Before any of you start splitting hairs and think I'm smashing the entire anime fandom, keep in mind that I know there's plenty of folks who love anime that are respectable, smart people (such as Madpenguin, Woopak_the_Thrill, and Stormtamer here on Lunch). What I'm talking about are the people in anime fandom that have extremely poor taste and act like vicious little brats whenever anyone thinks differently from them.
Honestly, aside from a select few people that I keep in touch with in relation to anime, I've grown to hate most of the anime fandom because in all my years of following the genre, I've been bullied and slandered by these people just because I tend to think differently on the foundations of what make a good anime and of my general genre preferences (I absolutely prefer "serious" anime or the "silly" types). Even when you present your opinion with a polite tone and tons of air-tight logical reasons, you still get tons of "dirty punches" from these people just because you don't agree with them.
It's also worth noting that there's a lot of anime fans that think anime in general is somehow above criticism just because it's from Japan (thank you to Madpenguin for pointing this out), which I think is one of the most toxic things you can think. Every form of entertainment should be subject to criticism (legit criticism, not criticism based in ignorance), otherwise how can anyone analyze the pros and cons of these "untouchable" art forms? Never forget that you're lying when you tell some that their work is "amazing" when it's really terrible (like all the anime lemmings gushing over the likes of Elfen Lied and High School of the Dead while showing zero analysis in their opinions).
Among the most inconsistent yet mildly funny moments was a few years back on Amazon, a user named Prometheus smashed Akira for its violent content, yet was one of the most ardent defenders of the animated abomination to mankind known as Elfen Lied, which has much more gore and bloodshed than Akira did. It's made even more baffling when you take into account that when Prometheus made these comments, he was in mid-40's. Even when I was in my mid-late teens, I wouldn't have made such a horribly stupid, inconsistent reason like that. It's worth noting that Promy didn't even watch Elfen Lied before chosing to defend it (again, thank you Madpenguin for reminding me of this). Either he was hoodwinked into believing that EL was "high art" just because it has window dressings made to appeal to artsy types or he was trying to fit in with its obnoxious, jejune fanbase. Isn't that amazingly stupid?
Going back to the points of how according to much of the fandom, that anime is above criticism because it's from Japan. These are the same people who generally have a dismissive attitude towards other artforms like literature and live-action film from Japan, and even proudly display ignorance of Japanese history and culture. Talk about brazen hypocrisy (thank you Voilodion2012 for pointing this out).
Anime fans even police Wikipedia with the utmost hypocrisy since they'll let information go uncited as long as it promotes anime, but if it's in relation to another media, they unleash holy hell if you don't cite the sources (again, thank you Voilodion2012 for pointing this out).
Despite liking the anime genre, I don't like associating myself with the general anime fandom because when you get down to it, many of them are like the goth kids on South Park when they said the following (not quoted verbatim):
"If you want to be a non-conformist, you have to do everything we do."
Here's how many anime fans act when you present as well thought-out, negative opinion about a popular anime title (such as Elfen Lied, High School of the Dead, Trigun, Evangelion, Akira, or Vampire Hunter D).
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FM_ALEXJanuary 24
It is bad over on Amazon with these guys, those guys are the most vocal "fans" of something I have seen. But to be honest I will admit here and now I love both "Vampire Hunter D" films and all the books.
You know, when it comes to anime, I love the genre, but I do have to admit that the fandom in amazon is a little one-sided. They cannot handle the heat when you say an honest opinion about one title compared to another. I do have to say, there are many who just seem to like ANYTHING anime. Frank's confrontations with the anime fans in amazon have been epic LOL! Oh, thanks for the shout out too!
MadpenguinJanuary 08
I crushed this one girl so bad when I ripped Samurai Deeper Kyo into tiny pieces that I could tell in her writing she was crying.
woopak_the_thrillJanuary 08
I remember that...she did however ask for it.
RabidChihuahuaJanuary 08
I wish I could have seen that, Frank.
MadpenguinJanuary 12
I wish you were there man. While I was torching that ass ferociously, and causing her to delete all of her reviews after I told them they sucked. I was enjoying a nice, tall, icy, cold glass of Kool-Aid.
Good thing you didn't post this on Amazon.com, lol.
To be reasonable, the anime fandom is a like a lot of "fandoms" from the overenthusiastic STAR TREK fanbase to the literary fanbase to the comic book fanbase, etc. We do have to keep in mind they all their high points and low points. Sometimes they produce some very open minded scholars who are an absolute joy to be around. But unfortunately those type of people are the types that you and I don't encounter as much as we would like to.
"If you want to be a non-conformist, you have to do everything we do."
I love that point. Indeed, that could be applied to a ton of radical groups out there. It reminds me of my experiences back with the English majors in 2005. I felt like they constantly wanted to ram modern feminist literature down my throat and force me to worship it. That and my disagreements with a lot of my peers led me to dump the field and move on.
But looking back, I DO feel kind of ashamed. I did encounter some very interesting (and even challenging) literature back then, some of which did supplement my interests.
I think it's important to remember that very rarely will the individual's interests ever completely match up with the crowd's. I also think it's important to remember that in order to be comfortable with these fanbases, one must come in with the determination to be completely open-minded. Unfortunately that's difficult for many of us with these tight passions.
RabidChihuahuaJanuary 08
Yeah, I'd be up to my neck in nasty responses from these jejune idiots if I did that.
I know that dogmatic groupthink is the law in the big fanbases, and I've had good and bad encounters with all fanbases/groups, but my bad encounters with the anime fandom have been much more disproportionate compared to others.
Friedrich Nietzsche said something brilliant about groups in general:
"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it's the rule."
voilodion2012January 08
LOL. That is quite an interesting quote.
I think the first thing to do in these situations is to distill your interests. Figure out exactly what YOU are passionate about. And then dip your feet in the group and gauge whether their interests reciprocate yours. If you're encountering mostly disappointment and despair while following the group's passions, then that fanbase or "group" is probably NOT the answer. Maybe I should say if you can't revel in their "insanity" and instead see them AS "insane", then probably you're not fitting in.
For example, I know that I can pretty open-minded when it comes to video games, so I'm much more comfortable contributing to that fanbase or group. However, in the case of anime, I'm way too attached to certain things that the anime community is NOT interested in.
But even then we still have to be open-minded (key phrase here), because we might encounter folk who might sympathize with us. It's a tough situation.
RabidChihuahuaJanuary 08
After "sampling" all the different sub-culture groups out there, I think the only group that I would say I fit in with are the metalheads, since I share most of the collective's reasons as to what makes "good" metal music (though I'm not the type of metalhead to limit myself only to the genre, since many other genres have created gobs of great music). It just sucks that in the region I live in, there aren't many metalheads.
I've been open-minded and considerate of different opinions and perspectives over the years in relation to anime (and some other things), but because of how much flack I've gotten from others just because I thought differently from the majority, I've decided that the anime fanbase is a group of people not worth trying to fit into.
MadpenguinJanuary 08
It's very true you can find these type of folks in just about any form of entertainment, but like Rabid, I find anime fans to be the worst. Their way of thinking is just absolutely terrible because they feel since these shows and movies were animated in Japan that they're some how above criticism and they're only worthy of praise. I have ran into many of these blind fans whom have claimed that there is no such thing as a bad anime. I haven't seen rock solid logic like that anywhere else.
MadpenguinJanuary 08
Oh and to piggyback Rabid on Prometheus... For some strange reason he chose to defend Elfen Lied without seeing it. He commited a hari-kiri in doing that, because by his own standards, like Rabid pointed out with Akira, Elfen Lied had far more elements Promy hated and for some reason he gave EL a free pass. I think he just wanted to make some friends and he chose the EL fanbase which was a bad choice, since we tore those lemmings and him some new assholes.
RabidChihuahuaJanuary 08
Thanks for the extra commentary on Promy. I actually forgot that he didn't even bother watching EL before defending it, which makes him even more of a tool. May I revise the quick tip to add in your spot-on observations of how so many anime fans think applying criticism to anime is heresy?
voilodion2012January 08
LMAO! It's quite possible you guys have had much worse experiences with them than me. But don't get me wrong though...I've had my share of my terrible experiences with this fanbase.
"...many of these blind fans whom have claimed that there is no such thing as a bad anime."
I totally understand what you mean. What infuriates me about the anime fanbase the most is this narrow minded approach to the culture they claim to adore so much. Animation is the ONLY worthy art form to come out of Japan? Excuse me?? Japanese theater, literature and film, which have been around far longer than "anime", are irrelevant? In some ways the anime fanbase reminds me of fundamentalist Christian groups who judge EVERYTHING in the context of the Bible. Similarly anime fans judge everything in the context of, well, anime. As if anime itself was simply so important that it should be used as a definitive way to measure the mindset of the Japanese. RabidChihuahua knows I've had lots of bad encounters with rabid anime fans on Wikipedia, who have this double standard where you can cite trivia and historical info without sourcing it, so long as it pertains to and promotes anime. But try to do that with another medium (like a novel) and these same anime-loving moderators become puritanical axemen, trying to censor you at every turn.
MadpenguinJanuary 08
By all means man, you have my permission. You didn't even have to ask.
voilodion2012January 08
Glad we could be of help! And while we're on the topic of things about it which make us miserable, let us not forget the esteemed Bennett the Sage, the "Rush Limbaugh" of the anime community (thanks to YOU, RabidChihuahua, for making that wonderful comparison). If these are the kind of people the community champions, then I would say it's really in need of a revolution/overhaul.
RabidChihuahuaJanuary 08
Oh yes, Bennett is probably the worst of them all, and you're welcome for the spot-on comparison between him and Limbaugh. Since you know more about that kwyjibo than I do, maybe you can crank out a review or quick tip of him.
voilodion2012January 08
I actually do have a half-baked one stored away somewhere. Guess I was hesitating to post it because I was afraid of giving him more attention than he deserves. Also to be honest, I haven't seen a lot of reviews either so I can't give a totally informed expert opinion. And I wouldn't watch any more of his reviews for research even if you paid me, lol.
I'm a morbid cynic who thinks very, very differently from most other people. Chances are, if the majority says X is the greatest in its category, I'll disagree with that notion, because I tend … more
To be reasonable, the anime fandom is a like a lot of "fandoms" from the overenthusiastic STAR TREK fanbase to the literary fanbase to the comic book fanbase, etc. We do have to keep in mind they all their high points and low points. Sometimes they produce some very open minded scholars who are an absolute joy to be around. But unfortunately those type of people are the types that you and I don't encounter as much as we would like to.
"If you want to be a non-conformist, you have to do everything we do."
I love that point. Indeed, that could be applied to a ton of radical groups out there. It reminds me of my experiences back with the English majors in 2005. I felt like they constantly wanted to ram modern feminist literature down my throat and force me to worship it. That and my disagreements with a lot of my peers led me to dump the field and move on.
But looking back, I DO feel kind of ashamed. I did encounter some very interesting (and even challenging) literature back then, some of which did supplement my interests.
I think it's important to remember that very rarely will the individual's interests ever completely match up with the crowd's. I also think it's important to remember that in order to be comfortable with these fanbases, one must come in with the determination to be completely open-minded. Unfortunately that's difficult for many of us with these tight passions.
I know that dogmatic groupthink is the law in the big fanbases, and I've had good and bad encounters with all fanbases/groups, but my bad encounters with the anime fandom have been much more disproportionate compared to others.
Friedrich Nietzsche said something brilliant about groups in general:
"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it's the rule."
I think the first thing to do in these situations is to distill your interests. Figure out exactly what YOU are passionate about. And then dip your feet in the group and gauge whether their interests reciprocate yours. If you're encountering mostly disappointment and despair while following the group's passions, then that fanbase or "group" is probably NOT the answer. Maybe I should say if you can't revel in their "insanity" and instead see them AS "insane", then probably you're not fitting in.
For example, I know that I can pretty open-minded when it comes to video games, so I'm much more comfortable contributing to that fanbase or group. However, in the case of anime, I'm way too attached to certain things that the anime community is NOT interested in.
But even then we still have to be open-minded (key phrase here), because we might encounter folk who might sympathize with us. It's a tough situation.
I've been open-minded and considerate of different opinions and perspectives over the years in relation to anime (and some other things), but because of how much flack I've gotten from others just because I thought differently from the majority, I've decided that the anime fanbase is a group of people not worth trying to fit into.
"...many of these blind fans whom have claimed that there is no such thing as a bad anime."
I totally understand what you mean. What infuriates me about the anime fanbase the most is this narrow minded approach to the culture they claim to adore so much. Animation is the ONLY worthy art form to come out of Japan? Excuse me?? Japanese theater, literature and film, which have been around far longer than "anime", are irrelevant? In some ways the anime fanbase reminds me of fundamentalist Christian groups who judge EVERYTHING in the context of the Bible. Similarly anime fans judge everything in the context of, well, anime. As if anime itself was simply so important that it should be used as a definitive way to measure the mindset of the Japanese. RabidChihuahua knows I've had lots of bad encounters with rabid anime fans on Wikipedia, who have this double standard where you can cite trivia and historical info without sourcing it, so long as it pertains to and promotes anime. But try to do that with another medium (like a novel) and these same anime-loving moderators become puritanical axemen, trying to censor you at every turn.