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Looking over the comments and reactions to Free! Iwatobi Swim Club reminded me of how defensive people get with regards to anime, both on the love and hate side. I don't care about homosexuality. I don't care about moe or Kyoto Animation. I don't care about pandering or who likes or hates whatever. This defensiveness could extend to works like Sword Art Online, Code Geass, Evangelion, anything that has received some sort of criticism. It could even apply to things obscure, art styles, authors and directors, studios and publishing companies, perhaps the medium in general. The defensive reaction to criticism in anime as a whole is what worries me.

I'm going to purposely not bring up any controversial topics because I'm not qualified to talk about them. Instead, I want to look at the act of defending anime itself. It's natural to defend something you love, especially if it also involves something you believe in. I'm guilty of this myself, when I am forced to defend my love or position with regards to anime on the internet and real life. It's a knee jerk reaction where you can't help but feel threatened over some comment or off-hand remark. Even worse if it's straight criticism, or perhaps straight hate if it gets bad. Obviously the problem comes in a pair: Person A who expresses their opinion and Person B who responds to that opinion. This context gives us a situation where it becomes dangerous to voice one's own opinion, and it becomes rude to try and make some comment on that opinion. It's no wonder why anime fans seemingly can't get along. One person's favorites will, eventually, be criticized by another person's disappointment. However, in there is a dialogue that will mature anime and fans alike, so it's necessary to participate in this dialogue, but in a non-destructive manner.


The Truth of the Matter

There's no real solution to this since this change has to occur with the anime-viewing community as a whole, and I'm certainly not one to suggest such a radical change, but it's something I want to throw out there. Perhaps it's something ingrained in people to try and become superior to others. Perhaps it's the want to become special - to think that as anime fans, we have experienced things that no other medium can offer. In that vein, we're pretty damn divided on things.

Within anime, the idea of superior/inferior genres, the criticism of whole genres, the subjectivity of art styles, subs vs. dubs, and the criticism of actors/writers/directors/studios/licensing companies/etc are often debated to points where people groan in response to these topics popping up. Sticking around in the world of anime long enough, you've probably heard them.

"Anime is dying because of moe!"
"Is [insert popular anime] overrated?"
"Why does [insert controversial anime] get so much hate?"
"Am I the only one who likes dubs?"
"Anime > Cartoons!"
"Why is ecchi so popular?"

The list goes on. Of course, we all have our pet peeves with regards to anime, and it's nice to vent, but these types of topics only addresses these things in a shallow and weak way, seemingly trying only to find conformation for one's own frustration. Sometimes, this gives way to intelligent discussion. Other times, this breeds a cesspool of trash responses that only further embarrass the anime-viewing community. Usually though, it just causes frustration for responders, whom have constantly given answers to the same questions.

Going deeper into anime, the biggest problem we got are things that relate to real life, such as the aforementioned homosexual under/overtones in Free. Again, I am in no position to talk on this subject, nor any similar subjects, but using this as an example, they're touchy subjects that get people rather...riled up. These are things that have torn apart parents and children as they have torn apart neighbors from neighbors. These are things that cause fights and murders. These are things that people go to court over, and would defend or attack to their last breaths.

Obviously, when these topics come up in anime, arguments are bound to happen. One of the reasons why I was so interested in watching Free was because of this possibility for arguments. I was very interested in how people would react, more so as to how people would respond to those reactionary people and the resulting chain reaction. It left me...Disappointed. Not because there was an argument, but because that argument ended up turning into insult-throwing and just a complete wreck of a discussion. I don't frequent larger sites such as 4chan or the likes, but I can only imagine how it looked when Free was first aired.

The internet is an interesting place. Very few people would insult someone in front of them at a cashier, but in the internet, we have that anonymous factor. Nothing can stop us. We effectively have a megaphone and everyone is forced to listen to us. It's a great tool with regards to free speech and whatnot, but it too easily breeds hate.

Still, the subjects of morals and communication effectiveness on the internet are way above my head, so let's get back to anime.


For the Love of Anime

It's not enough to just ask for everyone to get along. Actually, not only is that impossible, but it's with these arguments that we can have growth and actually address things that need that passion to get across. However, when we start insulting and getting defensive, the problem starts.

First up, the topic creator. Nothing can be done about this. It's natural to ask questions and to bring up discussion. It's natural to reach out and seek out others who are either looking for answers as well, or perhaps have the answers. Still, something needs to be said about this. The concept of a "terrible topic" often carries with it a landmine question that only leads to sarcasm and derailing. Perhaps it's a topic that has been argued upon so much that people are just tired. Other times it's a seriously controversial topic that no one wants to take seriously since it'll just end badly. Maybe the question itself was actually a dumb one. I would like to say that there are no stupid questions, but really, we get it, Shinji Ikari is canonically a coward, it doesn't need to be pointed out.

Still, at times, these types of topics pop up, and it falls upon the topic responders to show some restraint. We all love anime, and everyone wants to see good things to come from it. This is why we express our love for anime by asking why certain series don't get enough appreciation. This why we criticize anime for why it's flooded with crap. It's why we will defend anime, and associate them with our beliefs. Again, I'm not saying to get a long and stop fighting, but for the love crap, I'm hoping that we, as a community, can stop with the trash talk.

With regards to responding to topics that are just asking to get crapped on, it's better not to respond. Responding in a sarcastic and insulting way just gives the community a bad reputation. Insulting people isn't pretty, and the resulting arguments are equally just as unpleasant. We can be better then that. At the very least, we can avoid becoming "that person" who has to vocally/verbally tell off someone's love, even if the love is really dumb. I repeat, don't be that person. If a topic is really bad, just don't give it attention. It'll go away on its own, and commenting on how bad that topic is just gives it more attention. There's no need to crush someone's love or point out how bad their taste is. Also, if you see someone with a bad opinion or is being a jerk, try not to give them attention. Pointing it out is okay sometimes, perhaps even criticizing them if they're seriously wrong, but really, is it worth going any further? Rhetorical as it is, if someone was so bent on having that bad opinion or being a jerk, is it worth it to even respond to them?

It's great to love anime, it's fun to spread your love of your favorites, and it's great to criticize short-comings in anime to find a better method of storytelling, but the defensiveness really needs to be addressed somehow. No one enjoys watching pointless debates that go on for pages. No one enjoys being part of debates that have no answers. No one enjoys moderating those debates that never end. It's a pain for everyone involved. I'm not saying to simply walk away and admit to those bad opinions or criticisms, but it's the maturity to accept that they exist and to leave sleeping rage machines lie. At least, that's what this anime lover thinks.


Demonstrating Defense in a Real Life Situation

To give a personal anecdote, I am an architecture major at my university, and I've been trying to incorporate ideas and concepts I've found in anime into my designs. However, I've never gone so far as to use a specific anime as an inspiration until recently. Kino's Journey was my inspiration for the design for an architectural public library made for the 21st century. It's one thing to profess your love for anime by walking around with an anime T-shirt or posting on some website, but using it openly in an educational environment is something else.

My concept was using the idea of the "journey" as a multi-step process from the external experience upon entering the library into an internal understanding gained upon leaving. Having to explain this to classmates, peers, professors, and trained professionals and architects from around the country, in context of having an anime as my inspiration, was nerve wracking as all hell. Yes, I had to explain Kino's Journey many, many times. Yes, the concept was thoroughly thrashed. Yes, I got a lot of awkward looks and questions about it being a cartoon or not. However, I never corrected anyone. I never talked back. I accepted everything, took it to heart, responded by asking for a better understand of their thoughts, and moved on.

But you know what? I got one man to Google Kino's Journey. He was probably three times my age and probably knew more about life than I could ever try to fake, but he looked at my work, asked me a few questions about the anime, pulled out his phone and Googled it in front of me. Sure I got a passing grade for both the project and the class, and sure I'm moving onto upper division studies next year, but that moment, where I got someone to be interested in Kino's Journey, was the very reason why I went through all the grilling and thrashing. And y'know what, I'm going to do it again.




tl;dr - Stay classy, keep calm, move along.