AlwaysSearching

I really think if you slow down and watch maybe 2 or 3 episodes at a time, that will do a lot to help you actually finish an anime. If you watch 90% of an anime in one day, no matter how good it is, it won't feel nearly as grand as it really should and you'll never be satisfied. It's my belief that when you take your time and give yourself breaks, you're able to not only experience the story for longer, but you also give yourself a lot more time to fully absorb the events of the story. When you go full "binge" there isn't any time to reflect on past events, it's just a constant uninterupted flow. As a whole, I think we'll be able to recognize more true classics in the future if the anime community as a whole practices this. If we all binge anime at top speed, the magic just kinda fades. Grand stories aren't meant to be experienced in their entirety from 11am to 9pm on a Tuesday in July.

I take it you don't exactly live in the heart of a city or anything, do you ever wish you did?

Aww man I know how that is. One of our dogs is too dumb to care, but the other one is a shaking mess every 4th of July lol

@Illusion of Terra I appreciate that you'd take that much time to reply to my admittedly odd post, honestly this kinda went in a way I wasn't intending. I don't think all normal things are boring, God I'd never have a fun day in my life if I actually believed that. I just think things that AREN'T normal are typically more worthwhile. And looking at things in a very general sense does inherently produce a more normal or boring world view. It's just that these days I no longer seem to find incredible things when I take a closer look. As a teenager it felt like I was being amazed by something almost everyday, but here at 22 it's an incredibly fleeting sensation. Whether it's me or whether it's the result of a decade of increasingly personalized media consumption, it's hard to say for 100% sure. Of course I still get taken by surprise and learn new things, but it's never intense enough to really leave much impact. To be perfectly frank, watching "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" a month or so ago was the last time I had that feeling, because it was the first time I had found a character of any kind that I had found such an immediate deep connection with. It was a moment where doubts that had piled up in my head like "Is it weird that I'm so hopeful for impossibly fictional things to exist?" and "Am I strange for wandering around in strange places just hoping for some unexpected amazing thing to happen?", just melted away. Honestly, there are two things I want more than anything: 1) I want to live in a world with a different "normal". A world where maybe people have different abilities, or society as a whole is more focused on personal happiness and fullfillment, one where we're all comfortable opening up and sharing our true selves. It feels like most of the time the world I live in is focused on shallow materialistic time-killing, and vague desires from people around me to make a better tomorrow, while simply going through the motions. 2) Regardless of what world I live in, I want to have someone in my life that wants to be by my side, even when all we're doing is wandering around waiting for something impossible to happen. There aren't people in my life that want to do what I do, but I know that there have to be other people that care as much about the things I care about as me, there's no way I'm THAT special. And if I can find that person, we'll both finally have someone we can truly relate to.

About the only thing any of us can do right now without risking life and limb, plus it's a free show! Hell, it's dozens of free shows!

@efaardvark That stuff gives me hope, really. Like I said, I don't WANT to already know how our world works because honestly it's rather mundane most of the time. I hope we're wrong about everything, but these days the fundamentals we have actually stand up to logical tests, so the chances we're wrong are slimmer than ever.

@Zila Damn, I'm exhausted just reading about what you've done! I mean it's far better than sitting on your ass for sure, but like you said there were probably plenty of days where you wouldn't have minded just staying home instead. But overall I'm glad you were able to go out and have those experiences, even if it was a bit overwhelming at a point. I know most people would put those adventures off until after some mid-life crisis... but then again it sounds like you might've had yours before you turned 20. At the same time, when you used the word "routine" at the start, I do get the impression that aside from say, the country-hopping escapades, even the interesting stuff you found yourself doing felt routine after you did it enough. It's weird, even the most exciting stuff just becomes normal if you're given enough time to get used to it. I know it's inevitable regardless of what you do, but that's why I think the fight is more important than the results. It's that fighting spirit that I'm interested in most of all. And if as a society we were all more focused on finding better ways to spend our time, I really wonder just how extraordinary of a world we could make! Thank you very much for sharing your story! Here's to less "hate" in that love/hate relationship going forward

It's impressive yeah, but no one spends every minute of the day constantly in awe of technology and advancements. Technology helps us in all kinds of ways, but it isn't the end all be all of an exciting life. I could experience a new technical advancement every single day, but that's only skin deep. There's no deep satisfaction from that, it's not enough. Now there are technology-based experiences that are absolutely incredible and exciting and profound, but you'll never make a life out of the few times you get to do those things. Hell even if I got to try some brand-new realistic VR experience tomorrow and it blew me away, I'd be used to it in a couple months if I did it regularly, and it becomes normal again. That's just people, we see a new thing, loose our minds in the same way every single time, and then we get used to it and it isn't special anymore. Unfortunately, we're great at adapting.

You know it's funny. The internet was primarily made to bring people together, but if you know the exact kind of personality of a person you'd like to meet, there just aren't many options! Dating sites are next to useless, and mainstream sites are more focused on entertainment. We need a site dedicated to connecting TYPES of people, a search engine for personality traits. Good luck on your search too my man, I know it's rough and a lot of times it feels hopeless. Just don't be afraid to ask for help, it really isn't something you can do alone unless your luck is just incredible. Too many people on Earth to just run into a person like that by chance.

YO THE NEW SERIES! Naruto was what hooked me as a kid, but Inuyasha was the first anime I ever saw. How do you like it so far?

Favorite game is an incredibly tough call. It's a 3-way tie between NASCAR Thunder 2004, Gran Turiamo 1, and Burnout 3: Takedown. NASCAR Thunder just leaks with effort and detail for a 2003 title. Incredible career mode, the best in any racing game I've played, and the Lightning Challenges add a ton of repalyability. Custom paint schemes, ass loads of unlockables, fantasy tracks, it's one of the most FULL gaming experiences I can remember. Gran Turismo 1 also has a satisfying career mode (if a bit short). But the best thing it has going is pure, raw, gameplay. Not only is High Speed Ring my favorite track in any game ever, but the handling of some of these cars is just unbelievable! Especially the Race Version Mitsubishi FTO, which is easilly the best handling car I've ever driven. But even without the best handling cars of the game, even if youre putting around in the dumpiest minivan in the game, the physics are just so nice it doesn't matter. And Burnout 3 Takedown has some pretty decent driving physics too. It's structured in a way that lets you abuse the gas pedal and nitros through entire courses, while only needing to tap the brake to initiate looooong drifts. Hands down the best feature of this game is Road Rage mode, which is the greatest game mode in any title I've ever played. Simply use speed and momentum to wreck as many opponents as you can before your car is too damaged to go on, and they nailed every aspect of this idea to create a nonstop heartpounding experience.

It's kinda scary how fast I see people go through anime these days due to streaming lol. I'm part-way through a few shows right now (Soul Eater, Urusei Yatsura, JoJo), but I don't expect to be done with any of them for over a month. With Urusei Yatsura I think I'm 90% through, a few episodes in on Soul Eater, and I'm about to start JoJo part 5 pretty soon.

I'm in kind of a jam here, and I could use your help. Ya see, I've been desperately looking for certain kinds of people for years, but it's not as easy as typing personality traits into Google. Quite frankly, I'm frustrated and impatient. There's billions of people on this planet, and the chances I encounter the type of person I'm looking for are virtually zero. I haven't given up, it's just stressful because of how badly I want to meet them. So who am I looking for? I guess, someone like me in some ways. Someone that was inspired by anime in a way that helped shape the person they turned out to be. Personally, I heard the phrase "be the change you want to see in the world" and I decided that I wish more people were like the characters we idolize in anime and other mediums. I want to be entertaining to be around, inspiring to others, motivational to myself, all the things I admire in the characters anime has brought us. But more recently I've wanted to find another kind of person. I understand how juvenile and "cringe" all of this is, but just hear me out. This was the year I discovered "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". I didn't have any expectations going in, I had no clue what the show was even about. But something quickly grabbed my attention as soon as the first episode was underway. Something connected with me in a surprisingly deep way. And that something, was Haruhi Suzumiya, and her quest to make the world more exciting. I'm not some teen going through a phase, well not anymore at least. I know anime characters aren't real, and I know that people that act like anime characters are just embarrassing. But I also know that being bored with the world and wishing for excitement, wishing for extraordinary things to exist, is real. They're real desires that everyone has to some extent. And I know that somewhere on this planet, there's someone like Haruhi that wishes for a world of excitement the same way she does, and is actively looking for extraordinary things. Now, even more than finding someone like me, I want to find a girl like her. Maybe not as crazy or manipulative of course, but someone that isn't interested in "normal", and looks, hopes for incredible things everyday. Please, if you've ever met anyone like that, could you help me find them? I would appreciate any help I can get, it's just a task too big for 1 person to handle.