Sorry for the confusing and clickbaity title, it's almost 1 AM at my timezone (EST gang) and I couldn't be bothered to come up with something better. My original title was "Shows Your Younger Self Would Enjoy?" but apparently that was too long.


As we get older, our tastes in shows tend to change in one way or another. Whether that change be sporadic or not. This is no surprise, and it's a necessary part of life. Your tastes need to change at a healthy pace.

But have any of you guys found that despite changes in your taste throughout the years, you would be able to (almost) consistently recommend one show or more to your younger self? To narrow the definition of "younger self" for this, cause you can really fit anything for that (anywhere from you from a second ago to you when you were born), I'd say maybe a version of you from around a few years ago or more. To be honest, this is also assuming you have a decent idea of what you were like when you were younger, which is hard to have a good idea of. Usually most people just brush off their younger self as cringe if they're in their teen years, or heck, maybe even an adult.

Cause I just recently started a new anime, and this is exactly what it feels like. Even though I didn't know anime existed more than a few years ago, I still get this lingering feeling that if I watched this anime then, it would have been one of my all-time favorites. It really baffles me cause I've never felt this way about a show before, not even other shows that I've given a clean 10 on my MAL (for comparison, this show's a solid 9 for me I would say so far). I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it now though. In fact, I think I would be able to enjoy it a lot more since I'm older to understand the deeper meaning that I would not have understood if I watched it as a dumb 13 year old (and I really had no brain cells at 13), or maybe younger.

But don't get confused by the example. I'm not limiting the scope of this discussion to just anime. It can be any show. And keep in mind I haven't finished the anime, so I don't know how the ending pans out. Who knows, this post could be poorly aged when I finish it, but at least I'll probably have people discussing their shows, if they have any. Unless that point also poorly ages.

With all that out of the way, are there any shows you can think of that you watched recently that your younger self would enjoy? And that you may still potentially enjoy?

Archer wrote on 12th July 2022, 12:39 AM:

Sorry for the confusing and clickbaity title, it's almost 1 AM at my timezone (EST gang) and I couldn't be bothered to come up with something better. My original title was "Shows Your Younger Self Would Enjoy?" but apparently that was too long.
As we get older, our tastes in shows tend to change in one way or another. Whether that change be sporadic or not. This is no surprise, and it's a necessary part of life. Your tastes need to change at a healthy pace.
But have any of you guys found that despite changes in your taste throughout the years, you would be able to (almost) consistently recommend one show or more to your younger self? To narrow the definition of "younger self" for this, cause you can really fit anything for that (anywhere from you from a second ago to you when you were born), I'd say maybe a version of you from around a few years ago or more. To be honest, this is also assuming you have a decent idea of what you were like when you were younger, which is hard to have a good idea of. Usually most people just brush off their younger self as cringe if they're in their teen years, or heck, maybe even an adult.
Cause I just recently started a new anime, and this is exactly what it feels like. Even though I didn't know anime existed more than a few years ago, I still get this lingering feeling that if I watched this anime then, it would have been one of my all-time favorites. It really baffles me cause I've never felt this way about a show before, not even other shows that I've given a clean 10 on my MAL (for comparison, this show's a solid 9 for me I would say so far). I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it now though. In fact, I think I would be able to enjoy it a lot more since I'm older to understand the deeper meaning that I would not have understood if I watched it as a dumb 13 year old (and I really had no brain cells at 13), or maybe younger.
But don't get confused by the example. I'm not limiting the scope of this discussion to just anime. It can be any show. And keep in mind I haven't finished the anime, so I don't know how the ending pans out. Who knows, this post could be poorly aged when I finish it, but at least I'll probably have people discussing their shows, if they have any. Unless that point also poorly ages.
With all that out of the way, are there any shows you can think of that you think your younger self would enjoy? And that you may still potentially enjoy?

Childhood Bangers

wizle wrote on 12th July 2022, 12:57 AM:

Childhood Bangers

That sounds good, but to be honest, it sounds more like I’m asking people to remember their favorite shows from childhood, rather than “What shows have you watched now or recently that you think you would’ve enjoyed if you watched this earlier, say maybe a few years ago?”

On the other hand, now that I think about it, I think that would’ve been a better discussion topic in the first place. And it would’ve led to some more dynamic conversation, since it’s way more common to have a favorite show as a kid rather than have a show you watched recently that you think your kid self would enjoy.

However to be even more honest I kind of created this not really expecting anyone to go through the same thing that I did. But it would’ve been a really pleasant surprise if anyone did, and it would’ve made for a cool shared experience.

ok i feel like my younger self would be even more obsessed with miraculous ladybug. dont get me wrong im obsessed now, but if you gave that show to my 10 year old self, god, id be in love. its so good but i feel like since im a bit older now i realize little things that are cringy or annoying in the show. for example, each episode is the exact same things pretty much just with a different villain each time. like i might not've noticed that as a kid, but i notice it now. anyways, i think my younger self would be obsessed with miraculous

tashaistired wrote on 12th July 2022, 01:11 AM:

ok i feel like my younger self would be even more obsessed with miraculous ladybug. dont get me wrong im obsessed now, but if you gave that show to my 10 year old self, god, id be in love. its so good but i feel like since im a bit older now i realize little things that are cringy or annoying in the show. for example, each episode is the exact same things pretty much just with a different villain each time. like i might not've noticed that as a kid, but i notice it now. anyways, i think my younger self would be obsessed with miraculous

Yeah I felt that on a personal level. And the fact that you will definitely have some criticisms about a show you're watching now compared to when you were a kid is a good point. It's one of those points that strike you in the face as obvious when you see someone else mention it, but at the same time, you never really explore. I never really touched it on my original post either, so it's convenient that you bring it up. It reminds me of an experience I'm also having with the current anime I'm watching. Like in that anime, I laugh hysterically at the style of humor it has, but it's more of a "cringe style" of humor. The fact that it's a cringe style of humor kind of puts me off nowadays since I'd like to think my sense of humor is better than that (it really isn't). It's sort of a guilty pleasure of mine. That's the best way I can describe it.

But to add on, that point of how each episode is using the same formula but with different villains is also interesting. It also makes me wonder if our kid brains would eventually pick up on the repetitiveness if it happened enough. I heavily doubt it though. But hey, if the show manages to make itself interesting enough even with that repetitiveness holding it back a bit (and from what you said, it seems like it's good at making itself interesting enough), all the power to it. Not many shows can do that, like at all. It's actually pretty surprising. In anime there is this running joke of a genre that's so oversaturated that 90% of the shows are just literal carbon copies of each other. Same title, premise, type of characters, plot, and a lot more I can't name off the top of my head. It's ridiculous.

I wish I never seen Barney he gave me bad dream

Icicle wrote on 15th July 2022, 11:58 AM:

I wish I never seen Barney he gave me bad dream

I think Barney is easily everyone's sleep paralysis demon at this point.