The 12(ish) Days of Anime: Watching Anime With Friends (Or Rather, Making Them Watch Anime With You)

So Helen, why is this the 12 "ish" days of Anime instead of 12 regular days? Because I'm still doing my regular reviews these two weeks and just found out on Thursday that I'm apparently working 8 days in a row again, all of that plus other life responsibilities (sleeping, eating, job hunting, KATSUCON COSPLAY PREPARATIONS) mean this just isn't going to work otherwise.

Of course I could have taken off regular reviews for two weeks but somehow that one didn't occur to me.

In any case, for my first three years of college I attended my college's anime club pretty regularly with mixed results, I did see some cool stuff there but we also suffered from "people who think they're witty making comments when they're really not" (at least *I* waited until I got really good at snarking to do it!). Plus, by my senior year it was much more appealing to stay home after a long day of classes and watch what I wanted instead of playing Russian Roulette choosing. But during that time I also started watching shows online with friends, the only reason I stuck with Aquarion Evol was because I had a friend who had loved the first season and so we would find time to watch and message each other on skype to make it better (although half of our comments were complaining that a certain character was taking too long to die). These days it's harder than ever to coordinate with my friends to pull this off but we do try and send each other our thoughts/snarks when we can.

So I fell in love with Gundam Build Fighters earlier this year (it's gonna come up a lot in these posts, you are warned) and was telling a friend of mine who was also interested in the show just how much I loved it. I came home from work one day, tired, and a little freaked out because I had 31 facebook messages and oh my god how many people had I pissed off to make that happen. Here's what it was: 

5 mins in to BF - what is this?!! In the best way though
The coconut hair cut kid build a Gundam out of a pouch on his belt!

4/12, 12:17pm
It is like pokemon battles and this blue haired kid is Ash (i rarely learn characters names before I finish the show)

4/12, 12:28pm
Red hair guy knows nothing - probably a natural
Doesn't know about soda either --- alien

4/12, 1:02pm
He likes my stir fry he can't be that bad - anime moms
So what they are trying to tell me is I can buy Gundam kits based on the gundams kits in a Gundam show
Reiji is like sei's pickachu
Uh oh pretty boy from another class! And the president if a club!

4/12, 1:20pm
"Go Reiji" - yep he is pickachu
I am actually enjoying this. It just has great stuff for commentary
Omg pretty boy slicked back his hair all dramatic to fight!

4/12, 2:27pm
Called it - alien I am disappointed that I didn't foresee him being a prince

4/12, 2:33pm
It isn't just a school - it is an Institute for gunpla. Sounds fancier

4/12, 2:41pm
Pretty boy is like Yugi/yugioh - he has a separate hair style for fighting

4/12, 7:15pm
okay so had a break, now episode 4
Bitches please you don't "got this" this is Ash and pikachu
Did you tell me there was a gunpla idol?!? You know I have a soft spot for crazy idols
Fight for your Gundam living man glasses girl
the blue haired girl (who I think is the idol) - her outfit looks so much like erica's from durarara
Don't trust the idol!

4/12, 7:44pm
I want to cosplay this idol just so I can take photos throwing a fit
Paying people in Gundam kits

4/12, 7:55pm
He has squinty eyes - we meet Brock
Omg they actually have the Italian speak Italian
I can't get over pretty boys hair change for battles
Yes rivals!
And a rival monologue - I love this show

4/12, 8:12pm
There are gunpla dojos of course
His eyes open when he squints them...

4/12, 9:20pm
Helen

oh god you're hooked XD

and I thought *I* was spamming you, this would have been the best thing ever to watch together

4/12, 9:20pm
Friend

           Yes I am

4/12, 9:21pm
Helen

         you're so invested now

(reproduced with permission BTW)

Stuff like this makes me grin even more than watching the show does, one big reason of why I like serialized media is because I can share the experience of it with friends and that is just so fun. It's not quite the same as if we were both watching it together (because clearly I would have to bring my A-game to this kind of snarking) but considering my anime-watching friends and I live hundreds of miles away from each other (with only a handful of exceptions) I'll gladly take this and the many, many other similar squee fests I've had this year over nothing at all.