There’s something that I notice at anime conventions and it’s that there is a silent disrespect and hatred for the furry fandom. It seems some “otaku” place themselves on a pedestal over furs. I understand that at an anime convention it is conventional for people to cosplay as anime characters. So furs that dress up as pokemon or digimon or any other creatures related to an anime series are generally left alone. But there’s a silent double standard in the anime fandom and it’s that you can costume as any character, anime related or otherwise, but god forbid you fursuit as your personal character! Or god forbid you sell “furry”/anthropomorphic art in artist alley. People will talk about them behind their backs as if somehow they are greater than the other person. And this isn’t just limited to the furry fandom. Anime fans get their fair share of hatred. Anime in America is thought of as a fad that will disappear in time. People who like anime are thought of as immature or “wannabe Japanese” people. God forbid a person shows a genuine interest in the language or culture as well as likes anime. They will be thought of as a “weaboo”. And what about sci-fi and comic book fans? Their like of cosplaying as their favorite characters at conventions is always fodder for late night comedians to poke fun at. They’re thought of as the 40 year old, overweight virgins who will never get a girl because of his “insane” interest in Star Wars or Superman. Yet there still seems to be a ranking system of fandoms within fandoms.
But does no one ever notice how fandoms always overlap? Anime fans have their conventions. Furries have theirs. Heck, there’s even a convention for Power Rangers fans. And comic book fans have Comic-con and other variations like C2E2. And sci-fi fans have their conventions. For every fandom you can think of, there is a convention for it somewhere in the world. But for the purposes of this entry, I’ll only be focusing in on connecting anime, comics, tokusatsu and furry.
There’s one thing that all these fandoms have in common and it’s that they’re more alike than their fans would like to believe. I’m a new fan of Japanese tokusatsu and an old fan of anime and furry. Japanese tokusatsu and anime are easily connectible as they’re both forms of media that come from the same country. Not to mention series like the Super Sentai series and Kamen Rider can sometimes read like a live action anime. But where does furry fit into the scenario? Very easily. In the furry fandom, many anime series tend to be very well loved because critters are the focal point of a few popular series. Pokemon, Digimon, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Wolf’s Rain are four of the most popular. Animal and/or shapeshifting characters from other series are equally as popular. Ein from Cowboy Bebop, Mokona from just about everything that CLAMP has made, or some two of my personal favorites, Spinel Sun and Keroberos from Cardcaptor Sakura. As for furry-type characters in tokusatsu, you’ve got anything from Godzilla to the more animalistic yummies in Kamen Rider OOO (IE: the bird type yummies created by “lost” Ankh).
What about a connection between American comics and Japanese comics (manga)? At it’s simplest, comics and manga are both stories told through image and text. Nothing more, nothing less. People seem to think of anime and manga as a genre of it’s own without realizing that just like American comics and animation, Japanese media is separated into genres such as shounen (meant for boys), shoujo (meant for girls), action, horror, comedy, “mahou shoujo” (magical girl), psychological thriller, and so on and so forth. There’s a good chance that if you have a genre/subject that you like in American comics, there’s a manga out there that you might enjoy as well.
I don’t have to do a rundown of every detail of every fandom to show the constant overlap between them. My point’s been made just fine. People have different interests and sometimes those interests collide. But if there’s one thing we can all agree on it’s that we’re a part of the fandom(s) because we have similar interests to others and we want and need to have people in our lives to share that interest with. We come together, cosplay and support one another in our endeavors because it’s fun. And in the end that’s all it ever needs to be is fun. There doesn’t need to be any ranking or comparing ourselves to one another. We don’t need to shun a person expressing being a furry at an anime convention or being an anime fan at a sci-fi convention or a comic book fan at a furry convention. Because when you get right down to it, that person also shares your interest. Or else they wouldn’t be there in the first place.
Hmm good point, I agree. I also dislike the whole ranking thing not necesarily between fandoms but among fans themselves especially anime fans. Some tend to believe that just because they have seen X amounts of shows or that because they only watch 80’s anime that they are more special than the others. That really gets to me personally.
Oh, that too. Just the disrespect people have of other fans within the same fandom is just insane. Didn’t think of that since I hadn’t seen that type of ranking in a while, but that definitely happens. I don’t understand that idea that watching older animes over newer ones makes one a better fan. It doesn’t make sense.
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Ehh some of these things may be true, but I don’t much care. A well written article, however, I really don’t care what other people think of me, or my fandom. I am what I am, and the fandom is what it is. I don’t care about the image of the fandom either. People seem to get real up in arms about that “issue” which I don’t see as an issue at all. It’s like being sensitive about when people make fun of your religion. If you are that offended by people who make fun of what you believe, then I don’t think you’re a very good believer in what you believe.
This is well made, and I do agree, but I don’t think much needs to be done about this, other than just being yourself! 🙂
Hehe, in general I don’t really care either. I like what I like and I’m not going to change that because someone else is uncomfortable with it. And if that’s the case, then hey don’t have to be around me. It’s just one of those things that I notice that seem so amazingly obvious to me. I wouldn’t put it on the same ground as making fun of religion, but it is a similar type deal (granted I’m a lot more self conscious about what people think of me when it comes to religion than I am when it comes to what people think about what fandoms I’m a part of…^^; ).
Fandom image isn’t an issue at all, but unfortunately people do feel that it is and I often have to wonder why they want to be a part of the fandom when they’re so uncomfortable with the image it has.
Point of this wasn’t to say that something needed to be done, but rather to just make people think a little bit before they want to be a jerk to someone. Because despite a slight difference in interests, people can come together and have fun over the similar interests shared at a convention or elsewhere.
The URL is not really my own, but just a bit of fun that was being poked at this whole “Hierarchy of Fandoms” thing. RIP Brunching Shuttlecocks.
Stated so much better than I could’ve ever done. And the chart is just hilarious, but at the same time pretty true.
[…] this is quite self explanatory and I caught some flack for it when I wrote my post on fandom overlap. Mostly because people didn’t see it as something that needed to be pointed out or […]