What is it with nerds and anime?

[Justank]

Nintendo came from Japan. I grew up with Nintendo. I became interested in where it came from, and what other things Japan had. I've actually never been huge on anime, though I certainly don't have any kind of stigma against it. I do love the idea of mechs, so the various Gundam series' have always been fun for me. Death Note was also a great watch, and one I think would be good for getting non-anime fans into anime since it's basically just a crime thriller with a bit of the supernatural going on.

 

[PierrotLeFou]

Does being a nerd make you know about anime, or does knowing about anime make you a nerd? Basic chicken egg scenario there

I don't know why people in this thread keep saying that, I think the opening post was clear, he doesn't say that all nerds like anime, he just says, it's more likely to find anime fans among a "nerdy" community, that's all.. He never says that every nerd is a anime fan or anything like it..

About the definition of a nerd, for me it's not so much about what you like or don't like, or what you know and don't know, for me it's more about personality..

On Wiktionary (which I agree may not be the best reference), they describe it as "A person who, although having good technical or scientific skills, is introspective and generally introverted."

 

[omega 616]

I don't know, I look like your typical geek but I am not into the whole anime thing. I watched pokemon as a kid but I thought it was just another cartoon*, then about 4 months somebody on this forum suggested bleach to somebody who made a "recommend me a ..." thread, so I watched all the dubbed ones and like it.

I certainly haven't watched all the popular or common ones, like death note or full metal alchemist or whatever, I have only heard faint whisperings of them.


*wait, whats the difference or is it like comic books and graphic novels or the "adult" version of harry potter with it's different cover? It's the same thing but it doesn't have a kiddies name, so it seems more mature?

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Does being a nerd make you know about anime, or does knowing about anime make you a nerd? Basic chicken egg scenario there

I don't know why people in this thread keep saying that, I think the opening post was clear, he doesn't say that all nerds like anime, he just says, it's more likely to find anime fans among a "nerdy" community, that's all.. He never says that every nerd is a anime fan or anything like it..

About the definition of a nerd, for me it's not so much about what you like or don't like, or what you know and don't know, for me it's more about personality..

On Wiktionary (which I agree may not be the best reference), they describe it as "A person who, although having good technical or scientific skills, is introspective and generally introverted."

What I was saying was; do people know about anime because they are nerds, and therefore exposed to various things that the mainstream wouldnt (memes tends to be a good example of this)or, is it because they like anime, they are exposed to a nerd culture, and are therefore labelled a nerd?

The term "anime" is not a mainstream term. Ive only heard it used a few times in the big bang theory, and thats about it. But this website has anime reviews, and it tends to cater to what would be considered nerdy pasttimes, whether the users are nerds or not. So maybe the very term anime is most commmonly nerdy.

 

[PierrotLeFou]

Hum.. I understand what you mean. Personally I discovered anime on three mainstream TV channels in my country (I don't know if mainstream is the right word for those channels, but I mean, they didn't specialize, and broadcasted stuff from TV news to documentaries, etc).
At that time I didn't know the term "anime" because one of the TV channels presented it as "mangas", and the other two just broadcasted it without further information. Me and my friends just called it "japanese cartoons". City Hunter, DBZ, Knight of the Zodiac, Ranma 1/2 and others were really popular because it was broadcasted on our main channel (with heavy censoring and changes in the characters' names), but Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion were less known, and directed towards a more mature audience I guess.. Maybe in other countries animes weren't broadcasted as much..

 

[Something Amyss]

You both missed the point? It's not about different people liking different things. It's about a single group of people (nerds), that has a lot of variety of opinions in it (ever seen two nerds argue?), being the predominate consumer of a single thing (anime).

I don't think they missed the point. I think the problem is specifically that you offered a loaded question and they responded as though it were a loaded question. The idea of "why do nerds like anime?" is already kind of a pejorative, even though you say otherwise, and it is loaded, as it's like "what is it with jocks and sports?"

Jocks rarely agree. My friends scream at each other over which overpaid team would beat the other guy's overpaid team as though they had some actual stake in it. Aside from the details of what they're arguing over, how are they any less divided? And since liking anime is nerdy by default, how can this be a serious question?