TIL I've been watching anime at 1.5x speed for 2 years and never noticed

I was over at my buddy Mark's place last week and he put on the new episode of Dungeon Meshi. I sat there for like 10 minutes thinking something was off, like the voices were dragging or something. Then I realized he plays everything at normal speed. I've been binging shows on Crunchyroll at 1.5x speed since 2022 because I thought I was saving time. Everything felt rushed but I just figured that's how modern anime is. Now I go back and watch old scenes I loved and they hit totally different. The pauses, the sound design, the emotional beats. I screwed up so many first watch experiences. Has anyone else done this and felt like an idiot?

2 comments

2 Comments

julia_lee19d agoOG Member

Honestly I did the same thing for about six months with Dandadan last year and I felt like such a clown when I slowed it down. The music hits so much harder at normal speed and I missed the whole vibe of the opening credits. I went back and rewatched the first few episodes and it was like seeing them for the first time. Now I just watch everything at 1x and let the show breathe.

rileynelson19d ago

Let the show breathe" is such a good way to put it. I did the same thing with Attack on Titan years ago and I actually ruined the whole experience for myself. I was flying through episodes at 1.5x speed trying to catch up before the next season dropped and I literally didn't even notice the music was good until my buddy made me rewatch the first season with him. We sat there and he just kept pausing and going "dude listen to this track" and I felt like an idiot. Now I have this weird rule where I watch the first episode of any new show at normal speed and if the pacing feels slow I just drop it. Better to miss a good show than ruin one you actually like by speeding through it. Dandadan is a great example too because that opening goes so hard you'd be doing yourself a disservice skipping through it.