You ever read a book/series or movie series, or TV show that you were completely and utterly addicted to? I mean, to the point where you were so engrossed and emotionally attached to the characters and story that you actually felt a a really bad depression when it was over?

That's happened to me a couple times. Like when you read Harry Potter and found out you had to wait for the next one to be released (don't lie, we've all read it, no need to be ashamed). I remember when I was a kid I got into Harry Potter when only the second book had been released. I read them both three times back to front because I really didn't want to stop reading it. Another example was when I was around 14? my cousin introduced my to file sharing (ah, fond memories staying up late with kazaa lite). I got completely hooked on Neon Genesis and Love Hina over the summer. After finishing one I just felt completely depressed for weeks afterward because it was over.

Anyway, this happened to me again recently. I started reading 涼風(すずか) and got completely addicted again. To the point where I was spending every free moment of my time reading this manga. ("2:30 in the morning? Sure I could be sensible and go to bed, but then I'd have to wait until tomorrow to find out what happens to Yamato when he's trapped with Suzuka in Hiroshima.") I mean, most of the time I totally forgot I was even reading Japanese, I was just focusing on the meaning. Dictionary lookups were strangely easy because I was desperate to find out what was happening. I'm now on volume 12 of 18 (each ~200 pages) and it sucks that it's almost over.

Focus: What are some things that you've read/watched (in Japanese) that you were completely hooked on? What do you think about the difference between focusing entirely on the entertainment of what you're reading/watching vs. carefully examining the words and sentences?

I could never read or watch a movie 3 times over unless it was hell good.
Re; Kar Wai's In the mood for love i've seen at least 3 times with random scenes that i felt like watching craploads or times.
I've watched the cowboy bebop series + GITS series acouple of times and the CB movie at least 20 times heh.

I only ever re-read a book if it has been a long long time since i last read it and i have nothing else better to do (like reading a new book )

Yeah, I don't really like to reread or rewatch anything, because there are always a million more cool things to do with that time.

クレヨンしんちゃん

This is the only funny Japanese show/manga for me, and it helped me a lot on the grammar and listening part of the JLPT.

phauna Wrote:Yeah, I don't really like to reread or rewatch anything, because there are always a million more cool things to do with that time.

I agree, unless it was -really- good. In that case, I'll rewatch/reread it when I want to capture that exact feeling again. It's usually years in-between, though.

As for the original question... I've had stuff that caught me hard enough that I've stayed up way too late at night reading, but only in English so far... I just can't read enough Japanese yet for that to happen.

I dunno if I've gotten hooked on something only in Japanese like you said. The things I've read have been good, but it's still easy to put it down, and my anime usually come with subs. But I've been rewatching Card Captor Sakura without subs, and it's like I don't even think about the fact it's in Japanese. I just understand it...

Very rarely by reading, but JDrama has some magical way of making me really emotionally attached. If any form of media ever could make me cry, it would be a JDrama. It hasn't happened yet, but some parts of My Boss My Hero had me pretty damn close.

So far I haven't had it happen with any books or manga (too bad, since it's actually a really common thing for me in English). But, I've been playing the first 逆転裁判 (played the second and third a long time ago in English, never got the first) recently and I've been having trouble stopping. Not surprising, since the same thing happened when I played the English ones. I really love these games, and it's pretty easy to progress through the Japanese it uses now.

QuackingShoe Wrote:So far I haven't had it happen with any books or manga (too bad, since it's actually a really common thing for me in English). But, I've been playing the first 逆転裁判 (played the second and third a long time ago in English, never got the first) recently and I've been having trouble stopping. Not surprising, since the same thing happened when I played the English ones. I really love these games, and it's pretty easy to progress through the Japanese it uses now.

Exactly the same here with 逆転裁判. Most amazing games I've played in a long time.

The 涼宮ハルヒ series. I'm only about to finish the third, but I have all the intentions of reading them all (thay are at no. 10 now...).
Also, various manga .

kumadondon Wrote:クレヨンしんちゃん

This is the only funny Japanese show/manga for me, and it helped me a lot on the grammar and listening part of the JLPT.

I don't know why people don't mention this show more. I'm definitely addicted to it.

Just watched this movie called 僕の彼女はサイボ-グ. At first I was like, "this is weird. Why is this chump taking so much crap from this random chick?" Then as I watched more I got hooked. When it was over I was like "noooooooooooooooo!" It has Japanese subs, so I'm going to use as study material.

I've also watched Seigi no Mikata umpteen times. I still laugh at how insane the older sister is. The strange thing, when I picture the older sister as a man (don't ask), the things she does almost seem normal.

As for reading, I've read the same children's stories over and over.