Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Have you ever been bullied/harassed for liking anime?

I often talk about bringing new people into the world of anime, and trying to change the minds of those that hate it.  It's not a matter of thinking that those that don't watch/like anime are wrong, I just want to show them what they're missing out on.  Many people just have no knowledge of what anime is about, and I wanted to show them what it's all about.  The more the merrier, I say!

When trying to do something like that, you're bound to come across some very negative people.  That's just the way the world works.  No matter who you are, what you do and how passionate you are, there are plenty of people that will want nothing to do with you and your interests.  Instead of taking an open-minded, positive approach, they're more likely to shoot you or your ideas down.

That seems to happen quite often when it comes to anime.  Not only are people willing to bash anime without reason, they also bash those that enjoy anime.  While you shouldn't let those things get to you, it's still not nice to see that kind of reaction.  I could never bring myself to harass someone for liking something, so long as it didn't hurt anyone.  Liking anime doesn't hurt a single person, yet plenty of people belittle anime fans for enjoying it.

Have you ever been harassed or bullied for liking anime?  Has it become a subject of ridicule for your friends, or even your family?  I'm curious to see just how open people are with their bashing of anime, and how quickly they disregard the feelings of others.

3 comments:

  1. Bullied? No way.

    Harassed? Hell yeah?

    Most people I know (and I hate when they do this) look at anime as just cartoons. Now the animation styles of Japanese and Western artists are very much different but when I try to explain the differences, most times they refuse to listen. I've had arguments with my friends over that same issue when my anime lifestyle was called into question.

    But most times, each side (Japan and the Western Hemisphere) draw inspiration from each other, an example being Avatar: The Last Airbender - a "cartoon" which I couldn't call as such, instead the term "anime-inspired animation" was used.

    So yeah, the fact of people thinking of anime as just simple cartoons really irks me, because I know they're more than that.

    The ironic part? These are the same people that idolized Dragon Ball Z when they were younger. I mean references were thrown around, companies capitalized on the franchise by making merchandise (mostly bootlegs where I lived) and so on.

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  2. let's just sat i was harassed for liking Japan in general, it was very difficult to deal with. they were say that i liked japan during the world war two and it was very difficult to persuade them. not only that, they said all i watch is hentai and yaoi, which i don't. somehow i manage to get through it, the funny thing is there are my closest friends i made in college, i know it's weird and you might think it's stupid for me to have friends like that, but i think they are my friends because of that

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  3. Not really. I know who to tell what when it comes to the things I like.

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