How much "emotional investment" do you put in the anime?

[Lil Brother]

The amount of time and money I've invested into this franchise points towards "obsessed", clearly. Unless something new comes out, my time dedicated to this show each week is thirty minutes on a Saturday morning and maybe... three to five hours total spent on Pokémon forums? Hmm, I'm gonna have actually count the time at some point.

Anyway. My emotional investment is simply enjoying the characters and their personalities, the humor, the charming storylines, and the cross-media references neccesary of a merch-promoting show. Sure, I have some expectations and will sometime complain a bit online if an episode's not up to par, but it's hardly the end of the world if every episode isn't completely stellar.

Which is why people passionately debating and whining on the Internet as if this franchise were the most important thing in the world completely confounds me. '_' Conversation and disagreements is fine, but some people are just plain scary.

Then again, people both online and in real life saying that the show has become horrible over the years when really the exact opposite is true is a pet peeve of mine, so maybe that's saying something. Not that I ever really fight back unless I'm having a conversation with close friends; who cares, right?

 

[Cybersai]

I think a bit of the problem is people don't rewatch old eps and old sagas, which I find a bit odd. To some people once a saga ends, it's over, and they never go back and rewatch it.

I must have watched each saga a few times now, (Kanto and Orange most of all, since as a kid I always watched reruns of the first two seasons on TV back then, and they played these two to death over the years), so I always refresh my memory of what happened in the show.

The problem is now that the show has 600 episodes, people have forgotten a good chunk of it. If you don't go back and rewatch old arcs and old episodes, you've forgotten a good chunk of the shows history.

 

[PDL]

I think a bit of the problem is people don't rewatch old eps and old sagas, which I find a bit odd. To some people once a saga ends, it's over, and they never go back and rewatch it.

The thing is that most people simply don't have the time or motivation to rewatch TV shows. They're too busy with things such as school, work or other pursuits in life. They watch Pokémon simply because it's good for a half-hour distraction. Which is what most TV shows are supposed to be.

The problem is now that the show has 600 episodes, people have forgotten a good chunk of it. If you don't go back and rewatch old arcs and old episodes, you've forgotten a good chunk of the shows history.

What does it accomplish though? Sure you gain alot of Pokémon trivia, but not really much else. Such energies would be devoted to other things, such as, well, school, work and other pursuits in life.

 

[Cybersai]

It doesn't accomplish anything, it just lets you re-visit your favorite episodes. Or the important episodes. And it let's you see old Pokemon that were part of the group that aren't around anymore, old main characters, and old rivalries.

The show is no longer stagnant, things constantly change from saga to saga, and we can all see that the writing really does change from one arc to the next, however slightly.

As for time, without commercials you can watch two episodes in only 40 minutes. I usually watch two eps at night from older arcs in order, and it only takes up 40ish minutes of my time. That's not anything out of my day.

 

[Dogasu]

Even though I have a website and participate in this forum just about everyday...I wouldn't really say that I'm "emotionally invested" in the show. I'm a big fan, yes, but I'm not a fanboy for some of the characters the way other fans are. To me, the show is just an entertaining half hour diversion, and when I'm not working on my site or participating in message board discussions, I'm not really thinking about it.

 

[ShinyAeon]

Scott85: The problem is now that the show has 600 episodes, people have forgotten a good chunk of it. If you don't go back and rewatch old arcs and old episodes, you've forgotten a good chunk of the shows history.

PDL: What does it accomplish though? Sure you gain alot of Pokémon trivia, but not really much else. Such energies would be devoted to other things, such as, well, school, work and other pursuits in life.

Yes, but school and work are not leisure activities - we're presumably talking about free time here, 'cause I certainly can't watch Pokemon at work (if you can, I want your job!).

I suppose that's covered by "other pursuits," but your free time is supposed to be devoted to things you enjoy. What if you enjoy Pokemon more than your "other pursuits?"

Also, you're clearly not an anime fanwriter (or at least, if you are, you're not very canon-oriented). As a writer I try my best to write folks in character, and every episode counts because they're part of your character's history (granted, some count way MORE than others, but...). And episodes are a great source of story ideas, like "why did that happen this way?" and "what if this had happened differently?"

But the bottom line is...do you enjoy watching older episodes of Pokemon? If so, I'd say it's free time well-spent.

Although it occurs to me that all this talk of "putting an emotional investment in the anime" is a case of the tail wagging the Pikachu. You don't "invest" your emotions in things like you invest money in an industry or something...in my experience, emotions go running off and invest themselves wherever they want to, and you're left running along behind them trying to catch up.

Oh, sure, you can drag them away kicking and screaming if you really set your mind to it, but if there's no harm to liking something, why would you go to all that effort? What makes Pokemon unworthy of attachment? There are worse things you could get wrapped up in....like, for instance, watching Maury Povich announce the results of yet another paternity test to yet another sobbing/angry/frightened/self-righteous woman and stir up mob feelings against yet another shamefaced/dismissive/enraged/humiliated man.

When I see people at work watching Maury at lunch every day, and getting all wrapped up in those kinds of sensationalized and sordid daily train wrecks, I count myself lucky that my "guilty pleasure" is just a feel-good kid's cartoon about the Power of Friendship and never giving up on your dreams.

 

[Piplup]

So I got infractions since I mentioned here the words "Voice Actor"
How smart -_-
Seriously, the VA rule was created to prevent "wars" between the 4Kids/New VAs... why would it cause anything bad when I say one of the reasons I love Pokémon is the translation/dub and there are some VAs that I like and there's a problem that a lot are often replaced?
It didn't create any arguing on the subject and it didn't even talk about the English version - I doubt we have a lot of people here who care about the Hebrew version

That was just ridiculous of you Dogaso to give me infractions for that
As ridiculous as it was of Kasumi to give me infractions for saying that fat guy from the Miltank ep had May's bandana
I'm shocked how mods here randomly give infractions for the stupidest things
I really didn't deserve these infractions... but at least now people on this thread will know they aren't allowed to fully answer this thread's question if "the banned word" is part of their answer

 

[Adamant]

"Emotional investment"? Well, I'm obsessed enough with the series to catch both weekly episodes as they air in Japan, even though that means getting up in the middle of the night to Thursday every week.

I got into the series through the Norwegian dub starting with episode 3 back in early 2000 (though I had read an animanga adaption of episode 4 earlier), and watched the series religiously every week until it got cancelled 3 years later. I fell out of the fandom then, got back into the series via the Japanese version when AG started, and has followed that ever since. While I try catching what I can of the Norwegian dub nowadays, it's mostly for nostalgic reasons - the dub is decent, above par as far as dubs go, but not really "good". The translation is iffy and way too literal, and the voices and acting is very hit or miss, but dammit it's still entertaining, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a definite attachment to Crawfurd's Ash and Karlsen's Meowth, who's been with the series since the beginning.

"Emotional attachment", though? I really do love the characters and the world they live in, and enjoy exploring this world along with them. The Pokemon world itself has always been a big part of the series' appeal to me, a world so different, yet similiar to our own, and having new aspects of it uncovered every week, all while watching these characters I've been following for nearly 10 years now explore and interact with it and each other.

The characters, the world, it's all part of making it one of my favorite TV series, and I hope to be following it for many many years to come.

 

[CamyPSyrup]

Pokemon is probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's probably the only thing I think about besides my friends, eating, and sleeping. Whenever I watch the very first episode of the whole series, I always get teary eyed knowing that this episode is the beginning of a fabulous never ending show. It's almost like I'm going back in time to the very first time I've seen Pokemon and was introduced to its awesomeness! Even though some things have changed in the show it doesn't stop me from watching it. So yeah, I love Pokemon that much and I will keep watching the show until the end of time.

 

[TheArsenalRisen]

Yeah, let's say the old is better just because it's old, even if it makes no sense to say that
But I guess it's still a matter of opinion... but really, how can anyone deny the anime only improve with the time? I really can't understand that

I won't argue that there haven't been improvements in the anime, but when you're someone who watched the anime back then for how it was then, some changes may seem like degradation. That's all. ;D Just depends on what you're looking for in the show.

I would normally argue about a couple of the comparisons you made but I'm not in the mood.

To answer the question of this thread...

I watch the show for entertainment purposes mostly, but since the show's gone on for ten years now, I'm pretty attached to it. So in short, I probably put more emotional investment in the show than most people would be comfortable with. :3

 

[Juputoru]

I like the show and all(that happens after watching for...12 years? 13 years? How the hell long has it been by now?), but I'm not going to commit suicide because one of my favorite characters gets shafted or because Ash doesn't catch a Riolu.

The anime really has gotten a lot better in recent years, but not yet to the point of any emotional investment beyond "hey this is funny/interesting." The closest the anime ever gets to being emotionally compelling is in some of the movie deaths, and not even those are going to be really sad unless you're still part of the target audience.
That said, the writers have done a good job in DP/AG of creating characters that I look forward to seeing instead of ones where I go "oh, it's Gary/Casey/Tracey/Misty again. Whatever.", even if they have hit a few duds in Dawn's contest rivals(I'm considering it karmic repayment for not giving Ash any rivals during all of AG while May got two awesome rivals). They've also gotten better at making storylines that I care about instead of ones where I go "well, this is slightly more interesting than generic filler," and both of those points do work in the show's favor. I'm actually, against all logic and common sense, hopeful that the TG arc will turn out well, and I actually give half a shit about Ash's rivals for a change - neither of which I would have seriously though I'd be doing if you'd asked me four or five years ago.


At the end of the day, though...it's a kid's show advertising a major franchise. Taking it too seriously would be like thinking that the Lord of the Rings series has complex moral themes - yeah, it's entertaining, but don't delude yourself into thinking that it's deeper than it really is.

 

[Amazed4587]

I'm not really that "emotional" attached to the show. To me, if it happens it happens, most of the time I don't see the need to bitch something that was gonna happen anyway. There is once a while I might note something that may catch my attention, usually surprises.

I don't really fit with anyone when it comes related to the show because a lot the stuff people talk about don't relate much what I kinda say, and some stuff seem redundant that been pointed out. I not a shipping person, I can't write paragraphs about one episode (except its an episode I really liked which been a while, and read the first sentence on the paragraph on those post and pages of the long posts.), people worried about VAs, and BGM, and ect. Don't fit in. I always notice some weird things that people don't notice, but I keep it to myself, or talk to my friends about it since I'm more comfortable, and being said on the internet. I get ignored, so I stopped posting the odd stuff I notice since it not relevant to what everyone finds.

I watch it for more pure enterainment purposes. I always want to know what happens with Ash and Pikachu, to Dawn and Piplup. And I've been fascinated of how much the show watch since the 1st season since its the next season I see alot.

But the episodes been really fascinating lately, I'm curious what will happen.

 

[Moon Light Princess]

It meant more to me when it first started then it does now. Personally, I like how it was back then more. But it'll always be interesting to watch, especially the movies when I'm in the mood to watch it.

It's something I grew up with so...Pokemon will always be a good show to me.

 

[ShinyAeon]

At the end of the day, though...it's a kid's show advertising a major franchise. Taking it too seriously would be like thinking that the Lord of the Rings series has complex moral themes - yeah, it's entertaining, but don't delude yourself into thinking that it's deeper than it really is.

*facepalm*

Yeah, let's just take potshots at Tolkien, no one on a Pokemon forum would care about that....

Where did you get the idea that LotR was a good example of a simple-but-entertaining story, anyway? It was a "quest" plot, yes, and moral issues were not the primary focus, but they were a definite part of the story's background.

If you're talking about the movies, bear in mind that the books are (of course) going to be much more complex with many more layers than the film version (though a surprising amount of the layers got in there, all things considered). If you've read the books and still don't see the substrate of complex moral themes that run beneath everything in LotR...then all I can do is repeat:

*facepalm*.

 

[GreatLiver]

As far as like being concerned about specifically which pokemon are captured or not captured, or release and the like, i really couldn't care less. Yes, it probaby wouldn't be interesting if none of the pokemon evolved or a character had a team made up of 5 dunsparce and a qwilfish, but as long as there is depth and variation in the team, I'm great. Releases really don't bother me since I figure it is basically just a children's show.

As far as like spending way too much time looking forward to future episodes, I do indeed.

 

[Zeta]

The anime is crap, the only reason I keep up with it is because the popularity of Pokemon in the anime influences how Pokemon are featured in the games, which get new evolutions, which get featured in side games. etc. I still don't actually watch it, though, and haven't since mid-Johto.

The Lucario movie was great, though.

 

[ShinyAeon]

The anime is crap, the only reason I keep up with it is because the popularity of Pokemon in the anime influences how Pokemon are featured in the games, which get new evolutions, which get featured in side games. etc. I still don't actually watch it...

So you're coming into the Anime forum and answering a thread clearly aimed at those who watch the Anime to tell us that you...hate the Anime and don't watch it.

Well, I guess "disdain" counts as an emotion....

The Lucario movie was great, though.

Ah, on that we can agree!

 

[Chatsy]

So you're coming into the Anime forum and answering a thread clearly aimed at those who watch the Anime to tell us that you...hate the Anime and don't watch it.

Well, I guess "disdain" counts as an emotion....

The topic of the thread isn't 'clear' on who it's referring to. In fact it's pretty open to anyone who watch the show or not. It hasn't been limited to "How much "emotional investment" do you people who watch the anime put into it?".
So no I wouldn't say it's clearly aimed at those who watch the anime.

 

[ShinyAeon]

It's in the Anime forum, where people gather to discuss the Anime, which assumes they watch it. It asks "how much emotional investment do you put in the anime," which assumes that the answerer does put some in it. It also doesn't say it's limited to non-sociopaths who actually have emotions, but that's kind of assumed by the structure of the sentence, too.

So no, it's not universally clear that the question is aimed at actual fans of the anime...just clear to people who can actually read English.

And I did say that disdain counts as an emotion, yes? Which means that I'm not arguing Zeta's right to answer the question, just that I think his answer was frivolous and a bit mean-spirited.

People use meta-messages all the time, because it would be exhausting to spell out in excruciating detail the precise literal meaning of every sentence they utter. Anyone can parse sentences into cole slaw to find a way to stick in something alien, but that doesn't change the meta-fact that they are basically off-topic.

And the previous paragraph is not aimed at Zeta in any way. I already admitted he was on-topic...just. See if you can work out the meta-message here, even if I wasn't crystal clear.

 

[LightningKimba]

Ah, on that we can agree!

'Cept me, but I'm a different story. ;P

In terms of how emotionally attached I am to the series, I've lost the majority of that near the beginning of the Battle Frontier arc, mostly because I pretty much accepted that I can't watch an anime every Saturday and expect that there won't be anything that will need prior attention (Dentist, check-ups, even having to go with my parents to some banquet-esque place...)

Really, the only reason I bother watching the anime now is to get a good chuckle at the characters, as if the anime isn't that serious (Yeah, I laughed when Cyrus started ranting about Dialga and Palkia in the two part ep. I liked the rain of Golbats.)

Should I be more serious about watching it? I don't think so, since there's other things that I should care for. I like Ash, I think May's sweet, I think Ritchie's awesome, but... They're still fictional, so meh. Sue me if you think I should be more interested for some odd reason.