It is a universal truth for anime fans to possess a multitude of shows for their watchlists, while at the same time trying new ways to watch them in between their hectic schedules. Although we all have our own styles of keeping up with our favorite shows, some anime fans from around the world share with us how they do it.
Animedoro Ensures That You Take A Break
This variation of the Pomodoro technique can be done by choosing one task or project you wish to finish, setting up a timer for around 40 to 60 minutes to focus on your work, then taking a 20-minute break to watch an episode of your favorite anime and repeating the cycle until you finish your task. Sarika, a Canadian anime content writer for CBR in her 20s, can vouch for this method’s effectiveness. “I used this back in high school since I was running 4 clubs plus 5 sports teams,” she said. Currently, she is also balancing 3 other jobs while fixing her requirements for postgraduate studies.
RELATED: Sarika’s Anime Articles, List https://www.cbr.com/author/sarika-ganguli/
Try Multitasking To Accomplish Realistically Set Goals
Although admittedly not for everyone, Sarika has mastered the art of multitasking. Being able to understand Japanese helped her as she can just have an anime playing in the background or she can casually read manga while working without breaking a sweat. However, if she wanted to digest the show while giving more attention to her work, she changes it to an English dub. At the end of the day, it is all about striking a balance between what works for you and getting things done without sacrificing one or the other.
When Playing, There’s No Shame In Doing Just The Bare Minimum
Ensemble Stars! is a popular rhythm-gacha game that has anime and manga adaptations. As an avid player and a Filipina university student, Dinero can easily sneak playing Ensemble Stars! into her busy schedule by only doing the bare minimum: daily missions, daily diamond grind (through Starry Live), and using up consumables (such as tickets and BP) in the game. Naturally, she also sacrifices some of her sleep sometimes for planning and doing calculations for the events. She stated, “I only spend at least 1 to 2 hours per day. It doesn’t interfere with my acads at all.”
Really, Just Prioritize On What You Fancy Watching
Realistically speaking, there is no way someone could watch all the new animes of a season and catch up on anime backlogs while still having a healthy and productive life. That is why, prioritizing what you want to watch first based on how much you love watching them is the trick that Ilias, another university student from Belgium, swears by. For example, he focuses on watching and reading Bleach, but he also tunes in to other ongoing titles such as Blue Lock, Chainsaw Man, and SPY X FAMILY Part 2 whenever he feels like it. He also ensures that he finishes his schoolwork first before watching, or multitasking if his task does not require much concentration.
Sarika also does the same thing, but with an extensive planner. She writes all her tasks down every Sunday to have an overview of her week and adjusts accordingly. As a content writer, she only watches the anime she feels like watching. Those are usually the shortest anime on her watchlist or whatever is trending.
Focus and Enjoy
At the end of the day, we all have our own commitments – and those should be our topmost priority. Watching anime and reading manga should be an activity we personally enjoy, and not feel like a chore so there is absolutely no need to feel pressured on catching up.