"Why is the anime fanbase so...weird?"

"I would go to a convention with you if the fanbase wasn't so godawful."

That's what my friend told me when I asked him to go to Fanime with me. Now, I didn't exactly expect him to say yes, but I couldn't exactly argue with him either.

(Even Google agrees!)

To begin to dissect this question, it's worth understanding that there are two main types of anime fans: the ones that are flamboyant about their fandom: they go to cons, they make statuses about finishing some great anime, or they just all-around thoroughly embrace their fandom.

Then you have those anime fans that purposely choose to sit in a dark room, alone, watch their anime, and then go to the ends of the earth to make sure not another soul finds out they enjoy watching weird japanese animated characters with big eyes say things like "kawaii", "moe", or "onii-chan...not there...its embarassing..."

Well, I don't really know about that last one.

(I swear, I only watch manly shows like Ouran Host Club)

Anyway, I like to fancy myself somewhere in between those extremes. I love cons (see my post on why you should go to cons), but you'll never see me make my profile picture Osaka-san.

(No, just on my weab blog, which will never see the light of day on Facebook)

Now because I am not plagued with crippling awkwardness, I like to fancy myself a normal anime fan (sounds like an oxymoron). For the most part, I can function in normal society without needing to constantly spout off half-Japanese vocaloid lyrics or make references to Haru-chan's perfect abs in Free!.

(Just gaze upon his chiseled perfection)

Unfortunately, going to conventions has exposed me to the types of people who can't. They're passionate about their anime, manga, and video games, which while being great, makes them weird, awkward, or just plain annoying. Sometimes it's by no fault of their own, and it's just a byproduct of personality, which is based in their respective obsessions.

So the question becomes, what is it about the anime fan base that just seems to attract some of the worst kinds of fans?

Well, here's my theory.

Many anime fans, myself included, were not exactly what you would call the "cool" kids in school. To speak for myself, I was the fat awkward kid during the majority of my childhood. I was constantly picked on for my weight, not aided by my awful awkward, weird, and self-centered personality.

What I'm trying to say is: I didn't exactly have alot of friends.

During the majority of my time growing up, before I latched onto anime, I was very deeply into video games and video game culture. And I spent countless hours watching episodes of this web series over and over:

(Not exactly healthy for a kid to hear "fuck", "shit", and "ass" every other word)

And why was I so into this alternative video game culture? That's because I felt so alienated from my own peers, surroundings, and contemporary American culture of the time, that I searched out another medium that was more accepting.

What I found were forums and whole online communities full of nice, supportive people, all brought together through a mutual love of classic and new video games. It felt like people actually cared about what I had to say: I wrote a blog on Gametrailers.com and racked up over 1000 forum posts on Screwattack.com (before getting banned for some inexplicable reason).

(I sought out alternative residency over at Gameheroes.com)

Basically, video games were, for better or for worse (worse, at least for my health), my entire existence. They allowed me to feel a part of something, and feel like I actually had the one thing I never truly had: friends.

Now, why am I lamenting my shitty childhood, your probably wondering (if you haven't already stopped reading).

Well, that's because anime fans, in my experience, are almost the exact same.

Many anime fans (by no means a catch-all, but fairly accurate) were made fun of growing up. They may have had a few friends, but were far from being Mr. Popular. They felt foreign in their own environment and society growing up, so like me with my video games, they sought acceptance elsewhere.

(We can't all be Makoto Ito-level popular)

What they found were vast, beautiful, endless worlds, filled with crazy, bold alchemists, school girls who could shape the very world with their emotions, magical girls fighting for the posterity of their world, and most importantly, teens (the same age as themselves) finding true love.

Basically, anime created whole amazing realities that were entirely different from the harsh, rejecting the "real world" that they had to face on a day to day basis. And just like with video games, these other worlds were filled with beautiful women and brave men, desirable archetypes that many anime fans wished they could be like.

So in this way, people who don't find themselves accepted amongst "normal" society look for acceptance elsewhere; and many of those awkward anime fans that hobble around aimlessly at conventions found it with anime.

The same online communities existed for anime that did for video games, with websites like Myanimelist, /r/eddit, and yes, even 4chan's /a/, /jp/, and cosplay boards.

(4chan always did have the best banners)

In this way, it is equally easy to get lost in the whole culture, and as with any fandom that mainly exists in the virtual space, no one cares if your really ugly, awkward, or socially retarded. The fact that you share similar interests is truly all that matters.

(You could even be a dog~)

So, ironically, since many anime fans feel so dejected and foreign in their own culture, they find solace and community in other foreign culture, in this case, the (amazing and totally awesome) world of anime. It gives otherwise lost and socially awkward people something tangible to latch onto.

(Mawaru Penguindrum gets it)

Now is anything wrong with that? Well no, not really. See, in my opinion, its not the anime that makes the people weird, but its the already weird people who find anime and japanese culture as a hobby they can devote all their time to. It really is no different than any other foreign fandom in that regard.

I feel a great way to describe it is with a nice little anecdote.

At Anime Expo this year...

(...the lines sucked)

...I went to a panel on "Nerd Courting"...basically dating in the nerd/western fandom/anime realm. It was the second time I'd seen the panel, and I now knew the speaker on a name-to-name basis through mutual friends.

During the whole panel, and after, I saw people stream through asking what seemed like typical dating questions (much to my surprise). After the panel was over though, me and my friends stuck around to wait for the speaker. While we stood around, a super skinny, unshaven, disheveled white guy hung around awkwardly around us like a house fly. He was waiting to get "help" from the speaker. When we finally went to leave, he followed, constantly asking the speaker basic social questions. I couldn't help but feel bad for him.

(Think L, minus all the useful skills)

Afterwords, I asked the speaker: "There have to be some people like that, right? People so awkward, that all your advice simply can't help them?"

He reluctantly supported my presumption, and I realized that unfortunately those awkward kids growing up that anime attracts, remain awkward, and just become weird and aloof adults.

But more importantly I realized it didn't really matter that it was anime; these "unhelp-able" people could have latched onto any fandom. It didn't really matter that the fandom was anime; it just happened to be the "foreign" fandom they found enjoyment and acceptance in.

So in all, that's my take on the question as to why the anime fanbase is so weird: it's just because it's a foreign fandom that fans, weird or not, find acceptance in.

However, on occasion, there are exceptions to the rule. While some people are so awkward and socially inept that they aren't "beyond helping", there is certainly still hope for some people.

I would say I'm the exception to the rule.

(I'm like a show based on a card game that the rules don't seem to apply to)

When I went to my first anime convention, I'd only seen maybe 10-12 days worth of anime, and hadn't seen (and still haven't seen) many "Day One"or so called "starting/beginner's" anime like Fullmetal Alchemist or Naruto.

But despite these limitations, Fanime 2013 was a turning point in my life: I truly felt like I came out of my shell. Instead of making me more awkward or socially withdrawn (an effect one might assume with anime), I saw a whole tangible community of cosplayers, K-pop, Anime, Manga, and fighting game, fans. I felt like I could talk to anyone, since you were bound to have a mutual interest in any of the myriad of fandoms that paraded around the con space. And even if you didn't have much in common, you could enjoy hearing about other, alternative fandoms (I certainly didn't get those Bushiroad card games or Homestuck before my first con...ok I still don't get Homestuck).

(Seriously, what the hell is this...?)

What I felt was social liberation: for the first time in my life, those online forums of nameless avatars had come to life in front of my eyes. Any awkwardness about talking to someone you didn't know seemed to completely dissipate for me. For once in my life, I felt normal (at an anime convention no less).

But not your "yo bro, let's go get bitches with our bro-tanks. TSHIRT TIME YO JERSEY SHORE" brand of normal.

(I watch it for the gripping plotline)

No, normal in the way of just being able to make friends with everyone, with no fear of social rejection. And while those same awkward people that, unfortunately, can't be helped, are present in full force, an equal number of some really awesome people are just waiting to be befriended. I no longer felt the same anxiety during conversation that I had for so much of my life. I felt more normal, even if my hobbies aren't.

So I hope this properly explains my view of the anime scene, why it tends to attract "weird" people, and why you should give the fandom a chance. Maybe it will make you more socially astute, maybe you'll find a community of great friends into the same way of wasting their time as you, and maybe you'll even realize the whole thing just isn't for you.

Hopefully you just won't find out your "beyond helping". But if that were true for you, I'd be willing to assume you don't have enough self awareness to figure that out.

("Yu-gi-oh Level" oblivious)

Why Anime Makes me Cry...and Why I Love It All the Same

(This is written to be spoiler free, but proceed at your own risk)

A pretty dubious question often wondered of my friends, and the greater anime community, is "what makes people cry?", particularly within the anime/manga medium.

I know a number of people (including myself) who may experience familial tragedies and seemingly fail to bat an eye, but will go on for days about crying at the end of Clannad.

(Though who the fuck could blame them?)

To start, I can at least speak for myself.

There's generally a really strong correlation between an anime's Myanimelist rating, and how much it will elicit an emotional response from me, since really good anime tend to get the drama down pat.

Good anime, with good drama (even anime that aren't exclusively drama based), draw you into the story. Heck, they make you forget it's just a story all together. Instead it makes you feel like you're there, with the characters, sharing in the triumphs, and all the pain.

Bad anime will make you sit there and wonder why your watching it. Unable to get absorbed into the characters, you fail to buy in, and ultimately just don't give a shit.

(Pic oh, so related...though I do realize you could replace this picture with any other generic harem that plagues every season)

So assuming we have a good anime, the process for me goes something like this:

There has to be decent buildup. I can't ever start to feel really sad within the first few episodes, since by then I haven't really subconsciously bought into the show itself.

However, pretty soon I'll start to literally feel chills, which I guess one could call physical manifestation of my feels.

(Oh god, Menma pls stahp, your gonna get me started...)

Even as I write this blog, and dig through my hard drive for some good "feels" anime, I get chills. Literal reverberations from my past emotions, tied like a knot to all the shows I've seen. You could say they've all become a little piece of me.

In a way, they're like parts of my life that though I wasn't physically there, my mind and self were. I lived the anime through the characters.

So I'll often get these shivers during shows. Usually they happen when someone dies, someone cries, someone sacrifices themselves for another, or simply, when something really sad happens...a great turning point or a great twist (all already being features of great or amazing anime).

(Pic related, and also brought to you by Pizza Hut)

And when a major turning point or death happens, my feels bubble up. I start to shiver like crazy, and all of a sudden, I feel something roll down my cheek, and eventually, I just start crying.

Usually it has to be pretty damn major, and I have to really care about the character, but there are just some shows, like Clannad and Chunnibyo, where at major turning points, I would be crying through whole episodes.

Something about really good dramas just gets me. And even though I'm sad and crying, it feels great and very therapeutic.

And that connection to those scenes never dissipates. There have been times where I just feel like crying or getting that "shiver" feeling, so I just watch a Clannad or Angel Beats! AMV. It doesn't even have to be good; just seeing those scenes again triggers that same attached emotion of sadness that caused me to cry in the first place.

(Angel Beats! had a convenient tear counter on-screen)

So if people don't get why you cry, I would just say, anime is pretty powerful stuff. I haven't cried during a single movie or other piece of media. Family tragedies may make me feel sad or depressed, but I simply can't get myself built up emotionally enough to start shedding tears.

The reason I believe this happens is that (some, particularly good and well-thought out) anime is designed in a way to be emotional; its literally engineered to make you cry and pull at your heartstrings. While this may be true of most any other drama in any other medium, anime is simply different. You often hear about a show by browsing online or talking to a friend, and get excited to watch it. You may pore through reviews or ask for recommendations on any of the many major anime sites. Then you sit and watch it. While most movies or even games will last just a few hours, a good amount of anime will take 10+ hours to watch. You become throughly invested in it, not just emotionally, but with the time you spent just watching it. And finally, after all those feels, a great, well-timed twist or unfortunate death or demise is enough to draw out the waterworks. I think its a pretty amazing process that truly is unique to anime. There just simply isn't anything like it.

With shows like Clannad, Welcome to the NHK!, or Chuunibyo, (or again, any good drama anime) the emotional high/turning points are made in such a way, with particular music, writing, timing, and art, that they just hit you hard and quick with a sea of sadness and emotion (or even happiness, though I have yet to cry tears of joy at an anime. Japan must be one really depressed country.)

While the list of shows that made me cry constantly like a little bitch, and still make me cry when I think about them, is relatively short...

(Yeah the stupid Clannad soundtrack still makes me cry too...I've unshamelessly skipped it in my shuffle more times than I can count)

...theres a large number of shows that are just of their own special case. Alot of slice of life shows, especially K-ON!, have no major twists or turns to elicit much of an emotional response. But hell, if those closing ceremonies aren't sad. But they're sad in a very melancholy way: its almost as if you spent all those days in the clubroom with those characters, enjoying yourself and your youth over a few cakes and tea. And just like yours and their school days, it has to come to an inevitable, but equally sad and unfortunate, end. Your youth is over, and you all most go your separate ways. For that reason, I did shed a few seemingly unorthodox tears the last time I saw Mio, Yui, Ritsu & Mugi step out of that club room, to leave it behind to Azusa, and the friends she had made along the way. It truly is a nostalgic and bittersweet feeling, and one that sticks with you all the same.

(I'm pretty sure we all secretly wished to be in a Light Music Club....though I would be willing to settle with just being in an all girl's school)

And finally you have a show like Fullmetal Alchemist (not Brotherhood, I haven't been blessed with space on my hard drive yet). I can't remember crying during a single particular scene in the show (except maybe the Ishval arc). However, at the very, very, end of the show, as the Elric Brothers faced the sad but certain reality of their situation, a single manly tear slowly made its way down my face. I like to think Alex Louis Armstrong would be proud.

("You didn't cry? Guess I'll just have to force the feels into you!")

It feels like you just went on that same, long journey with the Elric Brothers, met the same zany characters and learned those same lessons of life... and now the long, laborious trek has finally reached an end, for better or for worse. The whole crazy ride is over, and life must go on.

So in closing, why does anime make me cry? Because a great anime is perfectly engineered to do so. It's because I can experience an emotional roller coaster like no other, that makes me feel alive, that I love anime.

Musing on Egypt (from an Extemper's Perspective)

Time magazine posted this as their front cover:

I literally couldn't agree more.

I began speaking on Egypt constantly a little over a year ago as a Junior in high school. It was right around the time of the beginning of the Arab Spring movement. Basically I learned and was instructed that when it came to Egypt, Syria, or any other nation in the grip of some major struggle that seemed positive on the protestor's side, keep it positive.

Certainly it seemed that the whole event was positive at first. Egypt's citizens, with the world community (which basically means the US and maybe some of the more affluent European nations) acting as a catalyst for their actions.

But just like African nations that constantly find themselves in the midst of apartheid and coups, often times it seems citizens in societies around the world don't know when to stop protesting.

It seemed great when Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, and seemed to signal a new era in Egyptian society and politics. But it seemed pretty easy to read the writing on the wall: when Egypt's military held onto power in a quasi-police state for months at a time, it quickly became clear that a democratic transition would be not only hard, but next to impossible.

As such, when Muslim Brotherhood (an organization thats not exactly known for the most peaceful of transitions and protest, though Egypt's MB sect was much less violent) backed politician Mohammed Morsi was elected, it seemed great. But of course it wasn't meant to last.

See, all the protesting after all the years of doing nothing seemed to make Egyptians too sensitive to actions by the government, and as such, as soon as Morsi screwed up one thing and wasn't perfect, the whole nation seemed to flip on the Muslim Brotherhood.

With the MB headquarters burning in the streets of Cairo, and the military attempting to establish a new totalitarian-like rule of law, it certainly seems like Egypt is going to dissolve back into the same chaos that ruled in the time immediately post-Mubarak, with the military cracking down on whoever they determine to be "dangerous islamists". The scary precedent here is apparent, and has already led to hundreds of killing and arrests on part of the new 'government'.

What should the "world's worst democrats" do in this situation? It is the opinion of this blogger that they simply need to accept an imperfect society and demand the reinstating of Morsi.

As much as I doubt this will happen, and I really don't know how exactly Egypt will have a future, this is exactly what must be done.

Take it a given that they are really sensitive to the democratic process. So, are they going to protest and try to overthrow the head of state and his political party every time a new democratically elected successor makes one little mistake?

Imagine if in the US, every time President Obama made a mistake, every citizen in the US rose up to overthrow. We simply couldn't function as a democratic society. Now throw our military in their and the eventual blood bath between loyalists and dissidents becomes apparent.

Egypt and its citizens are at a cross-roads. If they continue to accept military rule and fail to integrate themselves into the perfectly imperfect system that is democracy, they will continue to face a society that is far more abusive than their current state-less system. Clearly military rule is no way to go. Thus it it is up to the great protestors to lay down their guns and realize the fight was, and is, over. They need to bring themselves to realize that the fight for a just government must come peacefully from the pen, and not the sword.

Possible the greatest irony of the whole situation is that Egypt was much safer and put together on a societal level back when Hosni Mubarak was in power. Although no one is saying he was a great leader by any means, he did keep the country in one piece, and made it safe for tourists.

The same cannot be said for Egypt's protestors.

Why I Suggest Going to Anime Cons

(I originally wrote this on another online forum)

In my experience I love cons. Most of my really good friends go to the ends of the earth to hide their powerlevel in fear of being social outcasts, (at college no less, where truly no one give a shit what your into) so for the most part I’ve had to go to cons with people I don’t consider my best friends. One anon wrote only go with a group of good friends, and I couldn’t echo that advice any more…the time I went with a pretty good friend I had a blast, and when I went with a kid I didn’t know as well (just because I really wanted to go) I had a pretty awful time.

While I have to agree that homestuckers (it’s a webcomic for people who don't know) seem to be really annoying and feel cancerous at first, in my experience most of them are also huge anime fans (and are really nice), and don’t go to cons just to meet up with other homestuck people….but seriously, screw bronies.

More importantly for me, I have met some pretty cool people at cons. In particular I met this one girl and her friend after a panel on nerd courting (those of you that go to fanime or anime expo have probably heard of it) and they're now both my good con & and real life friends.

Don’t go to cons in the hope of getting a one night stand. Besides the fact that going with such a goal will probably ensure you'll have an awful time (and likely means you're an awful human being), anons that make it seem like the easiest thing in the world are either lying or are massive players with great social skills (which do you think is more likely?)

The first time you see a dealer’s hall youll probably shit yourself (as I did) at all the stuff there is to buy. Everything is always a bit pricey but I don’t usually spend more than about ~200 dollars and I’ve gotten some really cool stuff.

In all, if you’ve never been to a con, I am huge advocate for them. I’ve had tons of fun and just the fact that you can strike up a conversation with practically anyone, since you know they’ll be into the exact same shit, is pretty cool. They literally have everything (games, panels, etc) and its about the closest thing to a Chuck E Cheese an anime fan can get…there’s so much stuff do to that your bound to have a good time. If your concerned about it being a bunch of fat, annoying weabs, you will definitely get that, but trust me, it's all worth it. And who knows, maybe you’ll find your next favorite hobby, series, friend or even girlfriend.

Plus cosplaying is really fun....just ask Jessica Nigri ;)

(I feel like her cosplays shouldn't even count, since it always looks like she forgot to make half the costume)

First Post

Why I decided to start blogging

Well its not really because I think anyones gonna care (its a blog, who even reads blogs these days?)

For me, my decision to start blogging has come out of a need to keep myself sane.

I've still got another month until school starts so I figured I needed to do something to keep my mind productive in the mean time.

If anyone besides me ever reads this, I'll probably post up some anime/game reviews, my opinion on the anime medium/japanese culture, reactions to news and just some stuff from my everyday life (which has somehow proven alot less interesting than all the slice of life shows I've been watching).