I think I turned over to a new phase in my life…either that or I am just getting used to a existing adjustment.

Nothing too big but I think I prefer to read manga than watch manga.

Although it’s not “big,” I do have a huge amount of hard drive space (on my external) with anime in it. Though to be honest it’s mostly anime I have already watched but I believe the portion of “anime to watch” will be growing more and more with time.

As I type this I have hours of anime to watch on my laptop but even though it’s there and I know it’s there I just don’t feel motivated to watch it.

But, as I type this I also check what manga is out (not important but I just noticed as I typed “manga” there is no squiggly red line under it saying my spelling is wrong lol. Either manga is just accepted now and the future machine overlords also like to use that word in their daily discussion at the oil cooler or I have the system just accept it, either way apparently “lol” is still not accepted. O machine overlords, you need to update your slang dictionary.).

So I am still willing to get anime but not watch it but try to look for new manga or look for updates of existing one’s that I read every so often which used to be reverse just a couple of years ago.

Also, I know there are just some who just prefer to watch dubbed anime rather than subbed just so that they don’t have to necessarily pay too much attention to what they’re watching and can multitask or just don’t like to read when they watch. For me I don’t mind reading which has its ups and downs. One up is I noticed my Japanese vocabulary going up slightly as I listen to what’s being spoken and reading what’s on the screen and my brain connects the two together. As a result I noticed I can watch something in Japanese and sometimes get the gist of what they’re saying which makes me a little proud xD. Another up for subs rather than dubs for me is the voice acting doesn’t match the character, though this doesn’t apply all the time. I think the best dubbing over original I’ve heard is from Cowboy Bebop as the characters voice just flowed with the animation. A down of reading is sometimes I miss the finer details which I would have to rewind to watch again as I was busy focusing on two points rather than one. Another down of subs is having to wait for an actual good subber to appear when something new comes out and I rarely, if ever, get raws to watch (remember, just a little proud xD;;;). The point of this paragraph is that I’ve been reading subs for a long time now and maybe I’ve read so much that I just prefer reading than watching now.

Something else about reading manga is the sheer amount that comes out on a daily basis. So I feel more “refreshed” I guess being able to read so many different types that I don’t think I would ever watch based on watching a anime counterpart. I have that “judging on first watch” deal where the first episode of a anime is a yes or drop because of the story, even if I do like the art (I’m like a art snob when it comes to anime lol. If it looks too “weird” for me I usually don’t even look, well, usually anyways). With manga I am able to read the first chapter, the second, third, forth, and so on before I make my decision. I know the first two to four chapters usually is one episode of anime but with the anime they are going at their own pace to meet that 24 minute quota while that first four chapters (depending on how long each chapter is) is done at my pace and I can get it done in ten minutes without much “boring sequences” going on like there is in anime.

Speaking of time, I like being able to read a chapter of a manga in five minutes rather than sit down and watch a anime for 24 minutes. For some reason, sitting for that much time and watching feels like a waste of time for me (though it strangely doesn’t affect me when I watch other things like comedy shows and the news for example).

Whats also nice about the amount of manga is that with all the continuously running series I’m satisfied with the “once a week” appearance and have something to read at least every other day. With anime, I noticed as the years have gone on I fine less and less anime that looks interesting to me and when I do watch it I tend to drop after giving them a chance. Even with anime I loved to watch in the past I just can’t do with their sequel now (Zero no Louise and Shana for example for this season. I have accumulated all the episodes as they are in their last season which I need to watch).

So I will continue to have my external hard drive depleted as it fills with anime that I have yet to watch and see if life takes me back into that direction. If and when that time comes, at least I will have a nice stock of anime on hand to waste away my time.