I was thinking earlier today how me watching anime ruined my life. I started smoking cigarettes because I wanted to be a cool guy like Spike Spiegal. I can't get a girlfriend because anime ruined 2D girls for me and made me socially awkward. Hentai has made real sex foreign. My anime fandom is a curse, a drug I can never get rid of. I am scared to have an anime avatar for fear of outing myself as a weeb. I tried showing friends JoJo and they look at me funny. I get accused of enjoying porn for liking goddamn visual novels. I feel oppressed.
So my question to you is how has anime affected you? I imagine there other victims like myself.
I see a lot of myself in this quote, so I will say: You can get better. You just have to work at it, like Midoriya!
If you are honestly feeling this way: These are not normal feelings. I recommend you to go to a therapist and get help. Many of our traits are not static. Educating yourself can make you better at things. Even interacting with people and making friends and getting a girlfriend.
> started smoking cigarettes because I wanted to be a cool guy like Spike Spiegal.
I dressed like Spike and had the hair in high school. I also smoked. OOF.
Cigarettes are bad. Stop it. I cannot fathom why someone would take their health: Something that is already a HUGE pain in the ass to maintain, and shit on it with cigarettes.
Maintaining my health is hard enough without cigarettes. I have to work out 3 times a week and count my calories to MAINTAIN my health. This means drinking less beer and eating less good food. Go run around the block and tell me how you feel, and tell me about your cigarette habit. People notice you smoke and then don't invite you around. I used to smoke and my girlfriend almost left me over it. It makes your breath smell like a zoo. None of the people I work with openly smoke, they tend to get pushed out of the job. As you get older, not maintaining your health will increasingly be seen as childish.
I quit rather recently. It was hard at first, but honestly: After a few weeks I didn't miss it. And the withdrawals were not that bad. I bridged the gap with juul pods.
I recommend the Smoke Free app, and E
asy Way to Quit Smoking - Alan Carr on audiobook.
If you are REALLY struggling, or just enjoy the habit: Vaping has been endorsed by multiple reputable medical organizations to "prevent almost all harm from smoking." You get the buzz, but do not get the smell or the degraded lung capacity or the high blood pressure. Just don't cheap out on the liquid.
> I can't get a girlfriend because anime ruined 2D girls for me and made me socially awkward.
Again, smoking. People don't like it. It smells bad.
Your story is very familiar to me, so I plead with you: Go to therapy. It is what worked for me.
Therapy is not going to be the cliche "So, tell me about your mother..." It is an unbiased person who will talk you through your emotions and negative behaviours, help you process your relationships, and set and meet realistic goals. Plus they will give you drugs. It's really great.
Life is like an RPG. Our traits are not static values that can never increase. With training, you can level up your charisma and become someone people enjoy being around. A therapist will help you set goals week over week to improve these stats.
Read some books on interacting with people. Also, stop smoking. Work out. I know vanishingly few people who get girlfriends sitting in their room, smoking, never working out, and never doing anything to improve themselves. People who do that are called "the clinically depressed" and there are a LOT of great drugs that can help with that.
Also, you really don't want a girlfriend until you yourself are put together and stable. Your partner CANNOT be tied to your happiness. You have to have a life outside of them.
Just be patient. Take it step by step. Once you get a good fire going, people will gather around.
> Hentai has made real sex foreign.
I used to have SO MUCH shame from enjoying hentai. I was made fun of in high school for liking hentai. Then I got a bit older and realized... "Thou doth protest too much, methinks." They were all watching it too. It's really not a big deal.
Repeat after me: Hentai is not weird. It is normal and popular. It is OK to like hentai.
Hentai is not weird. It's not something that comes up in normal conversation a lot, but I really don't care if people know I enjoy hentai.
Hentai is the 5th most viewed category on PornHub[0]. It is popular with both sexes. Hentai is not weird.
Personally, I find a lot of the stories really adorable! "Me and my childhood friend went to the cherry blossom festival together because we couldn't find anyone else, and our feelings finally came out!"
As someone who didn't have a girlfriend until a bit later in life ( smoked, never worked out, never left the house, never re-adjusted my personality after high school ) , you will catch on quickly.
> I tried showing friends JoJo and they look at me funny.
Don't let the haters get you down. Everybody has a guilty pleasure or a dumb show they like. Don't let other people's approval run your life.
Almost none of my friends share the same interests as me. That's now why we get together. You don't want your friend group to be a bunch of clones. It's fine being "the anime guy."
If they are being jerks, try talking to them in an honest way: "Hey. I'm kind-of struggling right now, and I'd appreciate it if you laid off the jokes."
> So my question to you is how has anime affected you? I imagine there other victims like myself
Personally? I still really like anime! The types of stories that are told in anime are not told anywhere else. It is still the king of genre-fiction.
I feel like the tide has really turned on anime in the past 10 years. People have gone from "Ewww, weeb!" to "I like studio Ghibli but there is a big barrier to get through!"
I do not watch as much as I used to, but I still enjoy a good series from time to time. Also: JJBA. Every week.
0:
https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/sex/news/a52061/most-popular-porn-searches/