Is it ''wrong'' to enjoy anime in the West?

[NotValidAnymore]

Of course it's not.

It's just that people aren't as used to anime in the West, so talking about it is sometimes very difficult compared to Western shows.

I bet a lot of people would be surprised if they learned Pokémon was an anime. That seemed to hit off pretty well in the West, but to most people, it's just a "cartoon".

[Sorrior]

Last time i saw it the robot sacrificed it self to save the kids and it was very very emo, much more so then I would of pegged for a kids show.

LOL yeah the scene Micky describes was a famous one..It was actual a scene that resulted in that woman/girl becoming empowered by being told she was as smart and capable as anyone instead of justa sex object..

The one you describe was a good epsiode and resulted in alot of stuff...Eventually he gets repaired and upgraded....Annnd que giant monster across the globe getting cut/torn up.

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True maturity imo is not giving a crap what people think of your interests. In that respect Liz, i think you have a way to go if you think playing "kids" games is beneath you.

LOL ironically i was there for a time..Lost it and am now working on getting it back. I still laugh and enjoy stuff people would give me a hard time for(such as a love of cute things and stuffed animals.) But yeah not the same.

[Imnick]

1) It's really not all that acceptable in Japan either
2) No, nobody should give a shit

[Sorrior]

Basically this. I'm sick of people thinking that blood and gore and dark and grime and whatnot equals mature. It MAY equal mature, depening on the setting, but it may also equal "maturity assurance for insecure people" which, funnily enough, backfires.

cough hellsing, freezing elfen lied cough....Though elfn lied can be deeper then people think if you pull an Eva grade read into....Just remember folks don't hate or reject someone because you never know if they'll turn out to be a massmudering, gene altering superpowered Oni....

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That's rich..

No, most people just grow out of childish things. That's how things usually go anyway. I play the games I enjoy for their story or for other reasons. Games for children usually don't have a good enjoyable story, are too restricted or simplified and filled with morals or are too easy.

But then again I guess you're living in your own little world and don't want to see or hear if anyone judges your object of admiration which is actually quite obvious from your avatar and sig. I think you just have to accept that not everyone likes what you like and yes, you can get judged based on what you make public. That's kinda the whole point of it.

That said, there is also this little thing called tolerance, which means people usually don't say anything. After all it's your choice and doesn't affect them. But if you ask for their opinion or get obnoxious with it, you better be ready to hear what they think.

.....Ummm that's not what tolerance means...Tolerance is what you alck the ability to say put up with things AKA tolerate things....

And actuallly i TRIED doing what you ask..I did an AMAZING impression of a perma depressed person..If that's growing up then i'm sorry but that's not a good life.

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I can tell you this, whatever you think about anime, you are more likely to find someone in a different part of the world then you who knows what DBZ, and is in their 20-30s then a lot of other things you might think you have in common with members of other cultures when it comes to pop media. Cultural diffusion, FTW :P

Anime fandom is like the new masons...We are everywhere.....We have people in every country in every city in every society and so on...We are there...

Ok someone HAS to make a meme/fake inspirational outta this..Using cats or catgirls to add to the lolcat style i can feel from it...

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My Lord, may I knee this Ignorant in the face? /in-joke

YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG....You asked first......

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Because avatars are usually more random and don't usually reflect someones tastes very well while sigs, being more optional give a better idea about what that person likes.

Like how mine used to be how much anime i have watched...Also my avatar tells alot about me.

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There is nothing wrong with liking anything about anime, or just japan itself. It's perfectly okay to even LOVE everything about their culture and prefer it to your own

For me, the line of "too far" is drawn if you reach a point where you resent your western upbringing, and become angry at the fact that you weren't born Japanese

LOl i had that point once..Though i've gone from that to wishing i'd not been born human..Or had been born normal...Or at another point in time....

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I dont see why you're so insistent that these shows, such as Animaniacs (or in my case, Sailor Moon) and the like, should be kid only and that any adult that watches them has something wrong with them. I personally think that makes you a bit insecure. When it has 8 as the minimum age, that means its the minimum age to enjoy it. There doesn't need to be a maximum.

OMG I LOVE SAILOR MOON! GIEF NEW SERIES NAOW!

Ahem the typos were intentional but yeah i'm a grown man..One who loves cute things and sailor moon owns a pug and stuffed animals..To me nothing wrong with that.

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You can't blame people for not understanding the depth of anime if all we see are Anime's full of senseless, 900 episodes long ferry shit on national TV. Not one really good anime has been aired completely on any respected channel that I am aware of.

On the other hand, almost nobody I know would say that Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away are bad Animes (or rather, movies). They have a lovely story and are regarded to be good family movies. But, they are still for children. That's why they are so successful. Their primary target audience are children and adults watch along with their children. Some people then get caught in the storytelling and regard it as a very good piece of entertainment for some hours, and that's it.

That same person will think that One Piece, which is a great anime with great storytelling, sucks ass due to the style of drawing and the sheer endless list of episodes. That's what scares people off... at least that's what I think scares people off. The way things are drawn (especially in Shounen) and the time you have to invest in it.

Since it's weird that you like watching weirdly drawn animations to begin with, you become even weirder given the fact that you actually spend hours a day watching it.

And lets not even talk about the nightly hentai abo commercials for pictures of naked anime girls (quote: Get hot anime girls on your phone now for just XXX euros). If somebody who knows nothing about anime sees this for his first impression, obviously he'll think something's missing in your head if you spend hours a day watching it and you even think it's cool to talk about it. One of my old teachers is such a person. Had to do some damage control after he overheard a convo over anime.

This being said, I simply grew out of it. From one day to the other I started to think that watching Anime is boring and I haven't watched one Anime show in 5 years or so. On the other hand, I started reading Manga instead.... I have no right to judge what others do in their free time.

One thing I noticed is that once people think you are a normal/OK guy, you can drop the Anime/Manga bomb with little to no consequences. Most people found it weird that somebody like me would watch that stuff and not look like some anti social weirdo. I introduced them to some good Mangas, just a few pages, and everyone dropped his stupid attitude so far.

Had I introduced myself with something along the lines of "hi, my name is and I really love manga lol omg", I don't think I would have made such nice friends. Being ignorant is neither a crime nor is it something innately wrong. They just don't know it any better.

MLP is still fucking weird.

Hmmm i may have to hide my anime love more..

And yeah i started to fall out of it and am not as obsessed as i once was myself...Now my soul belongs to the 12 of eorzea LOL..Ok joking aside i am pretty addicted to FFXIV....And i am less into anime though returning a bit.

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It's funny, a lot of people on this thread don't seem to realize that the stigma that anime receives in the west is exactly what it gets in japan as well. You want to know why some people feel embarrassed to admit they like anime? Pick 5 popular anime in the last 5 years, and name one that doesn't involve gratuitous violence or some form of fanservice, female or male. That's the reason right there, entirely. I really enjoy anime, and I watch a variety of shows. But I would never be comfortable watching any of the shows I like with my family, and there are many people, west and east, that are the same. Please stop trying to pretend anime is full of profound life lessons and "serious" subjects. For every great relevant show or film like Kaze Taichinu, you get 25 shows about teenagers gaining some power or meeting people with powers from out of nowhere, or about cute girls getting nearly naked and also using crazy powers, and maybe you get something with themes that are a little more mature or grounded in reality, but its few and far between.

All of this is moot anyway. It doesn't change the fact that people are allowed to like what they want to like, and your feelings about them liking it don't matter in the slightest. Just do what you want and don't hurt your neighbors. Life's too short to be hung up on social stigma.

Involve as in central or has none? because has none wouldn't be applicable to any medium even here.

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The point however is that you can't judge people based on what they think about you, as long as they are uneducated about the topic. Being uneducated about something wouldn't make me stop wanting to be friends with said person.

It also depends on what kind of anime watcher you are. The casual, "I watch it once in a while" or the pokemon shirt wearing weirdo who has no other topics but anime. If you are the latter, you are just as weird to me as the car freak who wears a picture of his abhorrently tuned Corsa on his shirt and has no other topics but cars.

But if you are the first one and you teach your friends about Animes and Mangas and maybe even introduce them to some really good ones, I don't see any reason at all for them to suddenly stop liking you. It actually goes against everything I have experienced myself.

Edit: poorly worded the mid part. Let me explain: People choose their friends based on common interests. If your interests differ too much from another person's interest, they usually do not wish to associate with you. Usually, you end up being ignored by these people and that's perfectly normal human behavior. In some isolated cases you end up being more than just ignored - people start mocking you for your hobbies and your alien behavior. I guess the roots of this lie somewhere between insecurity and insecurity.

The same person that bullies people for watching anime would bully anybody for really anything. But that's another topic.

Oh i have little to talk about outside anime...Oh that most people can understand....The amount of trivia i have in my head about things like video games, mythology, various branches of science, books and similar things is off the charts..But most people can't follow those things as well...

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For some you're just comparing garbage tv shows with garbage tv shows.

LOL i can see that still..Ugh those shows....Just yeah...

[Zatheyll]

1) It's really not all that acceptable in Japan either

What's with this ridiculous statement. It's sad how people just say stuff without even bothering to back it up.

Read below.

But you're wrong.

There's an entire section of a city dedicated to it, it's one of their biggest forms of entertainment, anime tops ratings on their national TV stations, and seiyuu's (voice actors) are one of the most respected jobs in the country. In Japan people consider gaming/anime/manga very similar to each other and they are all tied in together very well. Governmental organizations even use anime-like characters as mascots and vocaloid could be a contender for a showing at the 2020 Olympics alongside other idol groups (which also tie into it in a way).

It's generally the older generation (WWII-slightly after) with such a giant leap in mentality no other country compares in the slightest that view it as off. The people who obsess over it like crazy that they can't live in the real world are seen as slightly creepy, but that's generally as far as it goes. Hikikimori (shut-ins) and NEETs (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) are seen as far more socially unacceptable.

In Japan if you play video games you are the exact same as if you watch anime or read manga. It's called being part of the entertainment culture there. Like watching a blockbuster at the theaters here then getting the Blu-Ray of the movie. Nintendo is also a household name, so they aren't of the mentality that a plumber or a green adventurer is seen as immature, but just a style of gaming that's been around for decades.

Anime movies are also always in theaters just like you'd see any Disney movie in theaters here. It's just a good portion of them are intended for 13+ or 17+ (that's the actual rating of a good portion of anime movies in theaters in Japan) unlike Disney's G or PG ratings here.


People need to realize culture barriers exist and not everyone is the same as western, or American, culture and have to see things as completely different from one another. Japan thinks we are strange in completely different ways that we find completely normal.

[Fahrenheit]

Why would it be wrong? Watch what ever you find enjoyable.

That being said, I don't watch anime as I find the story telling pretty god damn awful.

I mean, my next door neighbor and best friend growing up was big in anime and thru him I must have seen my fair share of DBZ, Bleach, etc... and one was always worse than the next.

The only thing I recall enjoying was something called Ninja scroll, and I only recall it being funny as some girl poisoned a rock man with her poison pussy juice (I shit you not).

Maybe something's lost in translation, I don't know.

[Destruktion]

Generally, those terms are used to describe the people who basically live and breathe anime. Enjoying it, isn't really a problem to most people.

I'll second this sentiment.
I don't fault people who live and breathe anime since they're obviously just living their lives the way they want and I'd want the same privilege afforded to myself. Some of 'em still weird me out, though.

[Zatheyll]

Why would it be wrong? Watch what ever you find enjoyable.

That being said, I don't watch anime as I find the story telling pretty god damn awful.

I mean, my next door neighbor and best friend growing up was big in anime and thru him I must have seen my fair share of DBZ, Bleach, etc... and one was always worse than the next.

The only thing I recall enjoying was something called Ninja scroll, and I only recall it being funny as some girl poisoned a rock man with her poison pussy juice (I shit you not).

Maybe something's lost in translation, I don't know.

You've been shown just a single type of anime, the endless shounen. That's a small percentage of all anime. Anime stories have as wide of a range as books do, seeing as there is at least over 7,000 shows/movies to choose from. I agree the story telling of all the shows you listed is god awful, but you can't put all anime in that range.

[Kokanee]

Personally, i myself am a NEET.. Well sort of, got laid off at the beginning of summer, i try to look for jobs at least 40hrs a week (To keep myself on a normal schedule and such, I work in the trades) so far no luck unfortunately. but anyway! Anime has taken the place of smoking for me as a coping mechanism, great stress relief and i personally find it more engaging then western t.v.

And anyone who says anime is strictly for children should watch School days or Higurashi o.o''

[Thallidomaniac]

Some people havent watched proper animes. I have seen some stuff in animes that made me think "should I watch this any further?" since the violence was rather extensive. Stuff you dont see in western stuff. I usually take gore and violence in movies, anime or any entertainment as it is and dont think much of it. This stuff I'm talking about might make people nauseous. I felt somewhat disturbed. Certainly not for kids to watch.

Then some animes that I have seen that seem to be aimed at teens. Then suddenly there are some scenes that are completely out of line and go to adult grade scenes. It makes me wonder who it is aimed after all.

Besides animes seem to have fresh story ideas than western stuff. I dont even watch many series anymore from tv or go see movies since they are very boring. So I'm perfectly fine with anyone watching anime.

Define "proper"? I wouldn't know what would be considered "proper" Western Animation titles these days either, as someone would nitpick even the smallest thing about a title.

I don't think this is due to them watching anime, I think it has to do with their personality and looks. Far too many people I've met who watched anime fell into the stereotype of being awkward, smelly and lacking personal hygiene. It's like the stereotype of a nerd, but without the intellect, and then a large amount of perversion added on top of it all.

That doesn't mean everyone who watches anime is like that though. And it's not like people are getting bullied because they watch anime, if they didn't watch anime they would still get bullied for being weirdos. But I think that's where the two overlap.

That and the deplorable behavior of some fans, i.e. calling all Western Animation shit, is a turn-off. But then again, rabid and demented fans exist for almost every fanbase, one example being how some bronies (fans of My Little Pony) act.

[Fahrenheit]

You've been shown just a single type of anime, the endless shounen. That's a small percentage of all anime. Anime stories have as wide of a range as books do, seeing as there is at least over 7,000 shows/movies to choose from. I agree the story telling of all the shows you listed is god awful, but you can't put all anime in that range.

Perhaps you are right. But, the metaphorical ship has sailed on me "getting into" anime at this point.

[Zanito44]

You've been shown just a single type of anime, the endless shounen. That's a small percentage of all anime. Anime stories have as wide of a range as books do, seeing as there is at least over 7,000 shows/movies to choose from. I agree the story telling of all the shows you listed is god awful, but you can't put all anime in that range.

Shounen should really only be fully analyzed once the series is over and then you can connect the dots. It doesn't make it so confusing doing it that way. Also it is shounen which is self-explanatory for its plot or lack of it.

[Al Gorefiend]

I admit it does bug me how some teens/young adults will obsess over Anime, then flaunt their "superior" Japanese cultural understanding and act like a cute little squealing girl - despite being a 300 lb. oof dressed like a cat.