The dissonance of finishing an anime

[Temerer]

I want to talk about something I always felt very strongly, and I wondered if other people feel it too.

I always get really into stories and I sympathize very strongly with characters.

this causes a problems, from one hand, I always want to power binge through the story, get to know everything, but on the other hand, I really don'y want to say goodbye to the characters and to the world, this creates a really strong dissonance in me whenever I watch any anime, and I'm always left half happy half empty after every series I watch.

so, does anyone else get that felling while watching anime? (I guess it doesn't necessarily has to do with anime, but I feel it more often with anime)

[Momogari]

I feel like I haven't felt that in years.

[NataliaJulia]

Yesss, especially after finishing a long running series

[Beex]

I felt that way with Azumanga Daioh and Haibane Renmei. Although those were the first two series I ever completed.

[SpideyWrex]

I don't usually feel this way because I like a strong ending in a story more than any other parts of the story. If I could feel sad or even depressed after a bleak ending that promises no happy future, then all the more better. lol Yeah, I like my anime like a Billie Eilish song, full of melancholy and despair. Misery is like porn to me.

There was one exception recently, but it wasn't really an anime, not technically, but it did have anime art. It's a mobile tapping game called "Alter Ego", and aside from referencing various famous novels about your own identity and the meaning of your existence (Osamu Dazai's "No Longer Human", Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", and also Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" are just some of the names), the main plot is about this girl named "Ego" who's being influenced by this entity named "The Facade" to conform to society. Like a visual novel, there are three endings to the game based on your choices (one of which is a bad one where she gives into her murderous impulses), and it's all about discovering your identity and accepting it in spite of the good or bad parts. There's a lonely kind of atmosphere to it and the character of "Ego", and I found myself connected to her, relating to her selfish impulses even. By the time I reached the happy "True End", however, there's a melancholic feeling in me where I didn't want the time I spend with this lovely girl to end, whether out of sympathy for her would-be loneliness (even though it's just a virtual girl) or out of my own need for connection. There's an "extra" section after you reach the True End where you can still have your last few conversations with her, just chit-chatting, no longer affecting any would-be ending. But the extra section only consists of a five, maybe six conversations, then all you're left with is the "Start Over" option. So I've been taking my time to browse through the extras section, because I didn't want the conversations to end. Hm. The game is coming out on the Nintendo Switch by the way for those who are interested.

Even though I couldn't really recall many times that I felt this way towards an anime, I do know what it's like, the parting with lovable characters that you've connected with, fictional characters you end up liking more than real people. For those who've seen Monogatari, I did feel that way with Hajikuchi in season 2... well, if you've seen it, you already know why. God, that episode still tears me up. What the actual eff.

There was one time, I remember, that I did feel this way towards an anime ending, which was Digimon Adventure, when the last episode had all the tearful partings and that Butter-Fly song playing the show out. Heartbreaking stuff. Buuuut that doesn't matter any more because Digimon and its first season have been revisited, rebooted and milked of all its nostalgia to death. I really didn't enjoy those Digimon Tri. movies, and I wish they have left the first season alone. Oh, and there was also Digimon Adventure 02 anyway where the kids get to see their Digimon again, so again, the tearful parting didn't really matter.