Back in 2012, I shared my thoughts on how I manage to use my free time to do other things besides studying. While graduate years proved to be a bit more time-consuming compared to before, I never touch upon how much attention I put into watching Anime along with other hobbies such as video games. A certain post written by Yumeka from Anime Yume sparked my interest in writing this and expand my thoughts beyond the time management post. (Image Source)
Back during when I was a child, I have written that I was introduced to video games with Super Nintendo and a Gameboy during the early to mid 90s and later. While I didn’t watch much Anime during my childhood until the late 90s, I still have a mild interest in it. However, compared to my sister, I was never was interested in manga and lost interest in Anime for about a year during 2007 before regaining it. In comparison, I never really lost interest in video games.
While I have gained interest in Anime to a certain extent when I started blogging about it in 2009, I felt that it never eclipsed my interest in gaming even though I used to buy a lot of DVDs in the past. While the stories are interesting or entertaining and the animation is nice to look at, for most series, when I finish watching it, I usually don’t feel the need to rewatch them unless I enjoyed it so much that I want to own it. Not only that, subscribing to a streaming service like Crunchyroll will always be cheaper as you can watch legally without actually buying the physical releases. However, I appreciate the fact that Anime only takes 24 minutes of my life compared to the amount of time playing video games since I can relax without spending hours on entertainment. Moreover, Anime influences Japanese video games as several character archetypes and tropes are present.
In comparison, I felt that video games give a better experience compared with Anime since it’s a dynamic experience that is never the same. While Anime DVD/Bluray boxset costs about 30 dollars or more, I feel that they are only going to last for a certain period of time unless it’s one of your favorite shows. This is the main reason I invest a lot more in video games as I own the Nintendo 3DS, Playstation Vita, Wii U and a Playstation 3 along with games for it (mostly Japanese games, no FPS or MMORPGs) as they give more hours of entertainment. For instance, most Japanese RPGs take about 60+ hours to complete. Depending on the game, there may be a lot of replay value too. Besides Pokémon, which I spent over 600+ hours (in total) breeding and training new Pokémon, most RPGs come with New Game Plus such as the Atelier series also have very good replay value as there are multiple endings, bonus dungeons and weapons to make. While most would be eager to beat the game quickly, it takes a considerable amount of time to complete, even if I play 1 hour each night. For a person on a busy schedule, it’s probably not ideal. Since video games and visual novels nowadays receive an Anime adaptation, it makes watching the main plot for these games more accessible without 60 hours of gameplay.
At the end of the day, hobbies require motivation, time and money. I think this is the case since I’m studying Japanese and video games are more attractive compared to other mediums as it’s interactive while still having a good amount of text to practice with. Not only that, I spend hundreds of dollars on video games alone (over 300+ on importing Japanese video games, typically cost around $65-70 or ¥6300-7000 for a game on the Vita, $70-80 ¥7000-7800 on the PS3 for imports (Best versions are cheaper), $39 for 3DS or $60 for PS3 or Wii U for domestic releases) with the money I saved up. In comparison, I don’t spend much on Anime since I feeling less of a need to buy DVDs or on Blu-ray (besides my favorites) as I will most likely not watch them again and for the fact that I can stream anything from the number of streaming sites available. This is also why I opted to buy music CDs from various Anime series since I listen to music when I am doing other things like blogging and homework. Even so, I think every person is going to be different when it comes to what hobbies he/she focuses more attention on and how much money to spend on it. While I enjoy the colorful animation, deep story, the characters and music in Anime along with taking only 24 minutes of my life for each episode, I still feel that video games play a bigger part in my entertainment mix. Of course, this is not the only thing I do since I also do some programing (which help with my field and future job) and web design.
In Short:
Watching Anime (usually 4-6 hours a week, including Blogging)
- Blogging (about Anime or sometimes, Music)
Video Games (various, unlimited during Break)
- Mostly 1-2 hours a night, mostly Japanese Language games for practice
- Pokémon Breeding (Individual Values, Natures, Genders), Battling and Training
- Other non-Japanese or computer games such as Super Mario, Mario Kart, Sims 3, Audiosurf, etc. (Used to play some visual novels, but no longer have the time)
Light Novels/Manga
- No interest
With that, what medium do you spend more time/money on?
Thanks for the mention =)
I think anime episodes being just 24 minutes are a big reason people with lack of free time tend to watch anime more than play games. It’s just easier to put on a 24 minute episode of something in between other things you’re doing or while doing something else, like eating for example, as opposed to sitting down and focusing on a game for an indefinite amount of time, since you can’t always predict when you’ll be able to stop and save your game at a given time, nor is it easy to do something like eating while you’re playing a game.
You’re right that playing a game can be different each time, since you can customize and change things in a lot of games. But I would say that watching a particular anime isn’t always the same each time – the anime itself is the same but you’ve changed over time, especially if it’s an anime you watched in the past and then decide to watch again several years later. You’re not the same person you were back then so your viewing experience is likely to be different and you may even have a different opinion on that anime than you did before. I know that’s happened with me with a few anime and even other things like movies and books =)
While it’s obvious that TV shows and Anime tends to be easy to fit in for the fact that it’s only 24 to 1 hour a week, of course it takes more time for some people for those who write about it. While I see that video games is not exactly good for people with little free time, I always felt that portable game consoles are a lot better as you can put the game on standby and then pick up later. Thats why I tend to be bias for portable game consoles like the 3DS or Vita as I can play as I do play games during my down time like during dinner or waiting. It’s just not that easy to watch Anime like on my phone as I prefer watching that on my laptop.
As for rewatching, it’s true that we might view some shows differently because of experiences. It really depends on the series because of course with some shows, perhaps our opinions towards it didn’t changed compared to others. Of course, I haven’t rewatch too many shows since I don’t have much time, but it’s something to do in the future with some of the shows I probably have in mind.
And also, Japanese games are always more expensive then English localized games for some reason. I’m actually surprised you only spend about 300+, I was thinking you might even exceed 1000 (like my figures :p) Hobbies like these are expensive, but then again, as we grow older, we have more accessibility, so that means we have more choices for hobbies, though a number of them might get pretty expensive, like in our case.
One advantage that games had as compared to other media is it’s interactivity, visual novels might had some level of interactivity, but not to the level of games. In games, you can have complete control over when you want to fight the next boss, or to grind some more, complete sub-quests, dungeons, getting rare equipments, etc.. It’s quite an immersive experience. Admittedly, some games had TOO much interactivity (in a good way) that it might gets a bit tougher on ones with a tight schedule^^”
I think the reason why Japanese video games are expensive for the fact that while the audience for video games are big in Japan, it’s not as big compared to the west, which the audience is a lot bigger. It can explain why these games are a bit more expensive to recoup the development costs. I think the same can be said about Anime DVDs/Blurays as they are also more expensive than the overseas release, but people still buy them, withholding the exchange rates… But still, I should cut back until I have some type of job once I finish my Grad degree .
On the other hand, I think video games will always have an upper hand when it comes to interactivity as the experience can be different. While people can view Anime differently after time passes, it really depends on the game. For games like Pokemon, especially since one can change the characters appearances and that people use a different combination of Pokemon while battling online, the experience will be different. I think open world games like Minecraft is more immersive that one can waste a lot of time, which can be bad for people who lives on a tight schedule.