do you guys tell people you watch anime?

[yadango]

ha ha ha being japanese i don't have to tell people, they automatically assume i watch it (my laptop wallpaper also gives it away when i'm at school).

[kingsky123]

Originally Posted by gh0stmice

no, i keep this a secret....

my secret indulgence. im just way to vain to let anyone know about my dorky hobbies

if a person walks up to me and starts talking about anime or dungeons and dragons, ill just turn and walk away.

aww, you shouldnt keep it in the closet,nothing shameful about it imo

[gh0stmice]

Originally Posted by kingsky123

aww, you shouldnt keep it in the closet,nothing shameful about it imo

"wether or not its shameful" has nothing to do with why i keep it a secret. it has to do with 95% of the non-anime watching world and their opinions on the genre of entertainment. thou anime might be widly accepted in other countries, here in the "good ol' US of A" its not accepted at all. so in order to avoid becoming a social lepur in society, i keep it secret or even denounce the whole hobby together.

i let only a few people know, i just pray that thhey dont have loose lips (like my ex girlfriend....and im not talking about her lips on the face)

[kingsky123]

wow...i didnt know USA had such an impression towards anime. i thought they accepted it since naruto got famous there

[oompa loompa]

Originally Posted by gh0stmice

"wether or not its shameful" has nothing to do with why i keep it a secret. it has to do with 95% of the non-anime watching world and their opinions on the genre of entertainment. thou anime might be widly accepted in other countries, here in the "good ol' US of A" its not accepted at all. so in order to avoid becoming a social lepur in society, i keep it secret or even denounce the whole hobby together.

i let only a few people know, i just pray that thhey dont have loose lips (like my ex girlfriend....and im not talking about her lips on the face)

ahaha yeah.. i did try and be more open about it with some friends who i thought were more 'open-minded'. didnt turn out too well. it wasnt like they said anything about it.. but i just got the feeling that they didnt relate at all. i go along with your policy for the most part.

[HayashiTakara]

Originally Posted by gh0stmice

"wether or not its shameful" has nothing to do with why i keep it a secret. it has to do with 95% of the non-anime watching world and their opinions on the genre of entertainment. thou anime might be widly accepted in other countries, here in the "good ol' US of A" its not accepted at all. so in order to avoid becoming a social lepur in society, i keep it secret or even denounce the whole hobby together.

i let only a few people know, i just pray that thhey dont have loose lips (like my ex girlfriend....and im not talking about her lips on the face)

Your perception is awfully scewed. I see people walking around with anime printed shirts all the time. What state or city do you live in? Its typically the "older" people who sees anime as cartoons for kids, simply cause they only recognize pokemon.

I live in seattle where theres a huge japanese community including myself, and anime is normal here, theres no weird bias of the sort. Even when I was growing up in NY, it was accepted, although NY is so diverse theres virtually no room for discrimination.

Hiding something like this is quite.. I don't know... shallow?

[Mashda2k6]

If someone askes I usually just say "Not really..sometimes.." like this

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by kingsky123

wow...i didnt know USA had such an impression towards anime. i thought they accepted it since naruto got famous there

That is because the US does not have that impression. I don t know what part of the US gh0stmice lives in but that is not a correct impression of the entire country.... maybe his neighborhood? Acceptance of anime as a hobby varies considerably from locale to locale in the US. At worst it has the same "geekness" as sci-fi, D&D, or computer gaming.

[Defron]

I don't go around blurting out I watch anime to everyone I see, but I hardly hide it. All my friends know I watch anime, my family knows, and when it comes up I mention it.

Here anime isn't even really seen as geeky and the majority of people have watched some anime. When I mention that I like romance animes I occasionally get a weird stare and maybe labeled a bit more of a geek, but nothing beyond that. I see no reason to hide or be ashamed of any of my hobbies, and if people don't like it that is their problem not mine (living where I do probably plays into this).

[yadango]

yeah, in US anime isn't geeky... star trek... now that's geeky lol.

[Claude]

Yes, I do tell my friends. I was the one that got 5 people to watch Sword of the Stranger the first week that it was subbed.

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by gh0stmice

i let only a few people know, i just pray that thhey dont have loose lips (like my ex girlfriend....and im not talking about her lips on the face)

hahaha, wow, thanks for that.

Originally Posted by kingsky123

wow...i didnt know USA had such an impression towards anime. i thought they accepted it since naruto got famous there

Naruto is popular compared to other anime series, but it's still not the most socially acceptable pastime.

Originally Posted by oompa loompa

ahaha yeah.. i did try and be more open about it with some friends who i thought were more 'open-minded'. didnt turn out too well. it wasnt like they said anything about it.. but i just got the feeling that they didnt relate at all. i go along with your policy for the most part.

For the most part, teenagers and such aren't so open, so most people wouldn't be open about their more "nerdy/geeky/dorky/whatever people say nowadays" tastes.

Originally Posted by HayashiTakara

Your perception is awfully scewed. I see people walking around with anime printed shirts all the time. What state or city do you live in? Its typically the "older" people who sees anime as cartoons for kids, simply cause they only recognize pokemon.

It's mostly younger people (teens and such) that really discriminate against those with "unusual" tastes, though it's really not something serious, however, it's still to the point where being a drug addict in high school is more acceptable than being an anime addict.

Originally Posted by Vexx

That is because the US does not have that impression. I don t know what part of the US gh0stmice lives in but that is not a correct impression of the entire country.... maybe his neighborhood? Acceptance of anime as a hobby varies considerably from locale to locale in the US. At worst it has the same "geekness" as sci-fi, D&D, or computer gaming.

It's the impression of his age group.
As one grows older, one usually gains a more open mind after learning more and having been introduced to other unique things and whatnot.
At our age (high school to college), it's not quite so socially acceptable.
I would agree that it has about the same geekiness as sci-fi, and card/role-playing games, though computer gaming is quite popular among teenagers these days.

To reiterate, anime isn't really accepted among adolescents; younger children generally like cartoons anyway, not really differentiating between anime and western cartoons, and older people are often more mature and more open to tastes.
I personally haven't had an experience like this, but I'm quite sure I'm the only open anime fan I've met who can easily fit in with the "in crowd", since I picked up anime after I had been judged to be a "socially acceptable" student.

[qtipbrit]

I apologise for the double post, but this is a slight thread bump to tell you all that I'm going to test something relevant.

Well, I'm going to bring a laptop to [high] school tomorrow/later today (it's during standardised testing week, so we're allowed such things.), and after finishing testing, I'll take it out and enjoy an episode or two of anime in the free time that follows.
Of course, I'll be going a bit extreme by watching Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, but I think a bit of extremity is required, as it's not really a "first impression" thing, being on pretty congenial terms with the whole class.

It's mostly an experiment to see what kinds of comments I receive and whatnot. 'twill be entertaining, to say the least.

[yezhanquan]

Nanoha? Nice choice, really. It may look fluffy at first, but the story's pretty good, IMO. Even while I don't watch all the series, the first one left a pretty good impression on me. This one's an example of a deep series disguised as something "shallow".

[Aijou]

I told once at school that I watch Sailor Moon whit pleasure just to see the stupid reactions on their faces.

And i'm a guy too.

[Kikaifan]

I was president of a fair-size club and I don't have much work experience so it's actually on my resume... ^^;

[Vexx]

Well, if he starts with Nanoha A .. as I recall the first episode came out blasting so they'll be hard pressed to call it "fluffy"

[Deathkillz]

I don't know about using Nanoha as an experiment seen as there are bound to be people who will take a look at it and denounce it as being "girly" because of the art style or whatnot (even if we know it is aimed more at guys ). It maybe better off to start with something explosive...like Full metal panic.

[qtipbrit]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Well, if he starts with Nanoha A .. as I recall the first episode came out blasting so they'll be hard pressed to call it "fluffy"

Yes, it was quite action packed, so I definitely wouldn't call it "fluffy".
However, I began on episode four, which was when

Spoiler for Nanoha A's:

Fate entered Nanoha's school and a bit more about Hayate and her guardians, with the action delayed until just about the very end.

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

I don't know about using Nanoha as an experiment seen as there are bound to be people who will take a look at it and denounce it as being "girly" because of the art style or whatnot (even if we know it is aimed more at guys ). It maybe better off to start with something explosive...like Full metal panic.

Unless you've really seen enough anime yourself to compare to others, you can't really tell art styles apart, so it would have been the same experience either way (except that I've watched Full Metal Panic! twice and haven't finished A's yet, so it's new for me as well.)

It wasn't as bad as I had predicted, since I'm friendly with most of the class. It's probably the only class I would have tried it in, since I've known most of the students for some time.
Of the half or so of the class [of 35-ish] that noticed, I got some remarks about "Asian-ness" that were quite funny (sarcastic or not), some about being nerdy, some looks of disbelief, but maybe 5 or so of the commenters (of which only one had actually watched any anime,) who sat down and watched AMV's with me. It was both fun and awkward in an unusual way, and it either proves that though anime still isn't really socially acceptable, either people aren't as closeminded as you might think, or testing really makes people that bored.

I had a lot of trouble at the end of the episode when Nanoha and Fate began their magical girl transformations, though... one of the more awkward of situations.
For those who don't remember or don't know:

Spoiler for Nanoha A's 4 Mahou Shoujo Transform!:

[Qwazar]

I usualy keep the fact very well hiden. I don't tell people I watch anime......



When I'm sober. If I get drunk, chances are, roughly 50%+(alcohol/blood)x50)%+ Potential geekiness coefficient+ distance (in meters) from any hot women.

Err... that didn't make much sense, yet, basicly, when I'm drunk, for some mysterious reason I start telling people I watch anime. Other cases when I tell people I watch anime would be, if I know the other party is really quite geeky, and might see it as normal hobby, or even watch anime him/herself, or in cases when other party openly admits they watch anime.

There are, of course people that would be shocked to find it out. So I tell them anyways, because, who cares about those losers.

What I am trying to say (So it appears), is, yes, I do tell people I watch anime.