| Vast majority only jump on what's being talked about on social media and they don't chart their own course. |
  |
| Hype is a helluva drug. Peeps need that fix. |
 |
| I don't think it's laziness for most, just a genuine lack of interest. Casual anime fans are totally fine with sticking to what's popular and talked-about. That's the way they enjoy anime, and they don't want or need to dig deeper. If that's how they feel, why force it? I think everyone should feel free to enjoy their hobbies and interests in their own way. |
 |
| the masses just don't want to think for themselves. That's why the only the most awful, generic, disposable music is so popular. |
 |
Attackonfiller said: Hype is a helluva drug. Peeps need that fix. You can create new waves of hype for old things if your peers haven't seen it. You can be the one that creates the hype instead of following it. palm-tree said: Casual anime fans are totally fine with sticking to what's popular and talked-about. That's the way they enjoy anime, and they don't want or need to dig deeper. All of the stuff that they like in other media that they are more invested in I'm sure could be found in anime, too. That's why they need to dig. |
IpreferEcchiMay 6, 2022 3:37 PM
|
| People talking about digging deep into anime, but no one ever even heard about Tanaami Keiichi. There's a whole lot out there. Hell, I may go crazy and pay for this obscure shit one day |
IpreferEcchi said: Vast majority only jump on what's being talked about on social media and they don't chart their own course. Have you ever considered that the vast majority are just casual viewers that just want something to chat about around their social watering hole? |
LordLagann said: Have you ever considered that the vast majority are just casual viewers that just want something to chat about around their social watering hole? I just told another user, they could create brand new hype for old things that their peers have never seen. They can steer the chat. |
|
| Yes, I can't comprehend how people only stick to popular anime, I recommended some underground anime like Steins;Gate or Hunter x Hunter to some friends, but they only watch SAO and Naruto |
| If you're a fanboy, please don't waste my time. Watch more movies, please. Perhaps, this is hell. |
IpreferEcchi said: I just told another user, they could create brand new hype for old things that their peers have never seen. They can steer the chat. Unlikely. They would have to become actively involved and willing to engage beyond a superficial level. The opposite of casual. It's no different from casual readers or movie goers. They just don't have any interest in seriously pursing a hobby or past time. It's all brownie points. |
| because everyone wants to be trendy. who cares about some 5 minute arthouse anime from the 2000s. |
Phosphophyllita said: Yes, I can't comprehend how people only stick to popular anime, I recommended some underground anime like Steins;Gate or Hunter x Hunter to some friends, but they only watch SAO and Naruto As for me, I don't think that Hunter x Huntern, and to a lesser extent Steins;Gate, are underground anime. Some of my friends who are casual anime watchers watched HxH, and those a bit more invested watched Steins;Gate. I think the thing is, those "casual" anime watchers are just "new" watchers. And because they are discovering anime, they first go into watching what is popular. I too, when I began watching anime, began with popular shows : One Punch Man, SAO, SnK, ... |
| For me, i stuck with the popular stuff at first because i genuinely didn't know where to start to get into more obscure shows. Many of the early series i watched were ecchi, because to me "If i don't like it, at least i can see some boobs". My main source of getting into anime was an On Demand service. They generally only have about 10 series available at once. Luckily, i found some really good series that helped shaped my taste. It's not laziness, moreso that there's over 10,000 anime to start and over 50 different genre's. Popular series are sort of a safe zone. |
| My waifu is the most wonderful waifu. Mai Valentine. We're freaking out that we're running out of time, but to do what? Should i stop and think of that? Is there something i could do to slow it down? Live in a day for once, instead of watch it sprinting by |
|
LordLagann said: IpreferEcchi said: I just told another user, they could create brand new hype for old things that their peers have never seen. They can steer the chat. Unlikely. They would have to become actively involved and willing to engage beyond a superficial level. The opposite of casual. It's no different from casual readers or movie goers. They just don't have any interest in seriously pursing a hobby or past time. It's all brownie points. From personal experience it's usually that they do genuinely enjoy a handful series but don't actually care for the medium as a whole yet mistake their enjoyment of those series for enjoyment of the medium. This then makes trying to introduce them to new stuff nearly impossible |
S-H-I-N-Y said: From personal experience it's usually that they do genuinely enjoy a handful series but don't actually care for the medium as a whole yet mistake their enjoyment of those series for enjoyment of the medium. This then makes trying to introduce them to new stuff nearly impossible That's true. All Anime is animation but not all animation is Anime. Certain people just have a really hyper niche when it comes to Anime and they typically just stick to their small bubble of interest. I guess in that scenario they aren't so much as lazy as they are die hard casuals? lol |
Phosphophyllita said: Yes, I can't comprehend how people only stick to popular anime, I recommended some underground anime like Steins;Gate or Hunter x Hunter to some friends, but they only watch SAO and Naruto Lol. You are being sarcastic don't you ? But you have a good point. There is really no definite point between popular and underground anime. Non anime fans know Naruto, but they never heard of Steins;Gate. Casual fans know Steins;Gate but never heard of say, Dennou Coil. And there are people who dig deeper than that. For OP question, besides of what have been mentioned by other users, I believe the answer is because to some people popularity is equal to how good something is. They don't think they need to find some hidden gem in anime. They think that anything from Jump is better than anything else because they are the most popular ones. |
"The Slave is the have-not, the oppressed one with nothing to spare. But because the Slave is in that despairing situation, having nothing, it can kill the Emperor !" |
IpreferEcchi said: Vast majority only jump on what's being talked about on social media and they don't chart their own course. I feel like a lot of people view anime not as a medium to be enjoyed as it is but as a way to interact and basically make friends over something a little more "alternative". Also the fact there's like a million shows so chances you find someone you watched some weird shit from 1999 get exponentially lower. |
 |
| I've tried to dig deeper into music, yet numbers from The Beatles' catalogue make me feel like I've never been long. |
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Helpppppp!  |
IpreferEcchi said: Vast majority only jump on what's being talked about on social media and they don't chart their own course. Anime isn't really a "deep" medium to begin with. A "vast majority" of modern western Anime fans probably don't even own a single Anime series on a physical copy either VHS, DVD, or Bluray. Too many users even on MAL openly talk about simply pirating even their favorite franchises. Anime has always meant to be simply disposable entertainment as the equivalent of a westerner simply catching what ever is being aired on TV as if they are casually consuming a sitcom. It's only users on a forum like this that make up a small fraction of actual people who are consuming Anime that take it to a different level of thinking that Anime as more than just entertainment. When you have users actively talking about waifus, complaining about fanservice, trash talking other users over petty tastes, etc... The average Anime consumer in the west probably isn't going to go out of their way to hunt down the entire "Air Master" series or watch every episode of the "Tenchi Muyou!" franchise. As well as active MAL users are a rare breed and really only amount to a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of actual Western Anime Fans. It's even likely over 90% of actual western Anime Fans don't even own a registered MAL account. So I wouldn't assume anything being a "vast majority" of anything. |
ColourWheelMay 7, 2022 5:30 AM
 |
| It all started going wrong when they had social media tbh. At that point they were doomed one way or another. But seriously, for a lot of 'anime fans' it's not as much about the actual anime they watch and more about all the surrounding culture, community and interactions, all the periphereal stuff attached to being an anime fan. It's rare to meet non-casuals who mainly watch anime and haven't branched out to a dozen other, related hobbies that eat into their 'anime time' (VNs, LNs, gatcha, fanfic etc...). And then you also have the 'quality over quantity' fans who are more interested in rewatching their favorites again and again (sometimes 40 times or more) than they are in using that time to watch and discover new anime and explore the medium. The kind of anime fan that is really interested in exploring the entire medium and digging for hidden gems and cult classics and discovering stuff barely anybody knows is pretty rare. I've been very active on MAL for over 12 years now and always been that kind of fan and on the lookout for likeminded souls and I haven't met a whole lot of them. You just need to have very broad taste to begin with PLUS the rare desire to really dig deep. Although if you include people who don't really explore the medium per se, but at least one or two genres they really like, it's not as rare, at least on a site like MAL. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
| We are not in era where watch old anime is an elitist. Everybody has changed, current anime quality not much different with old anime even massive improvement from visual aspect. So follow trending is an effective way to start anything than random start |
 |
| Well, it's pretty hard to dig in and looking for good anime when you are already watched several hundreds of anime. Also era is an important factor too since old anime becoming kinda far and far away with each new year and each new wave of anime. For example when I looked for some thoughtful anime I didn't find anything special by myself but on Xmas I got an event recommendation from MAL user which turned out to be good because it was hidden personally from me anime from 2004. But recommendation algorithm on sites like MAL is no better than on Steam - they are always too superficial. |
| Because following trendy anime is the easiest way to consistently watch good shows. I mean, its popular for a reason. It's only those who are huge fans of anime who go out of their way to find shows out of their comfort zone. |
biaofbafiabegoub said: Because following trendy anime is the easiest way to consistently watch good shows. I mean, its popular for a reason. It's only those who are huge fans of anime who go out of their way to find shows out of their comfort zone. Would you say Transformers and Fast & Furious are good shows because they're popular? |
Prophetess of the Golden Era  |
| There's nothing wrong with being a casual fan, and I find it genuinely terrible how much of a high horse many replies in this thread are coming from. You can enjoy something without having to want to dedicate your life to it. I can enjoy the MCU without liking comic books. I can think Fast & Furious is silly fun without having any interest in cars. Someone can enjoy Demon Slayer or AoT and be entirely satisfied with that. That doesn't mean they aren't "real" fans and are "only watching anime for brownie points" or "to have something to talk about with their peers", it just means they are satisfied with what they've seen and don't require anything more niché to make their experience satisfying. |
| @Deathko They're hour long action movies with cool explosions. It's not memorable or complex but it does keep the majority of people entertained for the duration they watch it. It serves its purpose. I don't think the quality of movies franchises and the quality of tv shows can be compared. Shows are just a much bigger commitment and the standard is higher because of that. |
biaofbafiabegoub said: @Deathko They're hour long action movies with cool explosions. It's not memorable or complex but it does keep the majority of people entertained for the duration they watch it. It serves its purpose. I don't think the quality of movies franchises and the quality of tv shows can be compared. Shows are just a much bigger commitment and the standard is higher because of that. The average cost of making an anime episode ssems to be between 100,000 and 300,000 dollars, the average cost of a Hollywood superproduction is around 65 millions dollars. I don't see how TV shows are a bigger commitment and have higher standards... I'd tend to say the opposite was and still is true. Regardless, what I want to say is, wether something has literary or cinematographic value has little to do with how mainstream/popular it is. The latest best-selling books are... pretty much garbage with no literary value whatsoever. Likewise, I can point you towards multiple shows here that have better animation and writing than most mainstream shows, that are rated sub 7 with less than 10k viewers. Not even particularly old ones. |
DeathkoMay 7, 2022 8:19 AM
Prophetess of the Golden Era |
| It's simple advertising. The less effort a person has to spend to find something that interests them the more likely they are to choose that as their entertainment option. Like sure somebody could pick a genre at random and go down a rabbit hole to find an obscure series on a database site. Or they just open up a streaming service and look at the popular tab for what's airing. There's also a time factor, to some degree popular series have already been vetted so if a show aligns with their taste they can reasonably assume they'll enjoy it to some extent. Where if they've never heard of a show can they justify the time investment over say something else that's airing. |
| @Deathko Not saying mainstream shows are better than niche shows or that the popularity of a show determines its quality. Just saying that popular shows are often popular because they ARE good, and are enjoyable for a lot of people. Also you cant really compare the cost of producing a single anime episode to the production of a hollywood blockbuster film with all of its VFX, CGI and casting |
| It's hard when you're constantly getting popular titles shoved in your face all the time to not give at least a few of them a try |
| Not laziness, but rather a lack of interest. |
 |
| You say these people are lazy, but I say they're using their time far more wisely than either me or you or anyone here on MAL. |
| Because they aren't really interested in the anime-watching activity on itself; they are rather interested in the internet and its social media interactions. |
Kdog1998 said: I think there some people who want to branch out, but do not know where to begin with all of the options available because from my own experience I began just only watching mainstream anime, but then I wanted to find more lesser known series although I did not know where to begin at first until I came on to here and began reading reviews and finding series related to what I like. I entered into anime online by google searching for anime with content that I like. I've been looking for my interests from the very beginning. I never let mainstream anime pull me. |
|
| Because those people aren't just interested in anime generally as people who search anime beyond what shown in social media. |
 (っ◔◡◔)っ 𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪 𝔀𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓭𝓪𝔂 ♥ |
Deathko said: biaofbafiabegoub said: Because following trendy anime is the easiest way to consistently watch good shows. I mean, its popular for a reason. It's only those who are huge fans of anime who go out of their way to find shows out of their comfort zone. Would you say Transformers and Fast & Furious are good shows because they're popular? You know what, the Fast & Furious series is actually surprisingly decent. I couldn't finish the second movie, and skipped the third, but the rest is pretty good. Sure they aren't Bladerunner 2049 or something, but they make enough sense for the rule of cool to carry them. Transformers is kind of a waste of potential, they are easily among the best CGI spectacles out there, all they had to do is tone down the humor, and make the story make a smidgeon of a sense. Like the "Moon landing except transformers" and "Dan Brown + King Arthur + Transformers" story lines actually could have been genuinely great, if the mystery reveals at the end didn't suck. |
| Most people in general don't really think for themselves and just go with what is current. Why do you think most movies from Hollywood and the modern music is so trash as it is? People want what is easy. That's it. But let them enjoy themselves, and same to you. Enjoy what you enjoy, and so will I. |
Protect the smile!  |
| Not just anime, it is true that people lack of motivation to dig deeper into anything. |
 |
Attackonfiller said: Hype is a helluva drug. Peeps need that fix. god I wish i experienced hype again but then, it leads me to ill-informed decisions like buying games full price so maybe not |
| Imo vast majority of fans (on social media) only started anime in the last couple of years, so they've only watched what's trended and is the most popular. like ik i wouldn't recommend something obscure and hard to get into to a friend who's just starting, i'd give them something more easy to approach and popular and then later down the line i might hit them with more obscure ones. bottom line is also that people want to talk about anime with others and watching popular anime ensures that you'll have something in common with someone else. it could also just be a real lack of interest and not laziness. |
| hey |
| Because its easier to just latch onto what's popular at the time than to find things yourself. I don't think its any deeper than that. There's a reason "influencers" are a thing...Because people are easily influenced. |
FanofActionMay 8, 2022 7:38 PM
| Most people are just band wagoners that cannot formulate opinions for themselves. |
More topics from this board
» Are we going through a Yuri Renaissance?Dragevard - 7 hours ago |
23 |
by karrotStick
»»
6 seconds ago |
|
» Characters you want to become your siblingsm_alhafidz - Yesterday |
15 |
by joyandhappiness
»»
19 seconds ago |
|
» 🍷 AD Summer 2025 Best Girl Contest ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )Shizuna - Sep 28 |
340 |
by Serfort30
»»
2 minutes ago |
|
» 🍉 Summer 2025: Anime of the Season (AOTS) ( 1 2 3 4 )nirererin - Oct 9 |
188 |
by Ego_Altar
»»
4 minutes ago |
|
» My thoughts on the aftermath of Kyoto Animation's arson attackTechnoMellow724 - 43 minutes ago |
3 |
by palm-tree
»»
17 minutes ago |