A lot of it stems from people forming opinions without even trying to watch anime, manga, or whatever. They just write it off as a nerd hobby, and whenever it's brought up, will likely mock it despite not knowing anything about it. Or they think everything is like DragonBall, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, etc. and that's it, thus "stuff for kids". Japan supposedly has a similar outlook on anime, so it wouldn't really surprise me if that's the case.

The funny thing is that anyone i know that knows i watch and read it either doesn't care or watches a bit of it themselves (though, granted, it IS only stuff like the big 3, FMA, DBZ, etc).

It's just retarded human logic that something not making yourself more appealing to others is a stupid, pointless thing.

As for me, i don't really have any stories since i got into it right before i got out of high school 3 1/2 years ago.

They dismiss it as something only kids and manchildren would watch, that's all there is to it, really. In most cases this is what will happen. People won't even try to understand the medium, the richness it hides behind a thick veil of misunderstandings and mediocre products that got popular.

Cartoons=kids
Money & whores=grown-ups

You won't achieve much by watching anime all day or collecting Star Trek figurines, while getting ripped, having money and whores gets you social status. And everyone out there wants to have status, power, money. It's how the current society works because corporate media will tell you that is so. Your peers will tell you that works like this. Even your parents will.

I pulled myself out of this system and honestly, it's the best thing I ever did. It's like I achieved a higher form as a human and are able see how every component of the world works. I look down on other humans if I were some sort of deity.

The problem is, I am no deity. Knowing how all of this system comes together is a real burden because you can't change it. Ignorance is bliss. Sorry, I think I got a bit carried away but you get the point.

The few people out there, I've dared to talk with about anime in the las couple years, always laughed or showed this mocking smile at the begining; they do portrait in their heads the few mainstream series they know about: the big-hits importations for TV broadcasts from the 80's (including even Saint Seiya, in here), pretty lame alright, oriented to very young or naive audiences like if just a Disney's gone mad stuff or western superhero comics.

When I told them about how the situation in Japan developed differently, and manga/animation isn't just a sort of children's cultural getto but a recognized (yet polemical) form of art, which serves for a wide variety of target publics and deals with all sorts of thematics, from light comedy to X-rated, taboo and quite sophisticated and difficult discourses, they started to get perplexed. Some of them went speechless when I showed them things like the ghost city parade from GITS; a few got genually interested, then, about the otaku culture; so I told them about things like japanese manga libraries (and how they're provided with cabins), VNs and finally the late 90's hikikomori phenomena and a bit about its lifestyle...

By then, they weren't laughing anymore but juts staring at me, with a face of mixed surprise, disgust, fear and the urge to fucking run away from this nuts-creep already (cause they had no idea).

Talking to normals about anime is already a lost cause. Its obvious. Anyone with eyes in their head can see it. Stifle your urges for companionship and keep your 'weird' hobbies under wraps in social situations.

>Why are people who like anime and manga so often regarded as unusual?

I'm a heavily introverted myself, so I would say I'm pretty unusual. That said, I've never told anyone I actually watch anime so you can't blame me.

>TL;DR Please post contact with douches and your theories on why people write off fans of typically "nerdy" things in this thread.

I think if you let anyone who hasn't asked explicitly what you're into know you watch anime, then you come off as that creepy guy who talks to people randomly about things. Just think to yourself, how many people bother telling you what their interests are? Why are you telling them yours? If the relationship isn't intimate enough in the first place for them to share these likes or dislikes with you, you shouldn't be doing so if you don't want to come off as weird.

I was forcefully pulled out of my house by several former choir members (I was bass at that time, I quit 8 years ago because I really don't feel the group is growing musically, that's also the time I began to
withdraw from normalfaggotry), and I just came along. When I arrived they were indulging in booze and talking about jobs and 3DPDs. It was noisy. I just sat there, took out my PSP and played some games, not minding what is happening. Then there's this guy who knows I like 'nerdy' stuff, started talking about JUMP. I just said I only read Bakuman but he kept on pressing. Soon everybody was talking about JUMP. Then K-ON! was brought up. I couldn't get myself to talk about it but then, some trigger was pulled and I was talking about it non-stop. It was only 2 minutes but everybody was listening to me, looking at me with faces I really don't know whether they're interested or they just found out that I'm too 'nerdy'. I stopped when I realized that was the case.

Maybe I should avoid any social interaction. I was really ashamed of myself back there.

>>929
>bakuman

Excellent.

>3DPDs wordfilters to 3DPDs.
wat

I dunno man. I dont think all normal people are douchebags towards anime fans. most people are cool with it.

I was talking with this normaldude at a party yesterday and he recognised the Evangelion hat I was wearing. it turns out he has seen a bunch of anime. mainly ninja type stuff, nothing cute.

>>933
That's what I think, too. The people that I've come in contact with over the years have been open to it for the most part, even if I didn't tell them about it myself or reveal anything I like.

As to why people write people off that way, I couldn't tell you. I don't look for meaning with somebody who shows no regard or respect for their fellow man.

>>932
yeah because no one wants to hear about anyone's three dimensional pig disgusting.

>Why are people who like anime and manga so often regarded as unusual?

The answer to this question is so obvious that it's surprising nobody said it. People are reacting with fear and aversion towards the unknown. All new things are automatically labeled as the devil. It has been the same for thousands of years. It's even more noticeable
now that the mass media are causing and feeding the hysteria. Some media itself are still regarded as such. The radio not so much anymore but opinions on television are still varied and the internet is still regarded as root of all evil, even though that is changing now that normalfags are already the vast majority of it's ihabitants. //Oh, and I forgot about video games - again, now that more nad more normalfags play them it's not a sing of mental disorders anymore.// This shows another trend: everything that's niche enough is regarded as shit until it becomes popular and suddenly it's 'cool and hip'. Now with the spread of Kindles (and other reading devices) I could even see reading books being regarded as 'cool and hip' (although actually you just need to posses one, you don't really need to use it). Again, this cognitive dissonance has been going on for hundreds of years and it won't ever change. If people have no idea about a subject they will react in various ways but most of them will always be negative (only a small percentage of poen minded people will react with interest). Some will belittle that interest. Based on it's status it could be something 'for nerdy neckbeards' (board games, programming), 'for manchildren' (video games), 'for weeaboos' (anime, manga, VNs). Sometimes, however, it's generally regarded as something that deserves respect (books, classical music). Even then, they'll find a way around it ('what are you, 80?', 'boring shit'; some people who don't even try to come off as somewhat intelligent will just go with regular insults, most likely 'it's for fags'). Once it'll become popular, however, they will talk about how they always had interest in it and always regarded it with respect.

>People who like anime, manga, vidya games, comics, science fiction, and fantasy are all often written off as permavirgin nerds the moment they are met.

I don't mind being labeled as a virgin and a nerd. What bother me MUCH more is how being a nerd (and even more prominently a virgin) is a BAD thing.

>When I told them about how the situation in Japan developed differently, and manga/animation isn't just a sort of children's cultural getto but a recognized (yet polemical) form of art, which serves for a wide variety of target publics and deals with all sorts of thematics, from light comedy to X-rated, taboo and quite sophisticated and difficult discourses (...)

Sorry but that's just bullshit. Sure, there are many anime with mature themes out there. There are some I'd gladly show to normalfags but I'm pretty sure I've got enough fingers to cover ALL of them. This year the only show I'd label as such was Tatami Galaxy. It's not what most of us usually watch, sorry. We watch infantile shows, sometimes even some aimed at little girls.
I fail to see anything wrong with that, however. It's not like it's harmfull to anyone in any way. Yeah, it is weird but I'd be grateful it people would show a little more tolerance towards such intersts. Then again...

>>925

... it's only your fault if you're not hiding your powerlevel. Admiting you liked Mushishi or GITS should be fine but blabbering about K-ON! and all PreCures might not be the best idea.

>>917
>>918
Those are stereotypes and the /a/ crowd pushes those stereotypes to an unrealistic extent. Significant amounts of normalfags are not that way and are okay with anime or watched a few 'mainstream' anime like cowboy bebop, GITS, dragon ball z, etc. Occasionally I have to correct them when they think pokemon is all there is to anime but not a lot

>>925
no. I refuse to sell out

>>928
>>Just think to yourself, how many people bother telling you what their interests are?

Normalfags LOVE doing the same. What is the difference?

>>929
Other than your choice in anime, do not feel ashamed. I honestly don't care about that. Also apparently normalfags respect my brutal honesty in some cases, like that.

>>940
>>It's not what most of us usually watch, sorry. We watch infantile shows, sometimes even some aimed at little girls.

Honestly, I range from infantile shows to LOGH & whatnot. I'm a science fiction fan so originally like in 2006-07 i started watching shit off the internet (as opposed to tv shows) I watched mecha anime & space opera series. Even then I had no problem with say Kodomo No Jikan. I've been corrupted by *chan culture in watching 'infantile shows' but eh.

It's fun to see normalfag responses when those subjects come up & I exibit my knowledge on that. They wonder how I gain that knowledge (I like scaring mainstream society/opposing it at times)

Allow me to sum up every answer here: ignorance.

>>955

Here and everywhere.

generally I find people look at animation as a genre and not as a medium. I think some shows like family guy have helped to change this mindset a bit,although not much. Many haven't gotten into more than the popular stuff in the US like Miyazaki, but some like other stuff. A few 30/40-ish year old people in a game I play are big fans of gundam, though if they're that old playing an online game it's not much of a surprise.

Personally its always felt awkward for me when discussing anime because I like stuff ranging from Gundam to Strike Witches. I don't really have favorite genres I tend to like them all and judge shows based on how well executed I think they were done.

>>932
testing
3DPD

>>969

at last... let me test now:
normalfag
god

>>972
Meh.

>>972
Do you think those should be filtered?
it felt as if people didn't like the word normlafag being filtered, and found the god filter more annoying then funny.
also, sorry for, feather, derailing the thread.

on topic, It's because the normal average person is just ignoring as >>955 said.
They have it baked into their minds that anime=cartoons, stuff for kids because all animation is for kids to them, but anime is porn, or at last dirty, as such by their retarded logic, this makes it porn for kids or turning kids stuff into porn, something like that, and that makes it evil to some, disgusting to most others, and it's more or less the same for manga and VN's, they think it's all porn.
but really, they think anyone that isn't interesting in shit like 3DPDs sports, sex and so on, are losers, regardless of what it is that they do like, be it anime, video games, scifi, (d&d style)rp or any other hobby that isn't shared by the average ignoring normal.
It should also come as no surprise that people are more then willing to wright off what they don't understand as being strange or bad.

>>976

Normalfags stick to the rule "everything is related to sex".
Some of them even think this is something only smart people know of, and they tend to make fun of the ones who don't think that way.

>>977
Very true, and most are not interested in anything they can't fuck or masturbate to, but they'll still try non the less.
I once saw my father humping the back end of one of his cars once, might have been joking, but he told me something about the exhaust pipe being very convenient.
No, I'm not kidding.

>>980
Reminds me of a news article i read once about a guy marrying his car and then getting a 'male' car for her and him to 'experiment' with.

>>977
you know I've seen people on /tg/ who think that a group that doesn't feel like they need to inject sex and flirting into a story are being childish and immature.

It's odd that normalfags think that it's odd not think about sex or sexual things all the damn time. They think whenever we think of our waifus, we fap to them or something.

The fact that normalfags would go for trashy whores is just beyond me. They just have no respect for themselves. I'm just disgusted by all their shit and they expect us to abide by their shit.

I just read this blog and the things 3D bitches do nowadays just disgusts me. Makes my parents obviously look extremely tame in comparison.

http://problemwithwomentoday.blogspot.com/

>>976
>Do you think those should be filtered?

I personally prefered them that way, yeah: they were more humorous terms to use than their overused (bringer of shitstorms) counterparts. But do as you think better.

>>984
Interesting. On this topic I was reading some excerpts from Schopenhauer on women and it's interesting to see how he classifies them, being himself quite popular around women:

http://www.philosophicalmisadventures.com/?p=21

>http://problemwithwomentoday.blogspot.com/

wtf am i reading

>>991
Wow, waste of 15 minutes.

>>984
I'm surprised google hasn't deleted that blog yet, like all the other links on that page have been.
All true from what I've seen the few times I've left my home.

if I actually gave a shit I could make my own blogspot website that cherry picks statistics and makes generalisations about how terrible men are. I'd start with one of the stats mentioned on that page: "the prison population is 95% male".

>>989
I agree. Even though the god filter was a bit off at first, it grew on me.

Normalfag, too, should be filtered. Aside from the general definition, like someone else said, it's become something people use to describe someone who is different than them at times.

>>995
because no one know prison is nothing but roundabout welfare in the US.

Can we please not let this thread devolve into another misogynistic ramble? Shit gets old, and it always causes arguments

>>1014
/so/ and /ot/ becomes more like /r9k/ by the day.

>>1015
What do you mean? If you mean misogynistic ramblings where women are blamed for all evils, yes, yes it is. I've never been to /r9k/, so I don't know what it's like.

OK, first of all. PROPS on the Otaku no Video pic in the original post.

As far as broskis go, I really enjoy making them feel uncomfortable as much as possible. I'm not 15 anymore so they don't frighten me but I do let the buttmad from long ago flow through me when it comes to effectively reminding them of their shortcomings.

I don't go to sporting events and shit where there's more of them than there are of me. I'm not stupid. In public, I buy my time. I try to come off as normalfag casualbro until I find an opportunity to subtly dig at their self-esteem.

Then I cap things off with a waxy finish.

Why do you have to talk to these people anyway. I don't see anyone in the day unless I have a class or a lecture... or am buying some food for the week. You don't need to place yourself in situations where people will find out about your "hobbies". Nobody needs to knows.

That man that washed your car for you; he doesn't need to know. Nor does the granny next door or your classmates. All you need is a little small talk about the news or what you're studying... or what you did at work. You don't need to bring up the subject ever. If someone asks what you do at home, you just have to look at them strange because it is absolutely not a reasonable question to ask. If you meet someone for the first time and they ask you what your hobbies are, you just say "I just do whatever!" and divert the question on them instead. Let the 'normalfag' talk about what they like and feign interest... but really... you shouldn't be placing yourself in those situations in the first place.

>>917
>Why are people who like anime and manga so often regarded as unusual?
They aren't, at least not where I live.
That is unless you watch anime directed towards children and even then some are excepted by normals, like Dragonball.

>>991
The truth, seriously. The author is exaggerating but it's still more accurate than I would have liked.

>>1036
Well it's hard to avoid such questions when you're still in education.

Sometimes I don't care, others it hurts because of their ignorance. I usually just say that I'm into soccer and drawing, which is halfway true and they let me alone.

>>1036

I work, and the people I work with often ask me if I have any plans for the weekend. Since I never do, they ask what I do with my time. I always just say "nothing special" and the one time I was pressed about it I just said "nothing anyone is interested in hearing me blather on about". They were offended that I didn't want to tell them.

Anyway, I look at it this way: this stuff is way outside of most people's comfort zone. Whether they're ignorant about it or not, close-minded or not, they are still going to dislike it because it is just TOO DIFFERENT from what they like and expect others to like.

And it seems that the natural response to something outside your comfort zone is, rather than just accepting that it's not your thing and moving on, to insult and condescend.

I guess I wouldn't be too different if I had to do something that was really outside of my comfort zone; most forms of media and fiction are not a big deal, but if I had to go to some hip NYC nightclub and hit on girls there I might have a similar reaction as the douchebags do to VNs.

Here's a recent story: I recently let a co-worker borrow a video game. Someone else who works with us, same age, plays some video games (Call of Duty, anyway), asked what game. I told him what game and gave him a one-sentence explanation as to why he was borrowing it, i.e. that it's out of print and hard to find. The guy looked at me like I just used a racial slur. What the fuck is wrong with people?

>>1045

Where I live if you use a racial slur they nod in agreement with you, but I live around a bunch of rednecks so they hate everyone (and everything) that isn't american. Unless its food.

>>1048
Same for where I'm from. Are you in the South or the Midwest? I live in a backwards-ass town surrounded by other more backwards-ass towns with one marginally better town in ten minutes' reach. The county next to mine is KKK-active, and the people in my town are all either on pills or meth. It makes me wonder what happened in my area to make it such a depressing shithole.

>>1076

Midwest, lived here all my life. Pretty much the same as your comment except the ones not on pills/meth are so far into religion you cant have a conversation about the weather without them trying to get you into it. Specifically Indiana though.

>>1043
When people ask, I say that I play games all day.

I do go on the computer all day, but its not to play games. I'm addicted to browsing forums and imageboards.

>>1048
>>1076

Same here. I live in the South. Wall-to-wall good ol' boy bullshit around every corner. For a good time, you can hang out at the wing place and hit on one of the three redneck barflies that prop up the canteen outside.

Maybe even fight a "nigger" or two.

>>1078
Indiana here, too, specifically Jefferson County. It's right on the border of Kentucky, which somehow manages to be shittier and more boring than Indiana. I'm just glad I'm not stuck there.

>>1081
Thanks for blocking that word out. It's refreshing to see that sort of tact on an imageboard.

Also >>948 and >>1038 are right, normalfags are not that afraid of anime/manga culture given that shit has saturated some parts of other subcultures (e.g. ravers and their overlap w/cosplay among other shit - and hipsters). Sorry, but a SHITLOAD of people at least STREAM anime, especially if they're younger. Black or white it does not matter. When I wore a Domo hat during summer it was surprising to see who would get that - middle age white women in a critical mass bike ride, random people on city bus/train, etc.

Basic or Popular Anime/Video Gaming/Science Fiction is normalfag shit now, and I'm not lying. And that applies outside the hipster circles - older (20/30/60s culturally black - yes im phrasing it that way) cousins/uncles/etc @ family reunions or gatherings at least know of it and just go with a 'meh' response.

>>1099

Yeah, I hope it's obvious that I used it ironically since I was trying to lampoon the scum that slither about my town.

Why do people even care about anime getting more popular, apart from the easily-avoidable issue of bad users encroaching in their discussion forums

>>1101
It's easier to communicate shit with normalfags

>>1183
No, its easy to avoid bad users. Good moderation will eliminate bad users. And if you go to /a/ its a given that you'll meet bad users. Also, I think you're a bad user.

>>1183
>>1185

Let's not stray too far off topic, here. Try to remember that this is not 4chan so we don't want threads getting derailed into autistic battle mode.

>>1101

The main problem I see with anime getting mainstream exposure is that whenever something is given popular attention it is immediately homogenized for the masses. Doesn't matter if it's anime, manga, video games, collectibles, music, television, film - if money starts to be made off it, the producers immediately try to figure out how to maximize that revenue and prolong it. Often at the expense of the art at stake.

At that point it's common to see criticism occur from some place of questionable moral higher ground. If it's going to be viewed by a wider range of people, then the censors need to get to work on it to make sure that incendiary material isn't being disseminated. God forbid something that has actual artistic merit is distributed and makes someone uncomfortable.

Then all the other works in the genre of the successful franchise go to work at changing themselves in the same ways to try to emulate that success. What is produced is watered-down garbage produced by people who couldn't make something of their own, so chose to instead hijack the intellectual property in an attempt to pass it off to the very consumer base that at this point have nothing to do with the fan base of the original work.

It's a slippery slope.

>>1238
I'm not sure I agree. The majority of shows will always be homogenized and genericized to fit some mold. If that mold is dictated by a small batch of hardcore fans, you'll wind up with generic, lazy versions of what those fans want.

Look at the recent moe boom, for example. I'm not criticizing it but it seemed pretty clearly due to the less "normal" fans, not the mainstream.

>>1242
I'd say things tailored to fit a niche crowd will be better than things tailored to fit a mainstream audience, as long as you belong to that niche. Either way something commercial is always going to be pandering to its audience, so it's better if it panders more specifically to your tastes. Something that's mainstream will try to pander to the greatest range of people possible so it will almost always be weaker. Though if you don't belong to the group more niche works are trying to appeal to then of course you would prefer something more mainstream because it will more likely to pander to your tastes in some way.

I don't see how works for a niche audience are more generic either. If anything I would say they're less generic, because mainstream works are more likely to play it safe since they're going for wide appeal. Niche works know their audience so they tend to be more focused. For someone outside the niche they may seem generic for the same reason people who don't listen to a genre of music will often think that all of the music in the genre sounds the same, but that's because they aren't familiar enough with the material to pick up on the differences.

The lesson is don't expect to like something that is targeted at a niche you don't belong to. I still don't understand why the majority of Western anime fans watch anime when they're just going to complain about how it's all "otaku pandering shit."

>>1244
Yeah, I guess you're right. The comparison with music was dead on as I know from the multitude of genres in metal vs. punk vs. electronic and my inability to tell punk/electronic genres apart.

Although I personally like otaku pandering as long as it's subtle enough. As in, I don't want to be aware that I'm being pandered to, if that makes any sense. I guess I have this weird principle of "artistry" where if what the artist is going for happens to align with what I want, that's awesome, but if they specifically include it just so I like it, I feel patronized. Or something.

>>917
>Why are people who like anime and manga so often regarded as unusual?

I'll give you one answer, because they don't watch mainstream television shows. I mostly avoid most television shows because they're the same variants of sitcom, crime/murder/legal drama, or reality shows. Cable is worse because unless you like sports and movies, you're wasting time and money.

Another reason is simply ignorance, or in some cases intentional ignorance because they don't want to learn more about it.

>I mostly avoid most television shows because they're the same variants of sitcom, crime/murder/legal drama, or reality shows

you could say something similar about most anime. I dont watch TV either but I admit there are some decent shows. in Japan there are otaku who dont watch anime and love American TV.

I like some american TV. Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Burn Notice, House (though it's been on the decline), and Always Sunny. I also watch some Craig Ferguson whenever I remember it's on.

I've never watched anything on TV since during high school. Before that it was just late night TV.