Kunzait_83 wrote:Saiyan-Professor wrote:Is it the same in Japan as here where anyone over 10 is looked at funny if they continue to watch anime and read manga?
From what I gather, it depends on two things: what KIND of anime/mange you’re watching & reading, and how MUCH of your life you devote to it.
There are anime and manga aimed at all different kinds of age groups. There are children’s anime and manga (aka Shonen, which something like Dragon Ball falls square into) and there’s also “Seinen” which is generally aimed at 20 somethings through the middle aged demographic.
If you’re an adult and you read Seinen manga or watch that sort of anime… no one will probably think twice about you. Were you to still be watching
Shonen however… that might net you some weird looks.
And as for how much time you devote to it, it’s the same as most geek stereotypes; take it casually, and no one will really raise an eyebrow. Be an obsessive FREAK about it… and that might be another matter.
Essentially I don’t think anyone in Japan gives a shit if someone is reading manga or watching anime aimed at their proper demographic and is not fawning at the mouth over it like it’s their reason for living.
Pretty level headed way of going about it all things considered. At least they’re artistically open enough to HAVE upper demographics for this sort of thing, something which the U.S. took eons to catch onto (and in many ways is still having a hard time accepting, like the immature 4 year old we are as a culture).
I think the reason that Japan's children's properties tends to be such a smash hit with adults and older folks in other parts of the world (like the U.S.) frankly is because the Japanese take animation and comic book art SO much more seriously than most people do and have such a VASTLY more open, creatively progressive, and liberal attitude towards it, that even their children’s anime can often times be way better than most live action U.S. dramas and action films for adults.
I know I bring this up often as an example, but look at Hokuto no Ken; that was a CHIDLREN’S manga and anime in Japan… and it’s about a couple hundred BILLION times more violent, gruesome, and horrifyingly disturbing than an Eli Roth torture movie. It’s fanbase in the Western world needless to say, are all well past their 20’s and 30’s.
Saiyan-Professor wrote:I have some friends that I went to high school with that believes something is seriously wrong with me because I do so.
My personal philosophy in those instances is, “anyone who has a problem with my hobbies can rightly go fuck themselves”. So long as y’know… my hobby is something as inherently harmless as reading comics and not me being a serial killer or rapist or cannibal or nuthin’ like that.
Saiyan-Professor wrote:Then I have a professor friend that continuously thinks that his stepson who is 21 and myself have some serious fears about growing up because we prefer this form of entertainment. He believes that we should be watching sports constantly like according to him “real adults”.
With all due respect, your professor is a moron. Or at least on this particular topic he is, anyhow.
I’ve met people who subscribe to his philosophy many, many times IRL and they usually tend to be narrow thinking, bitter old fucks. The blunt reality of the ways of the world is, people HARDLY EVER fit into nice, neat, little prepackaged niches, and almost NO ONE goes through what’s generally considered a “normal” process or “normal phases” of growing up in life. There’s simply no such thing and there never was (and hopefully there never will be).
Every single solitary person who walks this planet will ALWAYS be
completely different beasts from each other. Your professor’s foolishness is in expecting everyone to have the same interests and behave in the same manner, and that somehow not doing so constitutes a psychological defect of some kind, when in simple fact it’s called being human, and moreover being a free thinking individual.
We’re all of us across humanity, essentially deaf and blind idiots at the end of the day, stupidly and clumsily stumbling around the darkened room that is life while trying not to bang our knees, stub out toes, and break our necks in the process, often with decidedly mixed results at best.
Everyone, every individual in this world essentially has to march to their own beat if they wish to live a happy and fulfilling life, and that means making choices, and doing things THAT MAKE SENSE FOR YOU (so long as they don’t hurt others). The things that make YOU happy personally. Not you’re friends, not your parents, not the asshole who runs the 7/11 down the street, and
certainly not your teachers.
And if anyone has the gall to tell you how they feel you should be living your life, then that’s someone you know to never, EVER listen to under most circumstances, and shouldn’t be shy in the least of telling them to stick their condescending, all knowing, holier than thou attitude square up their pompous ass.
Humanity is NOT made up of walking, talking Barbie and Ken dolls, which is basically what attitudes like your professor's often attempt to impress on people. No, not EVERY male on the planet essentially
needs to grow up into being a beer swilling, NASCAR loving shit kicker with a thankless 9 to 5 job in order to be considered “normal”, same as not every young woman has to grow up to be a home making, soap opera watching, soccer mommy or some such horseshit to be considered a "normal" female. “Normal” is a relative and utterly meaningless term by and large in this regard.
Point is, you like to read comics and watch cartoons right? Is this somehow hurting anyone around you? Is this getting in the way of your life? No it isn’t? Does it make you happy? Yes it does? Then have at it by all means and all the more power to you. And tell any cocksucker who says different to go straight to hell and get fucked.
Be yourself and be proud of who you are and the things that give you pleasure and that you feel passionate for and that essentially make you… you.
Sailor Moon says! Ah ha!
(Unless you mean time-skip...)
