If you've watched anime for a while you're bound to have experienced burnout from watching anime. When you've watched anime for a long period of time without taking breaks, it begins to feel like a chore. Anime is meant to release your stress and provide entertainment. The moment you get that feeling take a break.
How do you know if you have burnout?
I realized I was burnt out when I started constantly checking how long it would take for the episode to finish. When you find it hard to stay focused on an anime and find yourself multitasking constantly, that's probably a sign. It may also be the case that you're tired of seeing certain cliches and formulas that are used.
How do you stop burnout from happening in the first place?
For one, stop limiting yourself. By that I mean stop restricting yourself to one genre of anime. Expose yourself to different genres and demographics. One of the reasons I got burnout was because I only watched battle shonen. It drained me because I've been watching it for years.
Anime that would excite me in the past began to bore me because I had seen it all before. I started branching out with seinen and it revived my love for anime. I didn't stop there though I even started experimenting with a few shojo. When you mix things up you can never get bored.
Another way to stop burnout is by exploring obscure anime. Yes, it's cool to watch anime that everyone else is watching but you can try to strike gold on your own.
There's no better feeling than finding a niche anime/manga that's an absolute masterpiece. It also makes watching anime fun because it feels like a treasure hunt. Will you find a hidden gem or will you find something that deserves to be unkown because of its poor quality.
Rewatching an anime you love is one of the best ways to get rid of burnout. Two months ago I didn't want to finish reading any of the manga I started and I was dropping all of them. Then I started re-reading Kingdom, my favorite anime.
I promise you I finished reading those 600+ chapters in a week. It reignited all of the passion and love I had for anime.
Stop binge-watching anime without taking breaks. That was a rabbit hole I fell into, watching multiple long-running series back to back. Maybe watch an anime movie in between or even switch mediums. Instead of watching anime, read manga or even a light novel from time to time.
Don't force yourself to watch an anime if you're not enjoying it, it's mentally draining. You're not obligated to like it because everyone else thinks it's good. Stay true to yourself if you don't like it stop watching it.
When anime begins to feel like a chore instead of a hobby or passion take a break. It could be a break from a day to even months. Focus on other things in that time.
Watch movies, play video games, read comics do anything you want. When you feel it's the right time, you can come back. I guarantee your love for anime and manga will be rekindled.
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