This post is the biggest self-call out post that I could ever write. At least according to some people who feel like when a person is a fan of a show of franchise, then they would have to watch everything attached to it. Maybe it’s the way of how the current world of media is absolutely pedantic over every single detail of a story of anything. All of which is something I can’t do unless I am super interested in something. Think about all the Star Wars youtube videos that go over every single detail over something in wookipedia followed by supposed “lore” movies centered on character backstories. For a while, my thought processes have been background details have always been lean ins to showing that a character exists in that fiction world and it is an actually functional world. I am ok with not knowing anything else. Yet, that does not seem to be the complete case anymore where a quick buck can be made.
With that comes the actual call out things. I call myself a fan of a lot of franchises. Those being like Gundam, Dragon Ball Z, and so many other things that we could be here all day. Look at my anilist profile to get a good idea: Link. Unless something is a major franchise like gundam where every part is attached to a different cast or carries the original cast further in the story, I am not interested in watching anything else usually. I call myself a fan of things like Dragon Ball Z, but I have never watched any of the older movies beside the one on Bardock and Trunks. I haven’t watched any of the Hunter X Hunter movies because I have no interest in them. I have no interest in watching anymore Votoms, despite loving it, because I like what I got from the Votoms tv series. It had everything that I felt like I needed from it. Shonen Jump films usually don’t interest me and I like seeing additional ovas of some series adding anything to the experience. I could be wrong, but I am ok with being wrong in fascinating and interesting ways.
Why is that? Besides some special circumstances, my attachment to characters in any story comes from their journeys in television series. While they don’t usually have the visual impact a movie would, TV series are where characters can change and grow as people through tough circumstances. I don’t think any additional ova is going to add anything other than characters being more defined characters in a smaller space in places that do or do not matter. In other words, more cliché versions of what those characters were. Shonen Jump films are usually rehashes of characters at a certain point fighting characters that don’t matter in any way that matters for the main story. Why would I want to watch a movie where characters aren’t who they usually are fighting fights that don’t matter against nothing antagonists? That doesn’t sound like fun to me. And as established before, ovas don’t mean much to me for the same reasons. I’m not usually a completionist and I think that’s ok.
There have been some cases where I have and those feel like special situations. Gundam, for instance, feels kind of obvious. Each ova features a different cast in a way that expands the lore quite a bit as I’ve mentioned before. Patlabor is another one and that is such a special case considering that it takes place in two universes and the ova following the tv series is 16 episodes in length and is just more Patlabor on television. I mean, that features the completion of an arc started in the show as well. I guess Fate counts in some way with the Fate/Cooking ova, but the art style and situation are so different from every normal fate universe that I don’t think that it counts completely at least. There is also the Waver Velvet Ova as well. So I guess it depends on what the series is. I am deeping into the Fate universe it seems and I am not leaving it behind anymore soon. So with that, it really does depend on how interested I am in a universe and even then, whether I want to know more is kind of random.
In the future, I don’t know if I will change that much, but that depends on circumstances and whether films are following a story or create a unique situation that doesn’t matter. I know that the Dragon Ball Super Broly film actually advanced the Dragon Ball Universe a little bit. There are also sequel films from Made in Abyss and Demon Slayer that exist and I wanted to watch them because they matter. I watched the Made in Abyss film already and I am interested to see where the Demon Slayer film on digital. Apparently, the next Jujutsu Kaisen film is going to be a prequel and important to the overall story when for when a season two hits? Sounds good to me. I don’t think that I will change this perspective that much in the future. I think I am stuck in my own world for too long to change now.
Mechanical Anime Reviews 
Self call-out post? Can’t say I’ve heard of that term, but I know what you mean. It does annoy me when there are impossible standards when people aren’t considered “real” fans unless they watch everything there is. It’s no wonder some fandoms can be toxic. Thanks for your honesty.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I mean, there are other reasons for it but that is definitely one of them. Especially those who really want to love every inch of something.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of course. That kind of love of a fandom is too much for me even if I do like something. I also do my best not to be a sycophant.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are some shows, like original Kino no Tabe, where I do somersaults and jump through hoops to get at the hard to find OVAs. Doesn’t mean anything beyond I really REALLY enjoyed the show and I want to see everything I can. Doesn’t make me any better than anyone else, though. Never understood that kind of gatekeeping.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah and that was your decision to make and that’s fantastic. There are a few things I’ve done that for as well. I really do think that each fan should just create their own personalized experiences because that’s just who we are.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m in the same boat. I use to obsess over watching every single related film and title because I didn’t think I was a real fan if I didn’t. So with titles like Kuroko no Basuke, and literally any Shonen Jump title that was a bit much. I watched the first season of Haikyu!!, finished the series with the manga, and that’s it. I’m simply not interested in seeing the additional seasons, nor do I feel compelled to see any OVA’s or films. I’ll ride the wave of my enjoyment as far as it takes me and that’s it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds fine to me. I kind of did the same thing with Haikyu! I just didn’t feel like watching more of it because it just didn’t feel right to me for some rason.
LikeLiked by 1 person
i also consider myself as a fan of anything and i would love to know everything on that certain thing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah I don’t think there should be any kind of gate keeping out of you being a fan if you don’t watch the spinoffs. I would argue it’s not like you even have to watch the whole main franchise to be a big fan. For example I know people who grew up with the original FMA and were big fans but never got around to checking out Brotherhood. I’d say it’s still fair for them to call themselves big FMA fans even if they never saw the manga based ending.
That said, I do like finishing franchises entirely whenever possible. It sometimes takes me ages though. Tracking down all of the Sakura Wars ovas took a while and I saw the Fate Stay Night series for the UBW route many years after Fate so I never feel like there’s a rush. I’ll get to them when I get to them but I also don’t think they should in any way be considered mandatory viewing to be a fan.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s the way things should be. There really shouldn’t be that stress to get to things immediately. I always feel like there is that tension for one reason or another and it’s annoying that it’s there. I find myself resisting going “will, watch it now” a lot and it annoys me too.
LikeLiked by 1 person