The twelfth day of the 30 day challenge is probably one of the more difficult ones for me as it asks what you rewatch a lot. Because of the nature of my anime watching, I don’t actually spend much time at all re-watching anime for pleasure. There’s simply not enough time in the day to watch all the home video releases I watch as well as the simulcasts and then go back and re-watch something else. So, for this, we’ll kind of rework the question a bit and talk about your comfort shows from different categories of your life unless you prefer to just say what you rewatch the most.

Most Rewatched Anime When I Was Young

Back when there were maybe half a dozen releases a month coming out, you tended to rewatch things more because of the limited amount of material there was. While I would regularly rewatch Robotech in the background while doing things, since it was a dub show when most things were still subtitled only, there were some subtitled shows that I kept going back to. Kimagure Orange Road made for an easy title when it came to a short run OVA series to toss in, but what really got me over and over was Urusei Yatsura. With that show and its heavy cultural aspects, each time I watched it I felt like I was getting a bit more knowledge, especially in checking the liner notes that were provided. When I would watch other shows, I’d see things that were done in Urusei Yatsura and it made it all click. The show was great for a wide variety of stories, great comedy and a lot of slapstick and pervertedness that was simple and innocent.

Rewatched Often Because You Introduce Others To Anime With It

This one tends to be a movie or an OVA more than anything else, but it’s the kind of show you pull out to introduce someone to anime in order to win them over to our way of thinking. Studio Ghibli movies tend to make good ones, but you may choose different ones depending on the person to fit their interests. Kiki is wonderful and I show it to a lot of people, but for some a Princess Mononoke may be better. Akira tends to be a movie that definitely gets shown a lot and has been one I’ve used more than most others. But the one that I’ve rewatched the most because of introducing it to others has to be Grave of the Fireflies. Mostly because I’m not trying to win them over, I just want to show them something that’s going to really get to them and make sure they get the idea that it’s not all just kids shows like Pokemon or whatever they’re used to seeing on Cartoon Network.

Movie I’d Rewatch More Often If I Had The Time

This one is pretty easy as it’s my favorite but if I have time to sit down and rewatch something because I want to, I’m reaching for the Blu-ray edition of the Wings of Honneamise. This still stands the test of time for me as a truly amazing piece of work on every level where I either find something new that I missed before or end up just forgetting a little tidbit of it and it feels fresh and new to me again. This was the film that introduced me to Ryuichi Sakamoto as well and going to re-experience this soundtrack in lossless form is like a dream. While the film may be one that is slow and filled with politics, intrigue, and exposition, it has all the elements that I love to spend my time sinking my teeth into.

Series I’ve Rewatched Against My Will Too Often

Some companies have re-released things a little too often and in too many different configurations, but the one that has gotten to me the most has been the numerous re-releases of Night Shift Nurses. I’ve been subjected to this show so many times as it’s come out again and again, and with sequels and spinoffs, that it just pains me every time that it gets announced. Thankfully, they’ve never actually released a full collection of the series so I haven’t had a massive box set full of the show. The only other one that really comes close for re-releases is either Demon Beast Invasion or La Blue Girl, both of which have followed similar paths. While I may have enjoyed aspects of these the first time around, they do lose their… potency after awhile.