what do you think about anime elitism and which anime would fit here?

You know guys, you talk about cringe but the most cringe and annoying are people who are offended because japanese cartoons (like "omg first ep of Goblin Slayer" or "omg Mushoku Tensei MC" or "omg dog dies in JoJo") - compared to such people any type of anime elitism is nothing bad.

So while elitism may be slightly annoying, it does not actively try to destroy anime community.

But answering to the topic - Attack on Titan.

Mod Edit: Removed baiting.

Elitism is just a word for snobbish, and being a snob has very little to do with what kinds of media you consume. Unironically, the shows I would put in that 3x3 square, would be shows like Attack on Titan, One Piece, Chainsaw Man etc. Action shonen fanbases, are surprisingly more snobbish, than say communities dedicated to niche mecha shows, communities where you would expect more "snobbish behavior". I literally have never encountered a snobbish Mushishi fan (yes anecdotal I know).

Oh yeah, like IDK, most of the people I have talked to, who like shows, like in the meme, are pretty chill.

Some like Lain, are pretty weird, however, LOTGH is less complicated than GOT, and GOT was a big mainstream TV series/popular books series. It's not that hard. The reality, is a lot of people just don't check out shows, present in that meme, because they just don't want to watch "yucky old animation", and that is it. Which fine, however, you don't have to make a whole victimhood narrative about it.

No I am not offended lol, I have encountered plenty of snobs in some of these fanbases, though I have encountered way more in the ones I named largely because they are more popular. The idea that “elitism” means you watch old/niche media is just a dumb characterization….

I don’t get why you seem intent on starting some sort of fight/baiting me though lol? My ratings aren't really skewed any way. I have given works like Akira/FLCL poor scores and pretty mainstream works like Naruto or Dragon Ball somewhat high scores. I love battle shonen, I can enjoy a good HS rom com etc, it's just I also actually watch old anime, and genres that often get overlooked in the English anime sphere like mecha. My average rating is a 7.06, I assure you, you can find people with way lower scores than me, including yourself Mr. Elitist lol.

I didn't make any post that characterized people who hate those shows as being dumb, either, so I am confused where you think I took offense?

I have literally seen tons of posts claiming AOT is 2dp4u all the time. Action shonen fanbases are extremely toxic.... The toxicity in that fandom, especially before, and just after the ending came out was pretty high.

Don't you get bored yelling tourist, at anyone who disagrees with you? Frankly you aren't much different from those fans you criticize. People don't have to like "2dp4u shows" and they don't have to like ecchi. I don't know why you have this weird insistence that people must like the stuff, you like to qualify as a real fan.

Also Toonami helped pave the way for anime to exist in NA, so to call those fans, who were watching anime in the 90s, tourists is honestly kinda hilarious lol. They likely have been watching anime longer than you. Also, I have encoutnered Japanese fans bitching about Sunrise switching to the idol scene, and marketing cute girls, instead of making more kick ass robot shows, basically the same narratives you will hear from many "elitists". Is that a guy a tourist too lol?

You don't have to agree with all of my tastes to be a true anime fan. You don't have to be a fan of ecchi to be a true anime fan, but if you want to censor it, then you are a tourist.A tourist is a tourist, no matter how long they've been loitering. And most "90s anime fans" who are elitists like this did not watch anime in the 90s; they are just tourists who watch that stuff to seem "cool" and "cultured". Most people in Japan say that the 90s were the worst decade of anime.

Spending an excessive amount of time worrying about what other people like or, worse, what other people think about what you like, is a weird approach to take to a hobby that involves a lot of sitting by oneself in a dark room.

Fuzzy logic can help here, since there isn't an objective definition of elitist anime. For example I'd say that Lain and LoGH 100% elitist, the few most popular battle shounen and romcoms 0%, whereas a lot of anime are somewhere in the middle (elitist 3x3 sometimes include iyashikei anime, but not always). Evangelion is in a weird spot because sometimes it seems to be the textbook elitist anime, but it's also extremely popular and hated by some elitists because "older mecha anime already did the same things but better".


@alshu liking one or more anime that belong to the "elitist started pack" doesn't make you an elitist, it's the combination of "all of your favorite anime are elitist" + cunty behavior (and people like this do exist, it's not a boogeyman).

You don't have to agree with all of my tastes to be a true anime fan. You don't have to be a fan of ecchi to be a true anime fan, but if you want to censor it, then you are a tourist.A tourist is a tourist, no matter how long they've been loitering. And most "90s anime fans" who are elitists like this did not watch anime in the 90s; they are just tourists who watch that stuff to seem "cool" and "cultured". Most people in Japan say that the 90s were the worst decade of anime.

Elitism is just a word for snobbish, and being a snob has very little to do with what kinds of media you consume. Unironically, the shows I would put in that 3x3 square, would be shows like Attack on Titan, One Piece, Chainsaw Man etc. Action shonen fanbases, are surprisingly more snobbish, than say communities dedicated to niche mecha shows, communities where you would expect more "snobbish behavior". I literally have never encountered a snobbish Mushishi fan (yes anecdotal I know).

Oh yeah, like IDK, most of the people I have talked to, who like shows, like in the meme, are pretty chill.

Some like Lain, are pretty weird, however, LOTGH is less complicated than GOT, and GOT was a big mainstream TV series/popular books series. It's not that hard. The reality, is a lot of people just don't check out shows, present in that meme, because they just don't want to watch "yucky old animation", and that is it. Which fine, however, you don't have to make a whole victimhood narrative about it.

@BilboBaggins365 I have actually encountered a few Mushishi snobs, believe it or not. Here, in my own country. And they're just the weirdest type of guys, like they behave high and mighty over some obscure anime. I assume this is recidivist behavior that disappeared from the West like almost a decade ago now.
So yeah, not entirely true on elitists not being a thing anymore, depends on the region.

And I have to agree about mecha, really don't think there's a more legitimately chill fandom than the mecha fandom, as long as you actually show some effort in appreciating mecha and don't pretend that Evangelion, Code Geass, Gurren Lagann or maybe some of the more recent hyped shows like 86 is an absolute end-all be-all to the genre. That's about the worst kind of elitist behavior you could expect from mecha fans, and it's not even elitism as much as it is an "it's all so tiresome" reaction to I guess normies reacting like normies to mecha.

>what is a tourist
I think I will have to agree with @ForgotEyeWasHere in regards to the concept of a tourist. Tourists are almost always aggressive to the works they dislike unlike the more normal consumer who'll just shrug and move along. Rather than leave things be they oftentimes outright attack people for liking things they don't like. It's a kind of unhealthy behavior that doesn't make things better for either side.

I agree with this. Elitism is basically just popular opinion dressed up with arrogance.

Most claims of elitism are going to be targeted at people decrying one well known show in favor of another well known show. They're popular because they're relatively high quality and likeable shows, so trying to impress a sense of elitism by aligning with some of the most popular franchises is a fairly easy thing to achieve. An elitists top anime list being in majority alignment with any Top 10 Anime list found with an internet search by the same name doesn't seem very "elite" to me.

So yeah, elitism is just a corrosive mindset and inflammatory attitude, and it has little to do with taste.

@valico Always had the opposite view, elitists are people trying to push people into giving a chance to the shows they consider good because they are unpopular picks. e.g. Mononoke was a common elitist recommendation. And they do that by trashing other anime, like a tongue of cheek or twisted way to capture attention, and so people watch their rec in some kind of rebuttal.

No, he's right. People always push the same few titles, those popular among elitists. If the goal was to highlight hidden gems, they'd recommend the thousands of other titles you've probably never heard of.

Fanbases of mainstream anime are usually more elitist than fanbases of "elitist" anime. Lots of time they say exact same thing as fans of "elitist" anime get accused of saying, but they hide behind being fans of mainstream anime. I quite rarely see fans of "elitist" anime, let alone ones that are actually elitists.

I would say that Frieren, Code Geass and One Piece have the most elitist fanbases.

@AdamDosly I get Frieren and One Piece, but Code Geass? Really? In 2025?

Geass is literally 20 years old and it didn't get a big re-release like Evangelion did in 2019. Most of the time I see people talk about Geass it's either how the anime is outrageously over the top and should be seen as such (rightfully so) or people praising the fanservice.

@TheMechaManiac

It is still quite popular anime. And it gets talked about quite a lot, when it is brought up. Especially because its quality is rather divisive. Plenty of people think that it is great political drama with one of the best endings and that Lelouch is well written genius. This is where lots of elitism is coming from.