Fandom makes me go “huh?”
Fear the power of fangirl rage
Not directed against anybody specific, but these are confusing contradictions that I’ve heard or read from fans over the years. Some of them may have even come from myself.
- How can you say that all the new (or recent) anime that’s been released in Japan is awful, yet you’re willing to shell out money on the releases by the N.American anime companies, which come from the same “awful” anime pool but delayed by two years?
- Why is it that slow, slice-of-life series like Aria are extremely popular and adored in the blogosphere, yet never transfer over to the rest of the anime-watching crowd that feeds on a steady diet of Naruto and Bleach? Are bloggers really such a different breed of fan?
- Why do a majority of fans still think that just because a series has cute girls and love and romance, it is then shoujo? Kanon, Chobits, and Love Hina are NOT shoujo. (Frankly, in my opinion, it doesn’t matter anymore. If you like it for the cute girls and the romance, then that’s why you like it. You don’t need to quantify that liking shoujo = liking romance. There is such a thing such a romance for guys, y’know.)
I think this week has been designated “hate on other fans” rage week, at least based on the posts that I’ve seen pop up on AnimeNano and such. I personally am trying to remain optimistic, or maybe understanding, about fandom and the behavior of the few members of the community. For all the whining and griping and snark that I usually make towards other fans, I think most people are generally okay to deal with.
But don’t get me wrong — I also would not hang out with a person merely because of our shared interest. Because let’s face it, some anime fans are weird. Even at AnimeNext, a person who can run a panel about an obscure fandom topic may not be able to have a normal dinner conversation that doesn’t involve yelling or debating and other displays of obnoxiousness. I know we’re all members of the same cult of fandom, but at least try to fit in when we’re with the mundanes, okay?
I’d like to think that being an otaku isn’t the only defining aspect of your life… or, at least, you should act like there’s more to you than just anime.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Just my quick answer to those three points:
1) Because there is a whole lot of crap that comes out in Japan every season, and only a couple of those titles turn out to be good in the long run. North American companies are very picky about what release over here, so that selection tends to be much better selection once they have filtered out all the crap.
2) Bloggers, by the very nature that they can sit down and write a somewhat comprehensible essay online, are somewhat more intellectual then the “Narutards” who enjoy the mainstream action shows.
3) Romance shows for men have much more simplistic characters and situations then the complex stories and “deep” characters you find in shoujo.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
@Scott: I don’t think you got the point that I was trying to make w/ point 3. And besides, I’m sure that there are many exceptions to your generalization that romance shows for men have simplistic characters.
My point is that certain fans tend to classify romance as shoujo, even when that label isn’t relevant or necessary.
I’m a shoujo fan and even I would admit that there are just as many shallow and simplistic shoujo series as there are “deep” ones.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Believe it or not it took me a while to make a comment as I felt compelled to. Maybe I’ll blog about it.
To answer the question:
1. When you are slowly realizing you have a drug addiction, and you can’t stop, you….don’t stop. Instead, you get really angry at the thing that made you an addict, you get nasty with everyone around you, and you are just banging your head on the wall while paying out as usual because you don’t know what will happen when you stop.
2. Anime bloggers are a different breed of fans. For starters, we blog. Second, we read blogs. Third, we’re protofans and that might have something to do with Aria’s disproportionate popularity. Fourth, some very popular blogs do write about Naruto and Bleach. Traitors…
3. A lot of people don’t have a clue what shoujo means, but the term gets thrown around a lot for some reason. So we pick it out by context and then it gets misused when applied to shounen/seinen romance.
June 24th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
@omo: I don’t really think that I start up provocative topics, so the mere fact that you may respond to this entry with your own post is flattering.
But yea, I think you hit some of my questions right on the head, esp. with #1.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I would say for question two, its due to the fact that anime bloggers are a very self-selected group. The amount of anime fans in N. America is very small, and the number of anime bloggers is even tinier. So, you’re more likely to find very dedicated fans within the anime blogosphere than in a random sample of anime fans, especially if you include people who are purely into Naruto, Bleach, etc. as anime fans. As a result, the anime blogger is much more likely to have liked something such as Asatte no Houkou than a non-blogger.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
[...] She raises a good question: “Why is it that slow, slice-of-life series like Aria are extremely popular and adored in the blogosphere, yet never transfer over to the rest of the anime-watching crowd that feeds on a steady diet of Naruto and Bleach? Are bloggers really such a different breed of fan?” [...]
June 24th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
2. Most anime bloggers aren’t from America
June 24th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
This may be true. I think there is definitely a large presence of non-North American English-language blogs, but I don’t know how much of a difference it makes.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Kanon is not shoujo.
Kanon is a BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW gsme.
Chobits is all about Chii.
Love Hina is the quinessential harem show.
North Americans do not take crap. Though surprisingly, Asians love their crap.
PS I am an unbashed Yuu Watase fan.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:55 am
“I know we’re all members of the same cult of fandom, but at least try to fit in when we’re with the mundanes, okay?”
As I commented on another post, I like the energy that people show when throwing themselves into their love of anime. The problem just falls into how it’s all expressed with regards to the way the execution looks in the eyes of society… Whatever that means.