who has less time now than when I was in my teens or college years. |
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Dark Mac
Posts: 313 |
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I actually miss having a big anime backlog. Used to have a huge one (upwards of 60 titles, with new ones constantly being added), but I just...watched everything on it. Everything on there was something I wanted to watch, so I was happy to have it. Nowadays I have less than ten titles on the backburner, and a number of those are shows I'm not really interested in watching anyway. I end up just watching new stuff, because I've already seen most of the old stuff that I'm interested in. I'd love to have a bunch of old shows queued up for a rainy day. I think part of it is that I don't really re-watch anime much, so I get through everything pretty steadily.
My video game backlog is quite a bit bigger though. Takes a lot more time getting through a 60 hour RPG than a 4 hour 12 episode anime. |
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2441 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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I had been using my Crunchyroll queue as a de facto backlog list, but that tended to blind me to things I could be watching on Funimation (which I subscribed to for Yurikuma Arashi and have kept on a month-to-month basis), or DVDs I'd bought, ripped, but hadn't watched yet.
So I've taken Zac's recommendation to heart and made a list in iCloud (so it'll follow me around), merged everything from my Crunchyroll, Funimation, and DVD queues, and then to remove the Crunchyroll bias, I alphabetized it. Here goes:
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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I got into anime at the ripe old age of 20, so for the longest time I felt the need to "catch up" on the "required viewing" stuff, to be on the same page with at least the anime fans of my age. There was a period when I would add an anime to my list any time I encountered a hilarious-looking reference I didn't get. It wasn't until my fourth year in the fandom that I felt confident enough to start following currently streaming anime en masse. The end of last year was actually the first time my "watched" list overtook my "to watch" list on MAL, but that's mostly because for the two years prior to that I had been guilty of the other extreme - watching 15-20 current shows per season and barely even making room for one or two older ones (it's become somewhat easier to do that since I lost my job in April... not that I'm recommending that as a backlog elimination technique
 ). I just tried following the second advice and slashed that list down from 202 entries... to 113. Well, it's a start, I guess. At least keeping up with current shows means that the list is barely growing, although I still end up missing out on apparently solid shows here and there (just from the most recent ones - Akatsuki no Yona, Your Lie in April, Oregairu).
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shenlongmizuno
 Posts: 51 |
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1. There are sites like http://myanimelist.net/ and http://www.anime-planet.com that will take care of all the list stuff for you, no need to reinvent the wheel and make your own excel spreadsheet or text doc. Just add anime to your "watching", "dropped", "completed", or "plan to watch."
2. Drop shows without mercy if they start getting boring, you can always pick them back up later if you hear its gets good. It happened to me this season with that Pickup Girls in a Dungeon. On the other hand I dropped Rin-ne, haven't heard any buzz about it since so it's staying dropped. 3. Instead of binge watching, I find I actually watch more anime by keeping a slow and steady schedule. I watch one or two episodes of anime every night before going to bed, it's been a part of my routine for years. That is how I'm able to keep up with 15ish shows per season with a full time job and not burning out. You'll slowly whittle down your backlog, I'm currently watching some Gasaraki dvds I bought as a garage sale over 10 years ago as well as keeping up with all the major new shows this season. It's not that hard, just need a bit of time management. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Great article. One piece of supplemental/alternative advice I'll add though: Consider incorporating into your list some sort of priority ranking. You don't have to strictly rank every single thing but just sort your backlog into 3+ general categories in terms of how keen you are on seeing it. Then, make peace with the fact that you may or may not ever actually get to a lot of the lower priority stuff. I mean, maybe you still will. Who knows. Maybe some day you'll just be struck with the desire to watch something off that lower priority list. But if not, whatever. This is a nice alternative if you're unwilling to just ruthlessly trim your list and drop stuff definitively. It'll also make your backlog feel much more manageable as you can at least breathe a sigh of relief when you've cleared the highest priority stuff.
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