| Why is anime still seen as childish? Everyone I know makes fun of it until they start watching. Then they seem to really like it lmao. |
| people saying anime is for kids clearly don't know what the fuck they're talking about |
  "O kawaii koto" ( ´• ᴗ •` ) I wish i could love myself~ |
| The vast majority of people worldwide think of anime as cartoons, and the vast majority of people watching cartoons are kids, so it comes as no surprise. |
| Correct me if I'm wrong about this, but anime's mainstream western popularity peaked in the late 90's with shows like Dragon Ball, Pokemon and Yugioh which are generally aimed at a younger audience. It's possible that that period shaped people's perception of anime and still affects it today. |
| I MUST SOMEHOW MAKE SENSE OF OUR CONVOLUTED SITUATION |
| Cuz most people still have no clue what anime is, and the most popular shows in the west are more for younger audiences. Also cartoons in the west are usually regarded as something for a younger audience, so many people probably make the assumption that it's similar for anime. |
| Because most anime that reaches the mainstream in the west are either for children or for teenagers. I don't think there's any anime aimed at adults with that level of popularity (even Cowboy Bebop is pretty niche), so it's not surprising that people outside the community think of the medium as something for children. |
| from what ive seen so far anime is for the most part childish |
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| Well to be fair, the target audience of most anime are teenagers so... |
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Jacksen said: Why is anime still seen as childish? Everyone I know makes fun of it until they start watching. Then they seem to really like it lmao. You probably interact with the wrong people. and they probably have not seen the seinen Anime yet. |
| Imagine seeing adult anime fans from a third-person point of view. Mostly a bunch of weirdos watching little 2d girls, or teens at school, or some tryhard deepshit. |
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Satyr_icon said: THIS! Most of the anime series that are broadcast on TV outside Japan are those meant for kids. Here in India, the only known anime when I was a kid were Pokémon, Digimon, Doraemon, Ninja Hattori, Genius Bakabon, Perman and Shin Chan. Many kids didn't even realize that these are actually Japanese shows translated into Hindi.Because most anime that reaches the mainstream in the west are either for children or for teenagers. I don't think there's any anime aimed at adults with that level of popularity (even Cowboy Bebop is pretty niche), so it's not surprising that people outside the community think of the medium as something for children. |
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| Animation is treated as childish since some people cannot comprehend that animated stuff can be for adults. You have to make such people watch things like "Perfect Blue", "Grave of the fireflies" or "Erased" to make them understand. But the stigma is real and I hope it will die with anime becoming more mainstream. |
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| More than half the population in the world are unaware of term 'anime'. Most of the people know dragon ball, doraemon, pokemon or shinchan but they are labeled as cartoons. Animation in general is known as cartoon to most people so, if they even see anime which is just another form of animation, they will label it as cartoon. Cartoons in general are childish hence, anime is also labeled as childish. If you want to convience them that anime is not childish, then show them some gore like elfen lied. They will understand because, it worked after I showed it to my friends. |
 "All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost." |
| I had no experience with such people. Hell i turned my recent college friend into a casual anime watcher. |
Check out my taste and my profile. |
| From the outside perspective, assuming that you never seen anime before, you see it as animated which might lead to let you think that it is childish in a way. People might have watch shows from famous channels like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney etc. which the target audience is most likely kids to teenagers so you would come to think that cartoons are childish in nature. So animated shows/movies in general are more likely to be seen "childish" than live dramas/shows. It just comes to the perception of some people really, even Family Guy and The Simpsons are "adult" comedy cartoons but it might be seen as childish when compared to live comedy shows. They might have not seen hentai so that probably explains their perception. |
  Once we realize it, everything will fall into place Our hearts calling to the future with all their might We'll move forward, holding each other's shaking hands |
| Because there's something wrong with you. People no longer say that unless you act in an immature way. |
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| Its just pure Ignorance. Simple as that. |
| Show them 'High School DxD' and they'll shut up instantly. |
| -David |
| Doesn't happen to me. 95% of people I know my age has watched anime. The most popular anime are geared towards teenage boys, anyway. It's not really that baffling that the people that don't know anything about it think it's for children. People that don't know anything about a specific form of media will only look at the immediate viewable surface level, the part that's most apparent. Whether it's to their intention to look down on something or otherwise. People generalizing forms of media is incredibly common. You've probably done this yourself for something else. |
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| a majority of anime, especially the ones that get all the attention is created for a younger audience, hence people think that Anime is for kids. |
 It’s okay to look back at the past, just don’t stare too long |
Levi_Sensei said: I've only two such friends and only one of them can be called a hardcore anime watcher.But I still have some friends who are into anime and we share recommendations and all |
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| The majority of people who i come across that look down on anime are other anime fans, it's hardly ever if at all non fans. |
 I don't believe in the Devil. You should. He believes in you. |
| Idk, maybe because its viewers are still too immature to actually confront the people who allegedly have these prejudices when they encounter them, but instead generalize their experiences with them to the rest of humanity and find whining on a message board to be the best way to deal with it? Seriously, what's the point of threads like this? A pat on the shoulder? Most people I know know that anime is not just for children and if your friends think otherwise then you should talk to them about it, ask them why they think what they think, try to change their minds if you really care. Don't ask a bunch of randos who never met these people you're talking about just for affirmation. What good does whining on MAL do you? Why do you think a bunch of strangers on the internet can give more accurate answers than the actual people you're talking about? Why is making threads like this every week such a popular hobby among anime fans? I think they just like their role as the victim of prejudices and reveling in that victimhood is one of the favorite group activities of this community, much more than actually doing anything about it. Maybe if the anime fandom grows the fuck up and starts owning up to their hobby in various ways (like not hiding that they like it like an embarassed child or stopping all the childish, self-deprecation memes á la 'anime is trash and so am I') less people will see anime as being for children, but as long as they behave like children it's not really surprising that perception persists. The biggest perpetuators of prejudices towards anime, are anime fans themselves. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
Pullman said: Idk, maybe because its viewers are still too immature to actually confront the people who allegedly have these prejudices when they encounter them, but instead generalize their experiences with them to the rest of humanity and find whining on a message board to be the best way to deal with it? Seriously, what's the point of threads like this? A pat on the shoulder? Most people I know know that anime is not just for children and if your friends think otherwise then you should talk to them about it, ask them why they think what they think, try to change their minds if you really care. Don't ask a bunch of randos who never met these people you're talking about just for affirmation. What good does whining on MAL do you? Why do you think a bunch of strangers on the internet can give more accurate answers than the actual people you're talking about? Why is making threads like this every week such a popular hobby among anime fans? I think they just like their role as the victim of prejudices and reveling in that victimhood is one of the favorite group activities of this community, much more than actually doing anything about it. Maybe if the anime fandom grows the fuck up and starts owning up to their hobby in various ways (like not hiding that they like it like an embarassed child or stopping all the childish, self-deprecation memes á la 'anime is trash and so am I') less people will see anime as being for children, but as long as they behave like children it's not really surprising that perception persists. The biggest perpetuators of prejudices towards anime, are anime fans themselves. The only people that know I watch anime are people that already watch it. I never talk about it unless its brought up in a conversation. Nobody is whining here, Im just genuinely curious as to why its looked down upon. |
fuyuki said: Imagine seeing adult anime fans from a third-person point of view. Mostly a bunch of weirdos watching little 2d girls, or teens at school, or some tryhard deepshit. Guess I'm in the minority since I often find little girls annoying in anime. |
| Maybe because of the art style of most Anime nowadays. |
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| because anime is animation, and most people think that anything animation is for children |
| Because most of anime are shonen and shoujou which are childish (in my point of view), people (non anime watchers) don't know about seinen and josei shows because they aren't popular. |
| Eh been there done that didnt know shit about anime back then now Im ashamed I thought that... People think anime is childish because it has drawings and they mostly know about Pokemon etc... they basicly dont know a shit about it so just show them boku no pico lol |
| A lot of people are close-minded and don't even take into consideration the fact that there might be animations for adults. They never watched animations for adults, may never even heard of it, so they assume that animes are same thing as cartoons from Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon since they are more familiarized with them. |
| ignorant and close minded people, enough said |
| Probably because most anime is aimed at kids, with merchandise etc. Only a small minority is made for adults. |
| "This emotion is mine alone. It is for Madoka alone." - Homura or how I would descripe Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. |
Grizzziff said: Neck beard? nay, full on flaming face bush of maximum man glory. I blame the fan base, while the limited variety statistic does play a role, the fans have a habit of enforcing the childish vibe . All the stereotypical little fan habits, all the overly serious fans arguing to the death over their shows, the format catches the blame for that. It can't be helped, as long as the typical fan behavior is recognized as adults screaming NYAN at a convention, or some grown ass anituber guy singing praises to his waifu, anime will be viewed as childish. I do think that mindset is coming to its end though, I saw a photo of Elon Musk rocking a Kakegurui t-shirt. A few more years and the fan base will be as publicly diverse as the science fiction/superhero genre, and catch less hate as a result. All of this is personal opinion though, as I have no way of proving it. That's a fooking beautiful beard sir. |
NANACHO FOR PRESIDENT |
Jacksen said: Because contrary to popular belief it isn't as popular and admired as you would like to think.Why is anime still seen as childish? Everyone I know makes fun of it until they start watching. Then they seem to really like it lmao. |
Please learn about cel animation and its technical process. Learn how special effects and backlighting were done without computers. |
| Because the community cares too much whether people think it is childish. Only teenagers care so much whether people take them as adult because practically they're not. |
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CHC said: Because the community cares too much whether people think it is childish. Only teenagers care so much whether people take them as adult because practically they're not. That's unfair though, because anime is often labelled as childish either way, for reasons that go beyond a few obnoxious teens on the internet. Denying that a certain social preconception exists for animation, and that many activities anime fans indulge in are catalogued as weird and childish, is giving too much power to a random 15-year-old who just wants to appear more mature than he/she is through their tastes and hobbies, like every other teen. Using anime for that is not different from using rock music and yet rock music doesn't quite create this prejudice in a larger scale. |
| well most people think anime is for kids because its drawn, and probably the only kind of anime they have ever seen is shounen and they were pushed away by all the screaming and power of friendship. if you want to change someone's mind about it just show them berserk or eva, i doubt they will ever say its for kids after that |
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jal90 said: CHC said: Because the community cares too much whether people think it is childish. Only teenagers care so much whether people take them as adult because practically they're not. That's unfair though, because anime is often labelled as childish either way, for reasons that go beyond a few obnoxious teens on the internet. Denying that a certain social preconception exists for animation, and that many activities anime fans indulge in are catalogued as weird and childish, is giving too much power to a random 15-year-old who just wants to appear more mature than he/she is through their tastes and hobbies, like every other teen. Using anime for that is not different from using rock music and yet rock music doesn't quite create this prejudice in a larger scale. What you said is right but I didn't really mean to comment on the cause of the public perception of anime. What I actually meant is "don't care about how other people think of your hobbies if you think you're mature." When I was 16 I was into poetry and literature and I was thought to be a pretentious weirdos by other kids in my class. Is poetry a childish thing? No. Is it inherently a pretentious weirdo's hobby? No. Even something that has a prestigious status in high culture is not going to be viewed highly amongst teens. It's just how the world of teenagers operate. If you're frustrated about how they think of you hobbies, just don't talk about that with them and you'll be OK. When you get into a college and when you get to work, no one really cares about your hobbies unless they're also interested in what you're interested. And to be honest I think there's just nothing wrong about an adult watching a show for kids. Most Ghibli's movies are for kids. Some of the best TV anime production is for kids (Sailor Moon, Doraemon, Shin-chan, Komocha, etc.) Personally I love kid show when they're well done. I feel nothing about anime being labelled as kiddy, because even the more "mature" shows do in fact usually target a rather young audience (12-22). The label is not entirely untrue. I've friends in their 30s who are casual viewers have no problem with telling everyone that they're fans of Doraemon, Cells at Work, Cardcaptor Sakura, etc. The problem is whether you're mature enough to have no shame in enjoying kiddy fun. It's easy to act all solemn, edgy and "mature". But as Picasso said, "it takes a long time to grow young." |
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