Snobbery towards anime fans

[Sage Blackthorn]

One of the differences between western cartoons (originally anyway), and Japanese Anime and Manga was that in the west, cartoons were always associated with childhood and childishness. While in Japan animation pretty much became the "hollywood movies" of their entertainment industry, allowing writer and directors to tell stories and portray scenes that would've been impossible or just to expensive to show with live-action footage. As a result, in Japan animation grew to fill all the genre's of story-telling that western movies did.

So you get anime specifically targeted at certain demographics. Small children stories, series aimed an young boys, at teenage boys, series aimed an young girls, at teenage girls, horror series, drama series, romantic series, comedy series, Sci-fi/Fantasy/Action Adventure series, "adult" series, and sub-genres of all of them, (Romantic comedies, Sci-fi dramas, etc. etc.)

I often find that the "otaku" that are most annoying to me are the ones that are stuck on the more the childish anime and won't watch anything else. They are perpetual children in that respect who don't want to grow up or learn to appreciate anything with a deeper storyline to it. I mean yeah, every so often I might feel like watching something fun and silly, but not all the time. Fun and silly has it's place, but I think I would go crazy if that's ALL I ever watched.

The other type of "fanbrat" (if I may borrow the term) that, not so much gets on my nerves but just tends to make me sigh heavily and shake my head, are the ones that find out I have a large anime collection and they ask me what series or movies I have and then sit there with a blank expression as I name them off......and they've never heard of any but the most recent ones. "Seriously? You've never seen Naussica Of The Valley Of The Wind? Akira? Ghost In The Shell? Arcadia Of My Youth? Guyver: Out Of Standardized? No, not the newest Guyver series from A.D. Vision Films, the OVA from Dark Horse comics that was released back in the mid-80's.....wait, you mean you haven't even heard that were other Guyver series before that one?" <sighs heavily, shakes head and just walks away rubbing my temples>

It's as bad as when I had to explain to one of my 20-something friends what "Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension" was......It's not like it's an obscure film like Circle Or Iron, or a foreign film like The Seven Samurai or Rashomon (none of which he'd heard of either.....and yes, I like Akira Kurosawa's work).

[NodmiTheSellout]

Believe me, I get annoyed at anime fanbrats just as much as you do. They're nearly always the ones who are incapable of RPing normal characters; their characters always have to have speshul powers, even in RPs that are based on books etc that don't allow powers. -.-

Just as I get irritated with Twihards. However, I'd never assume that a person was a terrible RPer just cuz they liked a book series I hate. Thinking a person is stupid or immature just cuz they use XD or ^_^ just makes you as bad as the people who you claim to dislike.

I don't assume people are bad RPers because they like anime. I assume they're bad RPers when they use generic-looking anime pictures to represent their characters. I've been RPing online for more than ten years, and I'd say this is true 90% of the time or more. Well, no, let me rephrase--I assume they're role players whose writing and/or characters won't interest me. I don't think I'm in a position to make any objective judgment about what is and isn't "good RP". There's just RP that interests me, and RP that bores me. So many anime RPers (meaning, people who use anime-styled images to represent their characters--not necessarily fan fic players) fall under the latter choice that it's just better for my patience not to bother with anime RPers.

Anyway, the point is, it's not about what you like or don't like. I play a whole lot of video games, but video games don't inspire my role play at all--my biggest inspiration, with regard to RP, is the music I listen to. Just like there are RPers who watch a lot of anime, but their RP isn't inspired by it at all. It's not the "liking" something that I hate.

That said, I have been known to uh, delicately troll people looking for anime RP. Because I'm selfish. I don't hound them for ten minutes or something, but yeah, I've done something like, ". . .anime? GET OFF THE STAGE!! BOOO!!" You know, something that's mean but doesn't make an enormous amount of sense--playful trolling more than mean-spirited, I'd say. . .

Also, if you use XD as punctuation every other line in a chat or something, yeah, it reflects badly. One of my favorite people ever throws in the occasional XD--that's not what I'm talking about. It's sort of like how people overuse 'lol'. Now and again--fine. After every sentence? Ugh.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I tend to use video games as inspiration more than anime; for example, when I first got into roleplaying, one of my first characters wore a mask. However, I never ever use a picture as reference; I much prefer to give a written description and personality is far more important, anyway. I'd say that the worst RPers are those who are stuck on appearence and who think that it's the most important; those people very rarely give a personality description and their characters are often Mary Sues. Those kind of people sometimes are anime fans, but I've seen fans of music, video games, certain movies, books etc committing that crime; it's not just anime fans. Maybe you hang around sites like Gaia too much, where the vast majority of RPers are going to be anime fans.

I'd get annoyed at someone who abused smilies, whether emotions or typed ones, but if someone just adds XD or at the end of a paragraph, say, I don't see the harm. Emotions help to put accross the mood of the person making the post; and since I struggle with putting myself accross both online and offline, I find it easier to use emotions to show my mood.

[b2addm]

Lol. My current avatar is anime. XD I may change it soon, tho...

I didn't know WTH XD was. It doesn't bother me either way. Damn, don't sweat the small stuff, ya know?

I also have an anime avatar on another site. Guess that makes me an anime avatar fan at least.

[ZedOmega]

I always just assumed that the vertically aligned smileys like ^.^ and x_x were just smileys designed to keep people from spraining their necks. I wouldn't worry about the guy who equates 'XD' with anime fans, though; moronic snob is moronic.

[Bloodsoul]

This is why I wish I could've played with my Pathfinder ranger a bit more, based on an anime-esque vampire I draw. Her "special power" was punching people in the face (although her Pathfinder version lacks Improved Unarmed Strike, unfortunately).

[Hyena Dandy]

When it comes to RP, I've never used photos for my characters unless I'm obligated to. I have a specific image in my head, and that's how my character looks. If I was asked tou se a picture, I might go with anime, or something else, it depends on the character. That said, I honestly prefer to use text. I'm not good at visuals, and if I have an image, it influences how people see the character. I'd rather not tell people how to think... But that's just me. I prefer text.

As for anime... I like anime. I mean, as much as I'd say I like movies, or I like comic books. There's some I like, some I don't. Some over-the-top action anime are good, some are bad... Mostly I don't watch it though.

Anyway. Ramble done.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I sometimes use the tektek dream avatar site to create character images; sometimes, it's easier than finding the words to describe someone's features completely. I do stress that an image used in RP is just a visual reference whenever I start RPs and that anyone who wants to join MUST also give a written personality description. I've always been strangely reluctant to give more than the bare bones of appearance; looking back on past RPs, my appearence description is often nothing more than, "black hair, green eyes, thin, very short". I think a personality description, listing faults, weaknesses and strengths, is far more important when creating a "picture" of a character than knowing what they look like is.

[Gravekeeper]

I always drew my RPG characters. It was the only way to get what was in my head accurately onto paper. Using an anime character picture though? Ehhhhh....no. We're talking character designs that are defined by hair style/colour rather than facial features. Largely due to the way most "bulk" anime is produced. Where character movement and facial animation are actually two seperate processes. Which is why you get that "talking head" effect where its practically a still image of the face/body, but the eyes/lips are moving. But there's no facial deformation to go with the mouth movement. No jaw/chin movement.

The problem is outside of anime there isn't much distinction. As was mentioned, in the west, cartoons were for kids. In Japan, its a storytelling medium suitable for any age group or demographic. So people see the more....lets say special side of western fandom, and assume all anime is like that. It doesn't help that much of the anime that comes over for TV broadcast is still heavily sanitized and turned into what the west thinks cartoons should be.

I like specific types and genres of anime. But I don't want to talk about, collect it or dress up like it. I also have violent reactions to any mention of Inuyasha.

I look at it as similar to Star Trek. You have people that can enjoy it just fine, don't need to talk about it every hour of the day and aren't going to notice or care if there's a minor tiny little contuinity error in the way a bridge console works this week. Then you have people that learn Klingon and go to conventions specifically so they can yell it at other people while waving around shobbily constructed foam weapons.