The age-old problem of wanting to watch many anime titles and not having the time for it, is something that I’m sure has plagued most of us. Even if we’re able to squeeze just watching anime into our busy schedules, squeezing in additional activities like rewatching, blogging, online discussions, and the like may be out of the question. The majority of fans I know are around my age – still in high school, college, or a young adult still living at home and somewhat dependent on their parents. In most cases, such a situation offers more time for anime than someone tied down by a full-time job and/or family of their own. So I wonder, what kind of schedule does one need in order to keep their anime fandom going even if their life gets busier…
In high school, when my anime fandom truly took off, having time for anime was never a problem. I didn’t need to do any excessive studying or assignments outside of school, so just about all of my non-school time (including 3-month summer vacations!) was dedicated to watching anime and working on my web site. Another major help was the fact that I wasn’t fansub savvy yet and relied mostly on buying DVDs and borrowing anime from friends, so I rarely watched a lot of series at once.
When I began junior college, got a part-time job, and had access to more anime than I had ever dreamed of thanks to getting a good computer and Internet, is when I realized that I no longer had the time I used to for all the anime I wanted. What I decided to sacrifice was consistent updates on my main web site and started up this blog instead, since blog posts take up a lot less time than site updates.
Transferring to a university a few years later is when I had the least amount of free time I ever had in my life. My blog was on constant hiatus during those two years as studying and school assignments took up every bit of my time, including weekends. The between-quarter vacations I got were the only time I had for blogging. But while I had to sacrifice the blog for a while, I still managed to keep up with seasonal shows by dedicating an hour or two every night as my designated “anime time.”
And…I still keep that “anime time” in my schedule today, which is how I’ve managed to keep up with roughly 10-15 weekly shows at any one time. The job that I’ve had for the past two years (roughly 4-6 hours of work a day) allows me more free time than I had at university, which is why I’ve been blogging so consistently for the past couple of years. But it does take planning to make it all work out. My average anime schedule for the past two years has been something along these lines…
– Everyday I check online for new episodes of my weekly shows. I have a folder on my desktop called “Anime to Watch” where I keep the episodes after downloading until I’m ready to watch them.
– With few exceptions, the only time I watch anime is during my “anime time,” which is the 1-2 hours before I go to bed every night. I check the “Anime to Watch” folder and will pick 2-3 episodes to watch from there. If there’s only one or none at all, I’ll watch episodes of something I need to catch up on, like One Piece or a show I’m rewatching.
– For blogging, I usually write all or most of a post in the morning hours before I have to leave for work (except for summer, my main shifts start in the afternoon). I’ll either submit it then or after work in the evening if I still need to finish it. I used to write posts three times a week but as of now I’ve cut it down to two.
– I like having my weekends free, which is why I rarely blog on those days. I use weekends to do things I don’t have the time or energy to do during the week, such as shopping errands, getting together with friends, or cleaning my room. I’ll sometimes use weekends for big anime or video game marathons, or other immersing activities I don’t usually have time for.
– To give a more detailed example, here’s an average Wednesday for me: get up, work my early morning shift, come home, eat breakfast, write a blog post, eat lunch, go to work, come home, eat dinner, play some video games, surf the web, exercise, take a shower, watch anime for an hour, go to bed.
So that’s basically what my schedule has been in recent years and is how I’ve personally managed to fit anime watching and blogging into it. For those of you who consistently watch way more anime at once than I do and still manage to complete most or all of them, while having a job and/or schoolwork, and keeping up a blog or some other online presence, I salute you and would like to know your secret for making all that time (unless it’s something like sacrificing eating, sleeping, or all non-anime activities =P)
But the big question that’s always in the back of my mind is – when I get a full-time job and have to live on my own (since I work, my mom does most of the house chores), will I be forced to make a major sacrifice in my fandom? Will I be unable to blog anymore since I’ll be working the entire day and will be too exhausted to write posts after work? Will my weekends be too crammed with house chores for blogging or even seeing friends? Will my nightly “anime time” become the sole outlet for my fandom?
Thinking about this makes me savor every moment of fandom immersion I have right now. I really don’t want to become one of those poor people whose job or circumstances make them unable to indulge in hobbies. So I’m “enjoying it while I can” so to speak. I’m very grateful that I have the time I’ve had these past years to immerse myself in the thing I love. I don’t know what the future holds for me as far as time for anime, but I will do everything in my power to keep it going~
I know things may change, but you will always find time to do the stuff you like to do. The time may be shortened a little, or the schedule may shift, but you will still find the time for it.
I like how you actually have your hobby in your schedule. That is very important, and a lot of people fail to do that. So the schedule will fill up with other important things (family, work, study, etc), but push their hobbies away. Entertainment and hobbies are just as important as work, study and family time, so you should always set apart a time for it. Life needs a good balance of everything.
So as long as you set a time for your important hobbies, it will be ok. It may be less time, but it would make it more precious. I’m also in a period of time where I can watch a lot of anime, so I’m trying to watch (and re-watch) as much as I can :) You never know when things will change, but its good to always dedicate some time to it.
Yes, time for hobbies is important, especially for someone like me whose very sense of happiness revolves around anime XD I’m always saddened when I see people who are so busy with work and family obligations that they have no time to do what they want. There are some people who don’t need self-immersible hobbies like anime to be happy, but most people need something and unfortunately a lot of them don’t have time for it. I know myself well enough by now to know that I need to always keep anime in my schedule or else I’ll be miserable!
I started to really get into anime when I have a free lance job as a writer which also made me a hikki. Needless to say I have all the time in the world to spend on anime, blogging, manga and rewatching. Those were the good years.
Two years ago, I changed job (I got two jobs actually, one for the weekday as Admin Manager and another during the weekend as a part time editor) and on top of that has two businesses running as well. I don’t have much time to spare so I dropped manga (except for a few) and only watch anime that I like.
I watch them whenever I feel like it, either at the office or at home. I don’t really has specific schedule but thankfully I am still able to blog and watch anime and still be a fan. I sometime wonder how did I do it?
Wow, it sounds like you have a lot of work to do for your various jobs! I commend you for being able to keep anime viewing in your busy schedule. Even if time constraints make it so you don’t have time to watch a ton of series at once, that lets you give all your attention to just a few, which can certainly be a good thing.
When I started college as a freshman, I had plenty of free time, which is a reason why I went back to watching Anime after several months of hiatus and starting blogging about it a few months later. I have been watching and blogging Anime on a continuous basis until the fall semester of last year. Intermediate Accounting I and Cost Accounting were the most difficult and time consuming, but I managed to be very active even though my grades took a small hit. Since I needed to bring my grades up and Intermediate Accounting II was another time killer, I had to cut back a little on blogging and watching. During that time, I have developed an overactive thyroid, which took another hit on blogging and reduced my motivation, but its pretty much under control now…
So presently, I have one and a half years of college left and three more breaks to focus on Anime. While time will be a problem for me when I begin to finish my bachelor degree and finish the requirements of the new major, I don’t think it will be too much of a problem since I only pick a few shows that will be good and stick with them… Masters degree on the other hand, will be a different story.
It’s great that you’ve been able to fit both anime watching and blogging into your schedule when your schoolwork load isn’t too big. Even if you have to watch fewer shows, as long as you’re enjoying it, that’s all that matters =) If I really wanted to I could have squeezed blogging into my schedule when I was at uni but it would just become more of a chore than fun. So I congratulate you on being such a good college anime blogger :3
After just graduating from high school, I’m hoping that I will have more time to watch anime during college. I keep a list of anime I plan to watch and currently watching as well, but I rarely had time to watch and the list has been piling up over the past year. I try to squeeze in time in my busy schedule to make quick updates to my blog, but maybe I’ll start giving myself some “anime time” as well. :)
Having time for anime and blogging in college depends on how much work you get and how many classes you’re taking, which then depends on your major and choice of college. My junior was very easy so I had time for a part-time job and anime/blogging. Then when I transferred to a university for my B.A., I had no time for blogging and just a little for anime. So it all depends, but you seem like someone who’s good at budgeting time for your hobby ;) Maybe your college will have an anime club like mine did?
Oh, and I glanced at your blog and it looks like it’s off to a great start ^_^
Another big thing to keep in mind when planning to watch anime in college: bandwidth (if you download or stream content). Unless you live off campus, you’re going to have fast for a long, long time. Most college campuses are becoming increasingly wise to the problem of having thousands of twenty-somethings hogging up terrabytes of data during most hours of the day. The result is a stranglehold on even the most basic internet and networking functions.
University administrations won’t back down or try to reason either, their ultimatum will simply be: “Stop using all our bandwidth.”
It’s great that you make time for the things you love doing! It’s also very important – we’ve been given lectures at uni about how we should make sure we keep up our hobbies in order to avoid burnout when we start working full-time, so you’re doing a great job. :D
Ahhh, month-long summer holidays full of anime watching… I did that during high school too, and I remember back in those days I had time to watch anime and play games every night because as long as I’d done my homework, my parents couldn’t complain. :P In the past year and a half of uni, I’ve been forced to limit my anime watching to weekends only during the busier parts of semester, but more often than not I’d sneak in an episode every now an then on a weekday. I find it’s a good incentive to do study or assignments; I’d tell myself that if I did this much study, I’d reward myself with an ep of anime. Works a charm, most of the time.
Thanks, I’d like to think of myself as an organized person who’s good at making schedules for herself that balance “work and play.” Even if my life suddenly gets way busier, I will do my best to keep anime there!
Yes, those long summer vacations were the best, especially in high school where I would spend all my time watching anime and working on my web site. The good old days~
Since I was at uni and even now when I have a job, weekends are still the only time I have for things like cleaning, shopping, and getting together with friends. Weekdays are just too rushed and exhausting =P But it’s great that you can use weekends for anime, and an occasional episode on a weekday can’t hurt ;)
I probably have a different point of view from most, because I’m not only married, but have two young children.
You definitely have to sacrifice some things to keep others after children come along. Anime/video game marathons? Those will probably be out of the question, at least for some time. Other hobbies? They may have to go out the window in order to focus on just one or two that you like most – for instance, I loved playing sports video games and doing fantasy sports, but I’ve done little or none of either in the past several years.
I carve aside “me time” five or six nights a week. On these nights, I usually watch an episode or two or anime before I go to sleep. On rare days, my wife will watch with me (we both just recently watched Tales of Earthsea), which is really nice. If you eventually marry an anime fan, well then perhaps your life won’t change so much.
That’s great that you still have some “me time” despite having a family. Even if you had to sacrifice a few other hobbies, at least you can still keep a couple, like anime and blogging =) I know too many tired people tied down to work and family to the point of no time for themselves and that’s not healthy =/
I decided long ago that I’m not the type of person to have children…but marrying the right anime fan sounds perfect ^_^
Cool. Um… not much to say about that.
bye.
–End–
Everything in moderation. Even though anime has stolen a lot of my gaming time the past few years, I still only like watch ~3 shows each season.
I still think it’s not worth watching them all. I mean, I really doubt they’re all that good to watch when you could do something else with the time that’s more productive and/or enjoyable. That’s the reason I sometimes follow and complete non of the shows for a certain season; they’re just not worth the time.
10-15 shows…well that’s out of the question for me. I just hope that you and all the others who watch that many, are not watching anime just for the sake of having watched them.
Watching a large amount of seasonal shows at once has its good points and bad points. Bad points would be that, yes, it eats up of a lot of your time and not all of them are that impressive. But good points is that you’re more likely to find ones you really enjoy, plus you have that many more anime in your scope of knowledge.
I’ve mentioned in a few past posts that even though I have an aversion to dropping an anime unless I really don’t like it, I enjoy watching that many shows because my range of ability to interact with fellow fans, knowledge of trends in anime, and just overall enjoyment of the suspense of weekly episodes, is all the more increased. Plus, I’m not that picky when it comes to anime and usually don’t feel like I wasted my time with any of them. Watching three shows at once definitely lets you give more attention to each, which is a good thing too. But it just depends on what you’re looking for.
Having a full-time job and one that can have me “on the clock” & doing research even when I’m not in the office or in the classroom causes me to be highly selective in what I choose to watch. This in turn causes me to not pay attention to most of the anime blogosphere since so many bloggers review current series. But I try to squeeze in about maybe 2 episodes a day if I can, either of the stuff I’m following or from my backlog. Or, if I happen to have a more relaxed weekend, I’ll marathon a 13-ep series. My viewing time is also divided somewhat between anime and some live-action TV shows I like — mainly sci-fi stuff like Dr Who or Torchwood, or medical/police dramas like House or Law & Order. Darn, I need to clone myself to watch all these things at once…
Yeah, two episodes of anime during my “anime time” at night is what I average too. Sometimes three or sometimes one if I’m just too tired =P
Wow, a 13-episode marathon is huge! The longest marathon I can do is about 6-7 episodes in a row before I have to take a long break =)
I haven’t consistently watched any non-anime TV shows for years. I will occasionally watched non-anime movies, but that’s about it. Anime just gives me everything I need as far as visual media =P
It was only after I transferred to a university that I had to cut back on anime watching time. That year, I barely watched anything. Maybe like, one series. It was a hard time for me; my classes were suddenly very demanding, I was working, and was doing my best not to be a bum at home. I’ve settled into watching 1-2 series per season. Sometimes, if nothing looks interesting to me, I’ll watch an older series. However, since I’ve gotten pickier and pickier about anime, watching very few series doesn’t bother me.
I’m the type of person who will sacrifice entertainment, socialization, food, and sleep if I have some kind of work to do — whether inside or outside of the house. Sadly, anime seems to be falling behind on my list of priorities. It’s the same thing that happened with games; I haven’t even touched one in a year.
It sounds like you don’t have much time for your hobbies, but it’s good that you value work before play. Is your lack of time due to the pressures of schoolwork and having a job? Perhaps when you’re done with school you’ll have more time for anime and the occasional game =) Even if it’s just one series at a time, I think it’s important to have at least a little time for hobbies in your busy schedule ^^,,,
It’s scary…I remember I used to watch so much anime back in the day. But now, the roles are reversed. I’ve actually been reading more Manga than watching anime–and I don’t mean reading online, I mean actually purchasing them, since I’ve been in college. It’s actually rather odd. I can only hope a full time job doesn’t deprive me of that!
I’m starting to not have nearly as much time for anime (or any leisure activity) as I used to. Since I started 11th grade, my days are pretty much spent with homework, homework, study, and more homework. If I’m lucky, I can always get in a few hours on the weekends, and maybe a couple of episodes throughout the week when the workload is lower. It’s annoying because as I finally started to get rid of the giant backlog of anime I had to watch, more came and I had less time to watch. T.T
Initially, I was so hesitant starting my own blog because I don’t know if I can last for a while. However, after some thinking, I realized that it would be now or never that’s why I started it, plus since I just recently finished my schooling, I also want to keep myself pre-occupied of other things.
Plus, I always admire people who are willing to commit and passionate on what they’re doing–seeing those kind of people is really inspiring. But I guess for me, as long as I’m enjoying with what I’m doing I’ll always get a time to do it regardless of the situation, and I think that’s how long my blog will last.