-The people around you
-Stigma of anime in general
-opportunities to express in public
-Stores to buy merchandise
For my area, Anime is not well respected at all. There are no conventions or stores and the people around you instantly categorize you into a loser category if you express anything anime related.
Non-existent. When talking about anime I have to first explain what anime is. The only cartoons people have seen are the Disney or Pixar ones. Sigh.
However, I am proud to say I'm acting as a change agent, at least in my workplace. Have converted at least one person and will continue to guerilla attack the others. There might be a stigma attached to anime, but I know my peers respect me enough to not think me a loser for enjoying it (Thank God). I've also not cared about geek-stigma since I embraced my geekiness in my teens, so I also think that confidence in your taste plays a part in whether people think of you as a loser or not.
In my vicinity there are two shops that sell manga and merchandise, popular anime DVDs are sold in nearly every bigger DVD/music/electronics store ... the whole city has a few more specialized shops. Mangas only are sold by a big chain bookstore near me as well.
Afaik we have 2 events / conventions per year anime/manga related.
People is another topic. My close friends / family know of my hobbies - a few select collegues too.
I do get blank stares sometimes - in my age group ( 40+ ) there are no anime fans in this town, I am sure of it. I've never met a single one over 25 -.-
We have a lot of conventions and stores here. I have one friend living in the same village as me and we both like anime. So yeah. But then I got ridiculed in school for liking anime (I wrote a seminar paper about the anime and manga culture)
- 99% of the people doesn't know what it is.
- There is one "anime" convention here...for gamers, k-pop fans and cosplayers.
Have spoken with some of the organizers: they don't care to pay for anime content or to change the name of the event.
- Some vocal Naruto, DB, AOT, MHA and SAO fans - the main reason I always shut my mouth about liking anime.
Most of the people don't even care about it or don't even know it exists.
Just a small amount of people know DBZ and Naruto, but Naruto is dying pretty quickly.
The otaku community is pretty split up.
In most cases, the MAL Average Scores don't mean anything, here is a question: were the works made before 2000 all shit?
Why are they so damn scarce in the Top 50? Think about how MAL is quite literally a filtered amount of the Anime fanbase.
Here's a timeline of the Top 15 in which you can check that, almost always, the scores are affected by the freshness, popularity and other factors that have nothing to do with quality.
Can't talk much about something that doesn't exist in the first place. You just happen to find people that watch anime here and there if you are lucky.
Here in my country the people doesn't know what is the word "Anime" is not famous or something, ofc you can ask some people and they know what Dragon Ball Z is.
Well... I think most people, around my age or younger of course, definitely know what it is. Some are definitely judgemental about it, as is expected, and I don't believe its different anywhere else really.
But well, I think its relatively popular. For one, in my university class (19 people in this year) were 3, other than me, who I know watched and we talked about it occasionally. In high school same thing (though I wasn't actively watching back then). My GF watches anime. And there's a manga/anime store in my town, I can even get gundam models or DxD pillow there if I wanted. Dragonball has huge following and even non 'weebs' watch it and respect it.
So I think its not too bad for an anime fan. You sure are going to get weird looks if you're very open about it, and there definitely are some people who would be very hostile even, but I think thats the case basically everywhere, no?
im not sure but definitely a lot of young people here on facebook alone are anime fans and i see a lot of anime conventions and stores advertisements on metro manila (the national capital region here) at least
I live in a small town in the Bible Belt area of America. I won't be specific, but I live about 30 minutes away from a city that's pretty much built beside a major tourist attraction. It's pretty much just a typical small conservative town, but I have had the opportunities to meet people from all around the World due to the tourist attraction.
Back when I was in Highschool, even the most popular kids liked Dragonball Z, I feel like that is the one anime that can bring all men together.
Now-a-days I don't watch anime or read manga if anyone behind me can see it. I will wear subtle shirts though (Berserk's mark of sacrifice, JoJo's to be continued, etc.) and sometimes get small conversations out of them.
I usually talk about anime with my brother and sister. We watch a lot of it together.
Also I got my 40 year old boomer mom into anime. She argues with her church friends that there is a difference between cartoons and anime. It's golden. She's even thinking of making a MAL account.
Overall though, I would say that anime in general is still sort of a niche thing (I think I'm using that term correctly). A lot of people get turned off by the weird stuff, but show someone a masterpiece like Death Note or Kaiji and you can get them hooked.
If you like anime, and want to introduce people you know into anime, wait until you're good friends with them and choose something you'll know they'll like. You don't want to look like a spaz and choose a magic girl show just because you like it.
in the city I live in (Calgary ) we have a relatively thriving otaku culture.
The Convention:
We have a yearly convention otafest with about ten thousand attendees each year. Before AOT came out it was only about 4.5 thousand. However our comic convention has about 95 thousand attendees each year. These numbers are available on Wikipedia.
The current mayor always has a letter of appreciation in the convention booklet. He thinks the event is a valuable part of Calgary culture.
Clubs:
The club in my high school had only two members. They watched Sword Art Online dubbed and they had to fast forward through the fan service.
At my university there is a cool club with about ten members.
Chinatown:
There where several shops that sell anime stuff in Dragon City Mall. Keep in mind that I haven’t been there in years. One of the stores was filled to the brim with hundreds of Gundams and figures.
Movies:
We get anime at the movie theatres here sometimes. I saw Your Name with subtitles and Super Broly dubbed.
Misc:
You can find a Manga/light novel section in most major book stores. Some are more substantial then others. Last week I was showing my non otaku friend the nude scenes in To Love Ru Darkness. This was in public at the local coles book store.
A few years ago anime was still pretty stigmatized but, lately, as streaming platforms and marketing have grown exponentially and shows like One Punch Man began breaking through to the mainstream audience, it has become less of a novelty and can be casually brought up in an ordinary conversation with, y’know, normal people.
I think the funniest exemplifier of this is the devolution of my school’s anime club <shudder>. It started out as a place for the lonely weebs to gather and watch Hetalia on kissanime (FUCK that :>D). It shrank as anime became more normalized and there was literally no reason to separate yourself off from everyone else to watch it. I’m pretty sure it dissolved. Let it be known: we are living the Golden Age.
edit: I saw some of my classmates at AnimeNYC last year. that was a trip
Where am I it isn't super normal but it isn't that weird. It all depends on how you express yourself like if you walked around and called people senpai or tried to speak Japanese you'd probably be seen as cringey. Also I know of one anime store 20 mins away from where I live.
1.The people are aware of it and consider it an ordinary pass time.
2.No one is really being judged for liking it, or praised for it.
3.There aren't many, in fact it's very rare for people to express in public.
4.We have those, there aren't many but enough, to make us feel, like we're not being left behind.
Hmm? Its not like people doesn't like anime nor hate it in my area. I can still talk to some guys about it. But you can say that there's people out there who creeps when they've noticed that you're into anime.
Currently only one TV channel here shows anime and it is series like DBZ, Digimon Fusion, Glitter Force, while another channel is only showing Beyblade.
Netflix comes fortunately to the rescue, providing local subtitles for some series.
Manga fares a lot better since you can buy some translated volumes from large bookstores
It doesn't exist.
Mostly people doesn't even know that anime exists.
And the ones who are fans don't talk to much about it and are more dedicated to social life and going out..
I live in a small city so even young people are crazy conservative, the few who like anime are surface level and/or eventually stop watching it.
Men are into the shonen of the season, women are into shoujo, but both are into edgy stuff.
There's one yearly convention in which they bring a dubber everytime (couldn't care less).
I live in a small shitty village in England and literally no one knows anything about anime... those who do think that its all just hentai and porn... which it isnt. because of this I don't tell people I watch anime, the only people who know is my family and my internet friends.
due to the fact I live in shitty village there are definitely no cons or anime/weeby shops. the closest shop to me that sells anything related to anime is a comic book shop an hour and a half away in a different town, it sells manga, but not a lot. just mainstream titles. because of this I get all my merch from amiami.
its a struggle to be honest. anime is such a large part of my life... yet nobody knows. I mean, I have a small friendship group and even them, my best friends do not know. if I told them they'd be like "ewww wtf isnt anime that Asian cartoon porn stuff lolol". it hurts. no one understands. I have no one to talk to about anime or anything. I have to keep it all to myself.
Very much a thing around the younger people. Anime has become popularized big time thanks to social media and popular culture's influence, albeit very entry level to say the least all the while clashing with those who still find anime as nothing but what derogatory memes describe it as. Lots of the older anime fans aren't buying any of it and staying proudly closeted and out of the fray.
-The people around you
-Stigma of anime in general
-opportunities to express in public
-Stores to buy merchandise
I have occasionally run into fellow anime fans in public. Like, the guy who was keeping the local park's meeting room open for us this one night, he's an anime fan.
I don't think anyone particularly cares if you like anime. For casual clothing, people can and will wear t-shirts proclaiming their fandom of something, and nerdy things like video games and less commonly anime are not that uncommon overall. They're not particularly frequent, and more often seen on young adults and children, of course.
I'm not sure how to measure "opportunities to express in public". There's really not that many situations where it'd be relevant to mention that one is an anime fan, aside from gatherings where you know people wanna talk about stuff like this, or just gatherings of friends where you start chatting about what you do in your free time, but that goes for everywhere and isn't really unique to this place.
There is a store nearby that sells anime merch, surprisingly. Pretty small, but they all are pretty small.
And there are a few nearby anime conventions that happen regularly.
I went to a small local anime con last year and I think these videos I took pretty much encapsulate the kind of anime fans you get around here. Basically a whole bunch of cute and sexy dorks dancing in homemade cosplay. Next year, I'm definitely gonna try and get my own cosplay going.
(BTW, sorry for the video quality. 18 year old me thought it was a good idea to film in portrait mode)
I know a few people who sometimes watch anime, but I wouldn't say their huge anime fans.
People either don't know what anime is, hate it or indifferent about it. (at least most of the time)
Unless you're going out in full cosplay or wearing something like aheago hoodies nobody really gives a shit. Maybe you might get a few rude comments but they can die mad about it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The closest store from me to buy anime related things is an hour away, so I buy most of my things online. There's also annual anime convention hosted in the same area. I'm lucky as hell to have one near me.
And if anyone's wondering, I live in rural Ireland.
In the part of Japan I live in, it's not too visible. Certainly not big and vibrant. Older folks will sometimes nostalgically recall shows they watched when they were kids or teenagers. People in the twenties might talk about what they watch or games they play but those kinds of conversations are few and far between. A few years ago a group organized a cosplay festival at a local park. Maybe ten people showed up in cosutme and maybe a couple dozen other people hung out at the site. There's one semi-itasha in town...it only has an itasha design on one side of the car. And when I've gone to see an anime movie at the local cinema, the audience can number up to 20 people though I think the usual number is ten max. None of the chains which specialize in anime goods has a store in the prefectue...I think..
I know a lot of people irl, who are into anime and openly show that they're watching it (example: having anime-ish phone backgrounds, wearing decent merch, wearing keyring merch, etc.)
Anime doesn't have a terrible reputation I would say that it is generally accepted.
We have some festivals in Germany like the Japan Tag (http://www.japantag-duesseldorf-nrw.de/en/) and other smaller events, but not too many of them.
Buying merch locally is impossible for me, the only ways to buy it are international events like the Gamescom, buying it online or visiting every Gamestop in a radius of 50km to find at least something decent.
Most kids my age know what it is, most adults have no idea. It isn't hated but it definitely doesn't have a positive connotation. Nearby cities have merch but not too close to where I live.
Both positively neutral and near non-existant. Most people seem to have at least heard of it and seem okay with it, but it's hard to find people who are into it or to find any kind of merchandise to buy.
No physical manga found in the country, that's the worst part. No one licenses it in local language, and they think no one would buy them in English or Russian.
I did see pirate dvds with horrible voice-over of Naruto in local language once. They were also airing Naruto and Rurouni Kenshin on local tv with the same horrible voice-over with them voicing over an english dub. They probably also have pokemon and like 2 ghibli movies.
From merchandise we get a few cheap chinese necklaces/keychains in a store that seels those things related to movies/games. Also a lot of stickers (chinese obviously) with naruto and bakugan. I once saw them also with one piece, cardcaptor sakura and dragon ball. If you're very lucky you can also find like two anime themed wallet or pencil bag in a few years or something.
Most people won't know what anime is, but it does have a growing amount of fans, fansubs translating to local language, they're trying to hold conventions in the recent years even, cosplays and things like that. But it overall remains as something available for people who know English and/or Russian on a good level if the number of fansubs doesn't increase.
- A few stores, but in big book stores, there is always a fair amount of manga and there is a decent sortiment of anime in electric shops. Although German anime are expensive af.
Once a year there is a whole anime movie day in Vienna and sometimes there are movie evenings.
- A lot of conventions in spring and summer, almost too many. They almost get in each other way.
- It's seen as weird by a bunch of people, but I think many are okay with it, as long you are not a weebaoo cringe person.
Especially for older people, others who only know stereotypes about it and some of the "I'm too cool / "intelligent" to watch drawings"-people, but yeah, maybe not too bad.
I can't speak personally for the countryside.
People told me they had problems at home, but then again... on the countryside, the old hags in some villages are looking through window blinds to control the length of the girls' skirts and there was the rumor that a friend of mine was a drug addicted punk for having blue hair.
So you can't do anything right in some communities and therefore it's useless to try. The countryside seems to live 50-100 years behind our time anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- There a lot of great people in the community, although a bunch of weird ones, who fulfill the typical cliches more... and some creeps. But many fans are fairly "normal" and behave themselves.
It also got better over the years.
When I was at a little con in my teen years, there were a lot weeb cringes lol. I felt very misplaced there.
There were screaming, totally hyperactive girls, who had been too loud in public, mindless fangirls (the one blocked me forever for not liking / watching Naruto) and behaved like a kid to be "kawaii".
A few were disrespectful fujoshis, like I told in the other topic, and the other girls told me that they had a cosplay shooting on a cemetery and felt there is nothing wrong at sitting on other people's tombs for their dumb goth character. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And some guys were just weird. These who were desperately looking for a girlfriend and whining about everyone is mean to them, while are kind of creepy.
Now, these weird guys are still there, but there a lot of people, who are pretty decent and also have all kind of different jobs in their lives. So, couldn't comfirm the NEET cliches for anime fans either. At least not the people in my environment / I met and the ones, who are, seem to have different kinds of problems, so I couldn't "judge".