When people think about people who are really into anime, they tend to think of cosplayers. These are people who dress up as their favorite anime character and go to anime conventions. However, if you've ever been to a convention, then you will notice how the fascade begins to fall apart, exposing an ugly truth hiding in the shadows: it's all on the surface. Because anime characters are not realistic by design, those who try to imitate them end up falling into a trap; the more they try to look like someone, the less they are actually that character. For example, someone may try to look like a cool anime character, wearing a trenchcoat. All the while, he's sweating heavily under the trenchcoat. But, he needs to put on a cool face. Whereas, if he were the cool anime character he pretends to be, he would've discarded such a burdensome outfit long ago. It gets even worse if he has a nice weapon (or prop of a weapon). The more realistic the weapon is, the heavier it is, and the more tiring it is to carry it around. Conversely, the easier it is to manage the weapon, the flimsier it is. Lose-lose. Then, there's the female characters who basically wear a wig, which is uncomfortable to wear, and sometimes falls off. Simultaneously the fan needs to act cute, and basically hide the annoyance she feels at wearing a revealing and often cheaply put together outfit while balancing a wig on her head, and trying to maintain her whole appearance to be as ideal as possible.
For someone who's honest, the whole thing starts to look ridiculous very fast. To add insult to injury, the merchandise and food are expensive, and you get very little for what you pay for. The entrance fee is often non-trivial, and you spend a lot of time walking around with no place to sit. Or, you're in a crowd, slowly making your way to where you want to go, if you even have a place in mind.
Cosplayers and anime conventions are the most striking examples of the superficial nature of anime fans. However, those are not the only places where this superficiality is manifested. In fact, for a long time now, I have had a suspicion that many anime characters are designed to look cool in poses, but not in action, like knights in the Medieval Age. Sure, they look cool standing there, or mounted on a horse, but, soon as the horse is injured, or he falls down onto the ground, then you get a knight dying from drowning in a puddle of water, unable to get up from the sheer weight of his armor. Similarly, anime characters look cool in their fancy outfits, but anyone who's begun to entertain thoughts of how these outfits would fare in terms of protection from the elements, ease of care, ease of getting into and out of, or even of moving around in, and how much effort it would take to actually produce such an outfit, then the characters that people think of cool, would actually be losers in real life, or absurdly rich to the point of making unnecessarily fancy outfits (and if making fancy outfits is what they choose to spend their money on, then, yes, I do judge them). To extrapolate this farther, think about how much time the character would need to spend grooming his hair. In front of a mirror. Like a princess. As for the people who think these characters are cool, and try to imitate them, to put it lightly, practicality escapes them.
I used to think that anime was some of the most thought-provoking and sophisticated media available, much better than the sitcoms on television, like how J-Pop is much richer in content than American Pop. Either the standard of anime has decreased, or my sample happened to be the good ones. Having gone to an anime convention three-fourths of a year ago, I was surprised to find how few anime fans shared similar thoughts as me. Much more alarming was the observation of how many people liked anime for the same reasons someone would like porn, the very similarities I had vehemently denied existed prior.
Unfortunately, superficial people will be superficial, and like superficial things. Pointing out the superficiality of it all may or may not make a difference. It is likely that the superficial people will object to it very vocally, and then continue down the same path, in the same direction. If they were wise, they probably would not be superficial, in which case, they would not have been going down this path.
Moral of the story is: don't pretend you're someone you're not. You're only deceiving yourself.
Good thing I chose to express my opinions here, hidden away from the public at large. If I were to directly say what I'm writing here at the anime convention, I would lose some friends at least, and at worst, I would be lynched as a witch. I wonder if any witches were lynched for voicing something too reasonable for the people of the time.
I gave the anime convention a shot, and I really tried to like it. I tried so hard, in fact, that I've kept my feelings about it buried for more than half a year. But, like bubbles in water, they eventually rise to the surface. For me to like anime conventions would require for me to pretend I was either a machine, or mentally challenged, which in both cases, I do not have to use my brain, that being the key to liking the anime convention.
I still like anime. Just cuz others like it for different reasons doesn't mean I have to shun it now. But, I won't be going to another convention, that's for sure.
Written on April 25, 2013