How To Get The Motivation To Watch Anime AFTER Losing Interest

How can you get the motivation to watch anime again?

When you watch:

Too much anime.
Binge a lot of anime.
Watch the same types of anime.
And see the same types of scenarios and cliches…

As well as other stuff you become familiar with, it starts to get:

Dull.
Boring.
Dead.
Lifeless.
Uninteresting.
Bland.

And you no longer have an interest in anime anymore, and you find something else to fill that time.

Let’s talk about how to get motivated to watch anime AFTER losing interest.

This is, after all, the time when your motivation for anime is at its lowest and in need of refreshing if you’re willing.

1. Evaluate your dislikes for anime

If you’ve become disinterested in watching anime there’s a reason for that. And that reason is likely attached to something about the anime you’ve been watching or the pattern of those anime.

So think about what you dislike about anime that’s causing you to lack motivation to watch it again.

Could it be:

Certain cliches.
Certain genres of anime.
Certain tropes and characteristics.
The types of main protagonists.
The fact that it’s a shounen anime.
Fanservice.

Or something else?

When I was disinterested in anime, I felt like there wasn’t anything new, different, or fresh to see because I watched so many (I had 300+ anime under my belt at the time).

I went searching for something new and unique, and once I did, that fixed everything.

Anime like Land Of The Lustrous, A Place Further Than The Universe, Akiba Maid War, and especially Shadows House is what did it for me.

Shadows House has been one of my favourites since S1 aired during the pandemic.

2. Evaluate your quality of life

This can play a role in your interest and motivation for anything, not just anime or entertainment. I mean, if your quality of life is suffering in one way or another, it’s bound to affect your interest in anime.

For example:

Financial loss.
Depression.
Anxiety.
Loss of a loved one.
Loss of a job or career.
Facing a big rejection (university, someone you love, etc).

Some of these points are dramatic but true when all is said and done. Your motivation to take part in leisure will always be impacted by your quality of life or at least HOW you perceive your quality of life to be.

Or whether you’re grateful or negative about life in general.

It can either be an energy drainer or an enhancer.

The best times of my life are when I have the most interest in general, and that doesn’t just include anime or the motivation to watch it.

3. Stop forcing yourself to watch anime that are boring

A lot of the time we get recommended all sorts of anime shows to start watching, but a lot of those anime, even if mainstream and well-liked, can be boring depending on your perspective.

If you watch someone’s favourite anime series (One Piece for example) and you don’t end up liking it when you’re 100 episodes in, why force yourself to keep going?

If you watch Attack On Titan and don’t end up being the most gungho about it, why keep watching just to say “I watched it?

When you do this for long enough, and with enough anime series, you end up becoming disinterested because of self-sabotage in a way.

All that forcing and pandering to a set of anime series that put you to sleep goes against your true nature and what you actually like. So It’s no wonder you end up losing interest and then lacking the motivation to watch anime again.

No sane person can do that for long.

4. Move at a slower pace

The tendency to binge anime shows is high as F. But the problem with bingeing content of any kind is you can end up burning yourself out and becoming disinterested.

When you binge you can also:

Miss out on a lot of the details.
Forget a lot of what you watched.
Exhaust yourself because of how much time you spend doing it.
Tire yourself out too fast.

None of this is an issue when you binge a few, but many binge the majority of anime they watch, and THAT is what creates disinterest down the line and the lack of motivation that follows.

Disinterest in watching anime can last for months, and at its worst, it can last for years as long as it’s not just the fact you don’t care for anime anymore.

5. Seek out anime with a different vibe or art style

A lot of anime in the modern day have similar art styles, are airbrushed, too colourful, and can’t be differentiated from one another.

They suffer from same face syndrome and same art style syndrome (same character mannerisms as well, etc).

Maybe you just need to start watching and seeking out anime with a completely different art style.

Maybe the average art style like what you see in Shounen isn’t enough.

Aesthetically pleasing anime shows with unique art comes to mind:

Land Of The Lustrous.
Heavenly Delusion.
God Eater.
Vivy Fluorite Eye’s Song.
Takt Opt Destiny.
The Ancient Magus Bride.
The World In Colors.
New Game!
Kill La Kill.

And if you want anime with a weird art style:

xxxHolic.
RWBY.

6. Short anime series can be better

It took a lot of motivation to start watching Naruto during the pandemic. I had never watched it until then.

The anime has around 500+ episodes between S1 and Shippuden. That’s a lot and a lot of filler.

Short anime series can be better though. Especially if you wanna watch and get the motivation to watch anime after losing interest for so long.

Short anime can leave a lot to be desired, but they can also be good ways to get hooked fast, and find out what sort of anime will hook you in the first place.

Once you find it, which happens fast, the rest is simple and then you repeat the process.

–

In the end, finding the motivation to watch anime depends on where you’re at in your head. But these steps can make a difference.

It all comes down to what you want and what you’re willing to do.