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Answerman - At What Point Are You No Longer A Fan?

Something I don't think anyone's brought up yet: Sometimes, people will consume a lot of anime (or anything else, for that matter) for acceptance by other fans. They are the people who will condemn you if you're not watching all the shows they're watching, and they themselves usually consume a lot of shows because they're trying to appear like a true fan.

It says something good about the maturity of this place that it looks like hardly anyone worries about that. I remember in high school, among anime fans, you were an outcast who didn't follow every fansub everyone else was watching. Going to anime club was a double-edged sword for me. On the one hand, it was interesting to watch stuff I'd otherwise rarely get to see, like Kite (sorry, "KEE-teh") and Brain Powerd. On the other hand, it was frustrating to get constantly chewed out because I hadn't seen any of these shows they're watching or that I'd watch them through Toonami (DUBS!).

Ragga Ragga wrote:

I did this for a couple of years til I burnt out and left the anime community, thinking all of it was garbage. But I grew older and wiser (and had less time). Now I treat anime like any other entertainment medium like movies, I don't try to watch every movie that comes out or every tv show.

I can't say I was ever a true otaku. I never bought merchandise and stuck to streaming. However, I have been slacking lately as well. Not that I don't want to watch the majority of these series (they're on my to-watch list), but there's just so much to watch every season, I get bogged down and can't keep up with them with my other priorities in the day. It's certainly a balancing act. But no matter how much anime you watch, you're still a fan. The only exceptions I have to this rule is if someone has only seen 'The Big 3' (One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, and DBZ as well) and consider themselves fans. I won't deny that they are technically fans, but I believe one should watch more variety before considering themselves an anime fan and not simply a fan of the Big 3.

I can say much the same thing: I call myself an anime fan, but I watch very few shows and buy very little merchandise. Heck, the merchandise I buy for western animation probably far outnumbers the merchandise I buy for anime, the latter I keep almost completely to conventions (but I do pick up stuff at Frank & Son every now and then).

I think I'm really more of a fan of fandoms. I like observing fan behavior, both individually and collectively.

And for the record, I stream about 1 series per year, not including One Piece. Everything else, I get on satellite TV.

I've been a fan for about 15 years. Started as an adult in college so I don't think I've changed much. The only thing is I now avoid long running never ending series which is kind of what I started on.

Yep. Although I think this also applies to slightly less fickle people. They may not change hobbies every month but they're insanely into anime for a few years and then they loose interest completely. For instance, I knew a guy in highschool. He was actually the guy who got me into anime. He was the hugest otaku or so it seemed. He watched a ridiculous amount of stuff. Way more than me. And not just the big name TV airing stuff of the day. Everything he could get his hands on. He was also a huge Japanophile. Guess what though? We're near on a decade later at this point and I'm still watching anime. Whereas he wasn't a year or so out of highschool before he just kinda lost interest and moved on.

That's what you would call an elitist, and there are elitists in every facet of fandom possible. There are anime elitists, music elitists, movie elitists, sports elitists, and the list goes on and on. They act like they're a shining example of their fandom, but they're actually an obnoxious D-bag who tries to attack anything they don't believe should be 'part of the fandom' or 'should be a fan'. For example, there are a few elitists who believe BABYMETAL isn't actual metal and is a disgrace to the metal genre. It doesn't matter how good they are or how they sound, they don't fit into that mold that elitists are looking for. And of course you get former fans who diss their own groups because they're making different styles music. It's really ridiculous and gets on my nerves.

Oh, I don't mean people whose defining trait is putting down other people for not being into everything they're into, just a secondary trait. I mean the people who are strongly insecure and get into anime to belong. They're the ones who are terrified of being put down by other fans. That is, they're the ones on the other end of fan-bullying (just that they will, more often than not, do it to others--not out of a need to feel superior, but because they think this is what every fan does).

There's no elitism here, at least no malicious elitism. Whatever elitism there is, it's because they think behaving like an elitist is how they can be accepted by other fans.

Though yeah, there are people like this in every fandom. I should provide an example that stemmed from something other than frustration but should be closer to what I mean: I knew someone who was, at one time, into Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Then, seemingly overnight, he turned a 180, becoming a hardcore fighting game fan and started putting down those who played Smash. Upon realizing we wouldn't provide him with the discussions he wanted, he then promptly left our group and started looking for groups of fighting game fans to share thoughts with. I still run into him online every now and then--the moment I identify who I am, he flees without saying a word and never returns to that website to go find some other online group of fighting game fans. (I hadn't realized this until I noticed he stopped using Twitch solely because I use it too.)

It's pretty clear he's scared to death of rejection from his fellow fighting game fans, even though he rarely contributes to any discussions--he just spends most of his time either agreeing with people or making jabs at Smash players. He lives for acceptance from a particular group, fighting game fans in this case.

Robert wrote:

I only watch maybe a single 13 episode series per year. I also haven't gone to a convention in 3 years.

Otaku agents have been dispatched to your home to confiscate your nerd card.