RE: Can you "Overhype" an anime

WARNING! THIS POST IS MOSTLY MY OWN OPINION AND IS VERY SUBJECTIVE IN NATURE.

Some time ago, Daziigirl made a post on unotaku.net about over-hyping an anime. This is a reply to that post. Here's the link to her post: http://unotaku.net/index.php/2016/04/20/can-you-overhype-an-anime/


In my opinion, you CAN "over-hype" an anime. Now, I can understand where she's coming from and to be honest, I think various people have various reactions to hype as we're all unique. So while the hype doesn't bother her, it bothers me very much.

• There are mainly 3 reasons why the hype bothers me. All of which are more or less personal. When I try to talk about anime to some of my otaku friends, the conversation always seem to get redirected to the same anime in a matter of seconds in the most annoying way possible. I want to explain this further with the help of a few examples. Let's consider the over-hyped anime is "X"

"Hey, what is your favorite type of dere?"
"I like __deres because that character in X is a __dere and... *A rant about X ensues*"

"Have you watched Higurashi? It's a good anime."
"No, but have you watched X? You should watch X. It's an awesome anime and...*A rant about X ensues*"

"I found a game that is a lot like Pokèmon"
"Cool. By the way, are there any games like X? It's an awesome anime and... *A rant about X ensues*"

It gets really frustrating when something anime related turns the discussion into a chorus about how great X is.

• This should be mostly obvious but hype often comes with spoilers. To be fair, not everyone spoils anime for everyone else. But when the vast majority of the global anime community is resonating with hype, there's bound to be someone dishing out spoilers and avoiding them, though in my opinion, not impossible, it is very difficult. This will most certainly ruin your own run of the anime to at least an extent.Furthermore, even if you aren't bothered by the hype, hearing how good an anime is 24/7 will, almost definitely increase your expectations. So when you finally sit down to watch it, there will be a chance that the anime won't meet your heightened expectations.
• If you somehow managed to finish the anime before the hype started or when it was just starting, you're still not safe. When everyone will keep shoving it down your throat, it's actually normal for you to start hating it. Perhaps you'll still be able to recommend this anime to your friends and list all of it's good points. But you'll most likely be left with bad memories of it rather than good memories.The reason is that if you eat your favorite food every meal and snack of everyday, you'll get so sick of it that you won't want to even look at it. This is true for almost everything. And that includes anime. My favorite anime is Mirai Nikki. But even I would hate it if it was constantly shoved down my throat.

Lastly, there are some things which Unotaku said which I'd like to address.

"I can understand, it can bother one sometimes, when all people talk about is that one anime. But to me there has to be a reason."
I completely agree with this.

" To be honest, I understand why some people get bothered by it, but it’s not the anime’s fault – it’s just doing its job."
I agree with her.

"So even if you have a problem with this, I guess you have to suck it up, because I don’t think it’s going to change xD"
Unfortunately, I do agree that this problem probably won't go away. Though I really do wonder if just "sucking it up" is a proper solution.

"And just because the anime gets a lot of attention doesn’t mean I will dislike it – it’s a good anime, and “overhypeness” won’t change my opinion."
As much as I want to agree, I can't. The problem is not of tolerance or of obliviousness. Like I explained earlier, if you keep hearing about how good an anime is, your expectations are bound to increase. And when the anime doesn't meet those expectations, it seems shitty to the viewer.

If you're a critic, you may be resistant to this effect like dazii. But I'm pretty sure it may effect you in some way. Perhaps the anime will seem good and may hit a lot of check points and you may admit it to be a genuinely good anime. But does it really matter if it seems boring or unappealing to you for whatever reason?

If you've read my "Dear Red" review, you know what I mean. If you can't enjoy an anime for whatever shitty or non-shitty reason, is it really worth it?

Now, hype is good. It's fun to hop on the hype train. But when it's overdone, it ultimately turns viewers away from it. We can all agree that too much of anything is bad. Likewise, too much hype is bad.

So what can you do about it? Don't go over bored in the hype and you should be fine. Even then it is sometimes unavoidable. At the very best, you can try and not pay attention to it as much as possible. You can also try watching the anime before the hype kills it for you. And please be mature about whatever you do.Will this save you and your anime from the hype? Not really. Will it 'cause over-hype to go away? No. But it will help you cope with it at least more than resigning yourself to it will.

That was all I had to say on the matter.

Thanks for Reading!