Your anime community

A carnival post from The Beautiful World brings up the interesting concept of anime communities. To me, such a community would be a place among a group of anime fans I enjoy being with, whether in person or online. There are all kinds of anime communities, the majority of which are online nowadays, as well as some fans who don’t have any desire for a community at all. Today I’d like to take a look at the different kinds of anime communities…

In-person communities were the original ones before the days of vast Internet social networking. Clubs, conventions, general meetups, and groups of friends at school are what make up these communities. My first one was a group of friends/acquaintances I would hang out with at high school, all of whom were at least somewhat into anime and manga. I was also lucky enough to have a high school anime club, though the meetings were so short and spread out that I never got to know anyone in that club well. Unfortunately, as what usually happens with school-based communities, once people graduate and move on with their lives, their interests change or it becomes too difficult to see each other consistently.

Not too long after high school, I started going to anime conventions. Though they can be considered a sort of anime community, especially if they work as a rendezvous point for so many of your friends, like Anime Expo does for me, I find that the masses of people at conventions make it difficult to make new friends there or establish any new communities. It is possible though, as Shinmaru’s blogger meetups at the past two Anime Expos have done.

Moving onto college, I found that Japanese classes are great ways to meet groups of like-minded people to hang out with. I don’t know if it’s just the fact that they contain a lot of anime fans or if it’s just the overall nature of language learning classes, but there was a great sense of friendliness in the Japanese classes I took. I made some long lasting friends in those classes that I still talk to today. But the best school community I had was my university’s anime club. Unlike my high school one, this club’s meetings were long and consistent, and most of the members had known each other for a long time. I made a lot of friends there and we did many fun things outside of club together such as going to karaoke and playing video games. But again, unfortunately after graduation everyone goes their separate ways and lives become too busy for anyone but very close friends to do much besides a quick “like” on Facebook.

Which brings us to the most varied and most dynamic of anime communities, the online ones. Now, anytime and anywhere with Internet access, you can be part of an anime community via blogging, Twitter, Facebook, forums, IRC, and any number of other sites. For any piece of the fandom your interested in, whether it’s an anime series you like or something very specific like a favorite doujinshi artist, chances are there’s some kind of online community for it. Even when I first made my old-school fan site in 2002, I didn’t feel much of a sense of an online community through it. I made some friends and talked to a lot of people individually through e-mail and AIM, but not much of a community feeling. It wasn’t until I got into anime blogging in 2006 that I started feeling that community sense by getting to know the prominent anime bloggers, checking Anime Nano daily, and participating in blogger events like blog carnivals. Adding things like Twitter, Facebook, and becoming more active on forums, online communities have since become more prominent for me than in-person ones were in my schooling days.

And then we have what I feel is the most interesting part of anime communities – those fans who don’t have any desire to take part in one. I’ve known a few fans like this; they don’t care to go to meetups of fellow fans or hang out at conventions, nor do they care to be active in forums, blogs, or any other social networking. Even if they make their own blog, they don’t care if nobody reads it, or if they go on forums, they’re always just lurking. These kinds of fans pique my interest since, knowing anime is such a niche hobby, I for one would jump at any chance to talk about it or even meet up with fellow fans. Of course, some of these “loner” fans aren’t that way by choice; they may be unskilled or uncomfortable with online social networking and/or they may live in a place where fellow anime fans are hard to find in-person, even at school. Another reason could be that their lives are too busy for hobby-centered group activities. They may barely find enough time to watch anime, let alone time to meet up with friends about it or write about it online.

Currently, the anime blogging community is my strongest anime community (since I’m not a huge user of forums or even Facebook and Twitter). I still meet up in-person with a few friends from high school, college, or elsewhere, but on an inconsistent, individual basis rather than the group gatherings we’d have at school. It’s an inevitability of graduation and being my age where people are at the busy stage of moving on with their lives, and in many cases, hobbies. But unlike the old days where friends, club-mates, and whoever would disappear after you stop meeting up in person, online networks allow us to stay easily connected with people we can no longer physically meet up with and establish new communities of people we never have to actually see.

Now I’d like to ask, what kind of anime communities are you a part of now and were you a part of before? And if you’re one of the people who doesn’t care to socialize with other fans, any reason why?

No Comments… read them or add your own.

  1. SOS says:

    At this moment i’m only in /a/ from 4chan. When i was younger i was in a forum of pokemon but it dissapeared.

    • Yumeka says:

      I’ve still never been on 4chan…and I don’t have a desire to honestly XD I hear about it on other sites and that’s enough for me.

  2. du5k says:

    I’m mostly on Anime-Source.com and in the blogosphere… my real life has very little anime involved, because aside from a couple of friends who does watch a little anime, I don’t have time for RL communities. Maybe I should try to create more carnivals…

    I do envy you a little, though. A club in school seemed like a nice start.

    I might be one of the “loner” fans, although that’s mostly because I don’t really have time to really get involved… I mostly read but not comment. Getting to know people online is still a commitment after all.

    • Yumeka says:

      I suppose I was lucky in that I’ve managed to keep anime in my real life by keeping in touch with friends from school who like it. I don’t have much in the way of RL communities either though; just meeting up with friends (mostly on an individual basis) from time to time. I’ve had a lot of free time in my life in recently months, but unfortunately a lot of my friends don’t.

  3. Mikoto says:

    I kind of skirt the borderline between a person that takes an active part in the anime community and a “loner” fan. I love talking about anime with my friends and take part in discussions about such topics online. However, outside my own blog and other blogs, I haven’t stuck to one particular forum, and if I do, it’s mostly lurking. Even with blogs, sometimes I think the author already got his/her point across extremely clearly that there’s not much to comment on or argue about besides giving a thumbs up, so I don’t comment at all. lol

    I remember being active on the Serebii forums back when I was still big on Pokemon, 2005-2010, I believe. As I grew older, the community there suddenly grew so glaringly bad, imo, that I can’t really stick around to talk about anime or even other things without losing my mind. xD

    On DeviantArt, I made two or three friends with fellow fan artists, so I guess that counts for something. lol

    In real life, I typically stick to my friends when I talk about anime. There were anime clubs in high school, but most of the people there just talked about two shows and nothing else (cookies to anyone who can guess what those two shows are), so they never held my interests. I do enjoy going to conventions and meeting other people that share my interests. Although, I never met other bloggers that I know at a convention before, but the concept seems interesting and I’m willing to explore it. I’m generally a shy person, while I’m a out more outgoing online, so it might turn out to be a little awkward.

    • Yumeka says:

      I’m similar to what you described in your first paragraph; I mostly stick to the blogsphere, commenting only on a few posts once in a while and lurking elsewhere.

      LOL, I first signed up for the Serebii forums in 2007 when I needed help with something in Diamond & Pearl. Since then, I only come on once in a while if I need help with something in the games. I don’t know how good a forum it is for things like discussion or Wi-fi battles, but it’s great for getting any of your game questions answered XD

      I also only talk about anime in real life with my friends who already like it; I’m terrible at talking about my it with people who aren’t into it already.

      If you’re my age, then maybe those two popular anime in your high school club were Pokemon and DBZ? If you’re not my age, then I’m not sure what they are XD

      • Mikoto says:

        Oho, make that three or four then. lol Not that much younger than you, I think. I’m guessing Yumeka’s around 22-25? :P 18 going onto 19 here. I’m not sure about the Pokemon anime (although there might have been discussions about the games), but the clubs here were mostly infamous for ONLY talking about Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, and sometimes DBZ thrown around here and there. I would be surprised if they didn’t talk about Dragon Ball Z. I mean, I don’t particularly mind it (I adore Dragon ball and One Piece), but I prefer anime clubs that are a bit more diverse.

        And heh, game help is probably the only quality thing you can get out of the Serebii forums. Stick around too long and you’ll run into obnoxious elitists and people surprisingly un-knowledgable about their own fandom, funnily enough. I stuck around for five years too long. xD

        • Yumeka says:

          I’m 26 now, so you were close. When I was in high school, Pokemon, DBZ, Digimon, Inuyasha, Cowboy Bebop, and a few others not on TV, like Evangelion, were the most popular. Naurto was just starting out (I remember watching a fansub of episode 1 in club) and Bleach didn’t come till after I just started college. One Piece was never a big name in any of the clubs I’ve been to (despite how popular it is in Japan).

  4. Frootytooty says:

    Communities definitely make a hobby more fun. It’s good to know what other people are out there, liking and disliking the same things you do. Or if they don’t, it’s still fun to argue your case, haha. And of course, I’d think that most people who blog would in fact love to receive comments, even if they are generally indifferent about it. It’s a really nice feeling to be involved.

    Personally I didn’t join an anime club until university. Some people I knew started manga and anime clubs in high school, where the manga club was really just the owners lending out their manga to people so they can enjoy them and the anime club was weekly screenings of anime. The problem with anime screening is that it takes a long time to go through a whole series, but introducing new series each week is a little jarring for the viewers as well, so I don’t think that club lasted very long unfortunately.

    As for the university anime club, I joined mostly to make new friends because I’d just moved overseas and knew pretty much nobody in the country. It definitely worked and I made some good friends who I spent a lot of time with before I eventually found friends in my own course and drifted away. Funnily enough it turned out to be more of a social club and I can probably count the number of times I watched anime with them on one hand. XD

    I didn’t sign up for the anime club in my 2nd year so since then I’ve been a lurker in the community, so to speak. Aside from reading a few anime blogs, like yours, and keeping up-to-date with the new season anime so I can add them to my list to watch, I don’t really do anything else on top of watching anime itself. Time is an obstacle for sure – the deeper you get involved in the community, the more time you need to spend to keep yourself there. Currently I’m having trouble just staying afloat of all the new anime that I want to watch each season, so there’s really no time for other stuff!

    • Yumeka says:

      Heh, your experience with anime clubs sounds similar to mine. The one at my university was mostly for screening anime, but a bunch of us would rather socialize, so we went to a different room and just hung out, chatted, shared stuff on our laptops, etc., rather than watch anime. I figure I can watch anime at home, so going to a club should be about discussion and socializing.

      I can understand time being a reason you could fall out of the community loop. But at least you’re still playing a small part by reading/commenting on blogs, and watching anime of course. Perhaps you’ll have the time to get involved again at a later point in life.

  5. Artemis says:

    Currently I’m involved a few different anime communities, which I’m really happy about because even though I’d usually describe myself as quite a shy and introverted person, I feel like anime is one of those things that becomes far more enjoyable when I have people to share it with, whether online or in the real world.

    Once a week I have an ‘anime night’ with a couple of my friends who live in the same general area. We tend to start around 7pm and finish around 11pm or sometimes a bit later – we eat a lot of junk food and watch one disc of about 3 different anime titles per night, and often chat a lot in-between them.

    One of the reasons I especially like to watch brand new anime titles week by week is so I can also be an active part of the online anime community, though. I know several other people on LiveJournal who also pick a few anime each new season to watch, and so even if we’re not always watching the same things, it always gives us fresh topics to talk about.

    I do also go to anime conventions, but there’s currently only one running in New Zealand (the Armageddon Expo), and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it’s always great to be a part of a geek crowd, and sometimes I cosplay just for the fun of it. On the other hand though, Armageddon isn’t just an anime/manga-only convention, it’s a general-geekery convention in which anime plays a comparatively small part. While I certainly don’t have anything against Western comics, sci-fi, gaming, etc., it’s not really my scene and so sometimes I feel a bit out of place. I’d love to go to an anime-centric convention one day, although to fly to the States or most other places overseas, I’d end up needing at least NZ$2000 to spare. For me, who has been a full-time student for the past 7 years, that’s a lot of money.

    • Frootytooty says:

      You’re in New Zealand! :D I’m from there too. There’s another convention that’s started up in the past few years that I used to attend, called Overload. It’s entirely anime and manga based. It happens sometime around July, so definitely check it out if you can. I think you’d enjoy it much more than Armageddon – I also found Armageddon to be too Western-based.

      • Artemis says:

        I do know about Overload, but aren’t they mainly a manga showcase event? I’ve never actually been so I’m just basing this info from their website and what other people have said. I really should check Overload out myself at some point though, because even if it’s not my thing I’d rather find out through first-hand experience. Unfortunately this year I won’t be able to go, as I’m heading off to Japan to work for a year. But perhaps when I get back I’ll be able to have a looksie. :)

        • Yumeka says:

          Ah, you’re going to Japan…I’m jealous XD What kind of work will you be doing there?

          Well, if you ever do come to the US for an anime convention, I highly recommend Anime Expo in LA ^_^

          • Artemis says:

            I’m signed on with the JET Programme, so I’ll be working under a 1-year contract as an English assistant language teacher. I know that people are allowed to potentially re-contract for up to 5 years with JET though, so depending on how things go, I may decide to stay there for longer. I’ve been posted to Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku. :)

            • Yumeka says:

              Ah, I applied to JET when I graduated in 2009 and was placed on the alternate list…and unfortunately a position never opened up for me XP Good luck to you though and I hope you enjoy it~

    • Yumeka says:

      Your anime nights with your friends sound like tons of fun XD I would do that if only my friends had the time and lived close enough to easily get together for it. Well, the next best thing is talking about the latest shows online with them, or when I do get around to seeing them in person, so it’s fine ^^

  6. KRILL says:

    I follow this blog, I listen to anime world order podcast and SR podcast. That’s about as communal as I get. I don’t really care to socialize at a designated anime fan meetup because I have an entirely biased and distorted image of what it’d be like. I am just a fan but I’m pretty eclectic I like a whole bunch of stuff and I feel I’d be restricted to talk EXCLUSIVELY about anime by SUPER passionate die hards that enjoy NOTHING else. XD while I’m sure that’s not the case(or even if it is, to each his/her own), I’ve never had a friendship that started with anime, it was something later revealed, and not a defining common interest. But I mean I’m not particularly passionate myself, I enjoy it amongst many other things. In the process of not dedicating myself TOO much to any one thing and not painting myself in a corner I’ve allowed myself to thrive under any circumstance and avoid the microcosms and labels society would seek to place upon my ever eclectic head. Hahaha. In direct contradiction I’ll be at Anime Expo this year! My first time. A once in a year treat to immerse myself before going back to real life. I look forward to some like minded chats with a casual fan here and there and enjoying all the hub bub.

    • Yumeka says:

      Having experienced anime clubs and conventions myself, I will say that it’s far from the truth that fans there ONLY talk about anime. On the contrary, most of the people I meet there are into all manner of “geeky” or other hobbies such as video games, popular Western movies, manga, online gaming, popular fiction books, and other things.

      I remember you saying on another post that you’ll be going to AX this year. I’m hoping Shimaru or someone else will organize another blogger meetup so you can come and meet us =D

  7. Kal says:

    I would like to have more friends I can talk about anime to, but most of them really do not show much interest in anime, or have moved on into other things. There are a couple of co-workers that like anime, but we’re always pretty busy and can’t talk much. So that puts me into the “loner” club I guess. I do not have a problem with it though, I enjoy anime for what it is, and I’m at the point of my life where I do not really need acceptance or support from other people to do what I like. So no pressure from that side :)

    But I do enjoy reading what other people think about certain anime subjects (I enjoy reading your posts), so as you and others mentioned above, a community can make a hobby more fun. I like reading the reviews other people post in sites like myanimelist, just to get another point of view. But yeah, you were pretty lucky. I started more seriously into anime about 10 years ago (when I got a good internet connection, and I was already working at that time), so never had the chance to experience it in school clubs, or other groups. So I’ll stick as a “loner”, with little posts here and there. As Du5k said above, even getting to know people online is quite a commitment, and I may not always have time for them…

    • Yumeka says:

      Yeah, not having the time to nurture friendships with anime fans or get involved in communities is understandable. But if you’re content without them and can just enjoy anime on your own, that’s perfectly fine too :) I’m very flattered that you’ve managed to find time for my blog all these years~

  8. Alterego 9 says:

    I haven’t even met anyone in meatspace who I could talk to about anime. There were a few “anime fans” who watched the few shonen fighters that were localized here in Hungary, but no one who actually follows Japanese anime trends on an otaku level.

    It kind of feels like the whole hobby is… unreal, as if I would be the only anime fan in the real world, and the fandom itself would only exist on the other side of my computer screen. Even though I COULD meet with anime fans, there are relatively large fan conventions here in my country, and it’s statistically likely that there are some fans right here around me, I just never really bothered to find a way to connect to them.

    On the Internet, I used to be posting on forums a lot, but now that I have my blog to release my occasional brain farts to, i’m back to just lurking on forums.

    I should probably start using Twitter.

    • Yumeka says:

      They have big conventions in Hungary you say? I would check one out sometime just to see how you feel being surrounded by fellow fans and most likely striking up conversations with them. You could find that you really love it and want to make in-person friends, or you could find that you don’t care either way. You never know XD

      I’ll be glad to follow you on Twitter should you decide to make an account.

  9. jimmy says:

    I’m involved pretty lightly in a couple of communities. I follow and comment on this blog, check Anime News Network and have an anime club at uni. I also read up on Evageeks a fair bit. I used to be on TV Tropes, but got so sick of the website and its users that I can no longer stand it, or especially its users. As of this season I’m following almost all new anime, so I can chat about that with people, but the people I talk to most about anime are rarely watching the same things as I am, which is somewhat limiting.

    I do have one friend who’s very good to chat to and has well-developed opinions about both good and popular series, so that’s a much more rewarding experience. We can debate Evangelion interpretations one minute and talk about how cute Taiga is the next.

    Regarding the anime club at my uni, I occasionally go to their events and chat with them, but I’m also pretty active on their Facebook page. Some pages like the Cool Story Bro But ones or especially You’ve Got To Be Squidding Me can be fun for some mindless praise (Squid Girl/A Channel/Black★Rock Shooter is the best EVAR) and pointless negativity (Clannad is terrible and you are terrible for liking it). I also post crappy edited screenshots and stuff like that.

    I also attend cons, but since I don’t end up talking with people I don’t know much it I don’t count it much as a community.

    • Yumeka says:

      It sounds like you do your fair share of anime community activities. I’m glad my blog is one of the few you follow ^_^ I read TVTropes a lot but I was never a user on it…and from what you’re saying, I don’t want to be XD

      My uni club has a nice web site and forum. We did a lot of events outside of club too such as going to karaoke and having gaming and cosplay nights. I graduated in 2009 and I miss it a lot~

  10. Logopolis says:

    I suppose my main anime community would be “some people in this city who watch anime together regularly”. Of which an important thing that I draw is the way television often seems different when you’re watching it in a group, to watching it on your own, sometimes even to the point of seeming like an entirely different show. Plus it prods me towards watching some things I wouldn’t persist with otherwise even though they’re good; sometimes you can have one out of “good” and “compels you to watch”, but not the other. But then different people are compelled by different things. But it’s also nice just to have reasons to interact with other people. I do like other people, generally, but my natural inclination is nevertheless to seek solitude, so extra motivation to socialise is a good thing.

    I read and sometimes comment on blogs quite a bit, (this is easily the one I comment on the most), but it’s not really a sense of community driving that at all, rather it’s a good way to find interesting opinions about this subject of great interest, find out what everyone else is thinking about stuff, and sometimes be alerted to something I’d otherwise miss. (I had ef dismissed as “just yet another visual novel adaption” until I saw some blog posts on it, now it’s one of my favourite shows, I think that was the event which made me determined to keep up with this scene.) Community is more an added bonus here. Or maybe — when I actually start commenting, that’s “full community”, but most of my time is just reading interesting articles which is only “part community”.

    I’ve joined various forums during my time, but I never seem to stick with one forever. Oddly, I get far more lasting community out of a Doctor Who forum, despite my fandom for that show having been (mostly) eclipsed as I discovered anime.

    • Yumeka says:

      I totally agree that you get a different experience from a TV show depending on whether you’re watching it by yourself or with friends. Which is why I prefer to watch anime I’ve never watched before by myself first, so I can really focus on it, and then with others so we discuss or laugh about things I may not have noticed before.

      I’m also someone who feels comfortable in solitude, but I would be lonely without people to share my hobby with. Online communities are great, but for me they still can’t replace the fun of having even just one friend to share in-person time with.

      I’m honored that my blog is one that you seem to think highly of ^^a What I like most about reading other blogs, besides learning about the thoughts and feelings of fellow fans, is getting good ideas for editorial topics I can write about.

      Heh, I’ve signed up on a few anime and game forums, but the only ones I continually check and discuss on are the Haruhi-related forums on AnimeSuki.

  11. Nopy says:

    In elementary school, my anime community consisted of my best friends, who introduced me to new anime. In junior high, it consisted of new best friends who I introduced to anime. In high school it consisted of the anime club, which I helped to start. In university, it consisted of the old anime club at my high school. Near the end of university, it consisted of the aniblogosphere. Now it also consists of the organizers of a large anime convention, which I am proud to be a part of.

    Man, reading through what I wrote, I sound old…

    • Yumeka says:

      Heh, I don’t think you’re older than me, but it sounds like you’ve been into anime longer than me. Although I watched a few shows like Sailor Moon in elementary school, I didn’t actually come to know what anime was until late middle school/early high school when I was really into Pokemon.

      That’s cool that you played a part in starting an anime club at your high school. I probably would have become the president at my high school anime club if I hadn’t graduated that year.

      Just curious, what big anime convention are you a part of? (I forgot where you live but I don’t think it was the US…)

      • Nopy says:

        It’s called Animethon. It’s the oldest anime convention in Canada as well as the largest in the west.

        • Yumeka says:

          I’ve always heard Anime Expo called the largest Western anime convention, or at least the largest in North America. I’m surprised I’ve never heard of Animethon. If it’s such a big one though, I should try and get out there one of these years =)

          • Nopy says:

            It’s not big compared to Anime Expo. Remember that Canada’s population is about 1/10 of America’s, the same applies to Anime Expo vs Animethon

  12. CoolCARTGuy says:

    As an anime fan, I’ve been more of a loner. I never joined my high school anime club and I pursue my anime-related hobbies on my own. The closest thing I have to a membership in a community is my YouTube account, though it is used for distinctly non-anime discussion as well.

    Also, I have speculated starting an anime blog recently.

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