anime fandom – Page 2

Defining yourself as a fan

January 10, 2014 by Yumeka 16 Comments

Wherever there’s works of art there will always be praise and criticism, in varying amounts depending on the work in question, anime being no different of course. It’s perfectly normal to feel good when you see that others share in the love you have for a particular anime, and to feel a sting when you find others who passionately dislike it. If you consider yourself a “fan” of an anime, or of any media work really, how much does your fandom define who you are, to the extent that it becomes personal if someone bashes that fandom…

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How do you stay connected to the anime community?

November 22, 2013 by Yumeka 29 Comments

Since I got into anime in the early 2000s when the Internet culture was just taking off, I can’t comment on how fans stayed up-to-date with anime and connected with each other in the years before then. But it’s very obvious that the medium and its fandom would not be as universally accessible as it is today without the Internet. Thanks to the World Wide Web we can now converse with and share things with fellow fans from all over the world, any time, anywhere, as well as stay up to date on all the latest happenings of the anime world. So for today’s topic, I want to discuss my personal routine for staying connected with the anime community and see how other people’s routines differ…

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Posted in Editorials and Ramblings
Tagged anime fandom, editorials, me

“Light” or “dark” anime – do you have a preference?

November 8, 2013 by Yumeka 24 Comments

Most anime fans I know, myself included, enjoy all kinds of anime with a wide range of stories and themes. But there are also plenty of fans who prefer anime on one end of the spectrum or the other; either they prefer “light” anime that never get too sad or disturbing, or they prefer “dark” anime that are raw and gruesome rather than idealistically pleasant. Everyone has their reasons for why they prefer light anime over dark anime or vice versa, and today I want to think about what those reasons could be…

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Posted in Editorials and Ramblings
Tagged anime fandom, editorials

Anime, manga, and video games – can you balance all three?

October 9, 2013 by Yumeka 28 Comments

If you consider yourself an anime fan, chances are you also partake in related hobbies like reading manga or playing video games. Even though I do like the other two, anime is the hobby I spend the majority of my time, money, and energy on, but I’m always impressed by people who manage to more or less equally balance themselves between all three of these big hobbies…

When is an anime “too old” for us

September 11, 2013 by Yumeka 48 Comments

For roughly the past decade we’ve been able to watch the same anime at about the same time as fans in Japan, at first only illegally through fansubs, but in recent years, many legal options became available such as official simulcast streaming sites. Now, through legal and illegal means, we have easy access to pretty much every anime ever made, new and old. Despite this, the majority of fans I know, myself included, prefer to watch only new anime – anime that’s currently airing right now in Japan – and might pick up an old series only once in a while. But by “old” series they usually mean a series that aired within the past few years or even months, not something that aired decades ago or even just 10-15 years ago. So when does an anime become “too old” for us?…

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Posted in Editorials and Ramblings
Tagged anime fandom, editorials

Examining anime criticism

August 21, 2013 by Yumeka 27 Comments

As I strive to be an open-minded anime fan, I’m reminded time and time again that many things simply boil down to personal taste; that no matter how much I think a certain anime is great or another one is terrible, there will always be fans who feel completely different from me and have their own valid reasons for it. Inspired by posts from a couple of other bloggers, I felt like examining the concept of criticism within anime fandom specifically…

When to take a break from anime

August 7, 2013 by Yumeka 33 Comments

How many Disney characters can you spot?

In past posts I’ve talked about forms of anime “burnout,” from personal anecdotes about people I’ve known who lost interest in anime over time, to discussing exactly how/why someone would burnout on anime. But today’s topic isn’t so much about losing interest in anime as it is simply taking a break from it, which can be a form of preventing loss of interest in the first place…

How well do you remember every anime you’ve watched?

July 31, 2013 by Yumeka 24 Comments

Three years ago I wrote a post discussing how, over the years as I’ve watched more and more anime at a given time than I used to in my early years as a fan, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to remember every single one. Recently czai over on the Blacksheep Project wrote a post dealing with a similar topic about how she remembers some of the 200 anime she’s watched more than others and why that is. So today I was inspired to revisit this topic of how well we’re able to remember all the anime we’ve ever watched…

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Posted in Editorials and Ramblings
Tagged anime fandom, editorials, me

Watching anime alone vs watching it with others

June 22, 2013 by Yumeka 29 Comments

The most common way the anime fans I know watch anime, myself included, is by themselves. But there are certain occasions where fans watch anime in groups, whether with just one or a few other people at a weekend get-together with friends or family, or with tons of other people at a big gathering like a convention or an anime club. Though I usually watch anime by myself, I’ve of course watched it with others many times over the years as well, and it’s interesting to think about how the viewing experience is different for each…

Liking “bad” anime

June 1, 2013 by Yumeka 37 Comments

Even though my tastes in anime tend to gravitate to the popular and mostly well received titles, there are still quite a few I like that the majority of the fandom thinks are bad, in other words, their flaws far outweigh anything good about them. Froggykun on Fantastic Memes wrote a great post on this issue that inspired me to offer my opinion – why flawed anime are worthwhile and why we shouldn’t feel ashamed to like them…