Do you ever think you'll outgrow anime?

[aznZephyr]

Even though I don't watch too much anime anymore (the cause might be from my mental quality control), I don't think I'll ever outgrow it.

[Seekr12]

I know what you guys are saying about having more discerning tastes over the years. I used to watch almost any anime I started. Now if I watch the first couple episodes and can see where the plot is going, get sick of the characters, or there are too many anime cliches I've seen a million times. Lately, I only watch the stuff that's been deemed "the best of the best" by reviewers or aggregate sites, or stuff that's been reccommended by friends I trust.

[TwEeD]

Turning 30 next summer and been watching anime since I was in kindergarten, so no, I don't think i'll outgrow it
Taste in anime will probably change when I get older though

[midhras]

I'm 32 and I love anime. Good anime that is (and occasionally the horrendously bad). The point made that people hanker towards stuff they've enjoyed during their coming-of-age period is a good one. But I do believe that as the demographic that enjoys their anime ages, we'll see more and more anime being produced that cater towards this demographic. noitaminA is a good example. I believe we'll see more and more of that.

[Lupin]

The number of episodes I've watched this past few months are in rapid decline

Average # of episodes watched per month before the periods listed below ~420 episodes*
10/05/2009 - 11/05/2009: 441 episodes*
11/04/2009 - 12/05/2009: 231 episodes*
12/04/2009 until now: 5 episodes

*The total count per month are not all unique episodes. It also counts the episodes I've rewatched.

[Xsen]

I don't think I'll overgrow it. Sure thing my taste'll be different but still, it's just something I like.

Even my wife gave up on asking me why do I watch it.

[TheProfileth]

I've only recently 'found' anime and I've become addicted to it, as I do with most new things I get into.

Hopefully I'll get past the 'addicted' stage soon (4 weeks and counting, over 95gig d/l'd from various places) and scale back to being a 'normal' anime viewer, although I have yet to figure out what normal is for an anime watcher.

I can't see myself not continuing to watch anime for a very long time, if ever, the entertainment value is pretty high for the most part and the quality of most of it way up there, even Excel Saga (a friend told me to watch it and I did, all 26 eps!(not in one go!)) had fairly high quality.

If you want to know how old I am, check my profile, pretty sure it's there somewhere 

Hehe your "addiction stage" is what I call a normal weekend, man I would get more but my bandwidht cap is 250 and I got to seed back and make new offers so I run out pretty quick. It all started to happen for me once I got my 1 TB hardrive I was looking for a way to fill it up, and I stumbled onto this site. At first I used it almost like a search engine, I would just type in BakaBT (name here) and then get it. But then I realized I used it so often I might aswell sign up. Then I realized just how much anime there was, and I came at the perfect time. The ADV gates had just been raised so I set off on the intensive process of getting a offer accepted on BakaBT. Little did I know how hard it would be. No joke my offer started out with a few lines of text and a name. I spent around 3-4 hours straight with Macros  and I got it passed the next day. Then I replaced it for a better version of the files. Have gotten pretty good at uploading sense then love doing it.
Also:Yay I love Excel Saga I even was the one to put it up on BBT and am constantly expounding its virtues.
I do not think I will ever outgrow anime, but my only dilemma is that I am secretive about my anime (my keyboard has a pause button on it, so I can pause and shrink really fast) so every time I watch it, it is like a risk-reward scenario because man would I be embarrassed if anyone saw me watching anime (unless I wanted them too) Just had a person the other ask me for anime recommendations  that was so much fun, I burned her 8 DVD's full of anime.

[Verdynia]

It'll certainly happen. I've grown out alot of things recently, but some anime is still worth watching. Every now and then I would check out an OVA or Movie, series take way too much time for me. I enjoy it now but I'm sure I would stop watching within a few years. Besides I don't have that much time and I'd rather spend my time on creating music.

[Havoc10K]

after l'm dead, l'll still watch Anime, l'm quite sure of that :]

[suhaib]

after l'm dead, l'll still watch Anime, l'm quite sure of that :]

Care to explain how ?



and my answer would be no i don't think i'll ...
i have a feeling that i'll keep watching anime forever !

[Smiling Cat]

I am sure there will always be something in Anime for me to enjoy. Some shows I just lock onto and can't get enough and some I can watch without ever really caring about it. Didn't sign up for any Fall Semester Classes and all I have been doing is mostly keeping up with Bleach, FMA Brothers, Naruto and some of the new movies while stock piling even more new stuff. I have at least five series I want to start watching, but when you have pretty much nothing but free time I guess you don't get the enjoyment of watching something compared to when you're always busy and have a couple hours of free time a day.

[Aesthesis]

Many comparisons can be drawn between Anime and other forms of entertainment, its like asking if you'll outgrow fiction novels, movies or games. As it has already been said, Anime has a wide variety of genres and audiences, so you never really grow out of it. Its just that your taste matures the older you get. 

[shadowmaniac]

Well, I'm thinking about quiting watching anime. It just seem to be getting boring to me. I see most of the time where the plot is going and when the show end, it's like o well saw that coming.

The exact reason I don't really watch movies anymore. Thing about anime is that the authors have more "freedom" and more ways to express comedic situations than in movies. So even though the ending is: good wins vs evil or loser gets chick, I still find entertainment in the actions and/or interactions between the characters.
Or animes like Lucky Star and Gintama which are basically just random and hilarous.
So, in my case, the real question would be: do I want to outgrow anime?
I think not.

[Crimson13]

I'm 30 (almost 31) and still in love with Anime.  Like a few here I've been watching since I was very young (Astro-boy's original North American airing was my introduction) and I've watched anime steadily and fairly slowly since then, picking up more in the past 10 years or so.  I'm still not churning through series though, usually only getting in 2 or 3 series a year and a lot of movies.  Having a wife and 2 daughters and a challenging career does tend to take up a lot of time.

Point is, I'll never get tired of anime, there's issues and subjects that anime (and i'm sure Japanese culture) handle far more maturely and rationally than North American society.

Over time however, my taste in anime has certainly changed and become more discerning to a degree.  I find I can still be a fanboy and champion stuff that other people don't like as much.

[Osmo]

No never, because there's nothing to outgrow, Anime takes time and effort to write and create, very talented people are involved.
But sometimes I do think, "ohh its not reality, its just fictional, its not real, ITS A CARTOON!"
I think its all about the dose in which you take Anime.

[hyogaprout]

Depnds what you call "outgrow".
If it means "you'll stop watching 10 episodes per day", then I think most people will go through this. If it means "stop watching anime", it's just not possible.

Like a few others in this thread, I'm in my early thirties. Some years ago I was still crazy watching lots of stuff, including 150-ish episodes of One piece, Naruto and the likes. I would never do that anymore. My taste have changed.
Mind you, it's not a problem of length. I'm watching Legend of Galactic Heroes atm.
It's a problem of taste, + time/value ratio. I still follow Naruto and One piece manga, though. But the anime, no thanks.

What will be close to imposible to stop watching as anime are:
- Good movies (Ghibli, etc)
- Good OVAs or original TV series (GITS SAC for example)
- TV series that bring a sort of new life to the manga which it is adapted from (quite rare but they exist)
That probably does not cover most of the series which are popular at the moment. I would be more inclined to read the manga for most of them.

Besides, it's been a while since I started going back to the origins, watching and reading old stuff. I watched Gundam (original series) recently, I'm about to go into Yamato and other Leiji Matsumoto works, I try to read as much Tezuka as I can.

When you grow old, your "manga/anime experience" also grows. You get tired of the same old stuff. And the beauty of it all is that at that point you have more time to (re-)discover fantastic classics, or to dwell into "darker" corners of the manga maze.

I guess you can say that you outgrow a certain category of anime.

[Ironroot]

No, and I can't see my self ever stop watching it.

For me it is a way to relax after a long day of school.
I am working on a masters degree and after hours of working on different project for school there is nothing better the to relax and watch a few episodes of a good anime to let me mind unwind.
By good I mean anything that can make me laugh

My taste have changed over the years but even as a 29 year old I am still finding enjoyment in anime.
and thanks to this site I am finding new anime that I have never heard of before, so I have a whole new selection of anime to watch

[Seekr12]

Besides, it's been a while since I started going back to the origins, watching and reading old stuff. I watched Gundam (original series) recently, I'm about to go into Yamato and other Leiji Matsumoto works, I try to read as much Tezuka as I can.

I've been doing the same thing lately! I have yet to see the original Gundam series and Macross series, and I've got them on my wishlist here on BakaBT. I love Leiji Matsumoto- I've watched a couple episodes of Captain Harlock and loved it, and I'm looking to dive into the vast, awesome abyss that is the Yamato series pretty soon. Also, Interstella 555(possibly missing another 5) is amazing.