I’ve been thinking about something lately when it comes to anime, and I’m curious if you guys have ever had this happen too.
You know when you’re watching an anime and you suddenly figure out the mechanics behind the story?
Not the actual story itself, but the little recipe the writers are using to keep the thing going.
Like you watch enough episodes and suddenly you think:
“Ohhhh… I see what you’re doing.”
And once I see it, sometimes that’s it. The magic is gone. 😂
I’ve had this happen with Re:Zero, Demon Slayer, and Mushoku Tensei. At some point I become so aware of the particular plot device they’re using over and over again that I start seeing it coming from a mile away.
And then instead of watching the story, I’m watching the mechanism.
That’s the part that kills it for me.
I’m no longer thinking “holy shit, what’s going to happen?”
I’m thinking “yeah, okay, here comes the thing they always do.”
And once your brain starts doing that, it’s really difficult to switch it off again. It’s like you’ve accidentally looked behind the curtain and discovered the little bloke pulling the strings. 😆
BUT…
And this is where it gets interesting.
Sometimes it actually works.
Higurashi When They Cry is probably the best example I can think of.
That anime is absolutely full of repetition and recurring patterns. You start recognising things. You start noticing that certain situations, characters and events keep coming back around.
And yet somehow… it works.
In fact, in Higurashi the repetition almost becomes part of the appeal. You’re sitting there thinking “okay, I’ve seen this before… but WHY is this happening again?”
So even when you start figuring out the recipe, the recipe itself becomes part of the mystery.
Which I find really interesting because technically I’m still being fed the same kind of thing over and over again. 😂
So I started wondering whether this is just something that happens with me, or whether other people get this too.
Have you guys ever watched an anime where you suddenly figured out the repetitive plot device or storytelling formula being used, and from that point onwards you just couldn’t enjoy it in quite the same way anymore?
And I’m also really interested in the opposite.
Are there anime where you KNOW exactly what the writers are doing, you know the formula, you can practically predict what’s coming… but it still works anyway?
Because I think there’s a big difference between repetition and good repetition.
A recipe isn’t necessarily bad just because you know the ingredients. Sometimes you just really like the recipe. 😆
I also wonder if this is more common with the really popular, commercial anime. Especially the long-running stuff. I mean, I get it. If you’ve got a manga that needs to keep producing chapters and an anime that needs to keep producing episodes, eventually you’re going to find a formula that works and you’re probably going to keep using the bastard.
But does this happen just as much with more obscure or experimental anime?
Or is this mostly a problem with the big popular stuff?
And I suppose there’s also the question of how much repetition we’re willing to tolerate. Because obviously pretty much every story has some kind of formula. At some point it’s not about whether there IS a formula, but whether you notice the formula more than you notice the story.
Anyway, this isn’t meant to be a Higurashi thread, but since I mentioned it…
I’m actually really curious about the new Higurashi season that’s been announced. 😂
After the last season, they’ve got a pretty damn high bar to clear. That felt so much like an ending that I’m honestly wondering where the hell they’re going to take it next.
But that’s a whole other discussion.
I’m more interested in the general question:
What anime made you realise you’d figured out its recipe?
And did that completely kill the anime for you, or did you somehow end up enjoying it because you figured it out?
I’m really curious what you guys think about this one. :)
