This week's skewed comment on anime: Voiding your own argument

I know it's a early in the week for our 'skewed comment' feature, but this one comes in from a friend of mine.  I wanted to make sure I shared it now, because I unfortunately have another skewed comment to discuss tomorrow!  For tonight, we're going to look at an argument made against anime that doesn't hold water.


So...my friend decided to check out Death Note after my recommendation.  She was going through the series and got to the third episode.  She was watching alone, but at one point during the third episode her 15 year old sister walked into the room and saw Death Note on the TV.  Immediately she made a strange face, and when her sister asked her to stay and watch, she declined.  When my friend asked her sister why she wouldn't stay and watch, she responded with "Because it is inappropriate."


Now things might sound quite negative there, but it gets worse.  When my friend asked her sister why she felt that way, the sister responded with "Because it is a waste of time."  I have no idea how we got from anime being inappropriate to being a waste of time, but so be it.  Things get even stranger when my friend finally pulled some detail out of her sister about her feelings towards anime.  Believe it or not, the sister believes anime is a waste of time because...someone had to sit down and draw it.  Yes, I'm still scratching my head over that one.


The conversation went on a bit more to discuss cartoons in general, and then how a good majority of anime is actually based off of manga.  Perhaps this book to animation translation point would be one to win the sister over!  Sadly, that notion was shot down with an even more depressing statement.  "Oh yeah, I've heard that the books are awesome, but cartoons are a waste of time."


There were multiple attempts to try and find out why my friend's sister wouldn't give anime a shot, but a specific reason for disliking it was never given.  Just the information that was stated above.  It's really sad to see someone so young form such a strong negative opinion for what seems to be no reason at all.  I can only hope that she'll come around at some point, and I'm sure that my friend will keep trying to prod her.  That's what a good big sister does!


Want to know the icing on the cake?  Want to know why I titled this article the way I did?  My friend's sister said that anime and cartoons in general were a waste of time, and that was her reason for not watching.  Would you believe that just two days earlier, my friend and her sister sat down to watch a two hour Rugrats meet The Wild Thornberrys movie?  It's 100% true, and would seem to completely eliminate any point my friend's sister tried ot make.

Man, that's the point of the story that really, really depresses me the most.