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Correct anime advice?


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space clam



Joined: 11 Oct 2003
Posts: 636
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:09 am Reply with quote
Don't know how old this column may be (our newspaper is often a little behind), but I was wondering what your thoughts on it were.

"Ask Amy" column wrote:

Question: I am a 21-year-old female college student,and I hang around with a mixed bag of people. We are all, however, a little odd, so we are fairly open-minded.
One of my friends, "Martha," is very sweet but she is pretty obsessed with anime. She is the president of the anime club here at school.
I watch a little anime, but I'm not that into it. She talks about it a lot; every subject leads to a discussion about certain characters. That's not a problem because we all enjoy her company. The problem is that she constantly wears her anime constumes in lieu of real clothing. Today, she came to class dressed as Inuyasha, complete with bright red cloak, white wig, dog ears, and a plastic samurai sword. She is 20 years old. Needless to say, this is a bit distracting. Occasionally one or two of us will ask her to tone it things down a little, but she acts hurt.
I am at a loss. I don't want to hurt her, but people are laughing at her. It is embarrassing to the rest of us, even if she doesn't care. I realize that if she doesn't care, I shouldn't, but it is difficult not to notice. What should I do?

Amy: Perhaps the best thing to do is to ignore the costume. Your friend is so wrapped up in anime fantasy that she thinks dressing as Inuyasha is the easiest way to dominate and get attention from the group. If you don't let her dominate and don't give her attention, perhaps she'll give up--or at least choose a more appealing character.
I don't know much about Japanese animation, but it seems to me that dressing as Inuyasha is akin to a Trekkie choosing to be a Klingon. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)


Wearing that kind of cosplay to class seems just a *tad* too much for me. Amy's answer kind of seems to suggest that the friends should flat-out ignore this person. If it had been me in the situation, I might just act as though it were nothing out of the ordinary. (Of course, it someone dressed up in anime cosplay, I probably wouldn't see too much wrong with it; I'd probably think it was as normal as regular clothing.)
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herbkir



Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Posts: 251
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 12:04 pm Reply with quote
That "Martha" person has gone over the edge with her anime obsession. Cosplay is fun in the appropriate time and place. But a school class isn't the appropriate place to be an anime character. A college student (age 20) should show more sense. Antics like that help perpetuate the negative anime-fan stereotypes. If Martha gets enough negative response, she'll stop the inappropriate behavior (unless she's a nutjob, of course). (^_*)
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Jadress



Joined: 08 Oct 2003
Posts: 807
Location: Seattle. It purdy and nerdy!
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 12:25 pm Reply with quote
I totally agree with Herbkir. Being a big fan and loving to cosplay is one thing, but making a ridiculous spectacle of yourself and not having the sense to know when it's appropriate or not or how you're making others feel is bad. It's obvious that it's all for attention (negative or not), but in this case I think she might need more than being ignored to make her curb her behaviour. I know a lot of uber-liberal people are probably going to start posting how she should feel free to express herself or wear whatever she feels like, but sometimes that's not how society functions best.

On a bit of a tangent, I once read this little manga-style comic about a girl who walked around in super gothic lolita clothes complete with parasol. And oh, everyone was SO mean too her, and she was SO tired of people asking her questions about herself. I'm sorry, but you bring these things on yourself. No pity coming from me for something that dumb.
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Sir_Brass



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 476
Location: Prescott, AZ
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 12:46 pm Reply with quote
I think that the response in the paper was a good one. Just ignore the fact that the girl is wearing a cosplay costume. Don't give her any more or any less attention than normal and don't bring up the subject of her attire. Maybe after a while she'll eventually wear some normal clothing and stick with it except at anime cons and other places where cosplay attire is completely appropriate.
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luhead



Joined: 04 Oct 2004
Posts: 151
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 12:51 pm Reply with quote
Dressing like Inuyasha is like dressing as a Klingon? Enh? What does that mean? Of course, I'm surprised "Amy" has ever heard of Inuyasha in the first place.
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Haiseikoh 1973



Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 1590
Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas.
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 1:04 pm Reply with quote
Maybe she got the idea from this site?

(I should note the fact that there is a ton of poor engrish and some off-the-wall writing on that site.)
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Aaron White
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Joined: 23 Aug 2002
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Location: Birmingham, Alabama
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 4:24 pm Reply with quote
Most college kids (including 20somethings) do something silly to get attention and try to craft an identity/reputation. This is certainly a healthier way to do it than by some of the other popular ways to do it, like being a slut. In my experience the best way to handle this stuff isn't to put your friend down, but to encourage her to use her talents to seek affirmation in more useful ways, ways that really make a contribution rather than just get attention. So this gal could work in the costume shop at the school theatre, or something.
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Perfectsword



Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Posts: 527
Location: Somewhere in NY
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 5:55 pm Reply with quote
Me being me, I would just encourage them more, and try to get them to wear bizzar things, I personaly wouldn't care. I'd think it pretty funny. Theres nothing wrong with that and some day she'll just nat wear all of the pieces to the costume and it will go away. But seriously...It seems like that letter could have been fictional.
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shadow_guyver



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 307
Location: Tokyo, Japan
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 6:14 pm Reply with quote
Seems a bit over the top to me. I mean, showing up with only a few discrete things is fine, like Naruto headbands, or in this case just the dog ears. But full-blown costume? That's distracting. If it were just on the street or at whatever place she hangs out, it would be different. But we're talking about a classroom here. There are places where distracting outfits are just not acceptable, and this is one of them.

And I consider myself quite liberal when it comes to the matters of dress. This is just too much.
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space clam



Joined: 11 Oct 2003
Posts: 636
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:14 pm Reply with quote
The article also mentioned that the "Martha" had a plastic sword with her throughout classes. Maybe college has more sense than the government school these days, but isn't that the kind of thing that freaks the school out and makes them press ridiculous charges? I mean, if a pair of nail clippers is a dangerous weapon, imagine the havoc one could wreak with an almightly polypropelyne sword of doom... Rolling Eyes

If it were me, and I wanted to dress in cosplay at class, I'd dress as a character with more "normal" attire, maybe Batou from "Ghost in the Shell," or Hiei from "Yu Yu Hakusho" in the most extreme case. Of course, it's a moot point since in real life, I try to disappear as quickly as possible, and wear the exact same shorts and sweatshirt every day.
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Green Bird



Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 12
Location: Northern, VA - and it's endless hours of traffic
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:51 pm Reply with quote
A bit off topic but...

Haiseikoh 1973 wrote:
Maybe she got the idea from this site?


...oh my. I think he/she has something going with those shoes Wink .
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 12:36 am Reply with quote
Hm.. this is a bit strange, but nonetheless if I had a friend cosplaying to school every day, I wouldn't mind. Of course, most of my friends are anime fans anyway so it's not like whatever costume I see will freak me out.

I would somewhat worry about this person getting their feelings hurt if everyone else was making fun of him/her, but if that person is in fact not being affected by any of the jokes, insults, or whatever, then it's fine with me.

Personally though, I'm not one to try and attract much attention in the first place so if I were to cosplay, I'd wear a simple school uniform or something with a bit more class and refinement in it, but that's just me Anime catgrin.
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The Frankman



Joined: 19 Sep 2004
Posts: 1160
Location: Binary Culture HQ
PostPosted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:00 pm Reply with quote
space clam wrote:
The article also mentioned that the "Martha" had a plastic sword with her throughout classes. Maybe college has more sense than the government school these days, but isn't that the kind of thing that freaks the school out and makes them press ridiculous charges? I mean, if a pair of nail clippers is a dangerous weapon, imagine the havoc one could wreak with an almightly polypropelyne sword of doom... Rolling Eyes


Like so? http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=2989614&nav=EQlpWjof
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space clam



Joined: 11 Oct 2003
Posts: 636
PostPosted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:09 pm Reply with quote
That's exactly what I'm talking about, and it's absolutely ridiculous. At my private Christian school, I got a 1-day in-school suspension for drawing stick-figure comics of my friends (classmates) getting blown up, dying, etc. (I was in 10th grade at the time.) They all testified to the principal that they knew there was no harm in it, and oftentimes they themselves suggested a lot of what I drew. Nevertheless, if I had been in government school, I might be serving jail time for it. Apparently, "zero-tolerance" also means "zero-common sense..."
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keichi san



Joined: 27 Mar 2005
Posts: 161
Location: At any local bookstore that sells mangas
PostPosted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:17 pm Reply with quote
I go to a private Christian highschool and its the same damn mess over here. The zero tolerance policy. Bullcrap, but anyway back to Martha. (and those shoes which frighten me) The sterotypical "anime fan" , she obviously craves attention so they shouldnt pay attention to her, and if she's still acting that way as a 20 year old, thats her problem.
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