Small notes about the shows I watch, rewatch and sometimes drop.
The first time through I was racing to find out what happens. The second time I keep noticing how early the important things were placed: a background detail in an early episode, a line I skipped past, a character who looks at the wrong door for half a second.
Rewatching slowly, one or two episodes a night, turns out to be the best part. I take notes in a paper notebook and only check them at the end of each arc.
Filed under rewatch
Some evenings I don't want plot, I want weather. Mushishi, Natsume's Book of Friends and Non Non Biyori all work for that: quiet episodes that mostly stand alone, where the most dramatic thing might be a long walk home.
None of them needs to be watched in order to enjoy an episode, which is exactly why they live on my list for nights when I fall asleep halfway through.
Filed under recommendations
For years I rated everything out of ten and then argued with myself about a seven versus an eight. A number never told me whether I'd want to watch the show again.
Now I write two sentences instead: what stayed with me, and who I'd recommend it to. It takes longer, and it's much more useful when I look back a year later.
Filed under notes to self
I skip most openings after the third episode. A few I watch every time, because they change slightly as the story moves on: a new shot, a character missing from the line-up, a different last frame.
Those small edits feel like a second, silent recap, and I've started pausing on them to see what changed.
Filed under small things
A small notebook about anime, kept mostly for myself. No ads, no comments, no schedule. New notes appear when I have something to say.