Anime for Newbies and Pros: Watch Challenge

Click for the Challenge!

As many otaku know, watching anime is a lot of fun. However, watching with others is where the real fun begins! Although many bloggers reach out to those who are currently in the anime community and have a decent knowledge of it, we sometimes forget about those who are just picking it up. Maybe they haven't seen many series or maybe their primary source of anime was from television, whatever it may be, we should focus more on helping others enter the anime world.

Yes, I would love to do that by providing newbies a little bit of resources and advice. However, this is not the post for that. For this post, I would like to share an opportunity to watch a lot of anime, meet like-minded individuals, and have a little fun. This event is called the 2015 Anime Watching Challenge.

Yes, this is a watch challenge. It takes place on a website called MyAnimeList, which does a decent job at providing an outlet for users to list their watched anime, as well as sharing them with the community. Aside from lists, you can interact with other users on the forums and join clubs that may interest you. Although the website is pretty popular, there's always people who don't know about it, which is why I'm sharing it right now. I also wrote a post with a different take on MyAnimeList, but don't let this detour you from this challenge!

Interested?

So, if this kind of thing interests you I recommend checking out the forum thread from the link provided. Although everything is explained right there it can still be a little complicated. If that's the case or if it's too long for you to read the challenge is pretty simple:

1. Make an MAL (MyAnimeList) account if you haven't already. (Takes only a few minutes.)
2. Pick a difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard.
3. Watch a certain amount of anime depending on your choice. 20/30/40
4. Pick a banner from the list that shows you're a participant. (Or make your own.)
5. Use the list on the website as a guide to pick your anime.
6. Either post the list on the forums, or do it for yourself.

Upon taking part in these steps the choice is up to you. You can participate with others or do it as side activity. If you watch a lot of anime, this challenge will be easier, but if you haven't watched a lot the challenge will be easy as well. That's why I recommend this challenge to both newbies  and professionals, because it provides something for each group.

For instance, new watchers gain the opportunity to dive into the diverse anime world and experience many series. Veterans get to challenge themselves to watch more anime and try their hand at unique series that fly underneath the radar. Although it's a challenge, it's best not to look at it in that way. Just see it as a means to experience more things, else you might feel weighted down with the task.

With that said, that's pretty much the gist of the challenge. I'm participating in this challenge myself, which is actually going to be pretty difficult for me. I tend to not watch anime as frequently as others, and rarely break 40 series a year. Despite this, I believe this kind of challenge is great for any anime blogger, so I invite any who are reading this post to participate with me.

If you have a MAL account or decide to make one, feel free to add me! Otherwise check out my list!

Lastly, I want to appeal to the newcomers a bit more, so expect a follow up to this post with more information and tips for getting into anime and what to expect! 

Thank you for reading and good luck if you chose to participate!