Anime Elitism Continued: A Small Sample Size Field Study of Fan-subtypes at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

Anime Elitism Continued: A Small Sample Size Field Study of Fan-subtypes

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Popularity: 9% [?] Published by tj_han July 6th, 2007 in Culture

This may be a tad late, but remember Impz and Owen S’s articles on anime elitism? In my freshman orientation camp just last week, I had the (mis)fortune of being in an orientation group with 10 girls and only five guys. All five of the guys, including some seniors, were anime/manga fans to some extent!

To me, that really shows the pervasiveness of anime and manga in recent years. And guess which three series can claim the most credit?

They are NARUTO, BLEACH and INUYASHA of course. While more discerning viewers of anime would have expanded their palates to include more hi-quality works such as GitS and Gintama, the fact remains that the above mentioned 3 are the most popular, you could say as starter culture.

This post shall include a mini-field study I conducted during the course of the camp regarding the various types of anime/manga fans found in this tiny sample size and its relevance to anime elitism. Note that including two male seniors, we had 7 guys in total. And interestingly, each embodies one type of anime fan.

The Freeloader
This guy was moderately knowledgeable and could rattle off the names of classic series like Yu Yu Hakusho, Slam Dunk and Kenshin. His favourite series included the likes of Naruto, Prince of Tennis (barf). But the one determining factor which led me to classify this guy under "freeloader" was his utter refusal to pay for anything anime-related. He would download everything. Such anime fans would cease to exist if the current free anime sharing network was shutdown. Does not know any current or newish anime though, mainly finding out about new good ones through word of mouth.

The Narutard
He watches mainly Naruto and Bleach but is deeply infatuated by both series. He analyses (albeit wrongly) both these series to great detail and is constantly looking for people to discuss Naruto stuff with. I’m not sure if he buys the manga or free-loads, because this guy mentioned that he did not know the Japanese names for all the characters, instead preferring the Chinese pronounciation of the kanji. Fair enough, but this would suggest he actually pays money for the manga,which is a good thing and puts him above Free-loader in my opinion. But when someone else was reading an actual copy of Naruto at the table, he failed to recognise it and was trying to figure out what series it was. The Narutard does not know what a seiyuu is, does not know what Studio Pierrot is and has never heard of anything besides Rasengan and Bankai.

The most prominent anecdote of the Narutard I managed to observe was: Artistic (more on this guy later) suggested that the fourth Hokage is probably the head of Akatsuki. The Narutard reacted violently, protesting loudly that it couldn’t be, because the "fourth Hokage is dead, stated in the first volume already". I laughed because he actually believes Naruto and Bleach abides by such rules. In shounen, no one stays dead because you can always collect the 7 dragon balls and wish them back to life. Anyway, in conclusion, this anecdote shows how the Narutard, with his lack of knowledge of other series and thus ignorance of generic conventions, makes himself look silly when attempting to talk about anime.

The Artist
This guy loves to draw and has a keen eye for art. But due to limited finances (perhaps the need to purchase art materials), he keeps a strict limitation on his manga expenditure, preferring to buy short series (except Naruto and Bleach). The artist is generally the most well-informed of the group, 2nd only to the Otaku. He eschews all anime, preferring to read manga instead because he feels the artwork is "purer". I made him promise that he would watch Gintama. The defining point of the artist is the fact that he draws. Not necessarily anime/manga styled art, but his abilities do allow him to be more critical of manga artwork and capable of providing interesting analysis in this area. He explained how Kishimoto (Naruto) is good because he does not require much cross-hatching or shading to create fixed viewing angles etc etc. In other words, the artist actually talks sense. The favourite mangaka of the artist is Oh Great! and I have to agree with that choice because Oh Great may be a shitty writer but his art, especially in the more recent Air Gear volumes, have eclipsed even the likes of Da Vinci.

The Peer-Pressured
This guy knows nothing about anime and manga, being more a sports-person. But his good friends are all into Naruto (note the trend here?) and have influenced him to read the series casually. He does not know much about the series, nor is he interested to find out more. In terms of knowledge, he has the least among the whole group but he is probably the coolest in the eyes of society. This is a fine example of how manga and anime are slowly becoming more mainstream.

The Non-Chinese Reader
Most of you guys should know that the vast majority of anime and manga are in Japanese, but then due the culture’s popularity in China, HK, Taiwan and Singapore, the Mandarin language is most often used when it comes to translation. Here in Singapore, we have non-Chinese populations including the Malays, Indians and fat caucasians and they have difficulty finding English-translated manga legally. Why? Because the locally published English manga have less than stellar translations, and the US versions costs three to four times as much as the Chinese ones. As such, most of the non-C readers download their Naruto chapters. One of my seniors is just like that.

The Disinterested
This guy doesn’t read or watch any anime or manga. Period. Under the onslaught of Naruto and Bleach, such people are getting rarer. As such, he is bored when the topic switches to it.

The Otaku
This is me. I generally do not talk about anime/manga to people in real life outside of my otaku friends, because I don’t believe any worthwhile conversation can be sustained with a Narutard. Why would I talk about Naruto in public? It’s embarrassing!! Why can’t we talk about Gantz or Gintama instead? Anyway by the fourth day of the camp, all the other guys knew that I was a big nerd and knew a lot about nerdy things ranging from tech stuff to tentacles. I guess I have no qualms spreading otaku information like regarding seiyuu, studios and the general culture, but it is just difficult for me to go into stuff like why Naruto’s Rasengan Shuriken cannot be thrown. THE REASON WHY IT CANNOT BE THROWN IS BECAUSE NARUTO IS RETARDED.

Otakus who have to talk to other fan-subtypes such as those listed above always have this snide, "I know this better than you" feeling inside their hearts. But whether or not they express it depends on the individual’s personality. Personally, I’ll only correct someone if he’s really wrong. Like "Bleach is the only good manga" wrong.

Girl fans
Quite a few of the girls were anime fans too, just replace "Naruto/Bleach" with "Inuyasha". They made me laugh when they were complaining about how violent Bleach was. One of them, a rather cute and pretty girl I might add, insisted Sesshoumaru was the villain. I guess it’s ok, I forgive her, because it’s cooler to know less about Inuyasha than to know even the exact name of Inuyasha’s fourth sword powerup (was it the dragon scale one?).

So from the above descriptions, you can tell my camp group was pretty diverse. Now to relate the whole post to elitism, as you should have been able to infer by now, otakus look down on Narutards, and with good reason. Otakus look down on freeloaders. Otaku look down on n00bs. And Otakus look down on everyone else, except girls who aren’t Fat Yaoi Fangirls.

The above paragraph sums up "Anime Elitism". It is in fact, a hierarchy of losers who think they are less loser than others

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38 Responses to “Anime Elitism Continued: A Small Sample Size Field Study of Fan-subtypes”

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1 DrmChsr0 191 comments Jul 6th, 2007 at 10:36 pm

And I look down on otaku.

Well, at least you admitted that it was a small sample size…
2 bj0rN 153 comments Jul 6th, 2007 at 10:38 pm

ZOMFG!!! I LAUGHED HARD AT THIS POST
3 dKiWi 73 comments Jul 6th, 2007 at 11:04 pm

Excellent post… especially the 2nd last paragraph.

I with real life examples I actually read every single word in the paragraph, unlike Imp and Owen S’ articles…
4 Karry 9 comments Jul 6th, 2007 at 11:14 pm

Well, at least you didnt have any stupid Haruhists followers in your surrounding, those are annoying as hell.
5 dKiWi 73 comments Jul 6th, 2007 at 11:16 pm

Haruhiists would fall under Otaku actually…
6 omo 137 comments Jul 6th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

A microcosm of epic proportions.

“Most of you guys should know that the vast majority of anime and manga are in Japanese, but then due the culture’s popularity in China, HK, Taiwan and Singapore, the Mandarin language is most often used when it comes to translation.”

I though, like, 99.99% of anime and manga are in Japanese. Exceptions being Afro Samurai and things like that. But word on the translation, that is indeed the case. Thankfully Japanese and Chinese are closely related!
7 tako 3 comments Jul 6th, 2007 at 11:37 pm

I wonder what makes those people the way they are? Is it the genes or is it a deliberate choice to like Shounen? Should we try to turn them around, to eventually join us normal otaku?
8 Kouji 49 comments Jul 6th, 2007 at 11:56 pm

Unfortunately, this is only the manga side of the study.
9 Kabitzin 94 comments Jul 6th, 2007 at 11:58 pm

I enjoyed the conclusion. However, I feel your criticism of Bleach is unwarranted. Bleach is the only good manga because Ichigo can throw his getsuga, whereas Naruto cannot even throw his destructo disc Rasengan.
10 HalcyonDF 54 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 12:03 am

@tako: “… normal otaku” best oxymoron of the year. period.
11 exalt dragon 163 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 1:30 am

I agree with your findings. It seems there are some types of fans who seemingly will only watch things like bleach, naruto, one-piece, and not try touching other series. I even persuaded one to watch some newer tittles but he proclaimed that he had no interest. After which, I was called a “lolita feshist”

Woo hoo, now I am a lolicon.
12 tiny Red Man 149 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 1:59 am

i’m quite disturbed by the narutard/bleach-tard…..for me, i do not watch bleach but at least in noe something called Bankai. For some bleach-tard to actualli not noe this term, he fails. and the you should intro the peer-pressured guy some sports anime to watch..it might hook him on :P..use ur knowledge and educate the girls instead…>.~
13 Owen S 144 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 2:25 am

Isn’t really limited to anime, I’ve got a friend who’ll talk endlessly about paintball to anyone who’ll listen. Those who yap on endlessly about their hobbies in public on a regular basis (because they’re oh so interesting) need to wear a muzzle or a remote-activated gag is what.
14 Aheda 9 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 3:47 am

What about the FYGs??
Speaking of which one pissed me off today!
She was soo concerned about her calorie intake that she only used artificial sweetener..
But she ate a stick of butter with her steak.. like wtf.
15 Marmot 18 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 4:42 am

Otaku here. The way that I approach anime discussions in real life is the same way that I approach /b/ discussions–rule 1: do not talk about anime; rule 2: do NOT talk about anime… unless the person/s have already shown that they might actually be fellow otaku, at which point a “SO WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON LUCKY STAR :0″ might be attempted.

Also, I tend to get hit on a lot when I’m buying manga. I’m really not too much of an elitist attitude-wise, but I can’t say that I appreciate getting treated like a piece of meat because I’m a girl who’s reading a manga that’s not yaoi–especially when most of the people there are Narutards that wear forehead protectors in public. Which also brings me to the fact that most of the girl fans in my area are fucking FYGs. Another thing I don’t appreciate being asked in the manga aisle is, “OMG WAT’S UR FAVE BOI PAIRNG?^_____^” and then being accused of being a homophone because I don’t get off on depictions of gay high school-aged boys having the unrealistic-girl-fantasy version of gay sex.

That aside, I definitely agree with your hierarchy descriptions, although I think you could’ve gone into a few more categories (perhaps Harutards and FYGs). Excellent blog, and I think I’m going to have to start saying “THE REASON WHY IT CANNOT BE THROWN IS BECAUSE NARUTO IS RETARDED.” from now on.
16 xJAYMANx 2 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 4:52 am

LOL, great post! I agree with Owen S, I’m sure you’ll find Star Wars or Star Trek or LOTR fanatics with similar sub-categories… But I wonder how the Harry Potter crowd might differ in gender percentages, hmmm.
17 klazyguy 38 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 5:36 am

LOL. Ah yes harry potter. Before otaku were looked down upon by society because of the nerdy-ness(some still do but not as much) But looks like the table have turned! Otaku look down on others now!
18 Diego 8 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 6:14 am

@Marmot: I apply the same rules in casual conversation, although practically everyone in this country has had some exposure to anime (it’s really huge on the local networks) so I often feel quite comfortable taking the discussion down that road. More often than not, however, the person on the receiving end has only seen anime on local TV (mostly consisting of old stuff from the late ’90s to the early ’00s, although they’ve begun to catch up) so I end up making a lot of recommendations involving fresh stuff from Japan. Conversely, they quite frequently advise me to watch older series I wouldn’t normally dip my toes in, so there’s a real exchange there.

Come to think of it, that’s another set of sub-divisions that might be worth exploring - people in the otaku category who either prefer older series and look down on those who only watch new stuff OR stick to what’s hot in Japan and turn their noses up at those who love the oldies, OR like both old and new and look down on all those who go for an ‘either, or’ approach. Studying this area may be fraught with difficulty (after all, today’s new is tomorrow’s old - where does one draw the line?) but I think it deserves a look.

For the record, I make no secret of my strong preference for new series, but I maintain a healthy respect for those that have gone before.

And for the record, I’m crazy about the Suzumiya Haruhi franchise but don’t consider myself a Harutard.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to stroke the LE DVD case of Haruhi Volume 2 while whispering “My preciousssss . . .”.
19 tragic comedy 47 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 9:43 am

all you people are just too caught up in the class/caste ranking system.
cant we all just get along?
20 tj_han 1442 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 11:11 am

Firstly I would like to remind everyone here that this post is based on FACT. All 7 subtypes are people who actually exist and were in my group during orientation camp. I know there are more types obviously, but they did not show up during camp and hence are outside the field of this tiny sample sized study haha.
21 Mitsuki_Hayase 336 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 1:21 pm

Well, when I entered the world of anime, I had shocked friends msging me on MSN with stuff like “WTF I thought you were pro-America?” and “Wah you fucking loser why are you into such loser culture?”

Unfortunately the West and its associated cultural aspects no longer holds that much sway over me and my minions.
22 ChronosAI 23 comments Jul 7th, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Nice article, and I agree about the “I know this better” or “I am veteran in this trade” types of Otaku. But I just keep quiet about it, it’s nothing to brag about. And I also have witnessed same sub-types of fans or people under the influence of it.

Especially about Haruhi, yeah, I own the original novels and consider myself fan.
But the non-quiet & crazed/delusional fans that spout “Haruhi! Best! Thing in my life!” and keep having delusions of supremacy about it.
One of the most annoying kind of fan I place next to Bleach/InuYasha/Naruto tards.

Yeah, being one I always think about the “he knows nothing” but it’s more of the kind “if he only knew more/had seen more, what a pity”.
And being a huge databank of newest things and being familiar with most of the series in recent years, all the “common fans” & friends who actually try to sophisticate themselves or are looking for something new to watch come to me.

Well, I know I enjoy when I can give advices/help/information for people. Unless they are of the “JAY! Naruto & Bleach > all” of kind. Or the rabid induced “japanfans” that know nothing but follow the “japan=superior” formula. Usually I just give them cold shoulder or frown. I’d punch them in the face, even a girl, but that’d be too big of a hassle to deal with.
23 Seth 78 comments Jul 8th, 2007 at 12:44 am

And here we have the woaiild elitist. Its fangs can be QUITE venomous, but if ya grab it by the neck like so, it won’t give ya any troubles, mate.
24 JS 82 comments Jul 8th, 2007 at 1:00 am

Person stuck between artist and otaku here.

“THE REASON WHY IT CANNOT BE THROWN IS BECAUSE NARUTO IS RETARDED.”
Amen to that.
25 Seleria 8 comments Jul 8th, 2007 at 11:30 am

Another great and funny read.

It is sad that the female sample in your camp are only InuYasha fans. I am not one, have only managed to catch a handful of episodes in local TV. It would have been interesting if there was a female otaku or two that would engage you in some intelligent anime/manga conversation.
26 tj_han 1442 comments Jul 8th, 2007 at 2:07 pm

Seleria: I have never in my life had an intelligent conversation about anime with an offline female. And I know many females, most of the intelligent ones do not watch anime lol. They’ll just maybe Inuyasha a bit. Now the FYGs are another thing altogether, they may watch a lot of anime (BL types) but that doesn’t mean they can talk about it with any semblance of non-retardation. I thus conclude that girl fans who are like you and Sasa are rarer than diamonds.
27 Zeroblade 163 comments Jul 8th, 2007 at 3:11 pm

I never have a decent otaku-related conversation, ever. They roll off how “good” Naruto and Bleach are, while passing better shows off with an excuse that “they can’t download it” or whatever crap (a lot of people I know buy them from people who burn the shows onto CD’s/DVD’s and sell them - those fools).

After looking over that, I just realized I am such an elitist. orz
28 ubu 21 comments Jul 10th, 2007 at 2:09 am

Egads. I never knew I was such an elitest. I generally don’t talk animé except with a very small circle that cares more about analyzing the story than anything else (not JUST analyzing the story, but primarily.) And I’ve had long discussions; even posted my policy re: downloads.
29 Xstacy02 33 comments Jul 10th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

For the female fans, you have not mentioned much about Ouran Host Club. It’s reasonably popular among some of the girls. And unfortunately, I haven’t come across many girls who know Inuyasha like the girls you encountered (I presume you are referring to NUS freshie camps?).
I don’t disagree with you that the three are the biggest ones out there. After all, much of the episodes that Odex is clamping down are from these three series anyway. Sadly, the only anime they know are these and the moment you start talking to them about GITS - SAC: SSS, or even Haruhi (yes, in the real world, NOT everyone knows Haruhi), they’ll scratch their head till it bleeds.

Anyway, here’s my take on (some of) the 7 archetypes.
The freeloader: I so agree with you. These are the kind of people who know nuts about Lucky Star, Seirei no Moribito but knows when the latest Bleach is out, and announces it when he downloads it, like he’s got a trophy or something. (Friend: “Hey, I just DL Bleach #13x today!!”)
Narutard: I don’t watch Bleach or Naruto. In fact, the declining animation quality (with increasing outsourcing) of these series puts me off. This is one species that I can’t comprehend.
The Artist: In contrast with these people, some people still prefer anime. Reason? Motion and colour. ’nuff said. Wait till they get their hands on Lost Universe episode 4 or Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na ep 3.
The peer-pressured: There’s a slight paradox. If he’s THAT popular, why would he be pressured to watch anime. OK, to put it differently, he knows the least anime but is the most popular, so that means knowledge of anime and social popularity is inversely proportional?
The non-Chinese readers: The excuse of ‘less-than-stellar’ translation is a poor one for these people who DL than buy them. I doubt some readers (Chinese and non-Chinese alike) can appreciate the ‘extra effort’ fan translators put in to explain the little stuff. Besides, official translations are meant for people with LITTLE OR NO understanding of Japanese culture, which makes the translation feel slightly ‘un-Japanese’. No doubt some of us has learnt a lot about Giri Choco, Tanabata, Hina Matsuri or -san/-smaa/-chan/-kun from fansubs and the like, but that’s no excuse to shun official translations.
The disinterested - forms 90% of the local community (sadly, true).
The Otaku - oh my, you haven’t seen worse….being knowledgable about Kyo-Ani, Lucky Star and Taniguchi is one thing, acting like one in public is another…
30 Charles 15 comments Jul 13th, 2007 at 10:35 am

For a entry about anime,a nd anime watchers at that… this article is very much devoid of pictures.
31 Shinigami_Mello 1 comment May 11th, 2008 at 1:18 am

Wonderful article xD
It’s sad how true it is.
Most of my friends who are obsessed with anime LOVE Naruto, Bleach, or Inuyasha. I’ve let them borrow so many anime DVD’s of mine, and all except one found the others “ok” except for Ouran, which they clamour over. (They’re all girls. I’m a girl too, but Ouran is not my favorite in any way xD)

Only my best friend actually remember things from other anime that are not Ouran. (That’s probably because I spend the most time with her) I’ve been watching a lot of moe anime lately, so…my friends would rather see a lot of bishounens I suppose.

(And Inuyasha has a rabid fan following. It’s scary ._. )
32 Yamibakeru 12 comments May 12th, 2008 at 11:48 am

Actually, tj, I, uh… Actually HAVE had intelligent otaku convos with non-offline females before. One girl I know has watched Eva, another, Bible Black. Yet another has Kodomo No Jikan amongst her “Most Favourite Anime” list, so she’s all right. I guess it’s just my luck or something?
33 Arious 1 comment Mar 25th, 2009 at 7:17 pm

I would most likely be considered an Otaku, however I do a lot of free downloading. I do however do a lot of cash purchases as well. The difference is the stuff I download are things I can’t find anywhere else. I am a fan of both old and new series. I even find out about series from reading articles like this one and looking into them. I love the classics like Dirty Pair, or even older series like Gai King, which I incidentally grew up watching. I’m not exactly a young anime fan though, since I am nearing my 36th birthday. I love Moribito for the storyline and the artwork, I like to watch Gungrave for the intrigate storyline and the random violence. Pretear is good for the musical score. The Slayers series is great for the comic relief and cartoon violence. Then you have Outlaw Star, which had both good animation and a greaat story line. I am however above all else a fan of Harlock. Which means that I can’t leave out such anime as Gun Frontier. Oh sure I watch them all, from Appleseed to Witch Hunter Robin, and I enjoy every moment of it because with my physical limitations it’s a much needed release from the constant pain I live with every day. In some ways I fit almost every catagory you listed. I like Naruto, but only because it makes my laugh, and as for him not being able to throw the resangun, you may say he’s a retard, however that’s because the resangun is a contact attack which means in order to release the force of it you have to touch the target. This is because it is much like a release of static electricity after a person walks across a carpet. Yes, I’ll agree, retarded, however, in certain applied fields of science highly acceptable. Now as to bloody violence and mayhem I’m of two minds, sure Gantz is pretty good, but what about Elfen Leid? Then you have the cheese factor of the old time Voltron Force, which I understand their is still talk of doing a live action version of… In either case I think I prefer the Guyver series though, they did both anime and live action, though I still haven’t seen the third live action movie for it even though I know their is such a thing.
34 ignorant wanderer 1 comment Oct 13th, 2009 at 3:15 am

i guess out of the millions of anime elite stereotypes that anyone could think of, i’d be the artist. or so the type that worries more about artwork and such.
i only buy certain mangas or certain volumes of a manga title. >_>

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

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