Checking up on my New Year’s Resolutions

Back in January I resolved to try and finish watching the following series this year:

1. Mazinger Z (1972), 54 out of 92 episodes to go:
   The super robot show that saved anime from being crushed by the Tokusatsu craze of the early seventies. A kids’ show, but one in which in the last couple of episodes I watched we see a bus full of innocent people being murdered by the bad guys, a plane blown up and crashed and similar violence. Started out episodic in a monster of the week format but starting to deviate slightly from the format in the last few episodes. Not really made to be binge watched which is the problem.
2. Kingyo Chuuihou! (1991), 28 out of 54 to go:
   A comedy series set in a school full of weirdos, done by the same staff who would go on to work on Sailor Moon directly afterwards. I started watching this a couple of years ago as part of a group watch but fell behind and stopped. The problem I have with it is that I like it when I’m watching an episode, but rarely find myself wanting to watch it. It is very funny but also something that I can only watch in small doses.
3. Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986), 42 out of 47 to go:
   The third series in the OG Gundam chronology, the problem I have is that it’s a) an incredible mood swing from the previous series and b) its protagonist is an even greater jackass than Kamille or Amuro ever were. I first started watching this in 2020 (!) and never got more than five episodes in, even restarting it last year didn’t work. Just never build up the momentum to get over my dislike of Judau.

How have I been getting along so far? Not that well. Mazinger Z: 39 episodes to go, last watched 17th February. Kingyo Chuuihou!: still 28 to go, no episode watched this year. Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ: 35 episodes, last watched 19th February. Not that much progress then, nothing since February and the year is more than half over.

Back when I first started watching anime, a decade ago, I could almost effortlessly keep up with the ongoing seasonal anime as well as make huge dents in my backlog. Now it’s a struggle to just keep up. There are only so many free hours in the day and there are other things than anime I want to watch too.