I've been casually watching anime since about a year ago, and I really have no regrets spending countless nights refreshing youtube or coalguys' website until the next episode was released.
Recently, I was skyping with one of my friends in the USA, and he told me of his experiences as an anime fan (not otaku yet) in school. Apparently, some of his classmates avoided him once they knew he even
touched anime, and quite a few of his close friends have actually suggested that he quit, almost like they were telling him to quit smoking. He recounted an incident about a real otaku in his school; the poor guy got beaten up while he was fanatically defending his viewing anime from his classmates.
I was pretty shocked to hear that. I live in Singapore, where although no one proudly shows off their love for anime, no one is aggressive towards it either. I can have a bunch of friends over and I watch Welcome to the NHK while they chill around and they don't say anything negative, sometimes even watcing it with me out of curiousity.
I feel fortunate not having to bear the dirty glances of anime haters, but I'm curious to know if people elsewhere see anime as a forbidden fruit. How do people in your country react to anime viewers, or anime in general? Do they celebrate it? Tolerate it? Become annoyed with it? Or just down right despise anything to do with it?
Please share your views, it'd be interesting to know!
