Is thinking like the main protagonist of an anime/tv show, for a few days, normal after watching it?

[Overusedname]

No one seems to be on topic here, so here's a rap about greek mythology:

I hail from the land of the mystical mists.
I got too close to the sun and got the god's pissed.
To ya'll I'm simply known as Emcee Icarus.
This is my hubris; Mt. Olympus couldn't handle this.

Feel free to add on.

 

[Squilookle]

Sometimes the best part of going to see a new James Bond movie is walking out of the cinema afterwards, looking around calmly, and getting into your dented little hatchback pretending you've just crossed the Iron Curtain, got through an airport or train station full of security, and slipped into your waiting Aston Martin.

Bonus points for patting your jumper, pretending to smooth out creases in your Tuxedo.

 

[YingDerpington]

Thinking like someone else and not yourself is generally a tad worrying...
That said I do it often to, I think plenty of people do it.

 

[MammothBlade]

You might find this interesting: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/exptaking.htm

When you ?lose yourself? inside the world of a fictional character while reading a story, you may actually end up changing your own behavior and thoughts to match that of the character, a new study suggests.

It's perfectly understandable. I feel that sometimes myself. Not good when the protagonist is maladjusted and crazy

 

[Relish in Chaos]

I think I went through a Rorschach phase a while ago, but without the crazy.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Only really with characters whose actions you are predisposed towards agreeing with. I have with Iron Man. Because, ya'know, Iron Man. But not with Shinji Ikari.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I do it quite often, which can be a problem when I'm reading old novels like Mark Twain or Conan Doyle. In order to read them without tripping up all the time you have to get accustomed to the constant racism, but then those same thoughts start slipping into your mind at other times.

Of course, the thoughts don't hit me in the sense that I'll be looking at a black man and think something racist, I'll just have random semi-racist interludes while I'm doing something completely unrelated.

 

[Starik20X6]

Well since I see only Bieber avatars, you are not the only one! You are not a unique flower, but one Bieber among many, sorry to inform you

You just had to press the damn button, didn't you?

I must be some kind of weird space-time anomaly, because I pressed the button and *gasp* nothing happened. No, I'm not going to try it again, I dodged that bullet once, I'm not giving it a second chance.

OT: Sometimes after extended periods of Batman exposure, I get an almost irresistible urge to punch crime in the jaw. Though, to be fair, I walk around most days thinking like a game character. Eat that to regain health, these clothes boost stats, random encounters with friends etc. etc.

 

[Something Amyss]

Guys, guys, guys...."Am I the only one" is an exaggeration, meant to put emphasis into his predicament.

Pedantry is the national sport of the internet.

 

[snappydog]

I went on a Death Note marathon a day or two ago but I have absolutely no desire to murder all the criminals with a magical notebook.
Unless of course you wish to assert that the protagonist is not Light but L or... I dunno, Matsuda. Point is, I don't think it's abnormal to start empathising with characters but you'll likely have had similar views to theirs beforehand. In my example, the protagonist didn't think like me so I didn't start adopting his views.

 

[spartan231490]

I've been watching a boatload of different anime and tv series's in what some would call a marathon (so pretty much the entirety of each series I watch non stop. With a break between each separate anime/tv show of a few days).

I've noticed that for those few days between and especially straight after watching the show, my mind seems to do this thing where I start to think and behave similarly to how the main protagonist of the anime/tv show would think and behave.

So, anyone else on the Escapist experience the same phenomena?

P.S. Or am I just crazy?

I do this to some extent as well. Usually, I just pick up superficial habits, like manner of speech, or postural things when standing/walking. However, when I read a book it's more pronounced. After reading MacBeth in high school(for a class) I started talking like I was in MacBeth, couldn't stop, for a month. I thought my friends were going to kill me.

Sometimes, if it's a relatively long show and I really like it I act moreso like the main char. If I watch prince of tennis, for example, I get very turse and prone to subtle one-upmanship. I love it

 

[Cyan]

I do this all the time! I'll start talking like them, thinking, moving, imitating their speech patterns, even thinking with the character's accents. Sometimes if I try to read something after watching a show, I'll hear everything in a certain character's voice, and won't be able to shake it for a few hours. I thought nobody else did this.

 

[Angie7F]

I think its normal. Good entertainment has that effect on people.
But I feel more so with characters that I already have similar traits with.

 

[GoldenDragon14]

I was actually reading about this a while ago... Yeah, that's normal, it's called "experience-taking", you get immersed in a story, and start to behave like a character from that story for a while XD. People have done experiments on it before, this is the article i read on it:

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20120514/9878/book-reading-experience-taking-psychology-character-fiction.htm