| I have to say i do, this happens to me with fullmetal alchemist, Frieren, Cowboy bebop, and musishi. I think the reason is i feel because how highly acclaimed these anime was i feel i have to give it 100% of my attention. This makes it then that when i started watched the show i just watched the first couple episodes and didn't finish it. Is this ever happening to you? |
| Had something like that with Tamago Everybody told me it was so clever and meaningful. It was compared with Lain, Heibane Renmei, Ergo Proxy and the likes. Then I watched it and thought it was just a bit boring. Nothing really happened. Halfway through I knew and wondered if I was the problem, not getting how awesome this is. But I think that's normal^^ I still finished it. I wouldn't say I was intimidated, but yeah... sometimes we don't like something that everybody else seems to love. It can make you feel insecure, as if everybody else gets it, but you're too dumb to realize how good this is. I think that's okay. In the end it's entertainment. You like what you like. Doesn't really matter what other people say. |
Merve2LoveDec 9, 2025 5:17 AM
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| When I start watching a highly acclaimed/highly rated anime I only expect to watch something with above average animation, that's it. No reason to feel intimidated. |
| How can someone be intimidated by watching an anime? I don't see anything intimidating about anime tbh. |
| I have approximately 1 terabyte of anime on my computer. |
| Not intimidated but i concentrate harder. i only used to get intimidated by the length of animes but after watching one piece it vanished. |
| "Do you get intimidated when starting to watch anime that's highly acclaimed?" 1. Who is supposed to give those acclamations, since I pay attention to very few anime savvy people? 2. I don't 100% trust those guys anyway, since they have very inconsistent and biased ideas about what is good and why. So I start watching such anime only biased by my own exceptions from the promo materials - if any. |
alshuDec 9, 2025 8:17 AM
Reply to Magpareddi
| @Magpareddi the highly acclaimed old anime are quite often the ones with the best animation quality (Akira, Cowboy Bebop, the Ghibli movies to name a few). |
| HA. Hell no. Highly Acclaimed by WHO is the real question. Cowboy Bebop was at least highly acclaimed by everyone ranging from professional critics to ordinary people consistently- FOR DECADES. Frieren was just a bunch of fake accounts on Reddit, MAL and Anilist trying to hype something "for the lulz" I sat down to watch it genuinely expecting to be impressed, since I didn't know about the internet firestorm yet. But I soon found out. I gave it 100% of my attention and that only made me notice its flaws even more. The thing is I don't fail to see the flaws in CB, there are huge glaring issues, but the entertainment value and overall experience is better by a mile. With Frieren you aren't meant to watch the whole thing, you'll go nuts. You're meant to watch the opener and closer a couple times, check out a few best known scenes, then declare it greatest thing you've ever seen so you can "fit in" with the zoomer crowd. |
| Generally no, but it depends on the particular anime. If I find the core theme/synopsis boring or less interesting even before starting, then I'll be a little pressed to pay more attention to find out why it's considered good and if I'm missing out something or not. But in most of those cases, I just put them on hold for a really long time. Like one of your examples, Cowboy Bebop, I'm quite sure I won't dislike it if I watch it, but I just can't find the motivation to start it because I don't find the synopsis that intriguing. Btw, I don't think having to pay more attention is the same as getting intimidated. I'm intimidated by One Piece, but not because of requiring attention. |
SoumyaUkil73Dec 9, 2025 10:26 AM
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| For me it's more that my expectations are higher so they have a harder time meeting them. Highly acclaimed anime I want to like but I hear people talk about how good they are, so they have a high bar before they impress me. |
  |
| No, I don't force myself to like anime at all. |
| Absolutely. I was utterly cowed like you. The moment I played Neon Genesis Evangelion, the collective ghost of a thousand think-pieces on Freudian trauma and kabbalah symbolism materialized behind my sofa. I spent the entire first episode mentally drafting a thesis on Unit-01’s roar as a metaphor for paternal neglect, rather than just enjoying a cool robot fight. The pressure to Have The Correct Profound Take™ broke me. I turned it off and haven’t gone back knowing full well I’m not psychologically or philosophically worthy of its despair. |
| No, but I do get intimidated by talking/posting about the anime. Because so much has already been said, in more eloquent and insightful ways. Also because what I say might tick off a whole lot of passionate fans that have lived with it for decades. But yes, I do pay a little more attention when I'm watching acclaimed shows compared to some throwaway seasonal. |
| Yes, absolutely. It happens everytime for me. It makes me feel like I'm doing my homeworks just to appear cultured, rather than going to have a great, meaningful experience. The other thing is that nowadays I mostly watch anime in order to relax and forget my problems and anxieties. Thus, I'm rarely in the mood to appreciate something that requires intensive emotional engagement, deep philosophical questioning or even contains psychological aspects. But this also happened with shows I consider great myself. For example I can't finish JJBA Golden Wind because I consider it really good and my enjoyment for it is (too) intense. Same thing for Katanagatari, the Monogatari series, Mawaru Penguindrum, Revolutionnary Girl Utena, Hanako-Kun, Monster, The Apothecary Diaries etc. |
| Intimidated, no. Skeptical, very. |
| その目だれの目？ |
angel0_pr4t said: I think the reason is i feel because how highly acclaimed these anime was i feel i have to give it 100% of my attention. You shouldn't need to give attention to an anime, your attention should be caught by it. |
*kappa* |
Reply to Nirinbo
@Magpareddi the highly acclaimed old anime are quite often the ones with the best animation quality (Akira, Cowboy Bebop, the Ghibli movies to name a few).
| @Nirinbo How do you feel about unpopular movies with comparable animation? |
| その目だれの目？ |
Reply to Lucifrost
@Nirinbo
How do you feel about unpopular movies with comparable animation?
How do you feel about unpopular movies with comparable animation?
| @Lucifrost I don't know, it depends. What do you mean? |
Reply to Nirinbo
@Lucifrost I don't know, it depends. What do you mean?
| @Nirinbo I'm so stupid. I forgot to post a link to my thread discussing such anime. https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1998973 |
| その目だれの目？ |
Reply to Lucifrost
@Nirinbo
I'm so stupid. I forgot to post a link to my thread discussing such anime.
https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1998973
I'm so stupid. I forgot to post a link to my thread discussing such anime.
https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1998973
| @Lucifrost Well, I'd say that, in order to become a classic/highly acclaimed anime, good animation is a necessary but not sufficient condition. |
| Not really, I do try to ignore all the positive comments and recommendations (even if those one convince me to watch the anime), because I could get my expectation so high it can never live up to it. I personally watched Full Metal Alchemist high extreme expectations and it was good, but it left in me a "Thats it?" in the end, though through time I consider the anime a really good one and personally like the end. |
 |
| That's kind of a red flag if that's what you mean. I mean many of the really highly rated shows are actually good, but the rest is hot garbage, and I watched all of them that I thought could be good. So really I basically signed up for some unpleasant experience by watching something like that, unless I'm really lucky. |
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧May the winds of change transform you entirely.*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ |
| Seems like what you find intimidating is to have to fully focus on what you're watching. Can't say I'm able to relate. |
on 
| Uhh... no, why would I? angel0_pr4t said: I think the reason is i feel because how highly acclaimed these anime was i feel i have to give it 100% of my attention. ...why would you watch any anime without giving it 100% of your attention? |
Reply to Nirinbo
@Lucifrost Well, I'd say that, in order to become a classic/highly acclaimed anime, good animation is a necessary but not sufficient condition.
| @Nirinbo yeah, but the other condition is basically pure luck. Maybe a good soundtrack can also be put up there, but that's less important. |
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧May the winds of change transform you entirely.*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ |
Reply to JaniSIr
@Nirinbo yeah, but the other condition is basically pure luck.
Maybe a good soundtrack can also be put up there, but that's less important.
Maybe a good soundtrack can also be put up there, but that's less important.
| @JaniSIr yeah, I think that luck matters. Then there's also the way the anime is released in the West and the right kind of writing to some extent (not in the sense of good or bad writing, it could be either). |
| no i watch shows to enjoy i watch what i want |
| No. I watch em like all other anime, 100% or 80% depending on how into I am |
   |
| Not really, although I am still influenced in some way by what other people think of a show. If people whose tastes I respect like it then I'll go in with a positive bias, if people whose tastes I respect don't like it then I'll go in with a negative bias. But I can't say I get intimidated by something being widely praised. |
| what? no Peakfobia is something which needs to be studied |
 |
| Maybe when I was getting more into the medium...I remember being bothered that I didn't like Akira, despite enjoying so many other sci fi classics. Now? No. I really don't care. I feel this way about all media for the record. The only reason you build up that significance is because you are being sensitive to the opinions of others, and that is a useless thing, in terms of evaluating your own enjoyment of the work. Even when evaluating your issue, in terms of starting the work, i just intend to get it over with. There is so much good media out there, in the end, there is no reason to think this is the most important media experience of my life. Just watch the show, form an opinion on it, and get it over with. |
| stop being so impressionable to what the anime plebs say, if you actually sat through more than 2 episodes of those shows you'd see how disappointing they are and learn not to fall for hype |
| Not really, i feel like i'm conscious that 'oh this is highly acclaimed' but that's it and i just watch it otherwise normally lol, maybe make review in my head so can see did others feel like these parts were special ones as well like 'oh this is why it's so appreciated' themes/scenes etc |
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| I never feel intimidated myself, but I do feel silly. Lain is a good example. What the hell even happened? No idea. It was fun to watch |
  With Love —Quattuordecillionaire (10⁴⁵) |
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