Forum - View topicYour experiences talking about anime with non-anime fans.
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Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
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Have you ever told any non-anime fans that you liked anime? What was that like? How did they react? Everyone in my immediate family knows I like anime since I buy DVDs and manga all the time, but my parents don't really know anything about it other than that it's animated and it's Japanese. My sister knows a little bit about it but she's not really into anime. Pretty much the only anime she's actually a fan of is Tenchi Muyo, which I got her hooked on by showing her the first Tenchi Muyo movie.
 But she hates subtitled anime and refuses to have anything to do with it. In the past, when I was in school and I told my classmates that I liked anime, there was usually only three things that automatically popped in their mind upon hearing the word anime: Pokemon/Dragonball Z/porn.
Most of the other kids made fun of me for liking anime because they all thought it was like Pokemon. When I tried explaining to them that not all anime is for kids, they then thought that I was watching porn and made fun of me for it, even though most of them probably had several issues of Playboy magazine hiding underneath their beds. Every once and a while you would find a Dragonball Z fan, but these fans were the type who thought Dragonball Z was the greatest thing since sliced bread and that every other anime sucked before they had even seen it. Most of them also had only seen the dubbed version and usually would have nothing to do with subbed anime. I tried to recommend them some other anime that they might like, but they immediately started bashing it before they had even seen it. They didn't even want to watch Mononokehime. One of those Dragonball Z fans actually did like Gundam Wing too, so I asked if he had seen the original Gundam and he said that he didn't like it just because he thought the animation sucked. One time we had a free day in one of my classes, so I brought one of my Magic Knight Rayearth manga with me to read and one of the kids asked me if I was reading a Power Rangers comic book. I asked him sarcastically, "Does this look like Power Rangers to you?" and he said yes! Argh! There are other experiences I've had too, but now a days I just keep my anime fandom to myself, expect when I'm talking with my online friends or my family who already knows I like anime, anyway. So, what have been your experiences with talking about anime with non-anime fans? |
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herbkir
Posts: 251 Location: Michigan |
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I find the non-fans tend to wonder why I as a mature adult am wasting my time with stupid cartoons. They can't see past the idea that anime is cartoons and cartoons are for kids.
But I have other hobbies, like collecting antique toy trains and performing in amateur theater, that get the same sort of reaction among non-participants, like "Why is a mature adult playing with trains." Or "Why is a mature adult playing make-believe." The attitude seems to be that adults must put childhood things behind them. But dammit, I like watching and discussing anime, playing with my trains and performing on stage. Maybe it's because I live in the rural midwest. In Michigan, most everything outside of the major cities is a conservative American heartland with a rigorous divide between the interests of youth and the "correct" interests of adults (baseball, football, hockey, hunting, fishing, work, church, family and home). It's not that people are hostile to my hobbies, just that they're utterly uninterested in exploring something new. I find most of my adult peers boring. They think I'm odd. But I'm not alone because our area supports a theater group, and our local H.S. last month formed an anime club. For the anime and the trains, though, my main contacts are online. Maybe anime is one of those things where, if you get it then no explanation is necessary, but if you don't get it then no explanation is possible. (^_*) |
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TestamentSaki
 Posts: 1012 |
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Hiyah!
Well, in Colombia there isn't much anime culture, as people still think that we anime fans are devil worshipers of something like that. Nonetheless, whenever I meet a non-anime fan and tell him or her what I like, I simply say that it's just what i like and I won't fight with him or her just because he or she doesn't like it. Although if someone talks trash about anime/manga, I tell that person to stop talking if it doens't know what it's talking about |
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MonkeyFunk
 Posts: 93 |
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A lot of the time I prefer talking to non-fans. I'm pretty sick of uber-otaku XP
As for talking about anime to non-fans... well, can't say I've ever realyl felt the need to. Last edited by MonkeyFunk on Wed Oct 19, 2005 3:15 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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outlawwolf
 Posts: 645 |
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Speaking with anime fans can actually get pretty grating. At least to me. Mostly because I have to deal with sub-freaks. The kind who say that the only real way to watch anime is in the original japanese with of course fan made subtitles. Oximoron much? I really do prefer my non-anime friends because while they do think some of it is kind of stupid, their not dumb enough to actually beleive that all anime is nothing but DBZ, Pokemon, and porn. A few anyway. I've even managed to convert at least 1 of my friends from non-anime to casual fan.
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fosterjd
 Posts: 22 |
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Your classmates made fun of you for watching porn? What a bunch of juvenile queers
Anyway, im pretty good at getting across the awesomeness of more mature or less known anime, so there isn't too much misunderstanding when im explaining it. I've actually gotten my friends into some anime by explaining it and they enjoy it so its all good. |
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remember love
 Posts: 764 Location: Germany |
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I've tried talking to non-anime fans and they just don't get it. All they see is cartoons like ed,edd, n Eddy and can't get past some of the maturity levels. It can get pretty frustrating trying to explain it to them. I remember specifically in language class when we had to do topics on are favorite show I forget why but I was the only one to list a anime/ cartoon show and everyone concidered me immature and stupid...kind of funny I had the highest scores in that class. I told them "believe what ever you want but guess what this immature stupid student just beat you in every score imaginable. And as far as I'm concerned about anime it's better then any other show you can think of because it has originality."
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IchigoK90
 Posts: 1634 Location: Scarborough, Ontario |
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Well this is my experience dealing with a certain non-anime friend of mine. BTW we are good friends and have known each other for long time now. This is a true account of events that have happened with me and some of my other friends that love anime dealing with that certain someone:
Me: "Yo, did you guys catch the latest episode of Inuyasha?" Friend 1: "Yeah it was soo sick!" Friend 2: "I know!!!" Certain someone: "You guys and your anime. I bet you guys were watching something like Dragonball Z again. All they ever do is scream non-stop for like half the episode while sounding constipated all the time." Me and Friends 1 and 2: "Shut up!" Me: Not all anime is like that. There are quality titles that you would like." Certain someone: "Yeah yeah sure......" End of conversation. He still ticks me off with that so I try to not mention anime at all. He has a big head and so we keep saying that our arguments can't get through his alien like head. Anyways with my experiences of talking with other non-anime fans some think of me as being weird that i'm still into "cartoons" while the others think of it as it part of me being random. However I rarely say much about anime to them so they don't really bother me about it. I have found that people who wouldn't seem like they like anime but actually do. I learn new things about people that I never knew. "Believe it!" - IchigoK90 |
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4510 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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I don't bother. I have a hard enough time making friends in non-anime milieux as it is; why bring up the whole Japanese cartoon thing to people uninterested in hearing about it and alienate them even further?
I don't want them thinking that I'm a 31-year old man who watches cartoons mostly meant for kids. Looking over the sort of thing that constitutes the bulk of my anime collection, that would actually be a not-completely-inaccurate assessment, but I still don't want them to think that. |
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solot58
 Posts: 53 Location: ATL GA |
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lol, i dont think i've ever spoken of anime to a non-fan because im in High school and i must lead a double life... if i went around tellin everyone i watch anime... then i would be with the losers... and thats just not me, so i guess anime would be one of my deep dark secrets since i dont reallly hav any secrets
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Iemander
 Posts: 443 |
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Are you trying to say the dutch word "Millieu"? Where did you get that word, what does it mean and from what language did you get it? On the subject, I've never seen any problem in liking "anime" or whatever. In fact, I rarely meet people who don't enjoy animated films or series, most people like Shrek and films like that, and I don't think they regard Japanese animated shows any differently. Sure they might think that animations are primarely for a younger age group, and for the most part they're right as well, however I don't think any of them would have a problem if I suggested a movie and turned on anime. And if they did make a problem, I'll hush them and tell 'em they'll thank me later on. |
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IchigoK90
Posts: 1634 Location: Scarborough, Ontario |
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Ehh. I've mentioned above that people thought of it (it referring to watching anime) as part of the stuff that makes me random. I share many other interests other than anime. Trust me theres alot. Some of my other interests include: Basketball, Baseball, Hockey, Billiards, Music (all genres), Crime shows (i.e CSI, Closer to home), then theres also shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives. I'm a very diverse person so with all those kinds of interests I have many different friends. Anyways thats just going a bit off-topic but anime isn't my entire life...........well school life that is.
"Believe it!" - IchigoK90 |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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It's the same with anything, some people get it, some are open to hearing about it, some aren't, some will mock it, there is no singular defined behavior that pre-determines how anyone not involved with anime will react.
It's much the same with sports, you can't really talk about the Sharks playing the Flames with someone who isn't interested in it, or the Nextel Cup standings or Tony Stewart. Try and they'll probably just mock your interest, simply because the same interest is open to them and they do not pursue it for their own reasons so you can't expect them to understand yours. I find some people dislike it, some are willing to hear about it, but ultimately if something doesn't interest someone you can't exactly expect them to hold a conversation about it. Now some people will openly jump into a conversation they don't belong to mock it, but that happens with nearly any interest and is hardly unique to anime alone. While others actually show a dislike towards anime fans simply because some anime fans tend to come off as somewhat arrogant. Me though, I don't have many issues with it. I have a large array of interests from anime to sports to film and literature so I usually have no problem finding some common ground with people. If someone jumps in on a conversation they aren't a part of just to bash anime or some other interest I'll simply tell them I wasn't talking to them and while I may respect their right to an opinion I still have no interest in hearing it. |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4510 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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No, it's the plural of the French word, milieu, which is commonly used in English to mean, according to Webster, "environment, [especially] social setting".
Stuff like Shrek and South Park don't really have the same stigma associated with it, because they aren't "geek cartoons". |
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Iemander
Posts: 443 |
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Yes actually, it does mean that, and it makes sense that the word is derived from French, stupid me.
That doesn't matter though, just remind a person they like Shrek and they'll instantely recognize it's basically the same thing and they have their own "guilty" pleasure  .
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