When I interviewed streamer and friend, Phy, last year on The Wonder of Anime, she recalled discovering the anime Barakamon on Crunchyroll because she pressed the “random” button. This unlocked a memory in my brain. At the time (early 2010s), Crunchyroll had a button that would just take you to an anime at random. A blind date with an anime, if you will.
Nowadays, I wonder how many people scroll through Crunchyroll or Netflix and randomly press “play” on an anime. Or will they tweet, “Has anyone seen Demon Slayer??? Is it good??? Should I give it a watch?” No, seriously, they do that. I cannot scroll on Threads without seeing a “Has anyone seen (insert anime) and should I watch it” or “What should I watch guys??” post. Every. Single. Day. And to make it clear: this is the type of recommendations/review seeking I am referring to in this piece.
I’ve spoken out publicly about the need to consistently seek approval on the media we consume. I can’t help but wonder what this boils down to. Is it an aftermath of review culture? Do we review things so much that people feel they need a cosign to consume something? Or is it based on people feeling as if they do not have time? So, rather than check something out that could potentially be bad, they would rather make sure the internet thinks it’s good before they “waste their time.” Do they not find merit in watching something that others do not like, because they do not want to risk being the outlier that DOES like it?
At the risk of sounding like a “pick me” of this “anime recommendation/review” conversation, I never seek out reviews BEFORE I watch/read something. First of all, I have never cared about others’ opinions (I mean, I am running a site where I nerd out about anime under my real name and picture.) But two, and maybe most importantly, I don’t trust the thoughts of the general public to always match up with my taste. Sure, I usually like most mainstream things. But I also like that one niche anime that 2 people saw in 2016.
Trusting other people and their taste gets tricky. Mainstream popularity is fickle. I’ve seen people call My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer mid only a year or two after hyping it up to be the best anime ever. The tides change, and so do trends. Also, not everything is one to one. Often, people see those who recommend things and think, “Well, they liked The Apothecary Diaries and I like The Apothecary Diaries, so if they like Frieren, I will also like Frieren.” That isn’t always the case.
I’m not against reviews or recommendations. I mean, clearly, I make lists recommending things all the time. I review things all the time. But I think there’s a big difference in going to a review AFTER you’ve consumed a piece of media, with your thoughts to see a new perspective or what someone else took away from it, than watching a review or recommendation to see if something is worth watching because The Wonder of Anime said so.
What I am cautious about is automatically trusting someone else’s opinion FIRST over your own. And not just that, but completely dismissing something because someone else decided that it was “mid” or “garbage.” And I wonder what that does to us on a larger scale.
In my opinion, it’s twofold. One: I think this constant need to only watch “vetted” things is a security for people. The “incrowd” already likes this anime, so watching it and enjoying it immediately gives you access to the space in which that anime is being discussed. You are automatically welcomed in and liked because you align on the same level.
Two: it’s laziness. People do not want to vet their own media. Why watch 1, 2 , or even 3 episodes of an anime to decide if I like it when someone else will make a TikTok and tell me. Why look through MyAnimeList or AniList and discover new shows when some content creator will do it for me.
Ultimately, why does it matter? Why am I going on record at the expense of sounding like a cranky old person who remembers finding anime on Comcast “On Demand” and watching everything available until I discovered Chobits and Wedding Peach?
It matters to me because, on a larger scale, it just adds to the loss of individuality we’re experiencing. TikTok brainrot has taken over, and the influencers tell you what to wear, where to shop, what to eat, and even how to “live a day in your life.” The more we do what others say, the less we do what WE say. Someone telling you an anime is mid and you not even bothering to watch the first episode robs you of the chance to decide that for yourself. Maybe it wouldn’t have been mid to you, but you’ve resigned all curiosity in favor of trusting someone else over yourself.
My favorite thing about anime has always been how limitless the medium feels. There are thousands of anime you can watch, across so many genres. You can watch a businesswoman go home and enjoy yummy drinks made by her husband. Or you can see a teenage boy enter a magical shop that grants wishes. You can follow Tanjiro fight to save Nezuko or Momiji try and save Japan from demon plants. But when you remove your agency, your own curiosity to discover new titles, and blindly trust whatever TikTok or Threads/X recommends, you miss out on a great story that was perfect for you.
For me, I do kind of like learning about an anime before watching it. I’ll read reviews, I’ll read the summary, I might even read a few chapters of the manga (if that’s the source material) before deciding to watch an anime. My anime watching time is limited and I don’t want to waste it. That being said, I also consider where the recommendations are coming from. I have family members that do watch anime, and are very vocal about sharing their recommendations. I smile and nod to their recommendations, and promptly put whatever anime they just gushed over on my NEVER WATCH THIS ANIME! list. It’s great that they are so enthusiastic about anime, I’m truly happy that they have series that they love, but their tastes in anime are the exact opposite of mine, so every time I’ve watched one of their recommendations, it has been nothing I would actually like.