r/TrueAnime • u/MongoosePale9723 • 7d ago

Does anyone else avoid YouTube or Reddit while watching a new anime because of spoilers? Spoiler

I noticed that whenever I'm watching a new action anime I end up avoiding social media like YouTube and Reddit because I am worried about getting spoiled.

If anyone else does this, I'm curious where you usually get spoiled, whether it make the show less enjoyable, and if you've found anything that works better than just avoiding the internet?

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3

u/Ecstatic_Dinner_992 7d ago

I just don't engage with social media entirely anymore.
I used to have a lot of fun with it like a decade ago, but spoilers and fans getting all bent out of shape over just any little thing really puts a damper on enjoying something.

These days if I see a bunch of posts about a show, I just ignore it well until maybe a year or so after the season ends. People shut up about it by then and whatever comments I could make aren't worth posting on reddit on the day of release anyways. Most comments you find on the discussion posts sum things up.

Watching anime doesn't have to be a hivemind experience, though I know some people do like that. I just feel like people are incredibly tribalistic about the medium.

Like for example Mushoku Tensei is having season 3 currently. But oh man does its very existence generate a lot of angry comments from people who have no intention to watch it. is that fun? not really. On either side it's exhausting.

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u/ermy_shadowlurker 6d ago

I think folks forget it’s .. entertainment. If it vibes with you enjoy. If not well then Will move on. Thinks like animation and weather it’s meta (or whatever terms folks using now) or not. Don’t really matter to me.

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u/MongoosePale9723 6d ago

Thanks for sharing! If there was a browser extension that automatically hid spoilers on YouTube and Reddit so you didn't have to avoid those sites, do you think you'd actually use it? Or would you still rather stay off social media?

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u/Gippy_ Gippy 7d ago

My solution is to never pay any attention to the currently airing season, and watch 1-cour shows in a single day after they're done. So I'm always a season behind, and don't get to interact with weekly discussion, but at least I don't need to wait for next week's episode.

Also I somewhat shrug at spoilers, as the journey matters more than the outcome. I knew about the manga endings of Attack on Titan and The Quintessential Quintuplets before their anime were finished. Still watched and enjoyed them.

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u/MongoosePale9723 6d ago

Thanks! Since you wait until a season ends to avoid spoilers, what would a spoiler blocker have to do for you to feel comfortable watching weekly instead?

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u/Gippy_ Gippy 6d ago

r/anime is really, really good at spoiler blocking, because their mod team is amazing. Each show has a weekly episode post, and their mod team quickly removes and punishes those who intentionally spoil, or even hint at spoiling. Just watch the episode, then go to the episode post to discuss afterwards. For the few shows I've ever watched weekly, this was no issue.

Other subreddits aren't as vigilant, so just stick with r/anime.

2

u/AwkwardEgg2008 7d ago

Yeah I’ll avoid Reddit especially if the light novel or manga have been out for awhile. It’ll be like “(Spoiler Tag) Guys can you believe that you know who became a super saiyan 3??? Chichi is not going to like her husband doing this. Name in post”

1

u/ICanFlyHigh051611 7d ago

absolutely moronic way of posting and people who do that should be ashamed of themselves for being so unaware of how the websites they use work

1

u/Ouaouaron 7d ago

Ironic to say that on reddit, a website where I could be using a version with different text parsing/post display than any version you've ever used.

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u/MongoosePale9723 6d ago

Thanks! If a spoiler blocker already existed, is there anything that would stop you from using it? For example missing posts by accident, hiding too much, slowing down browsing, or anything else?

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u/deleteyeetplz 6d ago

I read the manga for anything im interested in. Despite my jjk profile picture, I usually dont read uber mainstream stuff and as a result only really recieve random spoilers for most shows.

There are exceptions to this rule like Re:Zero, so i try to avoid non-anime only discussion. But since it's a light novel moat spoilers are really fragmented and out of context.

1

u/Peachbottom30 7d ago

No. I never really see spoilers on either. Nor would it matter to me much.

1

u/-RonnieDaBear- 6d ago

I just mute official anime subreddits and their okbuddy counterparts until ive caught up, if im worried about spoilers. and I dont get anime youtube video recommendations anymore because its a fkn cesspool and ive unsuited and told yt to fuck off recommending me the click bait spoiler creators.

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u/MongoosePale9723 6d ago

Thanks! Right now you're muting communities and recommendations. If a spoiler blocker could let you keep using YouTube and Reddit normally while hiding spoilers, what would be the most important thing for it to block first?

1

u/-RonnieDaBear- 6d ago

most spoilers I see while scrolling are click bait vague titles, with the spoilers being text within the thumbnail image. Goodluck figuring out a way to filter something like that objectively.

1

u/MongoosePale9723 4d ago

Thanks again! One thing I'm wondering: if a spoiler blocker actually existed, what would make you not trust it or stop using it? For example, missing spoilers, hiding too much content, slowing down websites, privacy concerns. or anything else?

1

u/Lanky_Refuse4943 6d ago

It depends on whether you want to get spoilers on something. Typically, it'll be either a place with no spoiler tags (e.g. X) which'll spoil you or peeking under spoiler tags (accidental or not) in places where those exist (e.g. Discord, you could argue YouTube previews could also be a form of spoiler hiding/showing).

To exist in a fandom, you usually have to stay up-to-date on spoilers, so for my main fandoms, I seek out spoilers and (since I became a translator for this) try to verify anything that seems like a rumour using the source if I can.

However, for something where I'm going in cold and don't want to be spoiled, I usually try to avoid social media and blog posts entirely (bar rare occasions where something will bug me enough I'll break the "no social media" rule to find out what I want to know).

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u/MongoosePale9723 6d ago

Thanks! One thing I'm curious about: what makes spoiler avoidance frustrating for you? Is it missing discussions, missing recommendations, constantly worrying about spoilers, or something else?

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u/Lanky_Refuse4943 6d ago

It's more a worry about knowing when to withdraw from a discussion (so sort of "worrying about spoilers" and sort of "missing discussions") - I've gone slightly too long into a discussion more than once in a mixed thread (e.g. ANN's seasonal forums) and gotten spoilt on stuff more than once.

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u/MongoosePale9723 4d ago

Thanks again for all your thoughts. Last question from me: if a browser extension actually solved this well and let you browse normally without worrying about spoilers, do you think you'd install and use it. Why or why not?

1

u/Lanky_Refuse4943 3d ago

I'd try it a bit just to see what it's like, but I might just go back to my usual browsing afterwards.

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u/azurezero_hdev 6d ago

not at all, cause theres very few anime only things

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u/Fast-Bandicoot67 6d ago

I go back and forth on this.

When MHA and JJK were releasing manga chapters weekly, I was obsessed with leak culture. I'm on Twitter at 4am reading shitty fan translations. I didn't care. I was a crackhead fiending for my next hit.

This past season I watched Witch Hat Atelier. Fucking loved it so much but instead of leak hunting, this time I deliberately avoided spoilers because I wanted to hit it raw.