Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
We are what we eat, both food and video content. Whether you shout it from rooftops or never tell another soul, the anime you’ve watched has changed you in many ways.
1. You became more creative
Anime itself takes a big leap of imagination to jump into but once you do, you’re instantly imagining worlds even beyond the confines of the show. The anime community actively supports people writing fanfics, drawing incredible art, crafting AMVs, and creating their own original shows.
As a member of the anime community, you have likely discovered or are in the process of discovering your creative outlet that expresses your imagination that has been ignited by anime.
2. You found new friends
You likely crave someone to discuss the open-ended finale of Cowboy Bebop with or want to share your favorite jokes from Gintama. Finding people you get along with can sometimes be hard but since you’re an anime fan, you instantly have something to bond with others about. Discussing shows, discovering new foods, and going to conventions are great ways to cement a friendship. And even if your friends are mostly online or in a message board, they still mean a lot to you.
3. You tried new things
The community is wide and the interests vary incredibly. You’re exposed to an absurd range of concepts and encouraged to sample them all (which you do, late at night and then you question yourself for days after over if you really do like yaoi or if fujoshi game is just way too high). But by trying many things, you gain something more important than a new fandom; you learn to not judge as much and explore what your own personal interests are.
4. You learned to stand on your own and embrace who you are
We all know that right now, it’s more acceptable to watch anime than in the past but it’s still something we’re judged for.
We’re told to grow up, stop chasing other cultures, and are seen as weird. It’s easy to stop watching anime, even if we like it, and conform to what others want. But everyone who is posting on forums, reading articles like this, and going to conventions are embracing who they are and what they like, even if others don’t accept them. It takes a lot of strength and courage to love what you do and not let others take that from you.
5. You explored other cultures
Through anime you’ve explored Japan’s culture and especially the otaku culture. Through forums, comment threads, fan art, and the community itself, you have brushed up against people of all different races, countries, and beliefs and possibly forged friendships with many of them, showing you that people everywhere aren’t that different from you.
6. You learned how to survive
You’ve likely had plenty of nights you’ve stayed up way too late watching anime or reading manga even when you’ve had school or work the next day. But now you know your limits, you know how to keep going even when tired, and how important sleep is. You may have also been labeled as an outcast or someone to avoid because you like anime, which has taught you that even when things aren’t great and people aren’t kind, you can still be all right on your own.
7. You became more resourceful
As part of the anime lifestyle, you are faced with some challenges you’re determined to overcome like finding figures in your price range, crafting things for cosplay, or tracking down where you know an actor’s voice from. Armed with google and advice blogs written by others in the same situation, you hack, crack, and somehow reach your goal. Smaller challenges faced here have taught you methodology you can use to solve bigger problems.
8. You gained new perspective and face deeper issues more often
When watching live action TV or movies, you can’t help but empathize with the actors since they have a human face and we mirror their emotions because we’re human. Since we feel the actor’s emotions stronger with live action, it makes it hard to watch shows that explore dark societal issues or the problems we deal with everyday – it’s too raw, too painful, and it wears us out. With animation, there is a certain amount of fantasy which allows for detachment and you can look at situations and issues with new perspective. Animation allows for a wider group of people to encounter very real concepts but free from bias and the emotional toll required by live action. We can use stories buried inside anime as allegories to learn from and grow as people.
Have you changed from anime or changed in any other ways?
