Forum - View topicIs anime a "lonely" hobby?
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Maxim87
Posts: 1 |
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Aside from having other fans you can talk to online, does being an anime fan sometimes feel a little lonely? Anime seems to be a very unpopular hobby among many people who aren't fans, and I was wondering how you guys felt about that.
I guess being a fan, it can get pretty lonely. I don't have friends that are fans, so it's impossible for me to talk them about the latest anime I'm watching (because to them, all anime is weird). But I do visit message boards, so that helps wash away that feeling. 
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Mistypearl
 Posts: 517 |
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I could make it more sociable if I tried, but I use anime as wind down time just for myself, I don't like watching with other people that much unless its a movie, etc. Sometimes it feels like you are out of place, but that's what obscure anime references in converstations are all about!
Which is seriously a lot of fun. 
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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My strongest-held opinions tend to be anime-related, and I'm far more comfortable discussing things on a forum than orally with the one or two anime fans I know. As such I'm always happier to type than to talk.
I gave up attending anime club some time ago. I feel I'm capable of choosing what I want to watch, and if it's something I'm likely to enjoy I prefer to do so on my own so I can react to it naturally. A social environment can improve certain shows (we all had fun laughing at Hellsing and its numerous inaccuracies) but the way online communities operate seems sufficient to continually nurture my fandom. |
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Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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I think it's lonely if you let it be. You can either just hid it away in your corner and not talk about it or anything. You can go and join anime clubs or go to anime cons. Find other anime fans to talk to. There are allot of things you can do to make it a sociable hobby. It's all about your attitude and out look on it.
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Super_Vegeta
 Posts: 141 |
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I think that is a good point. Its only lonely if you chose for it to be. Yes, I agree that it is still a niche hobby and that it is indeed negatively viewed by a lot of people. (but hey thats there loss).
I do go to anime club from time to time, but ussually I just watch anime by myself, with my brother or a few friends. The reason being as another user brought up, opinion. Watching a series and reacting naturally. Although anime club was refreshing because I got to see that yeah there were indeed other people at my University that like anime I (personally) also found it to be a semi-hostil environment. I mean no one was rude or anything to me, but just a lot of the fans there were "more hardcore" than me, and many had this "my opinion on this series/topic is the only right way to think" attitude. (now whether this was actually the case or not IDK, its just the impression I got.) I guess my problem is that I like to take a series I'm watching very seriously as it progresses. I get involved with the charatcers and the plot. The other club members (it seemed) like to rip everything apart and joke around (which is fine, but I found it disrupting to my viewing.) It wasn't fun for me when were watching a series, and I hear. "Thats not how you would fall if you got punched like that." or "if he really had broken ribs he wouldn't be able to fight and move like that." Now I do respect other peoples opions and how they chose to enjoy anime, but generally I just watch with my brother or a friend. Like I said, I think that I see a lot of this resonating with some of the posts here is that (maybe I'm misinterpreting though) the people that reply here, like to become involved in a series, and thus it gets annoying when people "disconnect" you from the story by making comments. I mean thats not to say I don't laugh or say anything when I watch with my brother, but its ussually within the context of the series. IDK maybe I'm just weird. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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I'm with the "It's only lonely if you let it be" crowd. If you've got other friends who like anime, it makes for great conversations, and I often have more fun watching with someone else than I do alone, especially comedies.
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zawa113
 Posts: 7360 |
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This is why I generally avoid clubs, this is fine if we're watching a comedy or something horrible like Eiken, but there are times when I wish that we could all just sit down, shut up, and enjoy watching Princess Tutu without laughing at its name or (heaven forbid) classical motives found everywhere. It's why I prefer to view alone. The only other person I've actually watched Princess Tutu with was my one friend whom I knew would get it and love it, and indeed we did laugh at the scenes that called for it, but she's probably one of the few people whom I'd ever watch anime with and know that I can without feeling awkward around. We've watched Mushi-shi (part of it) together too, apparantly I just watch anime well with her. Part of the reason I avoid clubs is because I don't really care about what we're going to watch 80% of the time (and the club here is mostly girls, so there's a lot of shojo stuff that they'll watch that I don't like) and even if I did like what we were watching, I'd still prefer to see it by my lonesome. I do think you can choose if it's lonely or not, I'm just frankly more comfortable with the viewing portion of it being lonely and the discussion portion of it not being (well, you need 2 to discuss anyway). |
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Mushi-Man
Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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I can see what classicalzawa is saying here. I know that allot of anime clubs tend to play things that I don't really like to much (Naruto and Bleach mostly). I'd rather be watching Big O or something. But I'm helping out with starting up and anime club. We're going to focus on finding some really rare and over looked stuff to try to get the ball rolling with some good shows. I think it might breath some air into the worn out idea of an anime club. I think all we need is some more clubs going out there and doing something different for a change. I might get more people interested.
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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Me too- even if you don't know anyone in real life who's an anime fan, it's not often that hard to find people- as long as you're looking. Clubs, cons, telling the guy at wal-mart you love the Gurren Lagann t-shirt... there's ways to get a conversation going. |
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Teriyaki Terrier
 Posts: 5689 |
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Its only lonely if you want it to be lonely. I've found anime fans, some of which have become great friends of mine at own job. Sure, I do wish more people would be more open minded about anime in general (albeit that probably won't happen for a long time if at all), but if one searches, your bound to find friends.
And then there is this great site. I joined this site to learn, discuss and hear what every day anime fans have to say. Though sometimes this site makes me step back for a minute (espeically the time there was a very off color comment on Astro Toy column) but I've actually learned more than I have in the last seven years I've been into anime. As for anime clubs, if one has time or energy, I am sure that is a great way to make new friends. But I recomend not joining a anime club that has more women to men, because often you'll be forced to watch shojo based shows or in some cases, romance shows. Trust me on this one, this had happened to me a long time ago. In a nut shell: Use judgement and listen to what people say. If they have a Eureka Seven backpack, then try talkling to them about Mecha anime. Now if they pull a burrito out of that bag, then cut back on the gaming and start sleeping more. Obviously the last statement is a joke, but people who enjoy anime are out there. The challenge is finding them and talking about other things other than anime occasionally. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Yeah, pretty much if you make it be lonely, then it will be lonely. But I don't find it a lonely hobby myself. That's because I have plenty of friends that I am able to talk about with at work and school, and it helps the time to go faster if you're in the middle of something that you don't want to be in.
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jetz
 Posts: 2148 Location: Manila, Philippines |
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While I kinda agree with the "it's only lonely if you let it be" statement, for some people it's still lonely even if they don't want it to be that way. I know a few people who have been trying to make friends with other fans but sadly they haven't been successful with that. It's not because they're bad people or whatever, but they just seem to lack social skills that most people have, probably because they spend most of their time watching anime or other things related to the hobby.
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eyeresist
 Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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This "it's only lonely if you let it be" mantra isn't quite true. Now, I personally am used to not being able to share my interests with those around me - most people actually don't seem to be especially interested in anything, except maybe sport (what American call "sports"
 ), which I find tedious. There actually are very few anime fans per head of population, and if I strike up a conversation at the anime shelves in the DVD store, what are the odds of our tastes matching up? (Checking ANN user anime lists is usually an exercise in disappointment.)
I was thinking of starting a thread on a related subject - the problem of being an older anime fan. Anime clubs seems limited to schools and universities, where I don't think I'd quite fit in anymore. Even online, it can be hard when anime fans are a decade or two younger than you, and naturally have had a different and arguably limited experience in anime and life. Last edited by eyeresist on Sun Mar 08, 2009 2:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Sentire
 Posts: 981 |
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It is harder on an older anime fan to prevent anime from being a "lonely" hobby. As an older fan myself, I know where you are coming from. None of my friends watch anime, even though some are aware that I do. I do like to check out ANN for both the news and the forum, but realize that many/most of the forum posters are probably younger than myself - and may have a different viewpoint on things. But that is not necessarily a bad thing! On the other hand, I'm kind of like Mistypearl where I watch anime when I want to unwind. I don't necessarily want to share it with others. So, for myself, it isn't a case of being a "lonely" hobby, it's that I choose for me to enjoy it "alone". |
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DieHardBleachFan
Posts: 277 |
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I've never really viewed it as a "lonely" hobby at all. My schedule is so jam-packed with other committments that I barely get any free time to watch, so I generally look forward to the solitude of plopping myself in front of my TV, popping in a disc, and just kicking back to enjoy myself.
The only person that I will watch any anime with on a regular basis is my brother. I also have friends at school that are into it as well, but we're the "watch solo, then talk about it the next day" type. |
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