Are you a closet anime lover?

[JagermanXcell]

*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​

I've been on the Escapist for a little over a year and have yet to figure out what these things called "usergroups" are. They sound... euphoric...
HOW DO JOIN?!

OT:
Yes and no. The way things work with my friends and family is like this: if they're not into anime, I simply will not bring it up UNLESS animation as a whole is brought up.
Wether its conversation about classic nickelodeon cartoons or Disney films I always try to squeeze anime into the conversation. All the bad stigma it gets is totally undeserved, and yes I have met people who tried to tell me it's just fan service and cliches.
Yeah those people... they tend to watch anime after their misunderstanding is put to rest by me.

No one messes with my animu and gets away with it.

In all seriousness, just ignore what other people think, enjoy your hobby especially with those who share your enjoyment for it, and welcome to the Escapist!

 

[Panzer Camper]

This exactly. I love having my shows but I can't really explain this cool anime I'm watching because friends, family, gf just look at me like I'm five. I figure most of us are like that.

 

[PFCboom]

So this one time, in Afghanistan, my platoon was watching the entire series of Naruto, from 1 to... whatever it was then. And then we moved on to One Piece, some 500 episodes. I saw a 33 year-old man, so damn proud of being an OG-triple-OG, brag about his mastery of the Byakugan. I argued with someone for 10 minutes about how Luffy's heroic BSoD at the end of the Marineford arc was totally keeping in character, and more importantly, makes for a dramatic, nearly heartbreaking end and transition to the time skip.

Sooooo... no, not in the closet.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Well, I can't say that I actively try to hide it, but people don't generally pick me for an anime watcher. More of a metal head. Which is doubly ironic because I don't particularly like metal and I do definitely like anime.

 

[Kaimax]

I wear them proud on my chest. Never really bothered about other peoples opinions, eventhough I get some bullying in highschool for that (god damn it jocks). But I just going strong with my group and everything is okay.
Have watched more than 800 titles. http://myanimelist.net/animelist/kaimax

<---If you can guess who's my avatar, you're as deep as me.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Nope, I've been out of the closet since the days of the old SciFi channel showing Robot Carnival and blowing my young(ish) mind. Other friends of mine were converted through Sailor Moon though I stayed away from that series focusing rather on Tenchi Muyo.
And I somehow got ahold of most of the DBZ series with subs long before Cartoon Network had dubs. Wow... I realize how long I've been watching anime now... and am proud of it.

 

[teamcharlie]

Nope, don't like anime at all (wait, you mean the title of this thread was misleading? For shame! J/k, kinda)

Don't worry about letting people know you enjoy anime. It's fine. If they don't enjoy it too you'll still have to find other things to talk about that they can get in on as well, but liking anime is a really popular thing. S' all good.

 

[AdrianCeltigar]

I'm not exactly a closet-anime fan, but I do keep a lot of my interest in it to myself because the few people I know who also enjoy anime have very different tastes.

My brother likes very specific anime, usually melancholy and thought-provoking ones. He's also very opinionated, and I don't talk to him about a lot of the anime I enjoy because he just thinks I'm an idiot; but I can talk to him about anime we both like. Conversely, my sister openly hates anime and while I don't vehemently defend it (her points aren't without merit) I will point out that it's silly to loop every anime and manga together (as it is with movies, books, etc.)

I have a couple friends who also watch anime, but they'll watch Naruto, Bleach or Fairy Tail - all of which I have no interest in. As a result I tend to enjoy my anime in solitude, rarely talking about it unless someone asks me for a suggestion or an opinion. I'm not embarrassed or anything, I just know that no one I know cares.

As for your dilemma, you can tell them, or not tell them. Whether or not you should depends on what you want, or don't want.

Firstly, if they shun you or think less of you for liking anime, then they're not great friends. Note: Mocking you or joking about it is not the same; I make fun of my friends all the time and vice versa, but there's no malice behind it.

If there's no reason for them to know other than because you think you're obligated to reveal every interest you have, well you aren't obligated. They don't need to know, nor should they be offended if you don't tell them.

If you want to tell them then by all means do so; if they like anime too, bonus. If they don't care about anime, they shouldn't care that you like anime. If they do attach a stigma to it, you have your chance to remove said stigma or at the very least agree to disagree (like me and my sister.)

If they make fun of anime and it makes you uncomfortable then tell them you like it, and could they please refrain from mocking it whilst you're around as it makes you uncomfortable. Satire is also an option.

If you want to tell them with the hope of finding more people with which to discuss anime, feel free to ask if they enjoy it; if they express no interest then just drop it, and save the anime chat for the people who care. The internet is full of us.

You can pick your friends, and what you talk about with each of them can be different. There's no harm in sharing/withholding your interest in anime with/from one, some, or all. Tell who you want to, don't tell who you don't want to.

 

[The Wykydtron]

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.

You have a Wings of Freedom hoodie?! I wish I had the money for one... The design is amazing.

Holy shit an anime thread on Teh Scapist? What the fuck is this miracle?

Anyway OT: My friends don't mind, hell it was my one friend who got me into anime in the first place. We were getting into anime via the textbook Big Three > Death Note > Code Geass > Everything else. Code Geass is still one of my favourite animes to date.

My family (read: mother) hates it without any real reason except it looks cartoony so I shouldn't watch it, same with manga. Technically it's her fault I even started watching it so heavily to begin with but don't tell her I said that. I wonder if I should chuck my copy of Umineko at her and see if she changes her mind. The manga of course, the anime was kind of bad. I seriously can't stop rereading Legend of the Golden Witch, that fucking tea party yo'

I can sometimes coax another friend into watching a certain few ones with enough explanation of what it is, he loved Code Geass and was alright with Higurashi, considering how much he hates horror stuff. I have a grand total of three IRL friends and they were all from school. I can get all of my online friends into any anime since they trust my taste, the guy I introduced into Attack on Titan finished the season before me in two days.

My very favourite anime was a small anime that aired in 2009 called Needless and I have seen nobody else reference it in favourite anime threads apart from me. Sad really, it is a pretty standard battle anime and the one key defining feature is that it seriously does not give a fuck. The soundtrack is a sea of different guitar solos, the main character is competing with Kamina for manliest anime character ever, Episode 14 is the greatest thing ever and you know what fuck it. This is the perfect example of how it gives no fucks

Spoiler: This gets pretty heavy just so you know

These characters aren't even introduced til episode 3 or so.

 

[FireAza]

I know what you mean, OP. Anime these days seems to have a stigma on the internet, that only creepy pedos like it since it's nothing more than over sexulized young girls. Which is of course, no more true than saying all American films are like Twilight. But people will judge you regardless.

What's even more frustrating is that in the early days of the internet, it was almost expected that you also liked anime. If you were a dude on the early 2000s internet, you could count on your fellow users also being fans of Cowboy Bebop and Akira. What the hell changed??

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.

It's totally bullshit that one supernatural fantasy series is acceptable while another supernatural fantasy series is not.

<---If you can guess who's my avatar, you're as deep as me.

Crazy "my brother!" guy from Comic Party.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Nope, and I have no reason to be. Me and my sister grew up watching anime, and I have quite a few friends that watch it. My parents know I watch it and are accepting of it, although sometime my mom would make fun of some of the shows I watch, but she tends to do that with anything I like regardless.

Where I live, anime is pretty popular. I remember growing up there were more anime and manga fans then there were comic book fans. Well, I do live in Hawaii, which tend to lean more towards Eastern culture rather than American culture.

 

[Pixelspeech]

People do tend to assume that anything that isn't live-action is for kids, but I've been more open about my preference for the genre the past two years. I ordered some box-sets, which I opened in front of my family and allowed them to read. I put those same box-sets clearly within view and sometimes even discuss the premise of some shows I watch (Death Note is the latest example) with my parents when the premise is not too strange.

Couldn't give a rat's ass about what my friends think about it, so I just tell them whatever I am watching. Actually managed to make a pal check out Attack on Titan after he saw me playing the web-based unity game based of the show.

 

[Charli]

I find people who HAVEN'T watched and enjoyed at least one anime in their lives to be the weird ones.

What closet? I enthusiastically rant about my favorite shows if I'm going to get an earful about that hot new teen pandering contrived romance drama that I'm supposed to be watching.

If not i'll just let the conversation steer into it naturally if it does.


My mother caught me watching Full Metal Alchemist back when it was fresh.

She then sat down and watched the whole damn thing.

There's an anime that you will like somewhere. It's just not possible for you to not at least like one. Whether you want to go to the trouble of finding one? Well don't force em. But it's a medium the same as any other story telling. Don't shy away from your interests because you're scared of others.
That's what perpetuates the stigma you're banging on about.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

There nothing wrong with watching anime at all. There's many things wrong with being a weeb, but anime lover =/= weeb.

 

[J.McMillen]

While I don't advertise it, if someone asks I'll admit that there are a few series I've enjoyed. Mostly off beat ones that aren't hugely popular. Mostly because the popular ones use one of several tropes that I've gotten tired of and don't want to watch.

I will admit that some resent series are going a bit overboard on the fan service. A panty shot every now and then is fine, but too much and it gets kinda boring.

 

[Multi-Hobbyist]

There nothing wrong with watching anime at all. There's many things wrong with being a weeb, but anime lover =/= weeb.

Now, I'll agree with your first sentence right off the bat. But in my life and all it's experiences, anime lover = weeb. I haven't come across a single anime lover that wasn't. I don't understand why its so hard for them to draw the line somewhere, but they hop, skip and fart kilometers clear over it. I guess once you take just one show obsession too far .....

I mean, I'm not an anime lover by any means. In fact, I hate most, if not almost all anime. The same indistinguishable art styles, the same plots, the same characters. Rarely anymore do I give a series a chance to prove itself. But they all take so long to get going, most of the time over explaining things for the kids in middle school to understand, and almost all it's air time seems to be taken up with reaction shots.

But, Cowboy Bebop, Hellsing, FMA Brotherhood, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc. I can get behind some classics, but I wont spin my life around them. I guess I would consider myself a closet anime fan, if only because the other fans ruin it for me and with how bad the writing is in the first place, I find no reason to watch it from the rooftops.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

There nothing wrong with watching anime at all. There's many things wrong with being a weeb, but anime lover =/= weeb.

Now, I'll agree with your first sentence right off the bat. But in my life and all it's experiences, anime lover = weeb. I haven't come across a single anime lover that wasn't. I don't understand why its so hard for them to draw the line somewhere, but they hop, skip and fart kilometers clear over it. I guess once you take just one show obsession too far .....

I mean, I'm not an anime lover by any means. In fact, I hate most, if not almost all anime. The same indistinguishable art styles, the same plots, the same characters. Rarely anymore do I give a series a chance to prove itself. But they all take so long to get going, most of the time over explaining things for the kids in middle school to understand, and almost all it's air time seems to be taken up with reaction shots.

But, Cowboy Bebop, Hellsing, FMA Brotherhood, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc. I can get behind some classics, but I wont spin my life around them. I guess I would consider myself a closet anime fan, if only because the other fans ruin it for me and with how bad the writing is in the first place, I find no reason to watch it from the rooftops.

Enjoying anime despite its cliches does not make you a weeb. What makes you a weeb is constantly glorifying Japan over all things and cursing your heritage despite not knowing shit about Japan. Its thinking you know Japanese cause you've watched lots of anime. Its walking around wearing cat ears and a tail and saying "kawaii!" all the time. Owning some series on blu-ray or dvd or having watched and enjoyed many anime in your lifetime does not make you a weeb.

 

[l3o2828]

Well, not really when i usually take a Sket Dance wristband to work (Work as customer service) and i already have told everyone what it means and where it's from.
Everybody knows i like anime.

 

[Artina89]

Everyone that knows me is aware that I watch anime and read manga. Even the people I work with know I watch anime as I am always wearing my Astro boy and Death Note t-shirts. I have never come across stigma associated with mine and my brother's love of anime, the closest I have come to any sort of criticism is through my parents mentioning that anime is quite expensive, especially when you compare it to any other sort of DVD's you can buy.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

HOW DO JOIN?!

LET ME HELP YOU, GOOD MAN.

Let me think of some suggestions... HHHHMMMMMM....

Izanagi avatar.. Talkin' about anime...

*BAM*
SMT PERSONA USERGROUP (I own this one, be-te-dubs)
ANIME USERGROUP
*BOOM*
For more, check HERE

Introduce yourselves to the group and strike up a conversation! Usergroups are where I spend most of my time on here nowadays. They're a good place to get away from all the negativity and bickering in the forums.
Hope that helped!