It’s always amazed me how so many of us love anime yet we have such a wide variety of ways of relating to it. After all, anime is unique as a hobby because it’s not about being interested in one particular title or group of similar titles, like someone who loves Star Wars or Marvel comics. It’s a hobby that encompasses literally thousands of titles from an incredibly diverse range of genres. With so much variety in anime comes a variety of fans and a variety of ways in which they partake in the fandom. Today I’m going to see if I can find a good way for fans to organize different parts of their fandom, and in doing so, see the unique way that they personally relate to it…
What’s particularly interesting to me is how, for example, you take a group of people who love anime very much yet express their love in different ways. One person is an avid collector of anime BDs/DVDs and buys box sets of all their favorite series, while another is content with just watching anime on their Crunchyroll account and buys little to no anime products. One person watches only one new series every few months but gets really into that series, becoming very knowledgeable about it and watching it many times over. In the meantime, another person watches ten or more series at a time, enjoying them, but never watching episodes more than once or getting that into any of them. And yet another person loves hanging out with their anime loving-friends, cosplaying, watching anime, and playing games together, while another fan prefers to just socialize online but is a dedicated admin on a large-scale anime forum. I could go on with these examples, but the point is, unless you know them all very well, who’s to say which of these people is a bigger anime fan.
In a post I wrote over a year ago, I actually listed as many of these different types of fans as I could think of. For this post today, I’m going to see if I can come up with a simple yet informative way of organizing each person’s individual fandom.
After giving it some thought, I’ve come up with five categories in which our fan activities can be organized:
1. Viewing Habits
(What type of anime you watch, how often, and a few other things that I’ve given subcategories to below)
– Type of anime (What genres of anime do you mostly watch? Dub or sub? Currently airing shows or older titles?)
– When? (When do you usually watch anime? How often? How long can you spend marathoning?)
– Rewatch (How often, if ever, do you rewatch certain episodes or entire series?)
– Drop (How often do you give up on and drop an anime? How far into it do you have to be?)
2. Buying Habits
(Exactly that, how do you spend money on anime?)
– Type of product (What kinds of products do you usually buy?)
– How often/much? (How often do you spend money on anime stuff? How much at any one time?)
– Sell (Do you ever sell your anime products?)
3. Individual Expression
(This category is just to list any kind of outlet you have to express your fandom. Examples could be drawing fan art, running an anime blog, cosplaying, or making AMVs)
4. Community Involvement
(This category’s a bit more complex. It’s for listing ways in which you’re involved in some community in the fandom rather than things you do strictly for individual pleasure. Examples could be being part of a fansub or other translation group, being an active member on a forum, or organizing anime group events either online or in real life. Many of these could also overlap with your Individual Expression activities, for example, you draw fan art for individual enjoyment but you’re also an active member on deviantArt or pixiv).
5. Personal Socializing
(Lastly, this category is about your relationships with friends, either in real life or online, who share your anime interest. Note that this is just for people you consider friends and not random anonymous anime fans you meet online)
– Online or RL (Do you mostly talk to friends online or meet them in real life?)
– How often/long? (How often do you hang out with them and how long do you usually spend?)
– Activities (What kind of anime-related or other activities do you do together?)
And now I’ll fill out the categories using my own fandom…
1. Viewing Habits
– Type of anime: All genres except ecchi/hentai. Not too keen on mecha, yaoi/yuri, or overly “adult” anime but I could like some. I prefer subs but will watch good dubs, especially of my favorite titles. For the past six years I’ve been watching mostly seasonal shows and an occasional older show now and then.
– When?: I watch at least one anime episode in my backlog every night, usually two or three. If I have all episodes available of an older series, I’ll sometimes marathon up to six episodes at once. Depends on the series.
– Rewatch Only series I particularly liked the first time. I need at least a few months in between before I’ll watch a series again. I’ll rarely watch individual episodes again unless I’m in the process of rewatching that whole anime. Again, it depends on the anime.
– Drop I very rarely drop anime. For seasonal shows, I’ll sometimes give up if I don’t like them by the 2nd-3rd episode. For completed series, maybe longer.
2. Buying Habits
– Type of product: Mostly character goods like figures, plush, phone straps, posters, bags, pencil boards, etc,. I buy BDs/DVDs occasionally but only of series I really like and only as box sets.
– How often/much?: If a new figure or box set comes out that I want, I’ll usually buy it right away. So I buy a new anime product roughly once every few months, not usually more than $100 at a time. I’ll splurge at conventions though and could spend $200+.
– Sell: I haven’t sold any anime products yet. The profit I’d get is either not worth the hassle or I’d rather just give it to a deserving friend.
3. Individual Expression
– My web site and blog
– Collecting anime pictures, fan art, songs, AMVs, and OP/ED clips on my computer
– Decorating my room with anime posters and paraphernalia
– Learning Japanese language and culture
4. Community Involvement
– Being part of the anime blogsphere
– Having a strictly anime/blog related Twitter
– Occasional forum goer on MAL and AnimeSuki
– Providing fan translations for the latest Haruhi novels and other things
5. Personal Socializing
– Online or RL: I’ve met most of my good anime-loving friends in real life except for a few who live in other states/countries. Since most of them live in CA not too far from me, I spend more time with them in real life than chatting online.
– How often/long? I meet most of my friends individually rather than in groups and we usually spend the whole day together. I only come on IM to chat about an hour a few days a week, so if friends are online I’ll chat with them then.
– Activities: Besides talking about anime, we watch anime together, play video, card, or board games, go out to eat, or go to other fun places like karaoke.
———-
I don’t intend for this categorization to show who’s a bigger anime fan. All I want is for it to help those interested organize their fandom activities and see what kind of fan they are. If they don’t have much of anything to say in the Personal Socializing category, then maybe they just like to keep their fandom to themselves. If they don’t have much to say for Buying Habits, maybe they’re just not materialistic and don’t need to buy anime in order to love it. If they have a really long list for Community Involvement but not for Individual Expression, then perhaps they’re just a very social fan whose main enjoyment comes from interacting with other fans. These are the kind of realizations I’m hoping people can learn from my categories here =) For me personally, putting my fandom into these categories made me realize that I’m active in most parts of the fandom but not extreme in any; I had a decent amount to say for all five categories but not a ton for each one.
So! Feel free to fill out these categories with your own answers and share them in the comments. And if you have any suggestions or feedback for the list, I’m very open to it =D
1. Viewing Habits
– Type of anime: Give almost all kinds of shows a chance, except for mainstream shounen (because they never end), sports (because they are always too formulaic), yaoi (just because), tragedies (because f.ck bittersweet endings), or thrillers/horror (because they are mostly lame). Haven’t saw a dub that didn’t made me facepalm, so I stuck faithfully to subs.
– When?: For currently airing series, mostly when the subs comes out. For older series… depends on my mood/time, and sometimes I might marathon a good show in one sitting.
– Rewatch: Series watched: 300+ Series rewatched: 0. But I plan to rewatch Bakemonogatari to give it a proper review, because the TV version simple had too many missing scenes.
– Drop: I try very hard not to drop series, but I tend to do it more often nowadays. Shows I dropped always had lousy animation, and they are usually extremely cliched, dull, or both.
2. Buying Habits
– Type of product: The stuff I buy are almost entirely manga and figurines. I print my own posters, and had almost nothing else.
– How often/much?: Most of my figurines are of the same characters (4 Mios and 4 Mikus). I buy manga based on cover/character design and research.
– Sell: Currently trying to sell off a large portion of my manga, since I’ve come to realize that they possess no real value to me. No plans to sell any of my figurines though.
3. Individual Expression
– My blog, currently in hiatus.
– Printed a few posters and stuck them around the room. Hirasawa Yui clock!
– Large portion of my mp3 playlist are anime OP/EDs.
– Learning Japanese language and culture
– Went to Washinomiya Shrine (of Lucky Star fame) and Toyosato Elementary School (of K-ON! fame)
4. Community Involvement
– Staffer at Anime-source.com. Head mass surveys, took care of the images, some of the writing, some of the anime information in the database, some events… etc
– Being part of the anime blogsphere
– Occasional forum goer on MAL
5. Personal Socializing
– Online or RL: Used to talk a lot of anime-source.com forums until it kinda died. Except on the blogosphere, most of the time I only talk about anime to friends.
– How often/long? Rarely. Most of my friends who watch anime didn’t watch as much as I do, and prefer different genres.
– Activities: We marathon some shows and visit various shop together, but not much else.
Thanks for the fun idea!
“Haven’t saw a dub that didn’t made me facepalm, so I stuck faithfully to subs.”
Watch the Cowboy Bebop dub.
I might give it a chance since I’ve not seen Cowboy Bebop yet…
Wow, you’ve never rewatched any anime? Never felt an urge to rewatch even your favorites? I’m not saying that’s bad or anything, just…unusual.
That’s cool that you’ve been to a couple of K-ON’s inspirational settings XD
And I’m curious, what dubs have you watched? I agree with Myna that the Cowboy Bebop dub is great, as are many others (but there are plenty of bad ones too). If you’re ever interested in giving a good dub a try, I can recommend some.
I did try to rewatch MoSH and Shuffle a very long time ago but I quickly got bored of it… There’s just too many new stuff I wanna watch too.
I can’t remember that dub I saw, because I promptly quit after a few minutes -.- I don’t think I would actually start watching dubs tho, since I’m keen on learning the language…
1. Viewing Habits
– Type of anime: I tend to steer clear of yaoi and mecha… that’s about it. Everything else is fair game, though hentai mostly for the lulz.
– When?: Whenever I have alone time, mostly in the evening. Regardless of what the anime is, I’m just not a big fan of watching it with other people in the room. For ongoing shows, usually an episode per week when subs come out, for completed ones it depends on if I really get into ’em or not.
– Rewatch: If I really like the series, I will. I used to do so a lot more than I do now, the last that I rewatched being Spice and Wolf in March.
– Drop: If I get bored or easily distracted watching, it’s most likely an insta-drop for me, especially if it’s later on in the series. Out of the 193 animu series that I’ve watched at least one episode of, I’ve dropped only 15.
2. Buying Habits
– Type of product: DVDs and manga, mostly. Occasionally figures if one doesn’t have too creepy an expression.
– How often/much?: If I browse and find something that I really liked for a decent price, I’ll buy, particularly if it isn’t common on American shores. Usually not more than once every 2-3 months though.
– Sell: Never
3. Individual Expression
I run a blog, do fanart to take my mind off stuff that usually ends up in the trash, and write fanfiction on request from friends. Most are troll-ish, like my AshxMisty fic with horrible Pokemon innuendo, but they’re done in good spirit.
4. Community Involvement
Running a blog, and very rarely going on the MAL forums when they aren’t crashing on me.
5. Personal Socializing
– Online or RL: Mostly online, though occasionally in real life. I actually met somebody recently who I can discuss animu quite a lot with, so that’s been nice.
– How often/long?: Before, very rarely. Now, somewhat often. Yay me!
– Activities: Usually just discussion, very rarely does it go past that.
Sounds like your anime viewing habits are similar to mine. I don’t care much for yaoi and mecha, and I prefer to watch anime alone in the evenings. The only time I like to watch anime with others is if I’ve already seen that episode before. The reason being is that I like to give my full attention to an anime at least once, which I can’t usually do if I’m watching it with someone else. So once I’ve given it my alone viewing, I don’t mind watching it again under any other circumstances.
Thanks for sharing your responses~
1. Viewing Habits
– Type of anime: Pretty much everything I can get my hands on. I like fantasy, non-fantasy, mecha, drama, I love slice-of-life, comedy. I’m not much into ecchi, but some of them do have interesting plots so I may watch it. I do not like zombie movies so highschool of the dead (ecchi/zombies) was my bane (only watched 3 eps).
– When? My work schedule gives me free days during the week when everyone is working, so I’ll watch anime then. In the afternoons I’ll play online games with friends though. But having whole free days lets me marathon series if I want (I saw all TWGOK the last 2 days, thanks for the recommendation!).
– Rewatch? Definitely! Having weekdays when everyone else is working really facilitates that as well :) I’ve seen Clannad 3 times, Kanon 2 times, AB! 2 times, full metal panic 4 times, full metal panic Fumoffu more times than I will admit. I do give it a few months before I rewatch something, so little details will always pop up fresh :)
– Drop? I’ll give all anime a chance and watch at least 3-4 eps. If after the 4th ep I still do not like it, I will drop it (like Highschool of the dead). I know some anime starts slow, or may start in a weird way (Oreimo), so it is always good to give it a chance.
2. Buying Habits
Here I have some problems. There are a few anime shops, but the products are exceedingly expensive, and shipping products in would be really expensive as well. I have a few tidbits, but really not much.
3. Individual Expression
Not much. I guess I enjoy anime for myself :) It also helps that I have no artistic ability or video composing abilities… I do have Yuki on my Iphone wallpaper :P
4. Community Involvement
Not much either. I only post on your blog, so this is my internet presence :P
5. Personal Socializing
– Online or RL: RL friends. I’m old fashioned I guess, and I do not like having friends that I’ve never actually met. So I do not have any friends that I’ve made online.
– How often/long? RL friends, I play online games with them, we get together to play magic, or go to the movies. But none of them like anime much :P
– Activities: Um… none :P I’m the only anime freak in my circle of friends. They all know I like anime, but that’s about it.
So I’m the anime lone ranger around where I live I guess. It’s not really a problem for me though :)
I don’t rewatch anime very often (though I’m making a good effort to this year). But like you, for certain favorites of mine, like Haruhi, Wolf’s Rain, Noir, and AzuDai, I’ve rewatched them numerous times and still want to watch them again! I try to spread it out though and not watch a series more than once every few months.
That’s a shame that you don’t have good options as far as buying anime products. I can recommend some online stores if you’d like, though I don’t know what shipping would cost for where you are.
Heh, not everyone needs company in order to enjoy a hobby. So if you’re happy being the anime lone ranger, more power to you =)
1. Viewing Habits
– Type of anime: I watch a wide variety of genres. I usually avoid anything uber moe, and ecchi and the like, but otherwise I’m pretty open to nearly anything.
– When?: I watch anime every day. My longest marathon was probably Utena at maybe, 14 hours in one day?
– Rewatch: I’ve rewatched Bebop probably 20 times. I also rewatch season 2 of Pokemon and Yuyu Hakusho a lot due to owning the DVDs. FMA:Brotherhood episode 54 has also been rewatched A LOT.
– Drop: I drop if I’m really bored, if I don’t care about any of the characters, or if it’s just plain bad. I always try to give a series a fair chance and try to watch at least three episodes before dropping. To date, there have only been two shows that I wasn’t able to last a single episode on: K-ON! and Hidan no Aria.
2. Buying Habits
– Type of product: SHEET MUSIC!! I always want to buy sheet music. Posters, keychains, DVDs and shirts, too. But sheet music comes before any of those things.
– How often/much?: Rarely. I’ve only been to two cons and have only been to Kinokuniya once. However I am planning to go to NYCC and Kinokuniya soon this year, so I’ll hopefully be able to add more stuff to my collection.
– Sell: Some old manga that I don’t want, i.e. Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, but nothing else.
3. Individual Expression: Fanart and cosplay. I hate writing and I don’t download anime, so writing fanfiction and making AMVs are no for me.
4. Community Involvement
I’ve got Astrogation (do you think you could change that on your blogroll, btw?), and I’ve started commenting on other blogs more recently. I only post in one-two threads on MAL because I don’t like huge forums.
5. Personal Socializing
– Online or RL: I have about ten or so friends who are into anime/video games/etc so I’m able to chat about it irl a lot.
– How often/long? It depends. I prefer talking about anime in depth and having one on one conversations. (i.e. My one friend and I always end up talking about Utena and its symbolism/interpretations at some point whenever we see each other.)
– Activities: I brought one/two friends along when I went to NYCC and Otakon. Occasionally I have a marathon with a friend or two (got a friend to watch Penguindrum and Mushishi yesterday).
Wow, you’ve watched Cowboy Bebop twenty times? I think the only anime I’ve watched that many times is certain episodes of the early Pokemon seasons. But if we’re talking about series with a finite number of episodes, my most rewatched one would be Wolf’s Rain, which I’ve watched about seven times.
Oooh, sheet music. That’s a unique anime product to like to buy =) But you are a music person, aren’t you?
That’s cool that you’ve been to Otakon and NYCC. I hope you’ll come to Anime Expo one year if you can make the trek to the west coast =D
Oh wow we’re all doing the same thing! Sorry, just had to break it up a bit! That’s actually a good point–there are a lot of different types of fandom in anime. Of course, this case could also be made in other forms of entertainment!
But I digress. This is anime related only. So, guess I begin:
1. Viewing Habits
– Type of anime: Practically everything except Yaoi and Yuri, unless that doesn’t really drive the plot too much (like No.6). As long as it hooks me, I’m good. As long as the voices sound good, it’s both sub or dub for me.
– When?: Who knows (throws a ball up into the air)? The summer has been my time to watch a whole host of anime, yet I never seem to do it in the fall, winter, and spring. I think that’s because of school. I do try and watch an episode of the new season shows, and if one strikes me well, I try and watch until the end.
– Re-watch: I think I always seem to re-watch the classics like Dragonball, Pokemon, and Digimon. However, of the not so classics, Gintama has been one anime that I continually watch over and over again, and never get tired of laughing at even if it is an old episode.
– Drop: Well, I just mentioned it–due to other things going on, I sometimes stop watching series and just get to doing other things. So, my first official drop happened this summer, when I watched “The Anime I will No Longer Mention” and gave a 1 on MAL. Basically, if it screams stupid, acts stupid, and thinks the audience is stupid (or if a show just doesn’t really get me in the mood to watch), I’ll drop it.
2. Buying Habits
– Type of product: LOL…I remember the days when I used to buy anime DVDs. Well, I have been recently, but not that much. However, I do buy a lot of manga. I also sometimes buy the Japanese Manga Magazines.
– How often/much?: Uh, whenever I have a bit of money on me and I’m not cramped inside my house doing some writing, I go to the bookstore and buy anything that I have heard of before that’s good, or something I have been reading online but now get to purchase. I’ve been buying manga extensively since 2008. You can figure out how much I’ve spent in your head^^
– Sell: I have had the thought placed in my head, but I hope I don’t have to sell them. I’d like to keep them. Although I do plan on giving a few to the anime club at my school.
3. Individual Expression
-Somehow started an anime blog
-I too have anime posters in my room
-Still trying to learn Japanese language
-Have gone to conventions about as close to the Tri-State Area since I went to Comic Con in 2006 (or 07. Yesh, I have bad memory!)
4. Community Involvement
-Ani-blogging and talking to bloggers superior than me
5. Personal Socializing
– Online or RL: Aside from talking to people in the blogosphere, not much. I just joined MAL after all^^ However, I somehow run an anime club at my school. It’ll be the final time! And I do talk to my friends and people interested in anime whenever I can.
– How often/long? *shrugs* A lot. Except during the summer when everyone takes a break from being with people for three months^^
– Activities: Um, don’t know where to start. We do screenings, have been to Mitsuwa a bunch of times, been to conventions, play Yu-Gi-Oh!, board games, do community service work…then again, that’s just us kind of hanging out!
Yumeka, you’ve gone done it. You’ll be at the computer, taking an hour each to respond back to every commenter^^
That’s interesting that you no longer buy anime DVDs but prefer to buy manga. In my early fandom days, I would buy a little of both, but in recent years I lost interest in manga and prefer to buy just anime box sets and character goods. Do you buy manga over DVDs because they’re cheaper?
That’s great that you run an anime club. I almost became the president of my high school anime club if I didn’t graduate that year.
LOL, it shouldn’t take me more than an hour to reply to these comments XD I’m just picking no more than a few things each person said to respond to.
I buy manga over DVDs for a couple of reasons–first is that, it is the original source material, meaning that I’m not going to get any sort of filler or wasted material (well, most of the time); second, it is, to me, a lot cheaper to purchase a Manga than buy a DVD with only a few episodes and little to no extras that costs close to $40-50. Finally, unless I order online, it is really hard for me to find an store that sells anime in NY, unless go to Image Anime, who sells anime that is not cheap at all. I’m usually just watching animes legally on Crunchyroll/Nico Nico/sometimes Hulu anyways, so anime purchasing for me has dwindled a bit.
…Yet yesterday I go and buy Tokyo Godfathers and FLCL. Yep, totally stopped buying anime huh :D
1. Viewing Habits
– Type of anime: Anything but shoujo. Favorite genres include comedy and more comedy.
– When? Saturday night is Nichijou night. Otherwise, whenever I feel like it.
– Rewatch: Almost never. I only rewatch Lucky Star on my phone when I’m not near a computer.
– Drop: Nowadays, everything I dislike. I used to push myself through some crappy series, but not anymore. My dropped list is 172 shows long.
2. Buying Habits
– Type of product: Figures and Artwork.
– How often/much?: During AX and whenever I find a good Mikoto Misaka figure online. Under $100.
– Sell: Not yet.
3. Individual Expression
I have an anime blog, and I put up figures and art. I’m not much of an outward weeaboo, so I don’t do much else.
4. Community Involvement
I use Twitter and Formspring. I post crap posts and people post crap comments on them.
I use Anime Nano and Google Reader to find posts to comment on.
I am active on a forum.
I play Steam games with other anibloggers.
5. Personal Socializing
– Online or RL: I don’t have many close online friends. I’ve only been active on Twitter and around the blogosphere since May, and I’ll probably disappear come September. Several of my RL friends watch anime and read manga. I talk about anime and manga with RL and online friends.
– How often/long? Not too long. I’m not as crazy as canon_chan, Dez691, etc. to stay on Twitter 24/7.
– Activities Twitter. Comments. I’m a really old fashioned aniblogger who doesn’t participate in new fangled things like SCCSAV events. I do meet up with other anibloggers at AX, though.
I also play TF2 with J159 and others sometimes.
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I feel like 3, 4, and 5 were redundant. Also I feel like this was a job/college application that I was completely unqualified for.
Thanks for your (concise) answers ^^ Numbers 3 and 4 were maybe a little redundant, but I don’t think number 5 is since it’s about you and your personal friends rather than general anime activities. And sorry, didn’t mean for it to feel like an application. It was all in good, harmless fun.
Heh, I can tell from your responses to number 1 that you’re quite the fan of comedy anime XD
I’m also a bit of an old fashioned blogger in that I’m not on Twitter 24/7 (I only have Internet access at home) and I don’t do things like SCCSAV (I’ve heard of it, don’t know what it is, and don’t really care).
And you were at the blogger meetup at this past AX? So was I (and the one in 2010). Maybe we saw each other there? =0
Everyone loves talking about themselves, myself not excluded. :P
1. Viewing Habits
– Type of anime I watch practically any genre except hentai. I tend to steer away from harem and ecchi anime too, unless it’s really good, e.g. TWOGK. Almost always go for subs – the only dubs I remember watching is a bit of GiTS, Black Lagoon and Higurashi (and only because I downloaded the dubbed version by mistake). I usually watch stuff that are a few years old, but in the past year or so I’ve picked up the habit of scanning the season’s new anime and putting interesting-looking ones onto my ‘want to watch’ list. However, they probably won’t get watched until they’re a few years old, too.
– When? I usually watch the most during school/uni holidays. During the semester I try to keep it to weekends only, but I’m pretty good at procrastinating by watching anime so it can sometimes affect my grades. >_>;; I also like watching an ep during dinner lol, it feels like a waste of time if I’m just sitting there eating without doing anything else.
– Rewatch: Pretty much never. I’ve rewatched a few eps of some well-loved anime a few times, but there’s so many anime I haven’t watched! There really isn’t enough time to watch as many new things as you can AND rewatch old favorites.
– Drop: I used to practically never drop anime, but now with so much on my ‘want to watch’ list and so little time, I only finish anime that are at least average.
2. Buying Habits
– Type of product: I buy manga, posters, and stuff that fanartists sell at conventions.
– How often/much? Not much at all, probably around $100 worth a year.
– Sell:I only buy stuff I really like, so I haven’t ever sold anything.
3. Individual Expression
My main hobby is art, so I do a fair bit of fanart. Also sold stuff at cons a few times and considered cosplaying, but never went through with it. XD
4. Community Involvement
I do fanart as a member of deviantART, but I wouldn’t say I’m an active member considering how sporadically I update. If you count manga, I’m a translator for a scanlation group. Besides those two I’m really not that involved in the anime community.
5. Personal Socializing
– Online or RL: About half-half. However, I no longer have any online-only friends – anyone I talk to online I met in person first.
– How often/long? I’m an MSN junkie so if I’m home, I’ll be on MSN probably chatting with somebody or other. When we hang out IRL it depends on what we do, so it’s kinda hard to put a timeframe on that sort of thing.
– Activities: I talk to a couple of friends about anime, but aside from going to the occasional con or watching anime together from time to time there’s not much else we do.
I don’t think anime has ever affected my grades but occasionally it affects my doing chores and other things that are probably more important (nothing major though). I’m trying to work on that =P
What you’ve said about not having enough time to watch new anime and rewatch old ones is exactly how I feel. I used to rewatch series all the time in the old days because access to new anime was limited. But once high-speed Internet, streaming, torrents, and the like came out…there’s just not enough time for all the anime you want!
If you’re an MSN junkie, feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you’d like to chat online sometime.
1. Viewing Habits
– Type of anime: I am usually open to most genres, and I’ve started on many series on a whim. However, if there’s a genre that I had to say I didn’t like, it would probably be hentai/ecchi/gratuitous fanservice show.
– When? I usually watch at least one episode every day, and I seldom go without anime (even while going on vacation). I have marathoned series before, but I don’t recall how many episodes in one sitting (the splitting headache at the end makes it difficult to remember, you see xD)
– Rewatch: I seldom rewatch anime, unless it’s with a friend/someone who hasn’t seen it before, and I’m introducing it to them.
– Drop: Usually drops happen at the beginning of a new season, when I don’t like a show I picked up. I try to not drop, but sometimes time constraints do not allow that.
2. Buying Habits
– Type of product: I like to buy all types of things anime-related, usually posters, wall scrolls, artbooks and especially music CDs. Occasionally, I’ll buy a figure, but I’m not a big fan of figures in general.
– How often/much? I spend money on anime precisely once a year at the local con. It is extremely difficult for me to buy stuff elsewhere.
– Sell: I don’t have that much merchandise in total, so I’ve never sold stuff. And besides, I’d probably have trouble finding someone who would buy.
3. Individual Expression
I run an anime blog, just a place where I can rant about my ideas and opinions. Keeping a blog is fun, although quite hectic at times. I also go on twitter quite a bit, just to socialize with other people who like anime.
4. Community Involvement
Well, like I said, I keep a blog. Other than that, I can’t really imagine any other way I am involved in the “community”.
5. Personal Socializing
– Online or RL: If I were to only count friends that are interested in anime, then most of it would happen online. I haven’t made many close friends in the internet, just acquaintances. IRL, the number of anime-interested friends I have can literally be counted with one hand.
– How often/long? IRL, I hang out with my friend(s) regularly, mainly because I see them every day. Online, hangouts are rather erratic because they all have their own lives, and some are even in different timezones.
– Activities: We sometimes livewatch anime over skype, or just discuss episodes and other random stuff over IM. IRL, I try to drag my friend into blogging, but that hasn’t worked out real well (haha) and we enjoy watching anime movies (such as Summer Wars, the Ghibli Films, Evangelion, etc., etc.)
The local con (which is Anime Expo for me) is usually where I spend the majority of my money on anime each year too. Other than that, I buy box sets and character goods of favorite series sporadically over the year and rarely in large amounts.
I don’t have that many really good friends in general (as in, people I see/talk to regularly and share a lot with) and all but one are into anime. Most of them live in CA where I live but I guess that’s because I’ve lived in CA my whole life and have had many years to make friends that live near me from school and such.
Thanks for sharing your responses =D
1. Viewing Habits
-Type of anime:I’m pretty open to all genres but harems are on the low end for me unless they’re done well(ex:Kanon)
-When: Since I’m on summer break right now I usually go on every night and watch maybe 6-7 episodes of the current anime season or if I’m caught up, I go into my backlog. During the school year I try to watch at least 1-2 episodes per day.
-Rewatch: I almost never rewatch. If I stared a series and stopped halfway through I’ll rewatch the first half so I can remember what happened. I also may rewatch some of my favorite series but this is very rare as I always usually have something new to watch.
Drops: I usually drop after watching the first episode of a series but I rarely drop a series in the first place unless I have too many animes to watch during a season and then I drop a few so I’m not watching too many series.
2.Buying Habits.
-Types of Products: I like buying plushies, figurines, DVDs, fanart, fanbooks and maybe a cosplay item or two(ex: I have Shana’s pendant that I always wear). I would love to buy wallscrolls but my college doesn’t allow those to hang on the wall.
-How often/much?: I usually buy items during the cons I go through which is now about 3-4 a year and I spend around $100 each con.
-Sell: I don’t sell any of my anime merchandise although I am selling a cosplay wig that I’m not using.
3.Individual Expression- Fanfiction for me. I love writing untold stories involving the characters of different shows. I’m also learning Japanese so I will be able to play all of those otome games that never come to the US. XD
4. Community Involvement
-I’m not really involved in the community unless being active on a cosplay fourms counts.
5.Personal Socializing
Online or RL: I have friends in both places that I talk to about anime and such.
How often/long: I usually talk to one of my RL friends online everyday(She lives too far to go talk in person every day) and I meet up with a couple of my other friends every now and then and we talk about anime. The online friends have a random time since we’re on different time zones and such.
Activities-We discuss what we liked about a certain anime together and with some of my other friends we have movie nights were we just watch anime together for a couple of hours.
Wow, watching 6-7 episodes every night is a lot! I never even watched that much when I used to have school summer breaks. But I had my web site/blog so that ate up a lot of time. Nowadays, 6-7 episodes a day is only for the rare times I marathon a series. For the past few years it’s been 1-3 episodes a day.
Three to four cons a year is a lot too XD There are quite a few good cons in CA but lately I’ve only had motivation to go to Anime Expo. It’s mostly because I can’t afford to spend money on many cons each year, and since AX always has the best stuff/events, I’d rather just spend all my yearly con money there =P
Here again, you have another cool way of upping involvement with your blog readers :) I keep learning from you!
As for your request:
1. Viewing Habits
I tend to watch mostly subbed anime since I can’t stand the strange disjoint between the mouth animation and the English dubs. I also usually watch anime post-2ooo, though there are some gems I enjoy from the 90s and late 80s. I try to save all the shows I watch onto external hard drives, but my favorites definitely get re-watched whenever I feel a slump in an anime season. Since I’ve gotten more active in trying out currently airing anime, I tend to drop 5 or more a season after watching 1-3 episodes.
2. Buying Habits
I just recently became interested in buying anime products, though they are usually comfort items or accessories: Totoro blankets, key chains, plushies, and my one and only figurine, one of Mizunashi Akari. I plan on getting more into figurines once I have a place where I can actually put them on display. My purchases are pretty far and few between since I’m trying to hold back on clutter in my small home. And no, I never, ever sell my products since I buy for the long-term.
3. Individual Expression
I manage my own anime blog, Anime B&B, and enjoy making various signatures, banners, avatars for online use.
4. Community Involvement
I’m a forum moderator and staff member for the International Saimoe League, and am still active as a forum member on AnimeSuki and MAL. I still take GFX requests now and then for signatures, member cards, and banners. I’m trying to become more active in commenting on blogs that I read.
5. Personal Socializing
I have very few real life friends who watch anime. The only one who I can share this hobby with is my boyfriend, and I usually have a few shows I watch with him over the course of an anime season. The majority of my anime friends are online from my forums and blog community. Our interactions are usually short and spread out, like playing tag with comments, emails, etc. I try to comment in forums and on blogs daily. Maybe some day I’ll actually meet some of them at a convention or something of the like :)
I do talk on IRC on the ISML regular and staff channels, and log on there maybe a few times a week, usually leaving myself on there for a few hours in case someone needs to get a hold of me.