Discussion How open are you with your manga/anime obsession?

[Brandish μ]

I don't tell many people in my life how much I read manga or watch anime. A few reasons...

• People (in my country at least) don't give the medium enough respect. I have very few friends who read manga, and only a handful more watch anime.
• It's seen as "for kids" by a lot of people (feeds into the first point)
• I couldn't be bothered having to talk about it to some people (same applies with other habits though)

Even this forum, only the people really close to me know I spend time talking about manga with people online.

 

[Freid]

I'm generally happy to tell guys that I read manga and have even tried to convince some of those I've met to read it too. If they already know you, they normally understand that it doesn't necessarily say anything about your personality, and if they don't already know you they still don't care that much.

However it's a bit different for women. I feel like they're more likely to judge you based on the fact that you read manga. It's not really attractive to a female, much like gaming and they might think you're immature because of it. I'd normally tell them after a while of getting to know each other because then reading manga wouldn't really matter as much. Definitely not a topic for a first conversation.

 

[Doughboy]

Not really open with it but it's not cause I don't wanna be, probably more cause idc. Watching anime/manga is stuff I do on my free/alone time. Plus I literally have one real life friend who watches anime and it's OP and Super on Netflix, two mainstream shows. Not exactly a hardcore fan like I've seen around. Why forums > real life when it comes to this

 

[LordOTaco]

Eh when I tell people they're usually not too shocked as I'm rather open about my interests I just keep it in moderation and don't obsess about it as much as I might appear to do online. Would it be the first thing I tell on a date per se? No not really but if things come up in conversation I see no harm in saying yeah I've seen anime or have watched it.

 

[Demonspeed]

Most of my acquaintances just know I am an anime/manga fan. I often watch anime in public(my classroom for example) but when I do it's never something with ecchi or load of fanservice in it. I can only talk about everything with those watching them to an extent comparable to me and they are not many(two). My parents know I am an anime fan but they never saw me watch it, my brothers and sister also know a bit more but I don't watch anime with them. At home, I only watch them in my room.

 

[Leoat12]

Only my family knows and my buddies from the internet. Nobody never asked me if I am a fan, so I didn't have actually to hide, but I don't advertise as well.

 

[Spirit]

I don't tell many people in my life how much I read manga or watch anime. A few reasons...

• People (in my country at least) don't give the medium enough respect. I have very few friends who read manga, and only a handful more watch anime.
• It's seen as "for kids" by a lot of people (feeds into the first point)
• I couldn't be bothered having to talk about it to some people (same applies with other habits though)

Even this forum, only the people really close to me know I spend time talking about manga with people online.

Things must be different up in Queensland because here in Melbourne there's such a huge Asian influence and culture. Anime and Manga/Videogames are just part of daily life for younger people these days here. Many people know that I like Anime and Manga and respect that. Both my younger siblings and my older sibling love anime/manga and I can talk about anything freely in my household. MH has replaced Facebook for me, and the funny thing is that despite how open I am about it, it's not the biggest thing in my life. It allows me some relaxation and chill out time.

 

[Organizized]

Basically, my fiancee knows I read Manga and watch anime, as well as my brother and some acquaintances who also watch it. Not sure about anyone else, since I don't bring up topics I know others aren't interested in. But then, I'm not exactly "addicted" either.

I watched way more when I was younger than I do now (don't have the same amount of time). I've never felt I need to hide it from anyone. I still wear t-shirts with Death Note, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop etc. and have anime ringtones and background pics on my phone. And if someone asks me what my favorite films and TV series are, there's always gonna be a fair amount of anime on those lists. I think the people I know, and people where I live in general have a good understanding that Manga and anime aren't your "Saturday morning cartoons" so there's never been any stigma there. Luckily.

 

[Mononoke]

Hardly open with it at all simply because it never really matters (I would not call it an obsession as it's something I merely do in my free time) and I would only mention it in a conversation which surrounds it or if someone asks what my phone background is for example as quite often it will be some fanart from a series I currently like xP
The only people that do are mainly friends who some I actually got to know through anime/manga as they themselves have watched quite a fair bit and is actually nice discussing with someone time to time other than those who have only watched mainstream like AoT or OPM for example. Even the ones that I didn't still know I read and watch it but do not really care either as at the end of the day to them it's just like watching a TV show or reading a book.

 

[Marmalade]

I'm not really an open person to begin with in real life. I talk a lot, just not about myself lol.
Most people who have known me for awhile know that I'm obsessed with video games/harry potter. That's an easy guess really.

Anime and manga... It's different. Not ashamed of it at all. I really don't care what people think of me anyway. I am who I am right? I don't have that many friends nearby that like the same things (aside gaming and DBZ. Somehow liking DBZ is socially acceptable XD), so I don't talk about it in real life anyway. I have no reason to do so. But if they ask, I'll be happy to tell them all about it.

 

[BluePegasus]

Don't mind, I'm pretty open about it and I keep on annoying people with saying that they need to watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood because it's one of the best series in GENERAL. And once they say ew no I don't watch cartoons I'm like:

 

[Dranzer]

Yeah I'm not that open with my manga/anime obsession generally since when you're in highschool people find anime to be for kids and manga for hippys, but recently I got selected for a new school and my whole class is doing Japanese as a language together so it has been pretty cool since a lot of us are into anime and manga and we can be pretty open about it

 

[John Flume]

It really depends on who I'm around. If someone errs towards manga, or if they casually drop in a Death Note reference or something like that, I'm more open to it. But if they don't mention it first then I don't say anything.

 

[Kiki]

I am so open. I welcome anyone who likes J-culture. In fact, there are many people that like J-culture in Indonesia and there have been many Japanese events held here. I went to them oftentimes.

 

[Biri Biri]

It is not something I publicize or draw attention to. Neither have I hid, or thought about hiding it from others. If the subject of manga or anime gets brought up in a conversation, usually not by me, I have no qualms engaging in discussion regarding it. Then again this is me in a nutshell concerning pretty much everything.

Probably down to the culture of where you are. From where I am, manga and anime hardly has a social stigma associated to them. Actually as long as one's recreation does not gets taken to the extremities till it impedes or have a detrimental effect on their health, academics, profession, or relationships, they do not usually get looked upon in disapproval.

Furthermore, the mainstream appeal for such medium is probably at its boom seeing as how the MCU and netflix are generating unprecedented profits with their respective media franchises. What makes them succeed is because the people are buying into the idea of their projects, and where they are heading. And people know all these were originated from comics.

And I for one have yet to personally encounter someone could not distinguish and blur the lines between fiction and reality. Let's all stay strong and keep living life.

 

[SilverLugia345]

When it comes to both anime and manga its something that I do mention when introducing myself to others or even when I talk about myself. Even in my current college as a Creative Writer I keep telling fellow students and instructors that my main inspiration for my writing is animes I've seen and Mangas that I have read.

 

[Arjuna]

I am open minded with my Manga and Anime obsession.

Though in India very few people watch Anime's or read the Mangas.Most people call it "Cartoons". So I find very few fans here.

My cousin is a fan of Anime's no doubt,and I made one of my sister's friend an otaku too.


Apart from that we have very few otaku's here though it is increasing.

 

[**Silver**]

no i cant talk about anime without being ridiculed and called fucking nerd, they say get a life and stop wanking some anime characters...

 

[Phileos]

My dream girl is someone who is willing to watch anime with me.

 

[Elusia]

Most of my friends are okay with me watching anime. In fact, we would watch some anime during free time in class. Though, my parents aren't too fond of it.