Are you a closet anime lover?

[dougtraceur]

I love watching anime. I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with it but I get as much joy if not more (and MUCH MORE!) our of it as my favorite western television series (doctor who, sherlock, breaking bad).

Out of my friends I know only 3 (including my brother) who enjoy anime and whom I can openly talk to about it. However when I'm around my other friends/family, I can never tell them I watch it let alone enjoy it. I feel like there is a lot of stigma that gets attached to people who like anime, people suddenly get awkward or judgmental if someone mentions it. It makes me feel embarrassed to be open with myself!

So what I have is a small group of friends who I can admit it to and the majority of my friends that I can't. Is this bad? Or is this completely natural?

Should I tell my other friends? If I did tell them and they judged me for it should I dump 'em and find people with similar interests (perhaps get more involved with fan communities)?


First post also! Regards! *edit*

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Am I still considered a closet anime lover if I watch my anime in a closet, but everybody knows about it?

Seriously though I don't know your surroundings or why anime would be a stigma but know you don't have to talk about the stuff you like with everybody. If it makes you uncomfortable you can always not talk about it.

 

[Nouw]

Welcome to the Escapist n_______n, I hope you enjoy your stay. The stickied-threads at the top of this sub-forum, Off-Topic, are useful to familiarize yourself with this place even if they are a little dated. Anyhow,

Should you tell your other friends? Yes, and that's that. Don't try and make it such a big deal because it's not, like wombat_of_war said everyone has their own niche interests and more importantly, you shouldn't let other people's opinions influence yours especially if it's one of your passions. Just mention it in passing or be straight up e.g. "what do you guys think of anime?" Who knows if some of them are 'closet anime lovers' too and maybe you'll even get an interesting discussion out of it if they don't. Maybe you can even convince some of them to watch it. The point is, there really is no harm in talking about it, even if you do end up getting a bit overzealous because it should be fine. After all, they're your friends.

Should you dump your non anime friends? Fuck no, clearly you have other common interests or some other outside reason for them to be your friends. It seems a bit petty to consider ditching them because you think there's a stigma.

 

[Foolery]

Not really. People know I watch a bit of it. I just don't watch it with anyone. Nor I am much of an anime lover. The only shows I've watched are Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Darker Than Black. Honestly, who cares? They're just cartoons. No big deal.

 

[dougtraceur]

Whoops sorry I meant "if I told them and they weren't okay with it, should I dump them..." *edit*

 

[soren7550]

I used to be when I lived with my family (my brothers would torment me relentlessly over anything I had any inkling of a liking for), but now that I don't live with those assholes, I like pretty much whatever I please openly.

 

[Elfgore]

Kinda and kinda not. A couple friends who watch anime know I talk about it with. My parents know and don't really mind, though my Dad gives me some weird looks when I talk about it.

Though I don't feel the need to start a conversation with "Hi, I'm Elfgore. I love anime!" If anyone walked in to my room they would know instantly. My room is coated with anime posters and I have several anime seasons laying all over my room. I also wear a fairy tail necklace whenever I go out. Though did lie about what that was from to my family at Chirstmas. Told them it was a group from Supernatural.

So I make make no effort, besides my family, to hide I watch anime. Hell, might even join the anime club at my college this coming semester. Might give me a chance to expand my anime taste.

 

[Spambot 3000]

I prefer to read the manga of something as opposed to watching the anime. I do watch a teensy bit of anime, however the only reason I don't bring it up is not because I'm afraid I'll be mocked about it but rather, it's this irrational fear that if I do mention how I like a certain anime someone will shout at me (non-ironically) 'OMG YOU WATCH ____ TOO OMG DESU DESU DESU <3'.

Anyways, if you're friends shun you for watching anime, then they're pretty shitty friends anyway. A lot of my friends like dumb shows or fandoms or whatever but I don't disown based on what media they consume, that's just ridiculous.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Fortunately, most of the people I'm around love anime as well, or at the very least they like Avatar and Legend of Korra, so they don't judge anyone who likes anime. The problem I often run into is that I don't watch it as much as my friends, and/or I normally watch completely different shows. It's sort of hard to have a discussion about Wolf's Rain (my favorite anime) when every anime viewers I know hasn't seen it (just one example), and it is also hard to discuss anime with friends when I haven't seen what they are watching. As a result, everyone knows I watch anime, but they generally don't know what I'm watching and often don't care.

Anyways, I would tell your friends that don't know. Keeping the secret isn't worth it, and if they do shun you, then they probably weren't your friends to begin with anyways. After all, it is OK to not like everything your friends like, and they should return the favor. Besides, you may learn that one of them is a closet anime viewer as well.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I know one other person that watches it, and that's about it.

I don't talk about it with most people IRL because I know it's not something they're interested in, so I don't bother.

To be fair though, I don't watch a whole lot and that's probably because most of what I find isn't very interesting to. Not that I don't go out of my way to look for stuff, but now I'm going off on a tangent and I lost my train of thought...

Anyways, I don't think my friends, outside of that one, know I watch it, so I guess I am. Then again, I'm not hiding it because I might be ridiculed for it, but for the fact I know it's not their jam.

 

[FightingFork]

You make it sound like such an endeavour. Unless you have a reason to suspect someone would react in a strong negative fashion, I'd see no reason not to mention it to your friends. I wouldn't frame it as a huge confession or anything, but if the topic of favourite shows comes up, I think it certainly wouldn't hurt anything to mention it.

I guess my liking of anime happened in reverse order -- I got into it after I started taking Japanese classes at uni -- so everyone around me was very understanding. So it could be that I'm completely missing something, but I really don't see the harm. You may even get some of them interested.

 

[Weaver]

I don't hide it. I just watch anime and talk to people about it if they want to.
I'm never ashamed of my hobbies.

 

[FalloutJack]

Wow they make anime about closets nowadays?
Are you guys gonna obsess over closets now, like with the MLP thing?

It wouldn't surprise me. I've seen Welcome to the NHK and that's almost like spending your life isolated in a closet. It just takes an additional nudge...

 

[FPLOON]

Am I still considered a closet anime lover if I watch my anime in a closet, but everybody knows about it?

If so, then... *gasp* Lucky! My closet's too small to have both a TV and myself in there...

OT: I wouldn't say "closet", per se... But, I tend to wait until someone ask me "have you seen X anime series?" and I mostly reply with a "yes" with a sometimes added "just subbed" along with said reply...

Though, I tend to never talk about them too much around most of the adults I sometimes end up being around... Plus, I rarely have anything that shows publicly that I love anime... (That roll belongs to something else, it seems...) Unless you count my "small" anime collection, where not one of the covers poses anything too suggestive of being a "pervert"... (except maybe Witchblade...)

In other words... No, but I know when it is> the right time to bring it up in any situation... and that goes for any "hobby" in general...

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No. I don't like watching anime in the closet. I prefer to watch it in my living room.

 

[AldUK]

I can kind of understand some of the stigma based on a lot of the more recent stuff to come out of Japan's animation scene. There's a heavy trend towards younger and younger school girl characters showing off their knickers in hilarious situations and it's just creepy. I can't understand why anyone would watch that and claim to enjoy it.

Just to make it clear, I am a fan of anime and I've been watching it for just over 10 years. I've seen hundreds of entire series, including all the classics and a heck of a lot of short, little-known 12 episode runs. For me, I'll watch anything that catches my eye, but as I said, I do tend to find that more and more often these days new stuff is a bit too pantsy literally and figuratively.

For the record, the animes I'm watching and enjoying right now are Koroku no Basket, Hajime no Ippo: Rising and Log Horizon. I would recommend the first 2 to anyone, LH is still finding it's feet but its managed to keep my interest so far.

 

[Olas]

I watched a little Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh when I was younger. Does that count?

 

[neonsword13-ops]

I only talk about it with people I know who like it, like my friends and my sister, so no...? My parents couldn't care less. They see it as just more cartoons, just exceptionally perverted. And they are completely right. AND I LOVE IT.

I mean, I usually don't bring it up in normal, everyday conversation because a lot of people will never understand anime and its fans, but for people that know what my Attack on Titan survey corps hoodie stands for, then I can whip up a conversation pretty easily. It's hard not talking about a thing you enjoy passionately with people that couldn't give a shit in any way shape or form and just call you a weirdo for liking it.

Relevant Pic

The don't call it a niche hobby for nothing.

And no, you shouldn't ditch a friend just because they don't like what you like. That's just silly. Surely you can find something else to enjoy together, like movies, tv shows, books, music, vidjeo gaymes, and so on.

Also, welcome to The Escapist! Enjoy your stay, and don't go into the basement. *And if you like things, be sure to join a usergroup or two to talk about the things you like with people that also like the things you like.*

<- You after you join a usergroup and make some bros​