kronopy said:I think is more about how many years you spend as an anime fan. If you have zero social life, you can finish +300 (13 episode) anime in a year with ease... In 3 years you have like 900, does that make you a veteran? I don't think so. Is not about how much you watched, is about how much you saw.
In the past 10 years, I saw studio's going bankrupt, and new one emerge and getting successful. I saw how Shaft and Ufotable changed the standard for animation forever. I saw how anime music evolved from: amazing to average shit. I saw how the manga industry changed its standard of art quality, as it got an influx of extremly talented artists. I saw the birth of the Issekai madness. I saw how the seasonal anime charts got more and more anime each season. I was there when Bleach, Naruto and One Piece where dominating, and where considered the greatest by the community. I was there when the anime community was friendly and inclusive. I was there when Fairy Tail started to air, and when Clannad was ongoing. When Crunchyroll was still an ilegal streaming site. When 360p was considered a 1st tier streaming quality. When Veoh was the best anime source, before banning the access of like half of the Planet. When Megavideo was the best source of Hentai. When fansubs wherent that good, when everyone used all sort of fonts and karaoke subtitles where the norm for each opening and ending. When we got Forums for anime series, not anime in general, and when those where populated.
So being a veteran in my point of view, is you had those sort of experiences, because this is what give them value...
Am I a veteran? In other 20 years I may consider myself one. Maybe in the eyes of some newbies I am one. For me, those whe where there when Ghost in The Shell and Cowboy Bebop where revolutional, and continued to watch anime since then... those are the real veterans. Just think about how much they saw: the 90's era (maybe even the 80's), the transition from cell animation to digital art, the first sloppy years of digital animation, the emergence of the Moe subculture (which was already born and existent when I started, but not as much as today), plus all the things I saw...
+1