This Week in Anime

Anime Across Generations

Coop
As someone who's not far off from celebrating 32 years on this spinning rock, I can confidently say that we're not that old in the grand scheme of things, Lucas. Regardless of whatever generational cohort we might belong to, I continue to hear the same story whenever someone shares how they got into anime—"I randomly caught this one cartoon on TV and quickly realized something was different about it. It wasn't until later on that I learned it was from Japan and that it's something called 'anime.'"

But within the past decade and change, there's a better chance that new viewers might've watched that random cartoon on a streaming platform or have been recommended series x or y by the latest internet personality. With that in mind, we sure have come a long way since the earliest days of tape trading and hoping that your local TV station ran Star Blazers, Voltron, or Robotech. Those were firmly the days of late-Boomers and Gen Xers, but incredibly foundational to where we are now. People have their feelings (as do I) about folks like Carl Macek and conditions that brought many of these early series to the West, but for better or worse, the North American anime industry (and community by extension) wouldn't exist without them.

Following Parasite's Best Picture win in 2020, there's been a bit more general willingness to engage with subtitles when it comes to international media.

But as you said, dubs make titles way more accessible than they would be otherwise. I know a few folks who have dubbed series on in the background as they work or exercise because it's easier on their mental load. Some people have difficulties reading the subtitles, including those with learning disabilities or young children who aren't all that great at reading yet. Looking at today, I have a feeling that the presence of a dub will become even more paramount in the future, given the scuttlebutt around Generation Alpha's difficulties with literacy. Personally, I'm a big fan of turning on the closed captions whenever my young nephews are around so they can see the words in addition to hearing them.

The fact that the "subs vs. dubs" debate continues to rage on within the community shows that the preference is highly personal once a viewer is firmly in. I feel that word of mouth is also the biggest driver of discovery among fans of all generations. If your bestie or the streamer you dig is talking about a certain series, you might be more likely to check it out rather than not. Speaking for myself, I recently got into honse gorls because the series breached containment in a way that caught my eye. I have two shirts now.

But for older fans, specifically the tape traders of yore, they got into a series because that one guy showed up with a tape, and he was like, "This is the coolest stuff ever." Then that word kept going around...along with those tapes. I'd recommend checking out Dawn's The Anime Nostalgia Podcast and AnimEigo's The Anime Business for a larger perspective on that era of fandom. A couple years back on my own podcast, my cohost Dylan and I had a rad conversation with the Happy Console Gamer, Johnny Millenium, as we compared and contrasted our millennial fandom experiences with his own from the Robotech era.

My experiences growing up were fairly similar. While in school, I'd be shocked whenever someone mentioned they'd like anime too, which either left me anxious to reply or obnoxiously chatty. There was no in between. Many of my peers were pretty quiet about it, too, outside of their small groups of friends, probably mostly because the adults around us didn't understand it. I did run into those kids on occasion at the local anime convention. The false perception that "all anime is just porn" hung heavy over us, too. I didn't feel a shift until 2012, when I started college and not long before Attack on Titan hit the scene. Now, that was a turning point.

Feels like the anime memes really exploded around that time as well.

I'm reminded of a person I knew back then who once told me, "Oh yeah, I just randomly found this Code Geass show on TV and got hooked on it." To my knowledge, she hasn't really talked about anime since then.

As with many other things, college was a good place to meet folks who were either passingly interested or down bad for the Japanese cartoons.

But considering that I've been out of college for almost a decade now, it's fascinating to see how my direct cohorts and more elder millennials are keeping anime around as they're starting families. I've heard more than a few passing anecdotes that anime is a family activity, with titles like Demon Slayer and SPY x FAMILY becoming prime appointment viewing. Heck, I'm sure I've heard talk of families cosplaying as a group when they saw Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.

But I have absolutely seen families of anime fans walking the halls of conventions such as Otakon and Animazement. At Otakon, there's a whole dedicated track of activities for children and their families to enjoy together. In fact, ANN's own Lauren Orsini wrote about how great this programming is along with her own experiences as a parent at a con. And while at Animazement, I saw families of all generations coming together to celebrate their love of the medium. I even saw a 12-year-old standing in line with his parents to get an autograph from Masao Maruyama, and the kid was just as excited as his folks were. Most 12-year-olds don't know who Masao Maruyama is.

There have been a handful of conventions popping up to address these adult tastes, and while that's great for those audiences, I just don't know if the larger cons will ever budge on that. At the very least, there could be larger black curtain spaces. As you pointed out in the piece, there's no consensus on what pushes the envelope. But with the political climate these days, there's a genuine concern regarding who's laying down the rules and if their decisions are the best for all parties involved.

Among groups of older fans, there's this feeling that our hobby was this one special thing that was all our own. Despite the potentially gatekeep-y reads on that sentiment, it's anything but that. I've spoken with folks who are thrilled that anime is taking off in such a big way, but are sad to see what initially drew them into the medium fade away. Be it the random get-together at a pizza place, the handmade cosplays, or the crafty ways people got their hands on series stuck in limbo, there's always a fuzzy feeling attached. However, I think it breaks down into this core idea: anime is more than just a product; it's a jumping-off point for making lifelong friends and expressing your own creativity. Don't get it twisted, anime has always been a product, but for many, it's more than something you just pick up off the shelf.

All this junk on my shelf is cool and all, but it means nothing compared to the people I've met through this hobby. Heck, most of the stuff I've ended up with makes me think of those people more than anything else.

And if anime is just another thing you watch on occasion, that's absolutely fine. Those who call you a "tourist" are really just gatekeeping. Any talk of "anime tourists" is honestly a misplaced form of anger towards internet personalities who are in the business of milking interest for content. While I'm not a fan of some of the larger personalities, they don't affect my life at all. Not a big reason to be all flustered about it, even if they don't fully grasp the magnitude of their platforms at times.

My only legitimate concern around the generational shift is the idea that series like Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, Chainsaw Man, and the big flashy isekai of the season are leaving viewers with a skewed perception of anime on the whole—what it looks like, what it sounds like, ect. When there are 300 to 400 series produced a year and animators are already at their breaking point, the expectation that everything looks like a Demon Slayer is frankly dangerous to the industry's health. This has been on my mind a lot since talking to the Animator Supporters crew a few months back.

This idea might not be very exciting to younger viewers, but I care too much about the people who make anime happen. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for them. No one in this community would be either.

Also, just watch what appeals to you! If you end up wanting to dig a little deeper into the history, go right ahead! But no worries if not. For all of our old man (we're not really that old) grousing, there's no "right way" to be an anime fan.

At the end of the day, I'm just some dude who's come to appreciate anime in their own way. Regardless of generation, you'll find yours as well.