Being the major anime fan that I am, it’s hard for me to imagine not owning any piece of anime apparel. I realize that it’s not always appropriate to advertise anime on your person, but for the most part, I feel more like myself when carrying something anime on me, whether it’s the shirt on my back, a bag holding my belongings, or a keychain for my car keys. So what exactly are the appeals of advertising your anime fandom when out in real life…
Despite my anime passion beginning with Pokemon when I was in middle school, I was reluctant to advertise it much. This was because I went to a private and snobby school where nobody else in my age group liked Pokemon and my classmates would always mock me whenever I brought it up. We had to wear uniforms at that school anyway, but I remember wanting to decorate my notebook with Pokemon pictures were it not for the fear of being made fun of. I owned a few Pokemon T-shirts back then, which I only wore on non-school days, especially at the trading card game leagues I used to attend. Unfortunately they only made Pokemon shirts in kid sizes, so I outgrew them quickly =/
My anime fandom truly took off in high school, as did my resolution to no longer hide my passion. I remember making the bold decision to completely cover my new school notebook in anime pictures before walking into my first day of high school. Thankfully, because I was going to a public school now with a larger student population and better variety of interests, I managed to make a lot of friends there that liked anime. And the only reason I was able to find them is because one of us had something anime-related on us! I never would have even noticed one of my good friends that I still see today if she didn’t have a Pokemon folder in her notebook. I wouldn’t have started talking with two of my other friends (whom I eventually borrowed lots of anime from) if they didn’t notice all the anime pictures on my notebook. And another good friend that I still see today wouldn’t have become a friend if I didn’t notice her drawing anime characters. As my years in high school went by, I frequently changed the anime pictures on my notebook depending on which series I was into at the time, and finally started getting into anime T-shirts. If it wasn’t for anime on my person, I doubt I would have made any good friends in high school.
Some anime T-shirts I own
I continued that trend through the rest of my schooling years in college, always making sure to have anime pictures on my school notebook and wearing anime shirts occasionally. I eventually moved up to other things like having anime cell phone straps and an anime bookbag (I used this one bag with Shippo from Inuyasha on it for just about all five of my college years). And once again, thanks to my anime apparel, I was able to make new friends in college (though compared to high school it wasn’t as hard since I was taking Japanese classes and going to anime club XD) I share a car with my mom, so I haven’t reached the point of decorating my car in anime, but it’s certainly a possibility when I get my own! My web site has always been great with helping me make new friends online, but having something anime on me is what really brought me friendship in real life.
The little bag that bore so many of my college books
The current straps on my cell phone
Since anime apparel has been so good to me, it puzzles me when I meet other fans who never have anything anime on their person, especially at places like clubs, cons, or other fan gatherings. But I understand that advertising their fandom isn’t something that everyone wants to do, or they’d rather use the money spent on apparel for something else. Perhaps some fans have their own style that they like to dress in wherever they are, and anime shirts and bags just don’t go with that.
Since I’ve started working with kids back in late ’09, despite doing a Japanese/anime enrichment class with them for my first nine months of work, I try not to have anything anime-related on me (we have to wear uniforms but I mean other things). One reason is because I know my coworkers either have a distorted view about anime or no clue at all, and two because I know the kids would ask me nonstop questions about any anime apparel I have and it would be awkward having to explain it to them (especially if it’s not a very kid-friendly series). I had a similar situation at my first part-time job, not wanting to advertise anime on my person because my coworkers would tease me (which they did anyway, thinking all anime is hentai!) But I think even if I didn’t have such a situation, I still wouldn’t wear anime apparel in the workplace. Little things like phone straps and keychains are fine, but something serious and professional like where you work should be separated from advertising what you fangasm over.
The bag I use for non-work days =P
So currently, advertising anime on my person is limited to non-work days and special occasions. I have a plain little backpack I use for work and my anime bag for other times. I’ll definitely wear anime shirts at any fan gatherings I attend, as well as occasionally when I’m out casually running errands or something. Despite appearing “nerdy” to some people, I stand by the claim that wearing anime shirts or advertising your fandom in some way is a great way to make friends who share your passion, especially in a school setting. Holding anime with me all the time has brought me friendship and self-esteem =D
If you’re someone who never likes wearing anime apparel or similar things, any particular reason why? And for those who do, how often do you? Only on special occasions? Whenever you feel like it?
Haha, we’re opposites! I was loud and proud with my obsessions, haha. I was the only girl in my third grade class who bought Yugioh cards, and played with pretty much all the guys during my class every day during free time xDD In fifth grade I was universally known as “the Pokemon girl”.
I’ve had a Squirtle and Mokona keychain on my backpack since eighth grade…I should probably wipe them off soon, they’re getting a little dirty.
You have significantly more anime apparel than I do. I have a Kingdom Hearts and Mokona hat, Kingdom Hearts, Deathnote and Haruhi T-shirts, a Tsubasa bag which I hardly use, and the aforementioned keychains. I haven’t worn any of those shirts in public in a while though. :P
While of course I’ve made anime friends when I see someone wearing anime shirts or carrying manga, usually I just ask them whenever I meet them. I’m very blunt xD.
That’s great that you’ve always been so open about your hobby. I think it’s easier to do in a school setting – I’ve found it becoming increasingly difficult to express my love for anime in the workplace. It could just be that people in general aren’t very cultured or open-minded in the dinky little valley I live in. But when you get into the workforce, let me know how it goes XD
Hm, you’re brave!
I have a policy against anything easily recognised or Googled. So ‘Anaheim Electronics’ t-shirts are out, but the Londo Bell emblem is in. Also okay: Kamen Rider 555 sound effects for my phone.
Hmm, interesting policy. Whether something is easily recognized or not, I’ll wear it if I like it – and to endear myself to those who may like it too =)
I’m too lazy to buy anime apparel, although I have gotten a few throughout the years. I usually just wear whatever, so if it was anime shirt, I’d probably wear it with pride.
Anime apparel used to be easier to find, at least where I live. Certain media stores like Suncoast (now out of business) would sell shirts for the popular Adult Swim anime like Inuyasha and Trigun. Nowadays you can only find them at privately owned stores like Anime Jungle in Little Tokyo (though Hot Topic still has a few). It does take a bit of an effort to track down the ones you want, so your laziness about it is understandable.
….Actually it’s not an excuse. I usually go to conventions, so that’s one. Then two, I live in NYC, so there’s a Kinokuniya and an Image Anime nearby.
Uh…should I have revealed that? :D :D :D
I always wear anime shirts to conventions since I don’t cosplay XD
In addition to Anime Jungle, there’s a Kinokuniya near me too in Little Tokyo (in downtown LA). I don’t go very often but Jungle does have a decent selection of anime shirts (Japanese sizes though, which are smaller than American sizes – I wear a Japanese XL =P)
Hey. Long time no see. Um… i have no anime apareal but i find myself wanting some. Yep, i just have my manga books and since im a bit unsociable that’s not going to get me very far…. Oh, where do you get all these picutures for the cite? I mean i know that the merchandice and shirt pics are yours but the other ones i don’t know where they’re from.
bye.
–End–
I get the majority of random anime pictures I use on my posts from AnimePaper.net. It’s the best anime image site I know of that has tons of high quality scans and wallpapers from various anime.
I do not have any anime apparel, but not because I’m ashamed of it or anything, it’s just hard to get here, and I have not seen anything that really catches my eye.
Anyone, everyone at work knows I love anime. I work saturdays, and since saturday is not such a busy day (and the boss is not there), we usually take movies, books, or anything else to pass the time. I take anime of course, and some people have asked me about what I watch.
So it’s not something I hide, but it’s not something I publicize either either I guess. All my family, friends, and people at work know I watch anime. I have no problem mentioning it to people I just met either. I prefer they know who I am and what I like from the start so there are no surprises :)
I can understand anime apparel being hard to find where you are, since it’s already hard to find here in the U.S. You can always order anime shirts, etc., online but shipping costs could be extravagant.
My family, friends, and a few other people I know such as professors know that I like anime (90% of my friends share the love too). I haven’t had much luck with coworkers though. Like I said, at my old job my coworkers were aware of it but would make fun of me with the whole “hentai” thing and I doubt they knew the extent of my passion. At my current job, they haven’t even asked me what my hobbies are so I’ll just keep it that way unless it comes up (in which, I won’t lie =P)
I never thought that your coworkers think anime as hentai. Usually, most reactions that I get are anime is for kids. But, the reactions seems to change to anime is for someone older than 15 and kids anime is referred just as cartoon. Anyway, I got many anime apparel and I’m being recognized as hard-core anime fan by my friends and family. Most of my friends are not anime fans and they always teased me related to my anime hobby but I always reply the teases with jokes. Nice posts after a while.
It did surprise me that my old coworkers thought anime was hentai rather than just for kids. And I have a feeling that my current coworkers are the opposite and think it’s just kids cartoons from Japan like Pokemon and Bakugan (since it’s a childcare job and most of the kids like them). It’s unfortunate that average people think anime is either one extreme (hentai for anti-social adults) or the other (toy-drive kids cartoons) and have no clue about the thousands of titles that exist in between these two.
Anime apparel and me just don’t get along very well. At least that’s the excuse I’d use if I just weren’t too lazy to check some out for series that I like. >_>
As it stands, I could take or leave it, though I wouldn’t turn it down if I got apparel as a gift.
It’s not that I have trouble sticking up for it at all, since I’m acquainted with people who understand my anime loving eccentricities though they’re not into it themselves, I just haven’t gone through the effort to start, which will change.
Yeah, like I said in my reply to Justin above, it does take a big effort to find anime apparel that appeals to you, especially compared to other kinds of apparel. Online or specialty stores are pretty much the only places to find them nowadays. Of course, you can always display your hobby through things like keychains and bags with anime trinkets on them. Good luck with whatever you decide to do! =)
I like to wear the Kanon T-Shirts to work (one with Ayu, one with Nayuki). Goodness knows it took so long to find and purchase them, it’d be a waste not to.
I’ve never seen a Kanon T-shirt but it sounds nice =) You’d rather wear it to work rather than on days off?
I carried around an InuYasha bag for years, and I have a few t-shirts that I’ll still wear around the house occasionally or if I’m going to a convention or some other sort of fan gathering. I don’t get to advertise my love of anime on a regular basis anymore, though.
Heh, I actually prefer not to wear my anime shirts when I’m just hanging around the house. They have specific pictures on them so I want to wear them when I go out so people can see them XD
I have none. I guess I can’t call myself an anime fan then :P
Well, if having anime on your person all the time isn’t important to you, it doesn’t mean you’re less of a fan. You just don’t need that outlet to express yourself and can do it in other ways.
But what does it mean when one uses anime apparel to express… wait, what are you expressing?
This raises all sorts of questions; maybe you could expand on this in a later post (if you get what I’m saying; I don’t).
I see you somehow got the dust off of Cinnamoroll… that must have taken a while! :0
I have a cork replica of No. Italy from Hetalia tied to my purse strap, plus my car key is on a keychain featuring Hijikata from Hakuouki. I’ve avoided getting a tattoo of the two guys from Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi… so far. ;)
Yeah, the Cinnamoroll strap is cute ^.^ And I still adore the plush Chopper strap you got me a while back.
Your anime shirts stick in my head more than your other items. You have like, three Naruto shirts, a Bleach one…lots of shonen XD
Good see you’re out and proud now. XD That Shippo bag is really cute! As for me, although I spent a preposterous amount of time watching anime during high school, I never really bothered to buy anime stuff unless it was something small like a cute keychain or something and I reeeeeally liked it. I drew anime, though, and all my friends knew I liked anime (and later on, yaoi, lol) so it wasn’t like I was trying to hide anything. I even drew and sold anime badges, anime posters and a manga for a doujin event! On the other hand, I wouldn’t go around with a megaphone announcing my status as an anime-lover either. But as long as you’re not trying to force everyone you see to watch your favorite anime, methinks there’s nothing wrong with wearing anime apparel at all.
Cool, sounds like drawing was your big outlet for expressing your hobby rather than wearing anime on your person or making a web site like me ^_^
Unless I feel really comfortable around someone, I won’t openly talk about my hobby unless asked. And even then, I won’t go into detail unless the person is genuinely interested ;)
I have none either, but my sister has many anime apparel, mostly Fullmetal Alchemist merchandise… Not to mention, my iPhone does not have any slot to tie any charms, so yeah… I mainly keep it to myself, unless someone looks at my phone or my laptop which will have Anime-related wallpaper on it. :p
My old phone didn’t have a place for straps either so I kinda hooked them into the headphones cover (since I never used that anyway). The phones I got after have a place for straps though.
I always have anime related wallpaper on my desktop computer and laptop =) I don’t recall anyone (besides at anime club) commenting on my laptop wallpaper when I was at college, but it was how I started talking with 2DT. He saw me browsing Anime Nano before class one day :3
Did I tell you how much I like that Yurippe bag? =)
I use a Samurai 7 keychain for my office keys, and my apartments keys are on a keychain with an original anime-style character I bought from an artist selling at Otakon a few years ago. The Samurai 7 keychain is rectangular, while the original character one is oval, so they help me tell my office and apartment keys apart just by touch. Other than that, because of my day job, I don’t wear any anime apparel in my daily life.
I love my Yuri bag, even if it is a bit bigger than I need it to be ^^
You’ll have to show me your keychains next time since I don’t recall seeing them before =) I have an adorable Chopper key cover that I bought at Anime Jungle a while back, but unfortunately when I brought it home it wouldn’t fit on any of my keys XP (it fits but it covers part of the key that’s needed to properly insert the key). Maybe Japanese keys are shaped differently and it’s made just for those?
Hiding your power-level is what more people should do. I mean the social stigma is bad enough as it is with certain fans making fools out of themselves every chance they get. Over the years it’s become more and more acceptable but as long as normal people continually to only classify anime as: Pokemon, The Big Three, and Hentai then what’s a fan to do?
Very interesting post. I don’t have any anime apparel, because frankly I don’t know where to buy them (Netherlands). Well, I might find some at the cons and I need to go one of these days. I really like the non-obvious references, saw a great Eva shirt with just the Japanese part of the logo. They looked like cool random markings for every other person.
I used to draw openly in middle school and I got some leery eyes from it, but I don’t really care. I mean, they were shitty drawings and I am definitely leery eyeing myself from the past now. Plus, the reactions got better as I got better at drawing. So I don’t think there’s any obvious social stigma. Just don’t draw shitty drawings in public.
Other than that, I’m not an obvious otaku. I met my only otaku friend because he was playing Touhou in class and I just approached him. So I can definitely attest that being an otaku in public is great for discovering friends. I just don’t really feel like dealing with a bunch of shit from otherwise great people with whom I’m friends with.
Well, I’ll try to find those non-obvious shirts. Btw, my ringtone used to be the Touhou Hisouten opening song for a long time but I changed it to the Phoenix Wright ringtone. I haven’t discovered any fellow gaming fans through it though.
I don’t wear anything with writing or images…not even the Nike swish. As to why? I don’t really like paying to be a billboard for Nike etc (they should pay us to wear their ads!).
I just don’t really care for adornment. I’m a simple person: no jewelry etc. I only have a few patterned shirts and those are pretty unnoticeable.
I just like anime. I’m not an otaku by any means.
This is interesting because I just bought my first anime related shirt yesterday. In general I’m pretty boring and stick to plain colors (especially black) and comfortable clothes. I guess I don’t try and stand out in general. I mean heck this shirt I bought has the image on the back and the front is just pure black quality cotton, but I guess one has to start somewhere.
Also sorry for commenting on all these posts tonight and reviving some of these 4 year old posts, but I just found this blog and it has been very entertaining to me in between downloading/uploading files all night. I guess I figure it’s an active blog that I can post to.