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Ran into a guy at an anime convention panel who told me I was watching shows on 2x speed wrong
He said if I'm skipping openings just to binge faster, I'm missing the whole point of the medium, and honestly that one comment at that packed panel in Chicago last fall made me rethink how I've been watching seasonal stuff for like 3 years.
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barbaradavis1mo ago
...but I think there's something to be said for the pacing that the creators intended. I get where @the_john is coming from, I really do. Fifteen years is a long time to watch anime and you learn what works for you. But for me, that guy at the convention had a point. When you speed through openings or recaps, you're not just saving time, you're changing the rhythm of the story itself. Some shows use that opening to set a mood or give you a moment to breathe before the next scene hits you. I tried watching a slower drama at 1.5x once and it completely killed the emotional buildup. It felt like I was just checking boxes instead of actually watching something.
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the_john1mo ago
Take the opposite side here for a second and say that guy was gatekeeping for no good reason. I've been watching anime for like 15 years and I speed through recaps and filler episodes at 1.5x or 2x all the time. Some shows have 3 minute long openings with the same song for 26 episodes, you're not losing some deep artistic experience by skipping that. Your time is valuable too, and if binging faster means you actually finish shows instead of dropping them halfway through, that's a win in my book.
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quinnperry1mo ago
Did you ever have that one show you were really into but the pacing was just off? I ran into this with an older series that had like 8 minutes of recap every episode. I tried watching it normal but kept getting bored and stopping. So I started skipping the recaps and watching fight scenes at normal speed but dialogue at 1.5x. It worked for me because I still got the story but didn't feel like I was wasting time. I think the gatekeeping stuff is overblown. Everyone watches in their own way.
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