Anime Burnout

Have you ever watched so much anime in a row that either you ask yourself what you’re doing with your life or dread watching another episode? Have after the binge you haven’t wanted to touch anime again for a long time? Days, weeks, even month’s maybe? Has your satisfaction of the medium dwindled down to almost nonexistent? This, my friends, is what we like to describe as anime burnout.

This doesn’t happen to everyone. Let me start off by saying that. It’s like flipping a coin. You will either get the possibilities of heads or of tails. It’s the same with people. Not all experience anime burnout in their lives. Heck, some can even watch it every day, all day, and see that their love for it grows even stronger every day, but for others, not so much. This has happened to me before. It has happened even recently to me. How did this happen you may ask? It happened in the way I described it. That’s all I would watch. For almost the whole summer, I stood away from anime. All I watched was some Iron Man anime by Madhouse. Besides that, I wanted nothing to do with it.

I never wanted to get back into it. It was honestly a very dark time in my life. The hobby that made me happy, was I just going to abandon it? Deep down I REALLY still loved anime, but nothing really seemed to spark my interest in it again. So what did I do? I’ll tell you. I gave it as much time as I could until I could get back into it again.

Ever since that time, I didn’t want to watch anime again. So I gave it time. I stood away, healing myself from my burnout. Some people I have read had the same, as you would say, “symptoms” as me. Some never got back into it. Some even hated it after, but the most people I talked to have got back into it. Once your burnout is finished, you’ll see that you don’t want to abandon what you love. To this day, I will always love anime more than ever. It’s what makes me happy. It keeps me occupied, but most importantly, it’s what makes me, well, me! It’s an amazing medium that never will be understood by the mass audience (basically society), but to this group of fans, it will always have meaning. I, to this day also, regret that burnout.

I regret these thoughts I have. I look back and see what a fool I was to throw away something that makes me happy. I was throwing away my happiness. Yeah, there’s always video games and those keep me occupied and make me happy, but anime, it’s special. It’s different. It’s a little over the top, but it understands who I am. If you or anyone you know is suffering from anime burnout, tell them to take time off. It’s like a sprained ankle. Don’t put too much pressure on it and walk again when you feel comfortable. It’s a weird metaphor I know, but it applies drastically to what I am trying to describe.

If you’re an anime fan, never stop being one. Trust me, you are already a one hundred in my book and I have nothing but respect for you. Until next time guys, just keep watching what you love.

If you want to discuss more about this topic with me, you can tweet at me @djddueces on Twitter. If you want to know what I am watching, check out my MyAnimeList account at MyAnimeList.com/djddueces.

By Daniel DiNatale