I like to think I have an appreciation for anime as an art form. It’s not something that will stand the test of time and be looked upon favorably by generations to come, mind you. It’s just something that’s capable of great beauty, be it in the artwork itself, the storytelling, the presentation, the music… whatever. The shows that move me most are those that exhibit great beauty in some way, shape, or form. It may be subtle or it may be obvious. It may be something that appeals to everyone or it may be something that appeals to me alone. But, whatever it may be, it’s there, and when I recognize it, I’m reminded of why I watch anime in the first place.
Sometimes, however, I feel like I’m old-fashioned. It’s as if being seriously in love with anime has gone out of style. For those of you who can remember high school, perhaps you recall a friend or classmate who, despite possessing great knowledge or talent, never seemed to care about anything. Perhaps it was you. When I think of the modern American anime fan, this is the image that comes to mind. I know it’s not absolute truth, but I still can’t shake the feeling that fandom is more shallow, narcissistic, and mean-spirited than ever before.
I don’t think anime should be Serious Fucking Business. I like to geek out and have fun as much as the next fan. But, if you’ve ever been the designated driver for a night out on the town, you know that watching your friends get all drunk and stupid ceases to be amusing after awhile. Sometimes, there’s little joy in being a serious anime fan. But, there’s no dishonor in being a serious anime fan.
Nor is there dishonor in being a constructive anime fan. Years ago, when I first started reading weblogs, I noticed something interesting: in describing their blogs, it was common for authors to use the word “rant”. I soon discovered that any blog that used the word “rant” in title or description wasn’t a blog worth reading. It was no surprise, really. After all, to rant is to “speak or write in a angry or violent manner.” In my opinion, such writing, while occasionally entertaining, has little value to me as a reader. I realized I wasn’t their audience.
Which holds true for a lot of anime blogs, unfortunately. I can’t criticize any anime blogger for writing in the manner he or she wishes, but I will admit that it pains me to see just as many blogs out there spewing bile and invective about anime as there are blogs promoting the medium. I rarely read these blogs, and I sure as hell won’t link to them. And I do my best to maintain a constructive and positive tone when blogging myself - even when I DO have something to bitch and moan about.
Of course, I suppose it would be awfully presumptuous of me to say, “I wish more anime fans would see anime the way I see it,” but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes feel that way. And, even though I know there’s nothing wrong with that, I still feel sheepish. Recently, I was reading the short biography I have here, and thought to myself, “Man, I really should rewrite this. I sound like a dork.” What concerned me most, however, was the paragraph explaining my “interest in modern Japanese culture”. I asked myself, “Why did I write that?” Indeed, why did I feel it necessary to assure my readers that my interest in Japan pre-dates my interest in anime?
Well, if you know the term “weeaboo”, you’d understand why.
Enough is enough. No longer will I apologize for being seriously in love with anime. No longer will I sit idly by as self-hating anime fans disparage those who have the audacity to care. I’m going to keep promoting the hell out of the shows and characters I love.
And if you call me a “fanboy”, I’m just going to smile and say, “Well, at least I have a passion for something. How about you?”
/signed.
I have no shame anymore that I’m an anime fan. And I agree, there are some of those times where anime really does shine as an art form. Moments where it conveys an incredible depth of emotion. I dunno, it doesn’t seem like it’s something to be ashamed of… people wax poetic on their sports heroes, their movie heroes, and their musical pinings; others worship the ground that tolkien, or crichton, or rowling, or whatever other famous author has walked on, why can’t i love anime?
and as a sidenote - I’m watching Honey and Clover for the first time. Wow. What a masterpiece of storytelling.
My two cents.
Different folks, different strokes. ^^;
Case in point, you adore Simoun, and I don’t; but no, I haven’t dropped it yet. I am just waiting for the last episode to be subbed so that I can do a batch write-up on the last four episodes and an overall series impression.
Even amongst my local circle of friends, we have differing views on anime and it CAN be frustrating when we can’t agree on something, because while we do want to impose our views onto each other, it seems kinda petty to sour relations over anime-issues, even if we do get passionate at times.
So I accept that you love Simoun, even if I personally don’t. If anything, the series has made me feel on occasion the desire to stamp on kittens and maybe strangle puppies. It just doesn’t click with me, and not in the bore-me way, but in the rub-me-the-wrong-way way. Simoun will be the first anime I am completing despite loathing it. The main thing fuelling my motivation now is a sense of obligation to complete my review on it.
~~~~ ~~~~
On a more on-topic note, I do understand what you mean about some AnimeBlogs being… overly-emotional? I can live with angry reviews, because angry reviews can still be constructive; but when reviews just spray vemon and bile without articulating the reasons behind their hatred properly, it just knocks away whatever credibility they might have( if any in the first place).
Then there are the blogs where a blogger can more or less pick on an old issue over and over again to the point where even if he was right in the past, it only makes him look like a total jackass in the present.
Cheers.
I’m not sure what you mean to do, other than to keep on doing what you’re already doing, albeit perhaps more frequently.
As long as you can laugh and not get offended by anime like Genshiken or Otaku no Video, there’s still hope for you yet. XD
I’m still pretty uncomfortable about acknowledging my love for anime, but I’m taking baby steps, and it will occur… hopefully soon. :P
And I also don’t like to see blogs where the writer’s purpose seems to be blasting series with rage. Though they are sharing their thoughts to the world, I guess. :/
Wow, this strikes home in many ways.
Same with me here, I never did like reading rants or editorials. It just detracts from the enjoyment of the medium. When people take anime as SFB, you get people that think Koi Kaze is the best love story in the world, Kanon is just a moe-vehicle and Capeta is the best show in the world.
But perhaps anime has been very much inspiring and to a certain degree, it has well much shaped a major part of my youth. Through anime, I’ve learned that there are many different points of view as there are as many people in this world, and if I honestly took them all seriously, my brain would’ve exploded a long time ago.
All in all, I’ve learned to enjoy my fandom towards anime, rather than taking it as SFB.
I’ve no problems mentioning my hobby, except to people who know a lot more about Japan than I do, ie natives and students in that area. They usually react annoyed.
What irritates me is how narrow some people’s focus is. They watch TV and are self-declared huge fans, but tell them that their favourite show is just a butchered domestic version and they *won’t care*.
It’s strange how a subculture can lose it’s appeal as it’s popularity escalates. I think it’s probably a simple matter of statistics though. The more people involved with something the more idiots there are. Where once there was one moron now there are ten. However I do agree that watching a passionate hobby being toyed around with by a bunch of sanctimonious assholes is never fun. I would ask you not to let your cynicism isolate you from the whole fan base though. Many of us share the same passionate outlook that you do and as long as that exist there’s still hope for it. I enjoy reading your blog and I hope you keep it up.
Later Mike
That hits the point right at the spot. It’s always a person who reasons and writes in a persuasive way that will be able to convince his or her audience, be it in anime or any subject. I mean, when a person starts to say something sucks without any rationality, how can you be sure that it is in fact a proper site that deserves any form of respect?
Even in my entry about yaoi and my apparent ignorance and myopic behavior toward yaoi and BL Anime, I still admit that I have watched a few and found one of them to be decently watchable. I believe that it’s the most alluring factor that makes or breaks a blog, and whether it can influence people to comment or ignore: the ability of articulation.
I do believe in being passionate about anime and I often try my best to write every series that I write with a positive twist, as long as it’s good. I generally drop a series once I think it’s no longer good, but it’s a very rare case, seriously.
I am a fanboy of anime too. And i am proud of it as well. Good luck, my fellow ambassador for good anime ^^
As in any blogs, it takes a skill to articulate one’s thoughts and opinions onto a typepad, to a point of calling it “an art.” (Actually, it takes a very persuasive person to move people towards a certain direction.) But the problem right now is: too many amateurish writings, too shallow the arguments. It’s like reading a middle high school (or lower secondary school) essay.
Granted though, it’s pretty easy to apologize for things you’ve not done any wrong. But then again, I take the Internet as one large pile of dumpster: that’s why I “dumpster-dive” - lots of crap, but a few good gems I can take.
So go on and do your thing, Jeff. I don’t need an apology for things you like most: it takes acceptance for readers like us to see through your words and find common ground with you.
I’m not sure how the whole rage-and-vitriol thing fits into your post, but I definitely agree that these days people seem to uneccessarily make excuses for themselves, and make fun of everyone who enjoys anime.
It’s like an anime club at school where they all self-depreciate their hobby so as not to get made fun of quite so much. Very weird.
I’m not sure if this is the cause, or just where the phenomenon popped up first, but 4chan looks to be the beginning of all this from my POV.
It’s where the term ‘weaboo’ originated as far as I know.
The kind of discussion that goes on there is rarely serious, and I think perhaps while people were making fun of themselves in a jocular manner, it eventually became more and more real to some people, to the point where there is a great number of people in most anime communities that always seem extremely negative towards both the fans and the medium itself, despite the fact that they watch it…
I think another cause is people who like to analyse anime critically on forums, often drawing attention to the flaws. These commentaries are often insightful, and are a good thing, but because the posters are well respected I think younger or less intelligent members of the community take what they see as a certain sentiment and try to emulate it to be cool.
I’ve seen this happen a lot with newbies to message boards, that go from raving fanboy -> “I’m cool because I hate anime” within a few weeks.
>>What irritates me is how narrow some people’s focus is. They watch TV and are self-declared huge fans, but tell them that their favourite show is just a butchered domestic version and they *won’t care*.
Heh. When I start thinking about “enlightening the masses”, I stop thinking about what I’m doing anime-wise for a while. While your example isn’t that per se, I tend to refrain from thinking along that line, since it almost certain leads to elitism. When blogs get to that point, which is also when you seem them rage, it makes me sad. The goal is to draw people in, not force them in or out. The final decision does go to them in the end. :P
Name, I actually agree about 4chan being the origin of a lot of this. I actually introduced that point in the my original draft, but edited it out as I thought it distracted from the overall message. I was worried people would zero in on the call-out and jump at the opportunity to either pile on or defend the place. There are some interesting things that come out of 4chan, no doubt, but the overall culture there is pretty vapid, and it’s infected a lot of other fan communities.
In the end, I won’t be changing the way I do things here… I recognized the power of the bully pulpit a long time ago, and I know my readers to be a friendly, open-minded bunch, so I rarely feel the need to pull my punches on any particular topic. Elsewhere, however, it’s a different story. I’ve been more diplomatic than I’d like to be.
As for the anime blog community… well, I’ve noticed an increase in bitter and negative writing over time, and I find it discouraging.
The joy of it is that it opened up a present from a culture unlike mine that is unique yet familiar.
And it’s present that continues on, due to an extraordinary country, people like you Jeff and a very passionate community (warts and all).
I like browsing 4-chan but it does bring out the worst in lots of people which is a shame.
There are too many negative assumptions that people immediately associate with anime for me to openly say that I seriously like it.
Yeah, the 4chan connection is definitely there. When one has total and complete anomynity they can say anything they want and not be held accountable for it. On one hand, you have the people who use their anomynity to be completely true about themselves and their feelings , and on the other, you have the people who use their anomynity to ridicule them and not have to really worry about. And that’s when names like weeaboo start to surface, and then people try to keep their love for the stuff secret so they’re not looked down upon. In my case, I don’t really care, as I have no shame :V
I don’t mind telling people I’m an anime fan. However, on the whole, I don’t really interact with people that much, but I see no problem telling people when the occasion arises. They are always cool about it, really. I’m a bit more secretive about the pedo stuff though… (I guess I do have some shame)
you mentioned “I wish more anime fans would see anime the way I see it” don’t see this as if I am attacking you, but.. How do you see anime? note that referring to certain anime is fine as I’m watching Neon genesis Evangelion at the moment and have seen most the shows you have used in your blogs (i’ve been reading it for some time which doesn’t happen occasionally).
I coem from the Netherlands officially, never heard of the word “rant” before, but fortunate I got english class tomorrow, say some stuff so that the word can come across, I wonder how the teacher would react as I think “to rant” is some upper class english.. correct me if I am wrong.
note that in the Netherlands anime is looked down up a lot, where I come from at least, I used to get picked on but times seem to change since more people watch anime, I’m in the business myself for about3 years now I think, first anime I watched was “Ah! My Goddess” which wasn’t the cool mecha anime other boys watched, I guess I just like those types more than others, guess I’m a softie.
last thing, I also see you use pictures from Suzumiya more often than others, am I right? How come and if so, where do you get those nice screens.
anime is a drug
“weeaboo”
I don’t know what the equivalent of “rant” would be in Dutch, but in German, it’s “der Wortschwall”. I wouldn’t consider it “upper class” English. It’s just not a commonly used word.
As for “seeing anime the way I see it,”… this post might provide an explanation. I think it comes down to respect. That is, respect for the creators, the artists, the voice actors, other fans, etc.
Anyway, the Haruhi images tend to be topical, I guess. There’s no one place to find them… there are some nice scans here, however.
hmm, I already bookmarked the moe imouto since you linked earlier to it hehe but thanks anyhow, I also just read “anime is LOVE” and I was like “OMG! strawberry marshmellows!” maybe I should hop on to the past posts you made.
as for respect I don’t quite know what to say since I hardly look at who is the voice actor for certain anime, I ususally look up a bit of the storyline and watch 3 to 4 episodes and see if I like it. But hey, that’s just me.
Thanks for this, Jeff.
I’ve been and anime and manga fan for over 20 years. I grew up watching Battle of the Planets, Force Five and Starblazers on TV in Boston. I used to beg my parents to take me to Mr. Big’s Toyland in Waltham to buy imported die-cast toys from Starvengers (Getter Robo G) and GaiKing. I wasn’t into superhero comics, but when the first translated manga showed up in comic shops here I started buying Mai the Psychic Girl, Nausicaä, Appleseed and Fist of the Northstar. I scrounged around the comic shops looking of VHS fansubs and I’d buy anything I could get my hands on.
I grew up on this stuff. It’s as much mine as it is any Japanese kid’s. And yet I still find myself making excuses for my hobby…
That’s the spirit! Be proud to be an anime fan! I really enjoyed this entry.
Slightly off-topic-ish, but anime as art? 5cm per Second pretty much confirmed that one for me. I haven’t always been a Makoto Shinkai, but this latest work was just amazing. The scenery was beautiful, the characters were natural, the emotions were real. It was great. Maybe you should check it out if you haven’t already.
Yes. Rock on!
You know, when someone calls me a nerd, or whatever, here’s my typical reaction: bust on my paper fan, beat them senseless, then pull a giant sword from nowhere to finish the job. Then I wake up, and I don’t care anymore. Seriously, when someone actually does that, I normally either happily accept it, or say unkind things about their mother in Japanese, depending on my mood and the circumstances. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. I like anime; so what? You spend almost as much time looking at football stats as I spend watching anime. Sports nerd.
As usual, I think there are two factors affecting why it has such a bad rep. First, the people that watch it, and second, the “bad” things get more attention than the good.
First, let’s look at Naruto, and Bleach. Both popular anime, with legions of followers. Nothing is wrong with watching these shows (although I never really liked Naruto, and if Bleach keeps adding filler eps. I’ll stop watching) but when you get people yelling out jutsu at lunch, (I’m a high school student) going bankai, and wearing the headbands it begins to make anime look… Kinda nerdy.
Second, there is some weird stuff in anime. Loli, tentacles, upskirts (to a far lesser extent), and, again, those uber nerdy fanboys, etc. That also makes anime viewers look weird. It’s always easier to focus oon bad things rather than good, for some reason. Not all anime is hentai, not all fanboys are losers, but until people realize that, we get labeled.
In the end though, if you’ve got a problem with fanboys/otaku, shaddup. Baka.