Isnt Anime for kids? How do you respond?

[Valashu]

Maybe some of you have experiened it before when someone in youre surrounding is wandering why you still watch (in there eyes) cartoons. Some of you still has an age wichit its considert to be normal, but there are plenty of people whom are on a age wich its found to be "weird" for watching anime.
People in my surrounding do at least.

So this is about how do you respond when a classmate/friend/familiy member or partner asks you why are you still into this.
Since im new i dont know how many times this thread was placed in the past, but im curious to the results.

As for me ive choosen "you like that and I like this", response.

[-KarumA-]

depends on the age...
sometimes i just ignore them and continiue with my own bussiness, some people just stay with their its for kids standard and dont want to listen anyway

usually i start telling them about the difference, like what parts get cut out certain series to make it appropiate for kids

and i mention series that have gorie scenes in them, like Elfen Lied and tell them about the series, or i show them some stuff from youtube, which didnt excist back int he days

but usually i keep it to myself.. unless i know this person watches other series than just pokemon and dbz :P but allof the people i know only watch shows like naruto and bleach and non of the actual good stuff, like evangelion and recent airing series, i always try to prusuade them that there is beter stuff than naruto and bleach to enjoy but they never listen to my advice anyways -_-; they just go rampart on how they know where to get the latest episodes while everyone here knows it by now for ages.. i find that annoying.. people always thinking of either kiddy stuff or hentai.. when i watch mecha theyre like okaaay... but they think it is stupid and complicated.. and when i try to explain the series to them they get confussed, when recommend it to watch they just shrug and dont watch it anyway.. i find it hard to explain the difference because they arent interested in knowing it...

also whenever i try to tell them about things or watch random clips on youtube, for example end of evangelion, Rei's arm falling off in front of Adam, they go o.o; wtf are you watching, because she is nude.. they assume im either watching hentai or kiddy stuff... kiddy stuff cause of comedy anime like azumanga and lucky star and hentai cause for example the nudity in Elfen Lied and Evangelion... but i do not bother in explaining the difference between hentai and more older teens series.. cause then they ask if i ever watch it and think im a perv.. people can be very dense...

[Valashu]

Originally Posted by -KarumA-

depends on the age...
sometimes i just ignore them and continiue with my own bussiness, some people just stay with their its for kids standard and dont want to listen anyway

usually i start telling them about the difference, like what parts get cut out certain series to make it appropiate for kids

and i mention series that have gorie scenes in them, like Elfen Lied and tell them about the series, or i show them some stuff from youtube, which didnt excist back int he days

but usually i keep it to myself.. unless i know this person watches other series than just pokemon and dbz :P but allof the people i know only watch shows like naruto and bleach and non of the actual good stuff, like evangelion and recent airing series, i always try to prusuade them that there is beter stuff than naruto and bleach to enjoy but they never listen to my advice anyways -_-; they just go rampart on how they know where to get the latest episodes while everyone here knows it by now for ages.. i find that annoying.. people always thinking of either kiddy stuff or hentai.. when i watch mecha theyre like okaaay... but they think it is stupid and complicated.. and when i try to explain the series to them they get confussed, when recommend it to watch they just shrug and dont watch it anyway.. i find it hard to explain the difference because they arent interested in knowing it...

also whenever i try to tell them about things or watch random clips on youtube, for example end of evangelion, Rei's arm falling off in front of Adam, they go o.o; wtf are you watching, because she is nude.. they assume im either watching hentai or kiddy stuff... kiddy stuff cause of comedy anime like azumanga and lucky star and hentai cause for example the nudity in Elfen Lied and Evangelion... but i do not bother in explaining the difference between hentai and more older teens series.. cause then they ask if i ever watch it and think im a perv.. people can be very dense...

I have the same thing, Elfen Lied for example my first Anime serie i watched next to the regular shounen like DBZ, naruto and bleach. I began to watch it and like you said theres nudity and a hol lot of blood right away, when a couple of friends watched a scene with me, there were like... wtf are you watching... and yes hentai and weirdo were blooming like violets. but if they bother to watch elfen lied.... it really does pisses me of..
Its strange that people cant make the jump from DBZ/naruto/bleach to all the other (better) series.

[Atheuz]

Depends on the anime. I mean if it's Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh, then I can understand and I do realize it's mainly focused for children - But for that I answer, so what? It's hilarious and we all need some randomness in our lives once in a while.

Mainly though, they don't realize that there's more violent, dramatic, gory... anime out there than Naruto, DBZ or Bleach. I just tell them; "I get what you're saying, must have been when all those people were killed, that guy got cut over, or they had sex it was aimed for children. Not for teenagers/adults." - After that they usually shut up.

[HurricaneHige]

Actually Lucky Star isnt really for "children", have u watched it? Its humor is specifically targeted at Otakus and everyday life humor, children would never get the humor in it....

Back to the topic, I usually just ignore them and admit i'm kid since debating with them its pointless, debating with anyone that grew up in the mainstream American society is fruitless since they'll somehow come up with the most senseless arguments and think they were talking intelligently

[mcruz1014]

I think that people need to realize that in Japan, where anime is originally created and produced, anime is treated like regular television. For this reason, the content in anime shows varies from shonen fare like DBZ and Naruto, to comedies that children can watch like Lucky Star, and then to more mature themed shows like Evangelion, Death Note, and Elfen Lied. This differs from the international view of cartoons, which is that cartoons are only geared towards kids, and therefore only should be watched by young children. So while those of us who are anime fans and culturally aware can see past the stigma that anime is also "just for kids", the people around us who are not just see them as cartoons. In my experience, quite a few people that I have introduced to anime (all types, not just shonen), with a little bit of explanation, have become quite fond of it. So maybe folks, all that friend or sibling or parent needs is to sit down and watch with you one day.

[-KarumA-]

Originally Posted by Valashu

I have the same thing, Elfen Lied for example my first Anime serie i watched next to the regular shounen like DBZ, naruto and bleach. I began to watch it and like you said theres nudity and a hol lot of blood right away, when a couple of friends watched a scene with me, there were like... wtf are you watching... and yes hentai and weirdo were blooming like violets. but if they bother to watch elfen lied.... it really does pisses me of..
Its strange that people cant make the jump from DBZ/naruto/bleach to all the other (better) series.

Elfen Lied is oneof the standard things you can tell them about that is quite obvious with the blood and nudity, they think it is that all the time..

as for childeren comedy, i decided to have a friend take a look at some good anime stuff, he's into South Park and stuff liek that so i gave him FLCL along for the summer holiday to check it out, i wonr how that went im seeing him again the 1st of September when my semester starts

as for the Rei part, i was watching anime hell in class, some scenes were pretty weird but witht he Rei the person sitting behind me was like WTH when her arm fell of, he asked why.. but i didnt bother to explaining how AT fields work and where Rei comes from.. sometimes its too much work to tell them about things

As for Lucky Star, many people i know would say it is a childeren series because of the art work, but as said above you need to see it to get the point that ti isnt a childeren series

[DarkBlood]

I usually try to explain that the most of all anime here in Sweden is for reaaaally really small children, the anime we have here is Pokémon, digimon and that crap.
Then I keep on by telling them about Hellsing or maybe Elfen Lied or any other bloody anime if they are not yet satisfied with the first answer.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by Atheuz

Depends on the anime. I mean if it's Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh, then I can understand and I do realize it's mainly focused for children

WTF!? Azumanga Daioh, a show aimed at children??

And as for the topic, I am old enough not to care about what people think of my hobbies.

[-KarumA-]

Originally Posted by Daniel E.

And as for the topic, I am old enough not to care about what people think of my hobbies.

so true, i dont bother anymore either, though sometimes i wished i had someone in person to talk to it about

[neutralizer]

Sometimes its really awkward when the anime has ecchi scenes and someone asks me why I'm watching cartoons.

[SeijiSensei]

As you can imagine given my *cough* advanced age, I've encountered this question from a variety of people over the past couple of years. One issue is the age of the person asking the question. It seems that you're all talking about people who are more or less age peers, but who are appalled that you're still watching "kiddy" stuff. I'm also interested in older folks who've not been exposed to anime at all discovering that cartoons can portray adult themes.

Some of these issues are discussed in the "how old is too old to watch anime" thread here:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=33272

and the "how do you locate anime fans thread" here:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=39751

I've written about anime for older folks in a number of places, in particular:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...8&postcount=71
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...79&postcount=3
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...8&postcount=14
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...4&postcount=67

As you'll see if you read my postings, I tend to look for shows where the main characters are themselves adults. Just having lots of gore or nudity doesn't make a show "adult" in my book if the characters are all kids or teens in some type of uncomplicated battle between good and evil. What makes a show adult to me is that it portrays adults dealing with adult issues. So my recommendation typically is to introduce older folks to anime though movies like Mononoke Hime or series like Hataraki Man or Bartender.

And, like Daniel, I'm old enough to ignore other people's opinions, too.

Originally Posted by neutralizer

Sometimes its really awkward when the anime has ecchi scenes and someone asks me why I'm watching cartoons.

Gee, I would have thought that in situations like that the answer is rather obvious

[Atheuz]

Originally Posted by Daniel E.

WTF!? Azumanga Daioh, a show aimed at children??

And as for the topic, I am old enough not to care about what people think of my hobbies.

Well seeing as there are almost zero sexual(except for the pedo teacher) nor violent themes and it's mainly based around comedy and randomness - Even it's animation style emphasizes the "fun" part of the scenes(Really there's nothing more than Sakaki going floppy mode trying to pet the cat that continously bites her with those razor teeth) - It may be aimed at a little older groups such as adolescents, but really children will be entertained by watching it - Which in my book, makes it an anime that's fit for children to watch.

Don't be too hard on me, I don't watch a lot of kiddy anime. I could have said Pokémon or Digimon - But those are just retarded.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by Atheuz

Don't be too hard on me, I don't watch a lot of kiddy anime. I could have said Pokémon or Digimon - But those are just retarded.

Sorry, that was never my intention. I apologize.

I was just a bit surprised by your comment.

[Terrestrial Dream]

"Go and watch Elfin Lied and come back and then tell me if anime is for kids" That would be my respond.

[Kitsune]

Just needed to let them see an episode of evangelion, nobody can say that is for children

[Kenshigi]

It's just what mainstream anime in America is ment too target. Fuck,even the uncut DBZ had decapitations.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Just like your mom of course ^_^. I don't really care anymore what people thought of me. As long it isn't so perverse, then i'm all good.

[Kamui4356]

I've thought of showing people something like the first minute of Lain, but I usually decide that it would cause more trouble than it's worth. I've thought of showing the first bit of elfen lied too, but that's most certainly not the view of anime I'd want to present.

Then I point out that animation doesn't mean it's for children, and cite examples of American animation targeted at older audiences. That usually works, for a while anyway.

[CandyVanMan]

I'm viewed as generally creepy by anybody who knows me, so they often prefer not to ask. For those who make the mistake, I usually suggest they run a Google image search for "Bible Black" and only turn off SafeSearch at their own risk.

Even better, if I happen to have a manga on me (I often do) I'll pull it out and let them skim it. My current carry-arounds are Negima, Yubisaki Milk Tea, Claymore, or Welcome to the NHK... If nothing new comes out that week, it's Chobits, Mahoromatic, Dears, or Love Hina...