I tried to keep it short, but since this is life changily important for you, heres the rest of my reply to you.

Repetition can be brilliant.

A recurring pattern can be brilliant.

A formula can be brilliant.

The problem is when I become so familiar with the formula that the formula becomes more noticeable to me than the actual story.

That’s the point where I start feeling like I’m watching the mechanism rather than the story.

It’s basically the same thing as when you watch a horror movie and you suddenly realise:

“Okay, this character has just gone into the basement. They’re not coming back.”

Once you know horror conventions, you don’t necessarily stop enjoying horror.

But you become aware of the convention.

And sometimes the movie can use that awareness brilliantly.

Sometimes it can subvert it.

Sometimes it can make you think you know what is going to happen and then completely screw with your expectations.

But if it just keeps doing exactly what you expected, eventually you’re not watching the story unfold anymore.

You’re watching the recipe being followed.

That’s what I meant.

So if you want the shortest possible version of the answer:

The pattern I noticed wasn’t one specific plot event shared by Re:Zero, Demon Slayer and Mushoku Tensei. It was the repeated use of a recognisable storytelling mechanism. After enough repetitions, I stopped merely predicting events and started predicting the function of the next scene, the next escalation, the next reversal, the next emotional beat or the next reset/development. At that point I became conscious of the recipe itself.

And that’s why I brought up Higurashi.

Because Higurashi is almost the perfect demonstration of the difference.

It repeats itself constantly, but the repetition creates a mystery.

In the other cases, once I understand the mechanism well enough, the repetition can instead make the story feel increasingly mechanical.

So I’m not saying:

“These anime are bad because I can predict them.”

I’m saying:

“Once I can see the storytelling machinery operating underneath the story, it changes my experience of watching it.”

And honestly, that’s something I’ve noticed more and more with anime.

The first time through, I’m watching the story.

After I’ve figured out the recipe, I’m watching the writer make the story.

And those are two very different experiences.

Will this satisfy you? And when will I recieve my grade for this?