Grew out of anime?

[joannekwan]

Yeah, I hit 30 last year and my anime and manga consumption definitely dropped off a cliff. Not only do I have less free time, but I've also found fewer series appealing to me. Like others have said, most anime have teens as their target audience so I often find it hard to relate to the protagonists. They either have to have strong supporting characters to get me invested or an interesting plot that ends.

Of the past few years, the only new series I watched with interest were Death Parade, How to Raise a Mummy (cause it's just heckin' cute), and Dorohedoro. And the only thing I've read with interest is Siuil a Run: Girl from the Other Side.

[milejdyvan]

I was really into anime around my 12-15 years, and ever since then I only watch what really sticks to me... I'm 21 and it is only now that I started watching a new series, Jujutsu Kaisen and that is only because I was told time and time again that it's worth it and yeah it is. But I have no plan of watching anime all day long I couldn't do that even when I was really into it. I overall just don't have much time.

[zvein]

Death note i’ve watched it when it was first come out and i was pretty young then so i was easily awed by it, but now it’s just ok Yes, there’s much less/ non existent pressure in anime industry to catch up with the ‘right thing’ and it frustrated me somehow.

[DiegoPalacios]

I think i just grew pickier when it comes to anime.....

Some animes don't entertain me as they used to.....however, there are cases where i apreciate them more as i get older....

[zvein]

Death parade is gooooood and thank you for mentioning siuil a run it loooks soooo gooood i want to read them right away

[sarahmcsquish]

As a teen I heard so many people say they grew out of anime, and I just went "nah that can't be a thing"
I'm in my early twenties and I frankly can't stand it now. Everything feels the same with the same plot with the same hero with the same friendship with the same terribly written women. I have like, 3 or 4 anime I still truly enjoy. I have their boxsets, but I gave away/sold any other anime I had. It just didn't do it for me anymore.
I think the biggest issue is every anime protag is like, 12. It's fun when you're 12, but not when you're 24. At that point you're just concerned that that society placed their trust for survival in the hands of a kid.

[zvein]

Same here. Back then my friends always came to me for quality underrated series/non mainstream gems. Then for years now i don’t want to have anything to do with it anymore. Now i’m kinda intrigued and will check out the recommended titles to see if they can spark something in me again lmao.

[ar-ninetysix]

Yeah, believe it or not, I was actually gonna recommend more but I dialed it back lol from all of these, Attack on Titan was the hardest to recommend.. You kinda have to sit through season 1 and 2 before it gets better. It's hard for me to recommend it bc I know there's people that hate on Eren, but he gets significant character development in season 3 so.. It's a toss up of whether or not a person's gonna like him by the time they catch up lol

[siluscomics]

Ah, I also grew out of anime. I think it's part not having any time, and part these shows are for sure aimed at teenagers and I just don't relate to them anymore. I don't mind watching OVA's and films like Ghibli, but when I think of say, catching up to One Piece, it's just never going to happen! I prefer manga as I can just pick up a volume and read it for an hour and move on.
Basically what everyone else has already said, really!

[Mallory]

I wouldn't say I completely "grew out" of anime, but I have a lot less patience for it. Gone are the days when I could watch anime for days on end, even mediocre stuff and still enjoy it. Nowadays I can watch 2-3 episodes of a good anime, and then my desire to watch is gone for a few days until I "recharge". And I agree with finding most of the protagonists just unlikable or unrelatable.

There IS anime out there for adults though, they're not all teens, and that feels good. I found a little gem recently called Hakumei and Mikochi about two little gnome women who like... live their lives and make soap to sell at the local market and sample wine with their friend the pub owner (the story handles their relationship in the old-fashioned "we never say the "L" word but everyone around them treats them like a married couple" way). There's no grandiose plot and no high stakes but the whole thing feels like a good cup of hot chocolate. ETA: Or, how could I forget Shirobako, about five 20-something women building their careers in the animation industry?

[justasicanbesocruel]

Exactly.
I'm at a point where I can read a manga and be done in an hour what an anime covers in six episodes. I consume a lot of manga, but I watch little to no anime unless it is something really special.

[clockworkzari]

Nahhhhhhhh, if anything I keep finding more and more interesting anime to watch! For example, I just watched an OVA by the title of "Magnetic Rose" that was an amazing cyberpunk thriller. Think Blade Runner, but produced by the guy who directed and wrote Akira. And it wasn't like I was looking for it either, my friend just passed it along and I was like, NICE! Anime is a mysterious and huge thing to me, and I feel like every day I'm finding new fun stuff to like about it

[NickRowler]

When I was around your age, I sort of had a similar feeling towards manga/anime. In my late teens and early 20s, I used to consume a lot more of it and I used to binge read online manga and such. But I think my falling out of it had mostly to do with that most anime is targeted at teens. I think I was at a point in my life that I didn't really want to read about high schoolers going on adventures. I remember hearing similar issues from people who were older than me, I remember hearing someone say, "I want more animes like Trigun where the main character in an adult."

I think another thing that effected things were the shift is genres/styles over the years. I generally prefer anime from the 2000s over the stuff from 2010s. There has only been a few newer stuff I enjoyed, most of it I am usually disinterested in, even the super popular stuff that everyone likes.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Ay my homie right here. Akudama Drive was legit. (Cough cough also Aggretsuko)

[ar-ninetysix]

[Black_Conscious]

. Is it just me, or the anime industry doesn’t keep up with the trends of ‘it’s time to be better than stereotyping/sexism’ anymore?

Most defiantly I agree it just feels like the anime they are putting out sometimes feel the "same" or the characters they put in the story that is

---

Its not that I don't hate anime I do like it its just somewhere on the line I've just gotten kind of "bored" of it sometimes it is with watching tv as well, I'll try to watch certain animes because I've seen it constantly but everything else is just a meh, If I find one that sparks my interest than I'll most defiantly would keep watching it with amusement .

Though it is a bit strange because what sparked my interest into drawing was actually watching people draw/ watching anime

[toonben]

I'm 30 and I still watch anime and read manga. I never grew out of it, but I'm losing free time and gotten pickier.

[VibrantFox]

i don't think i've grown out of it but definitely agree with other folks in terms of either having less time or just being more pick and choosy with what i watch.

totally understand having issues with some of the more problematic tropes in anime and i know for a fact it's impacted what i consume along with actions of the creators of certain content. ppl can get pissy when folks call out their faves but if they've got an issue maybe they ought to be the ones to ignore it

but when it comes to watch habits i've honestly been trying to put more effort into catching up on old shows i never finished while adding any that caught my eye recently to a watch later list. The few I'm still hoping to watch in full are like SAO, Nichijou, Durarara, Cannon Busters and Aggretsuko. I think the only anime that i have been looking forward to (whenever they do release) would be Mekakucity Reload (the second kagerou project anime) and The Mighty Grand Piton

i think it's pretty normal tho for tastes and preferences in what you watch to change over time while some may not change at all just depends on the person

[ButterflyEmpress]

I still like anime, but not as much as when I was younger. As a kid I watched everything on kidsWB and 4Kids, as a teen I branched out of the kiddie stuff when people posted anime for older audiences on YouTube. I've been feeling the same about anime in terms of how homogeneous it gets, even the plots are copying each other (isekai especially). I can go back to the shows I grew up watching easily, but new stuff not so much.

I feel like my waning interest stems from getting old. Lots of shows are about high school and teens. It's hard to relate to them and awkward when it starts to get sexual. Although this can happen in shows with younger characters unfortunately (Made in Abyss and Dragon Maid). I rather have an older cast (like Golden Time, NetJuu no Susume, Cells at Work, One Punch Man etc) and settings outside of high school that aren't JRPG fantasy land (too many of those). As of now I'm watching Attack on Titan series finale and Cowboy Bebop and enjoying both.

[Darth_Biomech]

I'd say I'm not so much grew out of it, I just got too fed up with the cliches. Nowadays I find manga being much more interesting than anime, and with a better plot usually.

Well, the detail that you have to be glued to the screen to understand what's going on. I nowadays watch the shows while simultaneously doing something else to both save time and not being bored while working. Anime is virtually impossible to watch that way because subtitles.

But I do noticed that after roughly 2010 it became "one interesting show in several years" rather than "a couple of interesting shows per year".

screw it my little brother wouldn't watch anything older that 2000

You monster, 90% of the good stuff considered classic came out before 2000! You dare deprive your brother of Cowboy Beebop, Akira, GITS, and other works that are the sole justification for the existence of the medium?!