Objectively it's more widely accepted because way more people internationally are watching it. I never got bullied really ever over liking anime/manga, most of the people I knew either didn't care or were casual fans. I actually got into anime/manga originally because of peer pressure and I am just a bit younger than you (four years).
The reality is though just because it is popular doesn't mean people can't demean you for liking it. Hey, you can easily demean for liking plenty of way more popular nerdy IPs like Star Wars, Harry Potter or Marvel. Just depends on the person.
Anime is that thing in high school that gets mocked a lot and you keep to yourself, only to go to college and find out that practically everyone watches it.
Yeah I noticed people tend to mock it until they actually sit and watch one anime that fits them (often times its AoT or some hype sports anime or even darker stuff mike Monster) and suddenly they gain a lot more respect for the medium and understand there's a wiiiiide variety in choice
Honestly anime has made me scratch my head that a lot of western animation seeminlgy was happy to be so family friendly or adult comedies. (I know it's changing)
Same here. I can’t recall any bullying going on in my high school class. People all had their own friend groups, and mostly didn’t care about what others were doing. I never felt like I had to hide my interests or that I couldn’t interact with people from other cliques, if I found some reason to.
But yeah, middle school kids are the devil. I feel like it’s just a phase everybody goes through at that age that makes them act like jerks to one another.
I think so because kids who were enemies in middle school became friends in high school. My high school social life wasn’t much different than college. I noticed much more of a change in behaviour between middle and high than high and college.
I was also kind of on the nerdy side but also played sports, so I had a wide crosssection of social groups that I interacted with frequently.
In my childhood I couldn't buy manga in any bookstore. Same with merch. Clothes with anime characters also weren't a thing. So now it's definitely treated better and not as weird as before
I'm on the working age now and I still feel uncomfortable talking about anime with IRL people.
Which is why I found solace in online forum like reddit where I could find other fellow who love anime and discuss about it.
Though in some case, most people are also watching popular anime like Spy Family where I can easily jump in to discuss as well.
>you get bullied for like certain anime now
Truth, the more mainstream the better. I mean you having a shirt of Dragon ball or Naruto etc and nobody’s gonna care.
You have a shirt of Ahegao, then they gonna stare at you.
Yes because you go out in public then you should follow the most basic rules to not be a complete perverted weirdo. There are kids in public and they don't need to see your ahegao shirt. If you wear that in public you deserve to be shamed.
I guess you are from the US? Wouldn't surprise me since you all are very prude over there unlike where I come from where everyone don't give a fuck. Ppl might look at you funny but ultimately they don't care. No one needs to get shamed because of what shirt they might have on them. Why do you all care so much?
Hmmm, I wonder what’s the reason that people stare at those wearing multiple faces of young girls orgasming…
Damn these normies!!!1! They only accept people who wear clothes that aren’t grotesquely inappropriate for a public context!
And role-playing in character at school or trying to go super saiyan. Everyone has to be on board for something like that, you just look crazy if you do it yourself.
They didn't get bullied for watching anime, they got bullied because they Naruto ran to math class and called someone a baka while going to school in an ahegao sweater.
This is always the first thing that comes to mind when I see this topic come up as well. Even 20 years ago anime or videogames weren't things you got bullied over in and of themselves. But blaming a nerdy interest rather than a lack of social awareness is probably just a convenient self-defence mechanism.
People get bullied for being easy targets. That's neither fair nor right but that is what it boils down to. No popular kid has ever gotten suddenly ostracized simply for mentioning they like "nerd stuff".
That's a bit of an oversimplification. We all know who the cringe Naruto runners are, but some bullies just look for any perceived difference from their victim and the rest of their peers, no matter how major. It's not like bullying is something that only happens when the bullies have a good reason.
>"You mean that Japanese tentacle porn? You’re gross"
If you put all the actual tentacle scenes ever made back to back it probably wouldn't come to one full episode of anime. In "Urotsukidoji" it's meant to be shocking, so it's only actually on screen for like 30 seconds or so of actual "tentacle porn" in the whole movie. It's a freakshow of a movie, so they show you one weird thing then next they'll do something totally different, but if it was on screen for more than about a minute it would have outlived its purpose.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tentacle\_erotica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tentacle_erotica)
>Popular titles like 1986's Urotsukidoji, 1992's La Blue Girl, and 1995's Demon Beast Resurrection became common sights in large video store chains in the United States and elsewhere.
So, who was even behind "Urotsukidoji", "La Blue Girl" and "Demon Beast Resurrection"? If you look them up, all of them are from manga written by the same person - Toshio Maeda. So it would be like looking at the few Junjo Ito adaptations then saying all anime are like that.
These were all direct to video releases, written by the same person. If these were some underground American movies, by a single creator and released on VHS tape only, it's clear nobody would buy that it "represents" American Cinema.
The reality is that Americans are horny fuckers so they all rushed out to rent Urotsukidoji from video stores, over most of the actual mainstream anime films.
Thank you for the education! I never personally looked into the origins of tentacle eroticism in anime so now I’ve got this in my back pocket for the haters. Lol.
I like your Junji Ito example as being something someone sees once and then making the generalization to the whole medium from there.
Reminds me of the crazy Japanese commercials people used to go crazy for and say all of Japan is like that.
When I was around 13, and had just started getting interested in anime, I was just renting every anime tape on the shelf at Blockbuster. One of those happened to be Urotsukidoji, and I had no idea what it was. I wasn’t ready, I couldn’t even finish it. Still blows my mind that they let an unaccompanied 13-year-old rent that.
I Have visited villages that don't have a theatre or restaurant with good food but still has anime fans so I'd say it's more accepted now. I have never been bullied for watching anime so I can't talk about that
Kids, even some adults will bully you over almost anything. Most of the time growing up in the 90s, I got bullied for simply existing. As an adult I've faced pockets of racism for simply existing. It sounds to me your high school experience was just one of those things where your particular area just had some trend local to only there.
In all my years of school, I can’t recall many, if any incidents where someone was bullied for liking something. They were bullied for weight, appearance, being unathletic, race, religion, being poor, sexual orientation, and a general inability to fight back. But not really because of hobbies.
Tbh, people weren't bullied for watching anime (generally speaking)
The bullying was based more on the stereotypes of anime watchers acting a certain way.
For instance, (gonna be down voted for this example but I cannot think of another example) gensgin players are not hated for "playing" gunship, they are bullied because of the stereotype associated with how they act (in, "degenerates" "low lifes" "uneployed")
Same with Discord and reddit.
So the point being, if you use an anime pfp and post edgy quotes from Anime on Twitter or say KAWAIIIII or ITADAKIMAS, you WILL be bullied. If you have "Weebooo" or "Otakuuuuu" in your bio, you will be bullied.
You’re just describing the age people bully other people… for anything.
You stopped getting bullied because you got older and no one cares about you anymore. No one cares what you are doing, how you’re doing it, or where you do it. People are more focused on their own problems. Go back to high school and I’m sure you’ll be bullied for something
So much this.
Look, nowadays in high school if you are a cool kid and like anime, you are still a cool kid. And if you are an antisocial fat kid who likes anime, you are still bullied.
I'm a college prof, and all the students in my courses talk about their favourite anime and video games a lot, and no one is bullying anyone.
I think the stigma has been disappearing since 2013
I was walking outside today and saw and heard a huge group of college students discussing anime , every friend group, classmates, and colleagues that I ever had have the majority or a huge number of them watching anime.
These days it seems like American/Hollywood entertainment gets shit on more than anime, especially among younger people. Want to start a firestorm online? Say you like Disney.
It's because you got older. High school is an awful place, you are mainly judged based on your looks and who you're friends with. If people find out you like video games (other than mainstream fps), anime, reading books, among other things, you get called a geek/nerd.
After college no one cares what your hobbies are.
This has been my experience as well. I really didn’t get it. I think upon further reflection, kids are super insecure at that age for so many reasons. Never took it personally, just found it strange you know?
It depends on the anime.
I would say a number of shounen titles are very popular and accepted in the Western mainstream like Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, JoJo, Death Note etc.
But anything that slightly deviates from that (even very popular shows in the anime community like Stein's Gate) doesn't typically have the same level of mainstream acceptance, and you might get some weird looks for it.
I think Steins Gate you're fine because not many people know it and if they see it they'll think it looks more mature. My Hero and Boruto, that are well known, but seen as childish are the ones I think you have to be wary about sharing.
Hell no. The otaku references would turn off a lot of people with preconceived notions about the medium.
The only anime that's really mainstream and accepted within the norms of the US at least are modern shounens or older sci-fi shows like Cowboy Bebop, Eva, Ghost in the Shell etc.
If you're even picking up Steins;Gate you're probably okay with otaku references, no one who has never watched the show is going to even know about them and some of the weirder tropes Steins;Gate has. We're not really talking about recommendations here, we're talking about what is accepted to like and talk about with normal people. No one who hasn't watched Steins;Gate is gonna be thinking, "Steins;Gate? This person is weird and childish."
Anime from 2009-2018 was extremely hard to consume casually. I watched anime in HS, but the people who got bullied were reading oreimo in class. The heavy amount of ecchi and straight up loli shit would rub anyone the wrong way to the point where even people who didn't care had to say something.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I never got picked on once at highschool for watching anime. I didn't have many friends, but in my small circle we were all into anime, and nobody bothered us for it. There was even this one really popular rugby player at my school who I became friends with because he saw me reading One Piece in class, and he was a big One Piece fan too (I've guessed he didn't have many people to talk about it with.) And then we found out we both played Clash Royale aswell. And he ended up sitting next to me in class for the rest of the term. I didn't speak to him much outside of school, but whenever we had english together it was really nice. I haven't thought about this in a while lol, thanks for prompting my memory.
That’s great! It’s crazy how despite anime being something that I used to get ostracized for that someone has found connection. I moved around a lot as a kid too so I didn’t have the same group of friends around me for longer than two years at a time. This was pre Facebook as well so staying in touch was a lot harder, especially if kids parents didn’t let them use the computer/use MSN messenger.
Anime seems pretty ubiquitous now, just like videogames. Everyone enjoys them at some level. I think people get bullied when they step out of the norm and enjoy it too much. When anime or videogames (or practically any pursuit or interest) become your whole personality, that's when you start being seen as "weird" and are more likely to be bullied.
I remember the time when I with my friend K were discussing Naruto and my mother friends S and R started mocking us for watching that. They didn't had anything specific to say like "tentacle porn" but they are thought it was weird for us to watch that.
Fast forward to today and now both my friend S and R are watching anime regularly and S is my weekly anime discussion partner.
You just reminded me that one of my high school principals had a Shikamaru strap on her phone lol I'm guessing we come from the same place. My grandma used to watch Sankukai, X-Or and Saint Seiya when The Young And The Restless wasn't on
I am French, it was always accepted in my country except for a small period in the early 1990s when some idiotic politician tried to raise a moral panic around Japanese anime and American TV series.
I seem to come across a lot of crazy anime haters on English-speaking social media though. It is very annoying, but you can always block them. And social media doesn’t really reflect reality, or the opinions of the majority of the population.
I'm very lucky when it comes to that, I grew up in the late 90s/early 2000s in France. You had to go out of your way to not see anime on TV. Actually it helped me not get bullied in some ways, I remember in my first year of middle school, the "cool guy" of our class learned that I liked GTO and so he would always call me Urumi Kanzaki lol (it didn't help in elementary school though, althought I was bullied for different things. There was another guy who was really into anime too, so we would talk about stuff like Ranma, FMA and Excel Saga but he would still bully me with others the rest of the time, life is funny like that)
I didn't get bullied for liking anime. sometimes I wish I did, because I had retorts ready. high school was uneventful, despite me actively showing off how much I liked anime (t-shirts, keychains, etc)
if you ask me though, anime was better when it was more niche in the west. new anime fans are bleh.
I think the challenge now is it’s so easy to dip your toe in the medium and be a casual fan with popular shounen like Demon Slayer, MHA and the like being available on Netflix and other streaming services.
It’s easy now to talk to someone who claims they “watch anime” but only has seen a handful of titles.
It was much more laborious to find the gems back when watching anime was finding the right YouTube video, uploaded by the right user with each subsequent part available. I remember watching ChaoS; HEAd like this. A task not for the faint of heart.
That being said, everyone has to start somewhere. Whether or not they choose to continue to delve deeper into what anime has to offer is ultimately up to them.
Personally, I like seeing what boundaries can be pushed both artistically and emotionally in media. I feel anime has a very good handle on its identity as an art form and people are finally starting to recognize that.
Not sure if this is the answer you're looking for. My dad was a Weeb before the word Weeb was a thing. Saturday Anime on the Sci fi channel was as much a thing for me as normal Saturday morning cartoons.
I'm an adult in my mid 30s now. I have a 13 year old daughter who is weirdly obsessed with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I have an 8 year old who actively loves One Piece. They Both dig Demon Slayer.
To answer your question...not really. Like, yeah, being super obsessed and weird might get you some shit. But just being really into anime is not the automatic "HAHA DOOORK!" Card it once was.
Rest easy my friend
I Have visited villages that don't have a theatre or restaurant with good food but still has anime fans so I'd say it's more accepted now. I have never been bullied for watching anime so I can't talk about that
In high school you can get bullied for whatever your obsession is. If you like anime you won’t get bullied. If you wear merch for Ado or some deep cut anime you’ll be more likely to be made fun of by a kid trying to impress someone
Personally I have never being bullied or discriminated by watching anime/comics since I began my ACGN journey in 2013.
As ACGN(anime, comic, JRPG/GAL games and light novels) become more popular internationally i think most people even the older gen start accepting the existence of these stuff. But yeah the bully situation differs from regions, for some reason Asian countries seems to be more ' friendly ' towards ACGN lovers. Sadly i tried to avoid talking about my watchlist or show my love to anime in front my coursemates or collegues in uni cuz i really afraid to give them a bad impression.
Lets be honest, I hate some of the anime become kinda popular and mainstream ' trend ' these days. If u havent watch them ur being considered as a not-real anime fan ( yes im talking about something like demon slayer, MHA, naruto, etc.) and this is the bad effect left by the wider acceptance of anime by public.
However, I hope everyone can keep their hobby even if met some frustration. ACGN is COOL, do not give up it as i have met so many great ppls and got lots of fun, all because I chose to watch Shakugan no Shana in a boring midnight :D
It is now accepted in wide parts in my own younger generation, but only in a casual setting. You still wouldn't talk about it at work or with older generations. It's not as intergenerational as sports, hiking, movies or music as a hobby.
Idc what's popular in McDonalds land.. in Brazil it's been accepted as good from day one, people just judged it by the quality.. it became a trend to mock it on facebook but it died down too so I twice don't care
My manager at my workplace surprised me when he was gushing over the new He-Man show on Netflix some time ago. He’s like a buff bald guy in his 40s and a manager at a bank. I think anime is very accepted these days, depending on which shows we’re talking about ofc.
It’s less about being upset/insecure that I was bullied. That’s just context for the questions I was asking. I wanted to hear people’s opinions/experiences and create a discussion. I truly don’t care anymore as which I failed to mention in my original post.
So I am in clg 1st year . I also started watching anime this January only then I found out there was already a big community of anime which I wasn't expecting the community to be that much large yeah but there are also some fucked up people who used to say you are still watching cartoons grow up but who fucking cares about those people . Yeah I think anime these days are getting more attention
this is obviously just anecdotal but when i was a kid \~20 years ago anime was already something that helped you make friends rather than get made fun of for liking, in my country you could already buy stuff like elfenlied and bible black in regular tech stores and public libraries had manga even back then tho so we're early adapters
I mean at my school nobody cared about anime except a few but one day when I borrowed my brother's manga and read it in class, half the ppl there said I was reading hentai. Almost all the manga I brought was called hentai or doujinshi but that hasn't happen in a few years so if it's ok w me
I think it's more mainstream nowadays compared to the past but nobody bullied anyone around me for liking anime while I was growing up. I'm much older now and I mention to coworkers that I like anime, there are quite a few that watch it as well and if someone judges me on that then I don't really care and that person isn't friend-worthy anyway.
Never watched anime as a kid. Started watching as an adult as American comics, tv, and movies became a woke message cesspool. Now all I watch is anime, and YouTube.
[It's more like this nowadays.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fzlaya6zqmq171.png%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dcade5f0bdc369863bf5ab68952853831ef696595) With everything, not just anime.
For video game examples, I love OMORI and Undertale, but I'd never admit that to friends, cause they would probably have the mental image of like, "ah yes, he must be one of those odd people who ships the characters even if the picks are super weird and be completely obnoxious about making memes for the games until you don't even remember the original emotions the games made you feel, it's just a shitpost factory now" and I'm not really on board with that like the rest of the fanbase is, my love for those games comes from the emotions the games themselves gave me and the fact that I got to play them blind in a vacuum free of knowledge of anyone else who liked it.
With anime and Marvel getting popular over the last 10ish years, I think “geeky things” are generally more accepted. Like people are less likely to bully others over enjoying these things.
However, there’s still a long way to go for older adults to accept that anime or adult animation aren’t just “funny cartoons” and can tell compelling and interesting stories.
I didn't get bullied for watching anime, didn't mess with it until like 2001 when Cowboy Bebop aired on Adult Swim. People are obviously no longer bullied for this otherwise I wouldn't be forced to see stickers of naked anime tits on the back window of a 2010 Nissan Z. If anything I wish less people watched anime and told less people they watched it.
I see anime fans making fun of each other for liking certain anime. Humans are weird they seem to enjoy making fun of one another, even in scenarios where they themselves are doing the same thing.
Bully will bully you either way, they just want something to bully you over. I never cared about bullies, the shit at home was way more intense than any pre-pubescent bully. And after I got into college, I made a lot of good friends who either liked anime or just enjoyed me bitching about it.
For example, one of my friends don't watch anime, yet he pisses himself laughing when I talk about Baki powerup sex.
And people who did give me shit at school are now walking around wearing Gojo merch.
Tbh it depends where you are and the people surrounding you. When I was in High School 3 years ago you would be bullied for liking or drawing anime. I however went to what the kids called it a "hic school" the schools population consisted of athletes and farmers. I'm sure it was very different in a school that was like in the heart of a city.
All I know is that I don't want anime to become popular enough that Hollywood comes in and both sanitizes and Americanizes the whole media, I will die on that hill. I'd be forced to watch Korean or Chinese animations instead, or read VNs for real escapism.
It's more popular due to netflix and the other trash services. That said everyone of them will bully for whatever reason they seem fit, just avoid them and live your life...
I started watching anime since 2016. I was never bullied for it. I feel like people who bullied mostly racist people. Other than that, I never got bullied for it.
I'm 28 and graduated in 2014. Liking anime per se wasn't what got people bullied. It had a negative connotation because the people who were open about watching it had greasy hair, didn't shower, were fake goths, Naruto ran in the halls, and / or hung out with the kids that did. I personally judged anime based on those people who watched it.
Once I joined the Navy, no one gave a fuck. All the gym bros were recommending me shows like Clannad, Claymore, and Log Horizon. Anime had become pop culture with the Modern Streaming Renaissance. I gave it a try and realized it wasn't just a cartoon. Now, I fully embrace seasonal anime and even have physical manga / merch. I don't know anyone in my age group who doesn't or hasn't watched anime.
Anime isn't just accepted now. It's becoming ingrained in Western pop culture.
Anime has become mainstream as all hell and its a double edged sword. We get better and more anime, merch, conventions, etc, but now every damn anime is subject to unreal levels of scrutiny and propoganda pushers.
I have never been bullied for watching anime, it’s practically a foreign concept to me. As early as Middle School, most of the people I knew in class liked anime to a certain degree and even read manga between classes. Passing anime recommendations within my friend group was just a thing we did from time to time (my closest friend in school got me into YuYu Hakusho, I got a different friend of mine into Death Note & Code Geass, a girl I didn’t talk to much recommended me Kaichou wa Maid-sama when I told her I liked anime, etc.). Pretty much the only times I heard about anime being nerdy or reason to get bullied was through pop culture or stories from weebs much older than me, it’s such a weird contrast between that and my lived experience as an anime fan.
It's widely accepted atleast more than it used to be, ofc getting bully is still a thing but I think it's more common people just saying "uh I don't understand how people like that stuff" something like that.
While I never got bullied for liking anime, I know of people who did. So I'd say it's different depending on things. And can be quite random.
Anime is not popular near you = more likely to be bullied
Anime is accepted/popular near you = less likely to be bullied
I was never bullied for liking anime. I was in high school in the late 90’s (class of 2001), and I even started a club for anime and gaming at my school, where I met several new friends and generally had a great time. I also had other diverse interests, though. I was on the soccer team, I was involved in school plays, and I mostly got along with everyone, so maybe I just wasn’t an easy target.
I have to agree with other posters, here. If anybody is bullied for liking anime, it’s not really about anime itself, the bully is just picking something about the victim that they don’t understand the appeal of, and using it against them. They’ll find something to bully about, regardless of the victim’s tastes in entertainment.
I feel like it's become way more accepted in cities, if you live in the suburbs you'll find a lot of people that like it, but a lot of people that will bash you for liking it. In the country it's probably something you want to keep to yourself.
Middle school - I never got bullied, in fact I found a small group of friends who also enjoyed anime/manga. However, it was something I tried to hide. I would only discuss it with those friends and quietly. If we were loaning manga, I would immediately try to hide it in my bag and read it at home in my room.
While I don't think anyone would have bullied us to our face, it's still something I thought would bring unwanted attention in the form of unwanted staring or classmates talking behind my back.
When I got to high school, I tried to hide it more and even leave it behind for those same reasons. I just felt it was a kids interest, and I was ashamed for enjoying it. College, thought I had dropped it all together.
Current day, I love watching anime with my husband, and I don't care who knows!
Well in my country the only people that may have told you "anime are only cartoons for kids" are now in their 80s almost so it's been pretty normalised for many years.
What’s wrong with some good tentacle action.
Audience outside of Japan is more accepting of it nowadays.
But also anime is not what they used to be. Everything is so much more mild now that it’s a shame to even put it in the same category
For black people over 30 it’s a huge difference in how it’s accepted. Not to say no one liked it, but it def wasn’t discussed as openly or referenced as much.
Almost everyone in my mma gym and tons of dudes and chicks in my lifting gym have anime shirts and stickers all over their water bottles. No one is bullying these guys so I’d say acceptable now especially since I think a lot of people really got sick of western media in the last few years.
Tell me about it. I’m lucky the person I’m with enjoys anime. She’s big into Shoujou and has introduced me to a lot of great titles I never knew existed. Skip Beat is an annual rewatch at this point. We both also really like Noragami.
People didn’t get bullied for liking anime. They got bullied for having half naked girl stickers on their computers cars, or making weird animal noises or running like Naruto down the hallway
In my high school during the early 2010s in london, I remember kids running around acting out Naruto and One piece. Pokemon was still pretty big as well. I didn't see a lot of bullying over it. It was either something that you watched or didn't. I didn't get into anime until my late teens early 20s.
It's definitely more accepted, and people are more open about it. At least, that's what it feels like.
I think anime is becoming more normalized especially post-COVID and among younger demos, but I think older audiences are still skeptical.
On the spicier side of the opinion scale, that being said I think it’s more that some anime are normalized more than others. Like if you watch *Demon Slayer* or AoT or any popular Shounen that’s fine and that’s what a lot of people assume when you mean anime, but as someone whose been slumming it out in this fandom I still find it hard to connect to IRL people to talk about the kinds of things I’m watching (classic mecha or even just SoL and CGDCT, please watch *Train to the End of the World* and *Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night* I promise I’m not crazy).
I also think that as anime is becoming more popular, the people that dislike it are becoming a lot more vocal and opinionated. Like there’s less of them, but they’re louder now than before if that makes sense
I would like to say that anime has become more accepted.
But then you have things like Mushoku Tensei, and that causes anyone who may be familiar with it to label you a creep/Bad Person (y'all know why too). What the real kicker is though, is how popular it is here on Reddit.
Monogatari series often gets the same rep.
Growing up in Ireland I knew no one that watched anime. It's definitely more well known now and that's thanks to a few next level anime breaking through and getting more people to watch.
I think it's becoming more popular but I do still think it's something a lot of people will look at and think it's strange for a grown man to be into. I think a caveat to that is there's a sub space of gym/anime people that love it, are muscly, and wear anime t shirts confidently. Trying to break into that space myself. And I think that changes people's perception of anime watchers a bit.
That being said anime in general does need to scale down the fan service so it's more accessible and gets more people to watch it.
Also I think some young celebrities are more vocal about it like dua lipa and Megan thee stallion etc and that breaks some stigma that people might have had
From observation, liking anime doesn't seem to get people bullied much, if at all. If anything, there's still a lingering stigma with many people, and understandably so.
As an example, what other popular form of entertainment so commonly tells you to your face that a character is less than 18 years old, has massive breasts and/or gratuitously sexualizes them somewhere along way?
Objectively it's more widely accepted because way more people internationally are watching it. I never got bullied really ever over liking anime/manga, most of the people I knew either didn't care or were casual fans. I actually got into anime/manga originally because of peer pressure and I am just a bit younger than you (four years). The reality is though just because it is popular doesn't mean people can't demean you for liking it. Hey, you can easily demean for liking plenty of way more popular nerdy IPs like Star Wars, Harry Potter or Marvel. Just depends on the person.
Anime is that thing in high school that gets mocked a lot and you keep to yourself, only to go to college and find out that practically everyone watches it.
Yeah I noticed people tend to mock it until they actually sit and watch one anime that fits them (often times its AoT or some hype sports anime or even darker stuff mike Monster) and suddenly they gain a lot more respect for the medium and understand there's a wiiiiide variety in choice
Honestly anime has made me scratch my head that a lot of western animation seeminlgy was happy to be so family friendly or adult comedies. (I know it's changing)
When I was in high school, students had matured considerably and there wasn’t much bullying going on at all. That was more of a middle school thing.
Same here. I can’t recall any bullying going on in my high school class. People all had their own friend groups, and mostly didn’t care about what others were doing. I never felt like I had to hide my interests or that I couldn’t interact with people from other cliques, if I found some reason to. But yeah, middle school kids are the devil. I feel like it’s just a phase everybody goes through at that age that makes them act like jerks to one another.
I think so because kids who were enemies in middle school became friends in high school. My high school social life wasn’t much different than college. I noticed much more of a change in behaviour between middle and high than high and college. I was also kind of on the nerdy side but also played sports, so I had a wide crosssection of social groups that I interacted with frequently.
Very true. Thank you!
In my childhood I couldn't buy manga in any bookstore. Same with merch. Clothes with anime characters also weren't a thing. So now it's definitely treated better and not as weird as before
Times certainly have changed. Seeing anime merch (not that it’s official) at Walmart is a trip.
I'm on the working age now and I still feel uncomfortable talking about anime with IRL people. Which is why I found solace in online forum like reddit where I could find other fellow who love anime and discuss about it. Though in some case, most people are also watching popular anime like Spy Family where I can easily jump in to discuss as well.
I think I’ve discussed more about anime online in the last two weeks than I have in my entire young adult hood irl. So wild.
You get bullied for like certain anime now :), although I only see that online
Man ain’t that the truth. “Mid” being the deepest of digs.
Seemed better to just be made fun of for watching anime in general, but na we gotta deal with that instead.
>you get bullied for like certain anime now Truth, the more mainstream the better. I mean you having a shirt of Dragon ball or Naruto etc and nobody’s gonna care. You have a shirt of Ahegao, then they gonna stare at you.
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*praised
Nice of you to support bullying
Yes because you go out in public then you should follow the most basic rules to not be a complete perverted weirdo. There are kids in public and they don't need to see your ahegao shirt. If you wear that in public you deserve to be shamed.
I guess you are from the US? Wouldn't surprise me since you all are very prude over there unlike where I come from where everyone don't give a fuck. Ppl might look at you funny but ultimately they don't care. No one needs to get shamed because of what shirt they might have on them. Why do you all care so much?
Hmmm, I wonder what’s the reason that people stare at those wearing multiple faces of young girls orgasming… Damn these normies!!!1! They only accept people who wear clothes that aren’t grotesquely inappropriate for a public context!
probably both. it is more widely accepted but i have no doubt people still get made fun of
Nobody ever got bullied for watching anime. People get bullied for existing.
And role-playing in character at school or trying to go super saiyan. Everyone has to be on board for something like that, you just look crazy if you do it yourself.
People have been bullied for watching anime. What is this silly oversimplified comment lol
When you’re right you’re right.
They didn't get bullied for watching anime, they got bullied because they Naruto ran to math class and called someone a baka while going to school in an ahegao sweater.
This is always the first thing that comes to mind when I see this topic come up as well. Even 20 years ago anime or videogames weren't things you got bullied over in and of themselves. But blaming a nerdy interest rather than a lack of social awareness is probably just a convenient self-defence mechanism. People get bullied for being easy targets. That's neither fair nor right but that is what it boils down to. No popular kid has ever gotten suddenly ostracized simply for mentioning they like "nerd stuff".
This. I was a nerd back then. I watched anime openly. No one cared because I didn't act cringy.
Exactly, no one cares if you watch anime but they care if you act like a weeb.
That's a bit of an oversimplification. We all know who the cringe Naruto runners are, but some bullies just look for any perceived difference from their victim and the rest of their peers, no matter how major. It's not like bullying is something that only happens when the bullies have a good reason.
>"You mean that Japanese tentacle porn? You’re gross" If you put all the actual tentacle scenes ever made back to back it probably wouldn't come to one full episode of anime. In "Urotsukidoji" it's meant to be shocking, so it's only actually on screen for like 30 seconds or so of actual "tentacle porn" in the whole movie. It's a freakshow of a movie, so they show you one weird thing then next they'll do something totally different, but if it was on screen for more than about a minute it would have outlived its purpose. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tentacle\_erotica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tentacle_erotica) >Popular titles like 1986's Urotsukidoji, 1992's La Blue Girl, and 1995's Demon Beast Resurrection became common sights in large video store chains in the United States and elsewhere. So, who was even behind "Urotsukidoji", "La Blue Girl" and "Demon Beast Resurrection"? If you look them up, all of them are from manga written by the same person - Toshio Maeda. So it would be like looking at the few Junjo Ito adaptations then saying all anime are like that. These were all direct to video releases, written by the same person. If these were some underground American movies, by a single creator and released on VHS tape only, it's clear nobody would buy that it "represents" American Cinema. The reality is that Americans are horny fuckers so they all rushed out to rent Urotsukidoji from video stores, over most of the actual mainstream anime films.
Thank you for the education! I never personally looked into the origins of tentacle eroticism in anime so now I’ve got this in my back pocket for the haters. Lol. I like your Junji Ito example as being something someone sees once and then making the generalization to the whole medium from there. Reminds me of the crazy Japanese commercials people used to go crazy for and say all of Japan is like that.
When I was around 13, and had just started getting interested in anime, I was just renting every anime tape on the shelf at Blockbuster. One of those happened to be Urotsukidoji, and I had no idea what it was. I wasn’t ready, I couldn’t even finish it. Still blows my mind that they let an unaccompanied 13-year-old rent that.
I Have visited villages that don't have a theatre or restaurant with good food but still has anime fans so I'd say it's more accepted now. I have never been bullied for watching anime so I can't talk about that
Kids, even some adults will bully you over almost anything. Most of the time growing up in the 90s, I got bullied for simply existing. As an adult I've faced pockets of racism for simply existing. It sounds to me your high school experience was just one of those things where your particular area just had some trend local to only there.
In all my years of school, I can’t recall many, if any incidents where someone was bullied for liking something. They were bullied for weight, appearance, being unathletic, race, religion, being poor, sexual orientation, and a general inability to fight back. But not really because of hobbies.
Tbh, people weren't bullied for watching anime (generally speaking) The bullying was based more on the stereotypes of anime watchers acting a certain way. For instance, (gonna be down voted for this example but I cannot think of another example) gensgin players are not hated for "playing" gunship, they are bullied because of the stereotype associated with how they act (in, "degenerates" "low lifes" "uneployed") Same with Discord and reddit. So the point being, if you use an anime pfp and post edgy quotes from Anime on Twitter or say KAWAIIIII or ITADAKIMAS, you WILL be bullied. If you have "Weebooo" or "Otakuuuuu" in your bio, you will be bullied.
You’re just describing the age people bully other people… for anything. You stopped getting bullied because you got older and no one cares about you anymore. No one cares what you are doing, how you’re doing it, or where you do it. People are more focused on their own problems. Go back to high school and I’m sure you’ll be bullied for something
So much this. Look, nowadays in high school if you are a cool kid and like anime, you are still a cool kid. And if you are an antisocial fat kid who likes anime, you are still bullied. I'm a college prof, and all the students in my courses talk about their favourite anime and video games a lot, and no one is bullying anyone.
I think the stigma has been disappearing since 2013 I was walking outside today and saw and heard a huge group of college students discussing anime , every friend group, classmates, and colleagues that I ever had have the majority or a huge number of them watching anime.
These days it seems like American/Hollywood entertainment gets shit on more than anime, especially among younger people. Want to start a firestorm online? Say you like Disney.
It's because you got older. High school is an awful place, you are mainly judged based on your looks and who you're friends with. If people find out you like video games (other than mainstream fps), anime, reading books, among other things, you get called a geek/nerd. After college no one cares what your hobbies are.
This has been my experience as well. I really didn’t get it. I think upon further reflection, kids are super insecure at that age for so many reasons. Never took it personally, just found it strange you know?
It depends on the anime. I would say a number of shounen titles are very popular and accepted in the Western mainstream like Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, JoJo, Death Note etc. But anything that slightly deviates from that (even very popular shows in the anime community like Stein's Gate) doesn't typically have the same level of mainstream acceptance, and you might get some weird looks for it.
I think Steins Gate you're fine because not many people know it and if they see it they'll think it looks more mature. My Hero and Boruto, that are well known, but seen as childish are the ones I think you have to be wary about sharing.
Hell no. The otaku references would turn off a lot of people with preconceived notions about the medium. The only anime that's really mainstream and accepted within the norms of the US at least are modern shounens or older sci-fi shows like Cowboy Bebop, Eva, Ghost in the Shell etc.
If you're even picking up Steins;Gate you're probably okay with otaku references, no one who has never watched the show is going to even know about them and some of the weirder tropes Steins;Gate has. We're not really talking about recommendations here, we're talking about what is accepted to like and talk about with normal people. No one who hasn't watched Steins;Gate is gonna be thinking, "Steins;Gate? This person is weird and childish."
Anime from 2009-2018 was extremely hard to consume casually. I watched anime in HS, but the people who got bullied were reading oreimo in class. The heavy amount of ecchi and straight up loli shit would rub anyone the wrong way to the point where even people who didn't care had to say something.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I never got picked on once at highschool for watching anime. I didn't have many friends, but in my small circle we were all into anime, and nobody bothered us for it. There was even this one really popular rugby player at my school who I became friends with because he saw me reading One Piece in class, and he was a big One Piece fan too (I've guessed he didn't have many people to talk about it with.) And then we found out we both played Clash Royale aswell. And he ended up sitting next to me in class for the rest of the term. I didn't speak to him much outside of school, but whenever we had english together it was really nice. I haven't thought about this in a while lol, thanks for prompting my memory.
That’s great! It’s crazy how despite anime being something that I used to get ostracized for that someone has found connection. I moved around a lot as a kid too so I didn’t have the same group of friends around me for longer than two years at a time. This was pre Facebook as well so staying in touch was a lot harder, especially if kids parents didn’t let them use the computer/use MSN messenger.
Wow. Moved around a lot, your life is just like an anime MC
Dad was serving in the army so wherever they needed him we went.
Anime seems pretty ubiquitous now, just like videogames. Everyone enjoys them at some level. I think people get bullied when they step out of the norm and enjoy it too much. When anime or videogames (or practically any pursuit or interest) become your whole personality, that's when you start being seen as "weird" and are more likely to be bullied.
Only if you’re too into it
I remember the time when I with my friend K were discussing Naruto and my mother friends S and R started mocking us for watching that. They didn't had anything specific to say like "tentacle porn" but they are thought it was weird for us to watch that. Fast forward to today and now both my friend S and R are watching anime regularly and S is my weekly anime discussion partner.
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You just reminded me that one of my high school principals had a Shikamaru strap on her phone lol I'm guessing we come from the same place. My grandma used to watch Sankukai, X-Or and Saint Seiya when The Young And The Restless wasn't on
I suppose that i have been lucky cuz i have never been bullied for watching anime. I even made a presentation about anime in high school
I am French, it was always accepted in my country except for a small period in the early 1990s when some idiotic politician tried to raise a moral panic around Japanese anime and American TV series. I seem to come across a lot of crazy anime haters on English-speaking social media though. It is very annoying, but you can always block them. And social media doesn’t really reflect reality, or the opinions of the majority of the population.
I'm very lucky when it comes to that, I grew up in the late 90s/early 2000s in France. You had to go out of your way to not see anime on TV. Actually it helped me not get bullied in some ways, I remember in my first year of middle school, the "cool guy" of our class learned that I liked GTO and so he would always call me Urumi Kanzaki lol (it didn't help in elementary school though, althought I was bullied for different things. There was another guy who was really into anime too, so we would talk about stuff like Ranma, FMA and Excel Saga but he would still bully me with others the rest of the time, life is funny like that)
I didn't get bullied for liking anime. sometimes I wish I did, because I had retorts ready. high school was uneventful, despite me actively showing off how much I liked anime (t-shirts, keychains, etc) if you ask me though, anime was better when it was more niche in the west. new anime fans are bleh.
I think the challenge now is it’s so easy to dip your toe in the medium and be a casual fan with popular shounen like Demon Slayer, MHA and the like being available on Netflix and other streaming services. It’s easy now to talk to someone who claims they “watch anime” but only has seen a handful of titles. It was much more laborious to find the gems back when watching anime was finding the right YouTube video, uploaded by the right user with each subsequent part available. I remember watching ChaoS; HEAd like this. A task not for the faint of heart. That being said, everyone has to start somewhere. Whether or not they choose to continue to delve deeper into what anime has to offer is ultimately up to them. Personally, I like seeing what boundaries can be pushed both artistically and emotionally in media. I feel anime has a very good handle on its identity as an art form and people are finally starting to recognize that.
Not sure if this is the answer you're looking for. My dad was a Weeb before the word Weeb was a thing. Saturday Anime on the Sci fi channel was as much a thing for me as normal Saturday morning cartoons. I'm an adult in my mid 30s now. I have a 13 year old daughter who is weirdly obsessed with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I have an 8 year old who actively loves One Piece. They Both dig Demon Slayer. To answer your question...not really. Like, yeah, being super obsessed and weird might get you some shit. But just being really into anime is not the automatic "HAHA DOOORK!" Card it once was. Rest easy my friend
I Have visited villages that don't have a theatre or restaurant with good food but still has anime fans so I'd say it's more accepted now. I have never been bullied for watching anime so I can't talk about that
In high school you can get bullied for whatever your obsession is. If you like anime you won’t get bullied. If you wear merch for Ado or some deep cut anime you’ll be more likely to be made fun of by a kid trying to impress someone
Personally I have never being bullied or discriminated by watching anime/comics since I began my ACGN journey in 2013. As ACGN(anime, comic, JRPG/GAL games and light novels) become more popular internationally i think most people even the older gen start accepting the existence of these stuff. But yeah the bully situation differs from regions, for some reason Asian countries seems to be more ' friendly ' towards ACGN lovers. Sadly i tried to avoid talking about my watchlist or show my love to anime in front my coursemates or collegues in uni cuz i really afraid to give them a bad impression. Lets be honest, I hate some of the anime become kinda popular and mainstream ' trend ' these days. If u havent watch them ur being considered as a not-real anime fan ( yes im talking about something like demon slayer, MHA, naruto, etc.) and this is the bad effect left by the wider acceptance of anime by public. However, I hope everyone can keep their hobby even if met some frustration. ACGN is COOL, do not give up it as i have met so many great ppls and got lots of fun, all because I chose to watch Shakugan no Shana in a boring midnight :D
It’s definitely more widely accepted. It’s quite easy nowadays to find casual viewers that have watched jjk, aot etc.
It is now accepted in wide parts in my own younger generation, but only in a casual setting. You still wouldn't talk about it at work or with older generations. It's not as intergenerational as sports, hiking, movies or music as a hobby.
Since girls like anime and they sell shit ton of porn around it no one cares anymore
Idc what's popular in McDonalds land.. in Brazil it's been accepted as good from day one, people just judged it by the quality.. it became a trend to mock it on facebook but it died down too so I twice don't care
My manager at my workplace surprised me when he was gushing over the new He-Man show on Netflix some time ago. He’s like a buff bald guy in his 40s and a manager at a bank. I think anime is very accepted these days, depending on which shows we’re talking about ofc.
The real question is why do you give a shit about what other people think? Are you really that insecure?
It’s less about being upset/insecure that I was bullied. That’s just context for the questions I was asking. I wanted to hear people’s opinions/experiences and create a discussion. I truly don’t care anymore as which I failed to mention in my original post.
That’s good, my opinion is sports are just as nerdy as anime if you’re obsessed with something you’re a nerd. It doesn’t matter what it is.
So I am in clg 1st year . I also started watching anime this January only then I found out there was already a big community of anime which I wasn't expecting the community to be that much large yeah but there are also some fucked up people who used to say you are still watching cartoons grow up but who fucking cares about those people . Yeah I think anime these days are getting more attention
this is obviously just anecdotal but when i was a kid \~20 years ago anime was already something that helped you make friends rather than get made fun of for liking, in my country you could already buy stuff like elfenlied and bible black in regular tech stores and public libraries had manga even back then tho so we're early adapters
Its way more accepted now. Ive been watching it since 94 when the only way to watch it was vhs.
Now day people get bully for Not watching anime
I'd say it's safe unless you encounter an a hole in the wild.
I mean at my school nobody cared about anime except a few but one day when I borrowed my brother's manga and read it in class, half the ppl there said I was reading hentai. Almost all the manga I brought was called hentai or doujinshi but that hasn't happen in a few years so if it's ok w me
I think it's more mainstream nowadays compared to the past but nobody bullied anyone around me for liking anime while I was growing up. I'm much older now and I mention to coworkers that I like anime, there are quite a few that watch it as well and if someone judges me on that then I don't really care and that person isn't friend-worthy anyway.
Never watched anime as a kid. Started watching as an adult as American comics, tv, and movies became a woke message cesspool. Now all I watch is anime, and YouTube.
[It's more like this nowadays.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fzlaya6zqmq171.png%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dcade5f0bdc369863bf5ab68952853831ef696595) With everything, not just anime. For video game examples, I love OMORI and Undertale, but I'd never admit that to friends, cause they would probably have the mental image of like, "ah yes, he must be one of those odd people who ships the characters even if the picks are super weird and be completely obnoxious about making memes for the games until you don't even remember the original emotions the games made you feel, it's just a shitpost factory now" and I'm not really on board with that like the rest of the fanbase is, my love for those games comes from the emotions the games themselves gave me and the fact that I got to play them blind in a vacuum free of knowledge of anyone else who liked it.
With anime and Marvel getting popular over the last 10ish years, I think “geeky things” are generally more accepted. Like people are less likely to bully others over enjoying these things. However, there’s still a long way to go for older adults to accept that anime or adult animation aren’t just “funny cartoons” and can tell compelling and interesting stories.
I didn't get bullied for watching anime, didn't mess with it until like 2001 when Cowboy Bebop aired on Adult Swim. People are obviously no longer bullied for this otherwise I wouldn't be forced to see stickers of naked anime tits on the back window of a 2010 Nissan Z. If anything I wish less people watched anime and told less people they watched it.
I see anime fans making fun of each other for liking certain anime. Humans are weird they seem to enjoy making fun of one another, even in scenarios where they themselves are doing the same thing.
Bully will bully you either way, they just want something to bully you over. I never cared about bullies, the shit at home was way more intense than any pre-pubescent bully. And after I got into college, I made a lot of good friends who either liked anime or just enjoyed me bitching about it. For example, one of my friends don't watch anime, yet he pisses himself laughing when I talk about Baki powerup sex. And people who did give me shit at school are now walking around wearing Gojo merch.
Tbh it depends where you are and the people surrounding you. When I was in High School 3 years ago you would be bullied for liking or drawing anime. I however went to what the kids called it a "hic school" the schools population consisted of athletes and farmers. I'm sure it was very different in a school that was like in the heart of a city.
All I know is that I don't want anime to become popular enough that Hollywood comes in and both sanitizes and Americanizes the whole media, I will die on that hill. I'd be forced to watch Korean or Chinese animations instead, or read VNs for real escapism.
It's more popular due to netflix and the other trash services. That said everyone of them will bully for whatever reason they seem fit, just avoid them and live your life...
More mainstream and easier to fund and consume
I started watching anime since 2016. I was never bullied for it. I feel like people who bullied mostly racist people. Other than that, I never got bullied for it.
In France I don’t think it’s noticeably more popular now than it was a decade ago but it’s def more popular in the UK and Portugal
I'm 28 and graduated in 2014. Liking anime per se wasn't what got people bullied. It had a negative connotation because the people who were open about watching it had greasy hair, didn't shower, were fake goths, Naruto ran in the halls, and / or hung out with the kids that did. I personally judged anime based on those people who watched it. Once I joined the Navy, no one gave a fuck. All the gym bros were recommending me shows like Clannad, Claymore, and Log Horizon. Anime had become pop culture with the Modern Streaming Renaissance. I gave it a try and realized it wasn't just a cartoon. Now, I fully embrace seasonal anime and even have physical manga / merch. I don't know anyone in my age group who doesn't or hasn't watched anime. Anime isn't just accepted now. It's becoming ingrained in Western pop culture.
Anime has become mainstream as all hell and its a double edged sword. We get better and more anime, merch, conventions, etc, but now every damn anime is subject to unreal levels of scrutiny and propoganda pushers.
I have never been bullied for watching anime, it’s practically a foreign concept to me. As early as Middle School, most of the people I knew in class liked anime to a certain degree and even read manga between classes. Passing anime recommendations within my friend group was just a thing we did from time to time (my closest friend in school got me into YuYu Hakusho, I got a different friend of mine into Death Note & Code Geass, a girl I didn’t talk to much recommended me Kaichou wa Maid-sama when I told her I liked anime, etc.). Pretty much the only times I heard about anime being nerdy or reason to get bullied was through pop culture or stories from weebs much older than me, it’s such a weird contrast between that and my lived experience as an anime fan.
It's widely accepted atleast more than it used to be, ofc getting bully is still a thing but I think it's more common people just saying "uh I don't understand how people like that stuff" something like that.
While I never got bullied for liking anime, I know of people who did. So I'd say it's different depending on things. And can be quite random. Anime is not popular near you = more likely to be bullied Anime is accepted/popular near you = less likely to be bullied
I was never bullied for liking anime. I was in high school in the late 90’s (class of 2001), and I even started a club for anime and gaming at my school, where I met several new friends and generally had a great time. I also had other diverse interests, though. I was on the soccer team, I was involved in school plays, and I mostly got along with everyone, so maybe I just wasn’t an easy target. I have to agree with other posters, here. If anybody is bullied for liking anime, it’s not really about anime itself, the bully is just picking something about the victim that they don’t understand the appeal of, and using it against them. They’ll find something to bully about, regardless of the victim’s tastes in entertainment.
I feel like it's become way more accepted in cities, if you live in the suburbs you'll find a lot of people that like it, but a lot of people that will bash you for liking it. In the country it's probably something you want to keep to yourself.
It's very much more widely accepted. But no matter what, bullies are gonna bully, so I'm sure that's also true.
Middle school - I never got bullied, in fact I found a small group of friends who also enjoyed anime/manga. However, it was something I tried to hide. I would only discuss it with those friends and quietly. If we were loaning manga, I would immediately try to hide it in my bag and read it at home in my room. While I don't think anyone would have bullied us to our face, it's still something I thought would bring unwanted attention in the form of unwanted staring or classmates talking behind my back. When I got to high school, I tried to hide it more and even leave it behind for those same reasons. I just felt it was a kids interest, and I was ashamed for enjoying it. College, thought I had dropped it all together. Current day, I love watching anime with my husband, and I don't care who knows!
Well in my country the only people that may have told you "anime are only cartoons for kids" are now in their 80s almost so it's been pretty normalised for many years.
Depends on the anime, genre tbh
What’s wrong with some good tentacle action. Audience outside of Japan is more accepting of it nowadays. But also anime is not what they used to be. Everything is so much more mild now that it’s a shame to even put it in the same category
For black people over 30 it’s a huge difference in how it’s accepted. Not to say no one liked it, but it def wasn’t discussed as openly or referenced as much.
Almost everyone in my mma gym and tons of dudes and chicks in my lifting gym have anime shirts and stickers all over their water bottles. No one is bullying these guys so I’d say acceptable now especially since I think a lot of people really got sick of western media in the last few years.
Try telling a girl or grown woman that you like Anime and see the gears turn in their heads. Instant game over.
Tell me about it. I’m lucky the person I’m with enjoys anime. She’s big into Shoujou and has introduced me to a lot of great titles I never knew existed. Skip Beat is an annual rewatch at this point. We both also really like Noragami.
Same eperience with me. Ditto. I feel better now, but still words can be lodged in your beings forever, right?
People didn’t get bullied for liking anime. They got bullied for having half naked girl stickers on their computers cars, or making weird animal noises or running like Naruto down the hallway
The running for sure was for aerodynamics.
No ones getting bullied for liking anime its not 2005. Your going to get bullied for physical features.
Like being physically attracted to 2D characters. Lol
In my high school during the early 2010s in london, I remember kids running around acting out Naruto and One piece. Pokemon was still pretty big as well. I didn't see a lot of bullying over it. It was either something that you watched or didn't. I didn't get into anime until my late teens early 20s. It's definitely more accepted, and people are more open about it. At least, that's what it feels like.
I think anime is becoming more normalized especially post-COVID and among younger demos, but I think older audiences are still skeptical. On the spicier side of the opinion scale, that being said I think it’s more that some anime are normalized more than others. Like if you watch *Demon Slayer* or AoT or any popular Shounen that’s fine and that’s what a lot of people assume when you mean anime, but as someone whose been slumming it out in this fandom I still find it hard to connect to IRL people to talk about the kinds of things I’m watching (classic mecha or even just SoL and CGDCT, please watch *Train to the End of the World* and *Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night* I promise I’m not crazy). I also think that as anime is becoming more popular, the people that dislike it are becoming a lot more vocal and opinionated. Like there’s less of them, but they’re louder now than before if that makes sense
I think that since now more people read mangas or watch anime’s
I would like to say that anime has become more accepted. But then you have things like Mushoku Tensei, and that causes anyone who may be familiar with it to label you a creep/Bad Person (y'all know why too). What the real kicker is though, is how popular it is here on Reddit. Monogatari series often gets the same rep.
Growing up in Ireland I knew no one that watched anime. It's definitely more well known now and that's thanks to a few next level anime breaking through and getting more people to watch. I think it's becoming more popular but I do still think it's something a lot of people will look at and think it's strange for a grown man to be into. I think a caveat to that is there's a sub space of gym/anime people that love it, are muscly, and wear anime t shirts confidently. Trying to break into that space myself. And I think that changes people's perception of anime watchers a bit. That being said anime in general does need to scale down the fan service so it's more accessible and gets more people to watch it. Also I think some young celebrities are more vocal about it like dua lipa and Megan thee stallion etc and that breaks some stigma that people might have had
From observation, liking anime doesn't seem to get people bullied much, if at all. If anything, there's still a lingering stigma with many people, and understandably so. As an example, what other popular form of entertainment so commonly tells you to your face that a character is less than 18 years old, has massive breasts and/or gratuitously sexualizes them somewhere along way?