Art nerd/stoner was a pretty common overlap in my highschool. Probably best way to describe my social position lol.
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Researchers determine that anime fans are at the bottom of the high school social hierarchy
- Thread starter ToddBonzalez
- Start date
Art nerd/stoner was a pretty common overlap in my highschool. Probably best way to describe my social position lol.
Can confirm, was an anime fan in high school. I was never one of those 'uwu am i kawaii nyaa' type of otaku, but we were all looked down.
Because I am a well-adjusted person who rarely discusses video games at all? I would be shocked if I made more than 250 videogame-side posts between GAF and ERA in the past 13 years. I grew out of video games for the most part. Discussing them is no longer a part of who I am, outside of very few things that tie back to my adolescence (Shenmue and 3rd Strike), other than that, games have lost me. I am on ERA because I like the people I have come to known over the past 19 years and would be sad to not hear their insight on politics, music, sports, and general news.
EDIT: It is comical that people are lashing out at my analysis, which is essentially the same as most other objective observers of anime culture from the outside. I didn't call you smelly with poor hygiene, poor social skills, and so on. I just said that sectioning yourself off to child-based pursuits will leave you outside the norm when everyone else is leaving that stuff behind from their daily lives. Yes, people will interact with nerdy things in general, but when anime becomes your life, the thing you think about and interact with the most (or just constantly), you become a social outcast except for within your small social strata. No reason to be hurt about it.
It is the same with sports nerds. There are people who love sports (myself) and then there are people who discuss every play of every game, know the stats of each player, and so on and then never stop interjecting into each conversation with that stuff. They are nerds too, but they are just fortunate that their nerdiness is encompassed into something more people interact with (sports). doesn't stop them from ostracizing themselves within their otherwise popular hobby.
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More people than you think watched anime in high school. But if that was your only go to amd your social skills sucked you were not going to do well. Most people never openly admitted it however because the connotations it comes with are not great. And honestly the intensity of some of the anime people was way too much.
I played sports so I was fine but yeah, its not a nice world in high school.
I played sports so I was fine but yeah, its not a nice world in high school.
In my experience, a lot of the more obsessed anime fans at high school were either severely socially stunted, somewhere at the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum (so as not to be in Special Ed), or both.
So much of what makes Anime is at odds with Western ideologies, like idolizing cuteness, imagining high school teens with crazy super powers in settings that are completely out of place with the realities of adolescent social behavior, etc. So it's a form of escapism that's less socially accepted than say being a huge sports fan or even someone who's into the more mainstream video games. The essence of anime aimed at teenagers is just fundamentally incompatible with the average adolescent American, so being really into it makes you look like a weirdo.
So much of what makes Anime is at odds with Western ideologies, like idolizing cuteness, imagining high school teens with crazy super powers in settings that are completely out of place with the realities of adolescent social behavior, etc. So it's a form of escapism that's less socially accepted than say being a huge sports fan or even someone who's into the more mainstream video games. The essence of anime aimed at teenagers is just fundamentally incompatible with the average adolescent American, so being really into it makes you look like a weirdo.
Its not about how much you discuss video games, its that you're turning up your nose at people for enjoying what they like when you're here on a forum most people have never and will near hear of posting about stuff.
Read that last sentence of yours. You're on ERA because you like people and want to hear their insight. Don't you think that the people who like the things you chastise them for are partaking in those activities because they enjoy them?
Now this isn't directed at you but all the people in here talking about nerds, losers etc need to remember where they are, then go find a mirror to look into.
No one hates nerds like other nerds.
I started my high school's anime club, but IDGAF. I mean really, as long as you love yourself, who cares? No one bullied me or picked on me, I had plenty of boyfriends, and I was pretty happy.
When I was in highschool I don't remember anime having such a stigma, atleast on personal level can't of course talk for others (not from the US either). For me anime was just another animation. I even thought it's often much more mature than western animation (not because of sex and violence) and has more stuff aimed at adults specifically. The first anime I ever saw was a historical drama, Little Women (the slavery imagery was really effective on young me, even if just few images). Later on I learned about thoughtful scifi films (cyberpunk) like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. It wasn't until much later I attached negative connotations to it and the sometimes too enthusiastic (or obsessed) fanbase. Especially in recent years when I've got more familiar with the "culture" through the internet. And I remember (former) friend introducing me to some loli shit, which made me give him a side-eye. Had no idea such thing exists and is even quite prevalent.
I went through a phase around the age of 20 or bit more when I binged a lot of anime, but now I very rarely watch anything. Most of the movies and series that get most the hype don't seem to appeal to me at all. And seems like a herculean effort to filter the gems from the shit, I've read few of the recommendation threads at Era which haven't been helpful at all. I should watch more stuff from Satoshi Kon though, it's been on my to-do-list for some time. As Paprika is a masterpiece, especially in animation.
I went through a phase around the age of 20 or bit more when I binged a lot of anime, but now I very rarely watch anything. Most of the movies and series that get most the hype don't seem to appeal to me at all. And seems like a herculean effort to filter the gems from the shit, I've read few of the recommendation threads at Era which haven't been helpful at all. I should watch more stuff from Satoshi Kon though, it's been on my to-do-list for some time. As Paprika is a masterpiece, especially in animation.
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Well, yeah, that's kind of my point. Why care what the majority of people think about your interests? Like I said, those type of judgmental people generally aren't worth socializing with because that behavior usually doesn't just stop there. I used to care what people thought... when I was a freshman in high school and sold all my Pokemon games because they were for kids and I wanted to be in with the cool kids and be mature. Now I'm a grown-ass adult and I'll play Pokemon openly because who cares?
My main point is that any adult that can comfortably enjoy their nerdy hobbies or interests and talk about them in public while still being an adult is clearly secure in their own maturity while someone who looks down on other adults for enjoying those things most likely is not.
Sounds about right. When I was in HS around 2000ish, myself and a few friends liked some of it but there was a click of guys that were just...way to open and just awkward with their love for it. Considering how the girls viewed those kids, being like them was a fate worse than death as far as me and mine were concerned lol.
It seems to be more acceptable to be into it now if you aren't a fucking weirdo about it.
It seems to be more acceptable to be into it now if you aren't a fucking weirdo about it.
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I dunno why yall care about what AlteredBeast thinks. He is entitled to think whatever the fuck he wants. And some of what he is saying about people leaving bwhind remnants of their adolescence is entirely true.
The only thing I would point out is "I like the people I met on the internet from a gaming website that I dont wanna leave" is not winning dude any points in the self awareness column. That is entirely a nerdy thing at its core
The only thing I would point out is "I like the people I met on the internet from a gaming website that I dont wanna leave" is not winning dude any points in the self awareness column. That is entirely a nerdy thing at its core
Anime was barely a thing when I was in high school. I think one dude was telling me about Gundam one day and I had to tell him to shut up about it, then he did a super long winded presentation or something on Gundam and put the class into a coma. Outside of that, Pokemon or my cousin talking about DBZ, I was blissfully unaware of the medium.
I agree with this 100%. People shouldn't be afraid of being socially ostracized if what they do makes them happy. Who cares about other people? I lost all my passion for video games at about 16 years old, but I oftentimes wish I was as passionate about people on here, because it used to be so fun. Now sitting down for a game is tedious as all hell most of the time. Playing Kinect or Wii with my kids is the most joy I have had with games in over a decade, no question.
Calm down, no one is lashing out. Also just because you use the word objective doesn't make what you say an objective observation.
Think what you want I just don't understand the need for people on here to look down on anyone for enjoying what they like.
I always felt bad for people making fun of them.
But on the flip side I was not particularly motivated to be friends with the 22 year old senior who does the Naruto run around campus.
Good post.
And while I may have found the above Naruto fan awkward, the one I think of the most generally did not give a fuck what I or anyone else thought.
But today it does seem like there's a level of "why isn't my counter cultural hobby embraced by popular culture?" Anecdotal and all.
Assuming this whole post isn't satire, this is one of the biggest problems with this site. People don't seem to be able to separate analysis from value judgement.
Maybe I'm wrong but this always felt like this video was like the whole fruit ninja stuff in American Vandal season 2 where the kid is just being goofy for the fun of it (laughing with everyone instead of being laughed at).
This is kind of what I was getting at with one of my posts. Being a hardcore fan of anything mostly designed for kids or that is largely enjoyed primarily by socially stunted adolescents and adults is by its nature a little odd and will obviously put you in a box socially.
I didn't make fun of the kids in high school who worse button-up Goku shirts with flames on them and jorts, but then again, I wasn't friends with any of them, either, and I had friends amongst jocks, burn outs, drama kids, etc. They had their own language in a sense and were overly loud or abrasive for no reason at all.
You typed an awful lot to get to your point. Which, from what I can tell, is that obsession at the cost of other hobbies and pursuits makes you a social outcast for the general populace. Which is absolutely true and is agnostic towards what hobby that is. You find your niche and you stick with it or you leave your niche and fit in with the "normies". It just so happens that the anime that gets a lot of attention tends to be really gross, so it gets a large brunt of the bullying. I knew kids that loved and obsessed over DBZ and they didn't get the same treatment as the kids that ran around calling things kawaii.
Man I'm so Glad I'm asian and I don't have to put up with this bullshit.
Sure I was still bullied but not for my hobbies.
Not surprising though, even in this forum and among other nerds it's human nature to try to proclaim yourself as "one of the good ones".
Sure I was still bullied but not for my hobbies.
Not surprising though, even in this forum and among other nerds it's human nature to try to proclaim yourself as "one of the good ones".
Not really. There are plenty of hobbies which, if you spend all your time on at the cost of being well-rounded with hobbies, are not seen nearly as negatively. Sports, homebrewing, reading, working out are some examples. Whether or not we think gym rats are interesting people is one thing, but they aren't socially ostracized for spending 15 hours a week at the gym.
I agree with you, but the facts that this site strugles with this in general, that many personally identify with anime, and many anime fans seem to have a weird persecution complex means it won't go anywhere here.
They really are. If you can't converse about something that isn't your hobby, you're going to get ostracized by the general populace. Not being able to relate to someone is the primary reason (outside of societal shortcominga) people are looked down on. There's a reason you called them "gym rats" instead of enthusiasts. You're not gonna get it as bad as anime enthusiasts, but can you blame people? The most common thing that gets conjured up when you bring up anime is cartoon tits and fan service, if it isn't DBZ.
Edit: Whups, just saw that you said not nearly as bad and I agree with that. But anime sorta deserves the bad rep it gets.
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The problem is not so much the anime but the fact that many hardcore anime fans in grade school have horrid social skills, persecution complexes, and can't talk about anything else. Stoners were usually class clowns and very social.
I guess I was a floater mixed with the brain crowd, but not fully because I wasn't AS smart as some of them.
But yeah, this checks out. Anime fans get a bad rep, but it's due to the worst of the worst being used to represent them. (see: people with hygiene issues and awkward social skills...not that there's one right way to interact with people and to have "social skills")
But yeah, this checks out. Anime fans get a bad rep, but it's due to the worst of the worst being used to represent them. (see: people with hygiene issues and awkward social skills...not that there's one right way to interact with people and to have "social skills")
You must be much older than me (I'm only in my late 20s) so I don't know how I will feel about my hobbies as I get older. I would guess our perspectives are very different based on our ages. I'm mostly talking about high school through college and into early independent adult life since that's my perspective. I meet plenty of well-adjusted adults around my age who are also into very nerdy things. It's funny even some people who I perceived as only being into "adult" stuff and hating nerdy things got super into Pokemon Go and that Harry Potter phone game. Or I'll find out they're Disney nerds or something.
I definitely get the bad stereotypes associated with liking anime and video games and other stuff like it so, like, I get it. I just always found it a little weird when people apply those stereotypes so immediately. I remember having a girlfriend who found out I had a 3DS like a month in and couldn't get over it because "games are for kids" and I'm like "does it matter? You liked me before you found out." It was like she couldn't process that I didn't fit the mold of what someone into that stuff would be like. Probably why I initially scoffed at you laughing to yourself about two adults talking about anime with each other. You can be well-adjusted and well rounded and still geek out with someone about Naruto or whatever. That said, if you're just Naruto running down the sidewalk for no reason, I'm definitely gonna look at you funny. Then again, they probably don't care what I think.
Anime clubs would be much more popular if they had weed. 🌲👌
If you spent all your time doing any of these, and could only talk about these, you'll put off a ton of people socially. Definitely have heard friends complain about dates or SOs that act like this particularly with sports and fitness. It's just that on top of that, anime is seen as childish.
I think you would be surprised. I don't know of anyone who likes to associate with gym rats. In a sense, they are anime fans. Many of them I have met are abrasive and socially stunted. Ones I have interacted with at the gym (I play racquetball, just not into lifting weights or fitness in general, lol) seem fairly sexist and jerkish. They are friends only with other meatheads or fitness freaks. Anybody that has a hobby that commands all of their attention and shapes the way they dress, talk, and interact with people outside of their social strata are going to put themselves in a box.
Gym rats have the benefit of doing something healthy (relatively, until/unless they start juicing and getting really strange), and are out of their houses. They also oftentimes come from backgrounds in which they built friendships (sports in school, etc.), whereas anime nerds don' t have that luxury.
I do think it's telling that all the posters getting work up about this aren't calling out the posters saying that the stoners "should" be lower.
Is your problem hierarchy? Or is it that you happen to be near the bottom?
Is your problem hierarchy? Or is it that you happen to be near the bottom?
That's how it was in my high school. If not the very bottom, then close to it. I liked anime, but I knew it was social poison in high school, so it was something I watched on my own. The anime group was very prickly, defensive, and exclusive anyway, so it was hard to talk to them about it anyway.
It's even weirder now though, considering the "cool" kids doing the bullying are probably losing their shit about comic book movies and video games throughout the year.
It's even weirder now though, considering the "cool" kids doing the bullying are probably losing their shit about comic book movies and video games throughout the year.
In college I was in the anime club and even my group of friends hated anime fans so much that we formed our own mini-club with the president and peaced out. Turns out hanging out with people that wore cat ears in public and called other people onii-san were intolerable. We tried to enforce hygiene rules and once you have to enforce those and people still refuse to listen is the moment you fuckin' leave.
"Hey, you like Dragonball? Me, too. Wasn't it crazy when Guko went super-saying?"
"Um, it's Goku and super-saiyan. He's like level 4 by now. If you haven't seen it this far, there's not really much to talk about. Besides, you probably only watch it dubbed. If you aren't watching subbed-only episodes, you aren't getting the real thing."
This is an exaggeration, but this is the kind of shit people who aren't hardcore passionate about anime get when talking to someone that is. Abrasive and exclusive.
What if you're a gym rat who's trying to get buff like Goku?
Where does that place you on the social ladder?
"Oh, Nissan, you're the only one who understands me."
Where does that place you on the social ladder?
I had this same problem in tech school with the dudes who would talk to their cars.
"Oh, Nissan, you're the only one who understands me."
I suppose the question becomes by what metric are we analysing the acceptability of something like "being a gym rat." (which I am not sure has the negative connotation you are implying. "Rat" is a term used for people who spend a lot of time at a specified place, and they call themselves this so it isn't seen as negative to them).
A gym rat does not get odd, condescending, "why are you here" looks at a bar, for example, which is one of our oldest and still relevant social gatherings. Not simply for being one. Being jacked and/or toned is seen as a positive and though some may see it as unattractive, others see it as attractive. Similarly, wearing a homebrewing T-shirt will not garner the same negativity as wearing a T-shirt with a moe girl.
I think when we are considering social ostracism, we need to look elsewhere than personality as mentioned in your post. It's irrelevant to social stigma whether someone's a meathead sexist asshole when you get to know them, just like it's irrelevant whether that dude with green hair and a Love Hina shirt is actually a great guy who does charity work (Another potential obsession no one would stigmatize: volunteering). What matters is the initial presentation, unless we think the jocks in high school are having conversations with the anime nerds and then collectively deciding they are uncool.
I went to High School during the heyday of Naruto, and I remember seeing kids wear the headband to school. And I just wanted to know...why? What compels someone to social suicide?
Not caring about your social standing period, for starters.
People like that were likely picked on in Elementary so there's no real sense of "oh no my social cred!"
US high schools seem like the least fun experience you can have at this age.
I'm from a country where we buy mangas like they're curing cancer so anime fans are never singled out as some kind of exclusionary hobby or some shit.
Can't say I left my childhood hobbies more than I actually piled more hobbies to the pile to the point I have to make a conscious choice on what to do.
Since everything popular is deemed trash anyway I'm gonna guess anime is considered trash unlike unpopular stuffs like reading books and watching old movies?
I shit you not, my English textbooks had people having hobbies like watching old western movies in a way that presented the activity like it was wholesome or some shit.
This whole thing is like the US way of showing kids good at school like they're unpopular in term of this being utterly unlike anything I experienced.
I'm from a country where we buy mangas like they're curing cancer so anime fans are never singled out as some kind of exclusionary hobby or some shit.
Can't say I left my childhood hobbies more than I actually piled more hobbies to the pile to the point I have to make a conscious choice on what to do.
Since everything popular is deemed trash anyway I'm gonna guess anime is considered trash unlike unpopular stuffs like reading books and watching old movies?
I shit you not, my English textbooks had people having hobbies like watching old western movies in a way that presented the activity like it was wholesome or some shit.
This whole thing is like the US way of showing kids good at school like they're unpopular in term of this being utterly unlike anything I experienced.
possibly, prevention of real suicide. At some point in high school for those who feel isolated and alone, you'll find a hobby where people accept you and, like prison, throw up your colors and make a statement to cement yourself in that group. Just to feel like you're a part of something.
Im 29 in a month and I still have nightmares of having to go back to high school.
Best years of my life my ass. Maybe for the popular kids.