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Let's first start by saying that I fancy myself an otaku/japanophile. I love anime like I love nothing else and the Japanese culture it was spawned from. I do not however wish I were Japanese or that I grew up in different circumstances, I am happy with who I am. I also have taken classes to learn Japanese (still in progress!) and take Asian Studies to further my knowledge of the culture/history as I indeed have plans to make a (if not a few) trip(s) there. I personally find it offensive when people use the term otaku or japanophile as negative terms and find it even more so that it's assumed we are all ignorant of the Japanese culture or language. Don't lump us all together in one group! We are not all the same! That's just as good as saying that you don't like white people or lesbians or midgets because you had a bad experience once.
That being said, I personally don't find the people that use random foreign-languaged terms upsetting (regardless of my effort to learn it properly). I also don't find it offensive that people will eat certain items or wear certain clothing because they love an anime so much they would like to emulate it. While they may not be educated fully about the culture, they're still paying tribute (in their own way) to something they love. Quite frankly where would all the cosplayers go if we cut that group of anime fans out?! I know a couple cosplayers off hand that only wear the costumes because they love the flashy outfits and making them from scratch is a hobby! =) This is not to say that the obnoxious people should be granted any favor by any means as I too have met close minded people that decide that the anime they watch or manga they read is "IT" and that everyone else has no taste. You go right ahead any punch them in the dome for me (figuratively please - no lawsuits over anime violence lol!). =p |
i hear ya pork. I is a wee bit an otaku. I likes anime, i likes manga that i can read, i like some of their style and i love some of the "chinese food" we have here and i like sushi. but as much as i like all that, i am very happy to be an american. and i would not want to live in Japan or any of the asian countries. i likes my rights here a wee bit too much. but, like in Japan(i believe thats the country), i wouldn't mind if we had an otaku district here. but thats about as far as it goes. And when i come across some1 who believes their manga is the only manga, i mention that i own katanas and i have a black belt in Tang Soo Do. lol, i'm just kidding. I do own katanas and I AM a black belt in Tang Soo Do, but I would never abuse those things and joke about them like that. I just stop talking to ppl like that.
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I took japanese in high school and we actually learned how to speak japanese and about the country and history of it all.
I also knew people who were foreign exchange students from japan. they are so cute. =^-^= |
I watched a LOT of anime when I was in high school. I collected all kinds of anime and manga in both english and japanese. I did eventually pick up a few japanese words and symbols, but I never thought myself fluent. And I am not ashamed to say that I was quite the Yaoi fan. But I never did care for yuri.
To this day, I can hardly remember any japanese words, and I don't remember any of the symbols at all. I am not nearly as avid in japanese culture as I once was. But I do love the occasional anime night with my girlfriends from high school and trips to the sushi bar with my boyfriend. And I will always want to smack the people to pronounce manga, mainga. |
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My husband went to the art institute of Pitt; got a degree in animation. He stated that if a person came in drawing "Japanese style cartooning" the teachers would get pissed and force them to draw other styles as well. He said it is common and was over done. I guess that's why now we have "American Anime". for instance Teen Titans, Avatar, and some various others that where floating around. I think that is why Disney started doing more computer animations because even their later drawings where having "Asian influence" on them. |
Yes! I know a lot of people who obsess with anime cartoons, and what not. At one point, I was actually like this. The only people I know, female wise, that are obsessed with Japanese cartoons and writing and culture, are all ugly. >< & gothic. >>
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When it comes down to it, I don't think there's a problem with obsessing over an anime interest or whatnot, just don't be obnoxious about it. I used to be really, really into anime, but when I was, I was really young. I was in elementary and middle school. It's when you get to High School, I think, or are at least starting to become more mature that the line starts getting crossed. When I was 12, who could blame me? It was something I was really into. My 12 year old brother is SO into Halo right now it's really annoying, but I know it's something he likes right now, and so I respect that (most of the time).
I can understand how teachers would get frustrated teaching students how to animate if they were just going to do anime. Japan is so big on anime; everyone loves it over there (the majority, at least). Here in America, we have our Marvel comics and things of that genre, but we also, as someone said above, have Asian-Influenced American Anime. I find that (a lot of) Japanese Anime has more of a plot to it than some of the American versions, and so I tend to enjoy the Japanese kind more than the American. However, I much prefer to read the manga I have than to go for the anime. I can only speak a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of Japanese, barely enough to hold a "how are you" kind of conversation, and so I'm not going to sit here and go all "OH EM GEE DAT GUY IS SOOO KAWAII DESUUUUUU!!!!" That's just obnoxious and annoying. I know several girls from when I was in middle school, and now we're all out of High School and in college. These chicks still fantasize about Kurama from YuYu Hakasho and think he's the hottest guy on the planet. They act like the characters from the series are real and are going to be their one-and-only. When you hit college-level, that's something you either grow out of, or you keep behind closed doors. I agree; I can't stand people who act like that. It makes me distance myself from them, so there's a reason why I only have 1 real friend from school, and all m true friends live out of state...I met them in different places for different reasons, and they're my true friends. :heart: |
Aaaugh, those! ~hates with the burning fire of hate~ They make intelligent anime fans (like myself, and my friends) look bad.
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I don't know why. It just irks me. Maybe I'm just crazy. That would explain everything! |
I know a few people like that. Bleach is apparently the best anime ever D: I like Hellsing and Blue Gender. However the people I know won't even consider watching/reading them. Total denial of other things than Bleach r.r They also like to abuse the Japanese language, mixing it with English and pissing me off because I can't understand them. In response, I give them German/English blabber, and they scream at tme for doing so r.r |
To be quite honest, at one time when I was 11-12-ish I was borderline. o: I fangirl'd all the time and would randomly call people baka. o.e I'm slightly ashamed to admit it. D: Don't hate me~
I've straightened out now though. That probably came after I google'd weeaboo and was like "wtf. I don't wanna be like that." Now I'm an educated manga/anime fan, though not as avid about it as I once was. Unlike the description in your first post, I don't care for Naruto or Bleach, both were too long and kind of "blehhh" when I got around to watching some other anime that made see how "blehhh" those two were. (Also, off-topic; Is your Gaia username the same as it is here? I think I know you. o3o Sort of. I've seen someone with the same username running around the Gaia AT/GCD.) |
I can be a little weeaboo-ish sometimes, but only in the using of one japanese word. I'll sometimes say baka, but only when I know the other person doesn't know what baka means and when I want to call them stupid and have them not know. I do this very rarely, though. I NEVER try to speak in Japanese, mainly because I don't know enough japanese to say full non-stupid-sounding sentences.
I don't like naruto. I like naruto's sexy no jitsu and that is it. I kinda like bleach, but I've only read vol. One and two. I prefer magical girl anime and manga (cardcaptor sakura, Shugo chara, etc.) But I do not subscribe to one genre. I do stay away from Yaoi and Yuri. I've accidentally read a volume of La esperanca and after realising that it was yaoi I quickly replaced it on the shelf and started reading something else. I have never read any Yuri and I intend to keep it that way. I can appreciate these two genres, but I personally do not like them. I read and own to vol. Eleven of Negima! Magister Negi Magi. I love that manga. I also read and avidly watch InuYasha. I watch anime like Shugo Chara and CardCaptor Sakura in the original Japanese with subtitles. I did watch Digimon (fave seasons are one and three and...... There's one other, but I don't know which season it was..... Oh! It was the season where the kids could merge with their Digimon and become a more powerful Digimon! Yeah, that's the other one....) and Code Lyoko and I loved them both. I liked the premise of Code Lyoko and I wish they'd kept playing reruns for a longer period of time...... I've always known that not all japanese are 'short, cosplaying, anime freaks'. I'd love to meet a Japanese person who cosplays, sure, but I want to meet them so they could teach me how to cosplay well. I loved Avatar! A friend and I were mad that they didn't give us enough closure concernong Katara and Aang's relationship in the end, but oh well we can't change the past...... BTW Someday I WILL live in Japan. I love the culture and the amount of art. I am an actor and I'd dearly love to go and see some Takarazuka (did I spell that correctly?? I can't remember how to spell it....) And kabuki theatre....... |
I was never considered a weeaboo. I loved Japanese culture and used to talk abit in Japanese to myself so I can remember it, but never outloud unless I was with friends. I'll be honest, now I don't talk in Japanese with anyone other than my fiance. I usually say, "baka" when my fiance is being silly, or "matte" or even "kawaii" sometimes if the mood fits. I used to say, "Osuwari" when he annoyed me and made me want to facepalm, and the reason is because his personality is very close to Inuyasha (both manga and anime form). Even though I'm obsessed about anime and manga now as I was back in college and high school, I refuse to watch mainstream anime and manga like One Piece, Naruto and Bleach. I'm always out there reading about lesser known mangas like Crescent Moon and Planet Ladder, and watching lesser known anime like Munto and Da Capo. Now, things are abit different though, I not only use Japanese in sentences around my fiance, but I use Romanian, Hungarian, Hebrew (sometimes), Spanish, French, and very very rarely -- Italian or German. My fiance does it too, he learned some Romanian and Hungarian words from me and he loves how it rolls of his tongue =3 My passion for culture exceeded past Japanese culture, now I'm interested in ALL Asian culture -- Taiwanese, Chinese, Singaporean, Japanese, Korean, etc. and in most European culture like Romanian, Hungarian, Italian, Greek, French, and Spanish (Spain). I was not gifted with the opportunity to study Japanese and having since forgotten Romanian, it seems that it'll come out of my pocket if I choose to go back to college and learn those two languages :). |
I haven't met anybody to such extreme as you have described, but I have met people very close to it. I knew a girl who was always saying random crap in Japanese like she was trying to be cool and obsessed over anime all the time. She claimed fictional men "belonged" to her and she would hurt anybody who tired to "take" him away from her. At one point I had an obsession with Dragon ball Z :3 But it wasn't so horrible as some people can be.
I do find it a bit annoying when people try to insert Japanese words in to an English sentence when they don't even study Japanese. I started studying Japanese this quarter at school and so once in a while I'll say a thing or two in Japanese, but I usually just say it around my boyfriend. I don't ever use it to try and sound cool or to impress anybody, just because I know what I'm saying. |
I think as long as the internet exists, we'll be seeing these people around...
I'm an anime fan in the sense that I thoroughly enjoy animation - I actually watch things and comment on how it was made (digital vs hand drawn for example), the shading techniques used, and of course, the plot and character development of the animation. I do watch a lot of Japanese animation but I still have the childhood favorites I grew up with too (most recently I watched the "The Halloween Tree.") I never used Japanese words - even when I was biggest into my fandoms, writing & drawing fan fiction and fan art, I wouldn't use it. No, adding "chans" to the end of the names or saying "kawaii" instead of cute. Last weekend, I went to an anime convention that I've been attending since 2006. It's becoming all to obvious that people who think anime is only about cat girls, Naruto, and Bleach are starting to become the major frequenters. Seriously, I could not go anywhere without running into a Bleach cosplayer. I haven't seen the series but god lord, I watched one of the movies with someone and it was just god awful. The anime fandom is really starting to see a turn in people - I think that's why I, along with many others, are starting to avoid other fans because we don't want to put up with the sheer stupidity. |
No, I have not ever met anyone like that. It's absurd. I don't watch a lot of role play. I do like Americanized anime, but it just depends on the story line. I don't, however, watch bleach or nurotu...so much that I can't even spell it apparently.
I do know that there are, and always will be, people who take other culture for granted and see them as nothing but stereo types. |
Oh yeah, I've met those people before. Dx Sometimes it's a bit offending, because if I tell someone I'm actually studying to learn Japanese and Korean, I feel that they might not take me seriously. Kawaii is like the most overrated Japanese word ever used in the US. :[
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I have met someone like that. A 50 something year old creeper that was "Collecting" the D.E.A.R. series. I like manga, I'm not gonna lie, but I know that the japanese are just as diverse as americans are.
HE WAS SO CREEPY. I was only gonna buy some comics! TT^TT I didn't need him staring at me ass, and telling me about his favorite series, and how he learned so much about the japanese through it, and how he'd love to go to Japan one day, and if I was interested, he would help me sign up for a sponsorship to go! He was so scary!! Alright, so he was just a scary old pervert, and not a japanophile. But it was in the comics section of the Barnes and Nobles, so does it technically count? ^^;; |
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Kawaii and chan.....and desu.... |
Thank god I've never met someone so stupid like that. How ignorant can some people get these days? The person/people you described makes me want to punch them really hard. |
I worked at Gamestop for five years and I ran into plenty of these people. They would always come in bright and early for the new Naruto game and if they figured out I was inro anime they would try to talk to me about it. Unfortunately even though I have watched and read plenty most of the mainstream stuff I skip over and don't watch so the conversations never got very far. It did get some of them to check out some of the other great series out there though and they would come back for recommendations.
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Okay, I knew people that butchered the Japanese language and culture, and even was one at one time, but never to THAT extent. Sheesh, were these people remedial or something? @[email protected] Even when I was first getting my toes wet in the anime scene [Way back with Pokemon and Sailor Moon, which, after the first few episodes I saw, I looked up the original Japanese version with English subtitles] I knew the differences between yaoi and yuri, knew that stereotypes were just stereotypes, and only used phrases like "baka" and "kawaii" a few short weeks after I learned them ^^; I really love Japanese culture, art, architecture, language, and anime/manga. It's all really beautiful to me ^^ Some American cartoons are okay, but I like things that make me laugh one day but cry the next, not something you watch and think "Heh, there have been 62 fart jokes packed in one episode" as many seem to be. Though, I must admit, a few cartoons are pretty good, such as Secret Saturdays, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Daria [That show was awesome~] They were quite entertaining ^^
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Weeaboos~
Aren't they fun? When I was little (about 12, actually) I was obsessed with InuYasha (Sesshomaru (I'm probably spelling that wrong since I haven't watched the anime/manga in about 4-5 years) in particular, InuYasha was too similar to me at the time and I wanted to be all cold and cool like Sesshomaru). But me and my friends were never intolerable wees because we had an actual Asian girl as our friend who would teach us the real stuff. :) To this day I still watch a lot of anime--Almost all of it dubbed. (Unless it was dubbed by 4Kids or another company that slaughters anime, then I'll watch the subbed version.) Buuut. Your friend sounds pretty ignorant. I don't have friends like that for long because I either smack them and make them learn, or if they can't learn, I ditch them. Ignorance is not bliss for those around you. =.=; Oh, and I'll admit that there was a time when all my friends and I tried to learn Japanese, but, we were never horrible and shrieking. We actually learned sentences (not just random words) and how to write some of the characters for things...Though we all gave up after a while, because we didn't have a formal class, and high school just made us too busy. :( |
I'm sort of like that...but I've also taken Japanese courses at my college.
And I like eel rolls X3. But I know what you're talking about. I hope I'm not that bad. |
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