What really separates a fan from someone who just enjoys something? This question has been on my mind for a while now. It's not an easy distinction, and it’s been bothering me because the line feels so blurry. I’ve noticed that a lot of people throw around the word “fan” pretty loosely, while others are more reserved, only considering themselves fans after being deeply invested in something, whether it's a genre, anime, manga, live-action series, game, music, or pretty much any form of entertainment.
Personally, I think being a fan is more about how much something resonates with you on a personal level. If it leaves a lasting impression, makes you think, or even brings you comfort, then that emotional connection is what makes you a "true fan" |
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| If you don't jerk off to your favorite waifu's, you're not a fan. |
Pokitaru said: What really separates a fan from someone who just enjoys something? An enjoyer tends to be someone who is extremely casual having a basic level of engagement to whatever they are enjoying. Where there is no clear commitment to whatever they are consuming either. In contrast fans tend to be passionate, supportive, and tend to actively participate with communities that are just as passionate as they are when it comes to something. Fans tend to be extremely dedicated, pseudo knowledgeable, and often display signs that the thing that are a fan of is basically apart of their life. This is not to exclude that fact that a Fan can be seen as just enjoyer too. Where the level of seriousness and commitment can vary. As an example when it comes to Japanese Anime, where one Anime fan can have some serious relationship with some Anime Waifu and another fan could simply cringe at laugh at the idea that some fans even have Anime Waifus to begin with. lol |
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| I guess I'm a fan because the battle between Ichigo and Yhwach resonates with me on a personal/genetical level. |
| I normally use the terms synonymously. If you had to use the words in a narrower sense, a fan would be ... fan(atic) - overly excessive/unhealthy devotion with simultaneous narrow-mindedness/uncriticism. Consequently: "Is it just about how much time you put in, or does it go beyond that?" - It goes beyond that. "Can you be a fan after one watch if you loved it, or does it take more, like rewatching or buying merch?" - This could be the beginning of fanaticism, but you couldn't tell jsut from that. "And what about someone who really enjoys it but isn’t super invested? Are they less of a fan?" - They are for sure less of a fan. Being overly invested is the key part of the definition. "If it leaves a lasting impression, makes you think, or even brings you comfort, then that emotional connection is what makes you a "true fan"" - To me, a 'true fan' is simply someone who likes anime for anime's sake and not (primarly/only) as a means for something else, such as socialising. I don't really focus on the 'fan' part, as I don't think anyone really cares about the (possible) negative connotation of that word and therefore it has pretty much lost any meaning beyond enjoying something. |
| "I don't know everything, I only know what the internet knows." - Definitely not best girl. "To ask is a moment's shame. Not to, lifelong." - I quoted with a posed look. |
Reply to removed-user
Depends on how much attention and thought you give to said media after consuming it imo
To give an example, after watching AOT I looked up some reviews on youtube, talked to few people about what might happen etc and that was it. I barely thought about it after that. I wouldn't call myself a fan, although I mostly enjoyed it
On the other hand after watching the OG Fate/Stay night, I immediately became deeply interested in the series, read the entire VN, watched hours of content outside the main source about the lore and characters, downloaded the mobile game, watched all future series, used the characters name for my profile nicknames on the internet, etc. I would consider myself a fan
I don't think the money or a specific amount of time spent is important to being one
To give an example, after watching AOT I looked up some reviews on youtube, talked to few people about what might happen etc and that was it. I barely thought about it after that. I wouldn't call myself a fan, although I mostly enjoyed it
On the other hand after watching the OG Fate/Stay night, I immediately became deeply interested in the series, read the entire VN, watched hours of content outside the main source about the lore and characters, downloaded the mobile game, watched all future series, used the characters name for my profile nicknames on the internet, etc. I would consider myself a fan
I don't think the money or a specific amount of time spent is important to being one
| @JohnKelman JohnKelman said: downloaded the mobile game If you mean F/GO, biggest mistake ever (I downloaded it too 💀) |
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Reply to ColourWheel
Pokitaru said:
What really separates a fan from someone who just enjoys something?
What really separates a fan from someone who just enjoys something?
An enjoyer tends to be someone who is extremely casual having a basic level of engagement to whatever they are enjoying. Where there is no clear commitment to whatever they are consuming either.
In contrast fans tend to be passionate, supportive, and tend to actively participate with communities that are just as passionate as they are when it comes to something. Fans tend to be extremely dedicated, pseudo knowledgeable, and often display signs that the thing that are a fan of is basically apart of their life.
This is not to exclude that fact that a Fan can be seen as just enjoyer too. Where the level of seriousness and commitment can vary. As an example when it comes to Japanese Anime, where one Anime fan can have some serious relationship with some Anime Waifu and another fan could simply cringe at laugh at the idea that some fans even have Anime Waifus to begin with. lol
| @ColourWheel ColourWheel said: That’s true. Sometimes, it can be hard to tell the difference.Where the level of seriousness and commitment can vary |
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| A fan is someone who has a prolonged interest in something. |
DesuMaiden said: Nobody resembles me physically because I don't even physically exist. |
| You are a fan of something when this something is an important part of your life in some way. |
BigBoyAdvance said: If you don't jerk off to your favorite waifu's, you're not a fan. In the context of fandom, fandom exists beyond just Japanese Anime. So if people who are fans of WWE aren't jerking off to their favorite Speedo-clad Pro-wrestlers they aren't true fans? lol How about Football fans too? lol |
ColourWheelOct 13, 6:02 AM
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| It's about how much time, energy, and enthusiasm someone puts into their interest... But here's the twist or may be not because like everything else it's all about the money. These days those who spends silly money on attending events, buying merchandise, making donations are called true fans. Someone who just watches anime regardless of the numbers is just a enjoyer, just enjoying the excitement and entertainment without making any effort or providing any support.. So I'm not a anime fan, I just enjoy free stuffs. ColourWheel said: So if people who are fans of WWE aren't jerking off You kidding right? Back in the attitude era everyone and their dads were jerking off to Lita, Trish and Torrie etc |
RainyEveningsOct 13, 6:13 AM
RainyEvenings said: You kidding right? Back in the attitude era everyone and their dads were jerking off to Lita, Trish and Torrie etc That is both sad and pathetic hearing that likely married men were jerking off to pro-wrestling. lol |
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| What make a fan is their own emotional/personal attachment to the specific title/genre etc. Personally I consider myself only as a fan of Bleach cause of the reason given, for every other series/entries I consider myself as an enjoyer/watcher who doesn't resonates that much with the product. |
| I guess you can be a little bit of both. |
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| For me, a fan is someone who does more than just watch a show, take for example, sports fans, they don't just watch sports, they are heavily involved in it too, like going to games, buying merch, gathering everyone around to watch games....if you just watch something once and that's all, are you really a fan of it? Out of all the anime I have watched I would only call myself a fan of a few of them, I don't call myself a fan of a anime just because I watched it once, but I WOULD call myself an anime fan. |
 Proud Himejoshi! / Click for a surprise <3 |
| Fan comes from fanatic, so there's that. |
| Hmm, an enjoyer vs a fan. An enjoyer is someone who casually watches a show, loves it and will tell people about it. Perhaps they may rewatch it too, if they want to. But that's probably to the extent of it. A fan doesn't have to be someone who can monetarily quantify their love for the subject matter. But more so, the show has resonated with them on a deeper level, and they are dedicated to the fandom and community of a certain show/movie/etc. Like, for Star Wars fans or Harry Potter fans, you can immediately tell who is a fan and who is an enjoyer. Fans are aware of close details, information surrounding the material, and to date on everything related to the fanbase. A fan could be someone buying merch or it could be someone watching interviews of directors talking about the show. Now there's a different topic to be had about the types of fans and what's healthy and what's not. But, the silver lining is that a fan will go beyond just simply watching the show or reading the book. If I used myself as an example, I thoroughly enjoyed Lord of the Rings. I rewatched some of the movies again with friends and family over time. But if you asked me, I don't even remember some of the actor's names. Nor have I become extensively interested in the world of Lord of the Rings, I simply enjoyed it as a standalone trilogy. |
| "Fan" sounds a little intense. I don't call myself a fan of any series, and I still hesitate to call myself a fan of anime. But I use the expression "anime fan" all the time to describe people who watch anime, both casual and fanatical, because the expression "anime enjoyer" just sounds a little goofy to me. |
| I find that there's not much difference what a fan is and what an enjoyer is, you can say the longevity of a fan compared to someone who enjoys anime is much more longer, although I definitely would say it really doesnt matter. At the end of it all, both will grew up from the medium we know as anime and will move forward to something else. The process of moving forward might be different from these two tho, a fan might just stick to whatever and enjoyer might just move on entirely and will just think of it as 'passing time' or nostalgia. Honestly, being an anime fanatic on itself is just westernized too much to the point that I think it's cringe. But oh well. Life I guess, I mean if you think about it, anime isnt the end all be all of this degeneracy but idk man. |
| Fans are cancer while enjoyers are alpha male sigma chads. |
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| I think anything beyond the mere consumption of media puts you in fan territory did you go on MAL to talk about the series? visit a subreddit? buy merch? watch lore/theory videos? ruminate on the meaning/impact it had on you? safe to say you’re probably a fan—at least an anime fan in general if you watch it, like/dislike it in the moment, then move on, you’re probably just a casual enjoyer |
| The difference between a fan and an enjoyer, is that a fan will get really mad when people say bad things about his favourite thing. |
| Cucumber ice cream is the best! |
| The fan is a low key fanatic, best way to find a fan is to check a profile for a mean score, if it's higher than 7.5 while there is more than 100 of anime then it's a typical 'anime fan'. |
Pokitaru said: very stupid take.buying merch? Imagine a rich man who buy all Naruto merchandising possible but have never watched 1min , or don't even care , is he more a fan of someone who have re watch it 78 times and knox everything abt it? I don't think so. |
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| being a fan means you support something while being an enjoyer means you consume it @Zakatsuki_ that rich guy would be more of a Naruto fan than 90% of the non Japanese Naruto fanbase |
This post has been fact checked by peer reviewed sources!  |
Zakatsuki_ said: Pokitaru said: very stupid take.buying merch? Imagine a rich man who buy all Naruto merchandising possible but have never watched 1min , or don't even care , is he more a fan of someone who have re watch it 78 times and knox everything abt it? I don't think so. lol I am no fan of the "Toy Story" film but I have probably re-watched it over a dozen times with my Daughter when she was still a toddler in multiple different languages. lol I can even recite every line in the entire film in Nihongo, English, Hanguk, and Spanish almost word for word. lol |
ColourWheelOct 15, 6:13 AM
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| you yourself do. it just depends on how you feel about yourself in relation to that thing. |
| Also available at: YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK8spdL1M_J-z0vO2C7jPLw Second Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AshPolygonsDo/videos Why You Should Watch Akudama Drive: https://youtu.be/Yw0r52wRjgA A Love Letter To Anime「AMV」: https://youtu.be/YQyqxFM2m9Q My referral code to a website/app that gives you free money (a few cents a day) by using a few megabytes of your internet for file sharing. We both get a bonus if you use my link: https://r.honeygain.me/ARSHIA7942 |
Reply to ColourWheel
Zakatsuki_ said:
Imagine a rich man who buy all Naruto merchandising possible but have never watched 1min , or don't even care , is he more a fan of someone who have re watch it 78 times and knox everything abt it?
I don't think so.
Pokitaru said:
buying merch?
very stupid take.buying merch?
Imagine a rich man who buy all Naruto merchandising possible but have never watched 1min , or don't even care , is he more a fan of someone who have re watch it 78 times and knox everything abt it?
I don't think so.
lol I am no fan of the "Toy Story" film but I have probably re-watched it over a dozen times with my Daughter when she was still a toddler in multiple different languages. lol
I can even recite every line in the entire film in Nihongo, English, Hanguk, and Spanish almost word for word. lol
| @ColourWheel Are you doing it in purpose , it seems obvious that your situation was not "a normal fan" situation |
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| I would define the two as something like this: An enjoyer is someone who watches and enjoys a series, and then moves on. They're often pictured as being gigachads when it comes to memes lol. A fan on the other hand, is someone who generally tends to get way more hyped and excited than an enjoyer would, and dedicates way more time with a series than an enjoyer would. When haters trash talk a fan's beloved anime, the fan would very likely take the trash talk much more seriously than an enjoyer would. A hater is a fan's worst enemy, and vice versa, and they would often get involved in beef with each other, whereas an enjoyer doesn't get involved in any of that. If a hater asks an enjoyer a rhetorical question, the enjoyer would likely and calmly respond with “yes,” or some other response with very few words, and that often ends up discouraging the hater. Personally, if I do ever say “anime enjoyer,” in casual talks, I typically mean it very loosely for comedic purposes. |
Reply to Zakatsuki_
@ColourWheel Are you doing it in purpose , it seems obvious that your situation was not "a normal fan" situation
Zakatsuki_ said: @ColourWheel Are you doing it in purpose , it seems obvious that your situation was not "a normal fan" situation lol neither is it "a normal fan" situation for a rich man to buy all Naruto merchandise possible and never watch a full minute of the Anime series. |
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Reply to GinInYourJuice
I would define the two as something like this:
An enjoyer is someone who watches and enjoys a series, and then moves on. They're often pictured as being gigachads when it comes to memes lol.
A fan on the other hand, is someone who generally tends to get way more hyped and excited than an enjoyer would, and dedicates way more time with a series than an enjoyer would. When haters trash talk a fan's beloved anime, the fan would very likely take the trash talk much more seriously than an enjoyer would. A hater is a fan's worst enemy, and vice versa, and they would often get involved in beef with each other, whereas an enjoyer doesn't get involved in any of that.
If a hater asks an enjoyer a rhetorical question, the enjoyer would likely and calmly respond with “yes,” or some other response with very few words, and that often ends up discouraging the hater.
Personally, if I do ever say “anime enjoyer,” in casual talks, I typically mean it very loosely for comedic purposes.
An enjoyer is someone who watches and enjoys a series, and then moves on. They're often pictured as being gigachads when it comes to memes lol.
A fan on the other hand, is someone who generally tends to get way more hyped and excited than an enjoyer would, and dedicates way more time with a series than an enjoyer would. When haters trash talk a fan's beloved anime, the fan would very likely take the trash talk much more seriously than an enjoyer would. A hater is a fan's worst enemy, and vice versa, and they would often get involved in beef with each other, whereas an enjoyer doesn't get involved in any of that.
If a hater asks an enjoyer a rhetorical question, the enjoyer would likely and calmly respond with “yes,” or some other response with very few words, and that often ends up discouraging the hater.
Personally, if I do ever say “anime enjoyer,” in casual talks, I typically mean it very loosely for comedic purposes.
| @GinInYourJuice your definition is very cool and accurate |
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| If you watch, you're a fan. It's just a matter of to what extent. Take me for instance. I've watched a shit ton. I've been on here for 10+ years. But I don't consider myself on the same level as the fans who are huge collectors or are really into cosplay. But I'm still a fan. |
| I guess it's the level of attachment. Someone who enjoys something might just watch it and move on, but a fan feels more connected. Like with me, I enjoy a lot of shows, but I'm a fan of long-running Shounen because I’ve spent so much time with them, like with One Piece and Naruto. It's more personal. |
My Candies:           |
Reply to Zakatsuki_
@GinInYourJuice your definition is very cool and accurate
| @Zakatsuki_ thanks! The terms were a bit tricky for me to define at first, and I had to think about it for a while lol |
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