As open as I try to be with anime fans, I occasionally still have bad reactions upon seeing my fellow otaku. In some cases it’s because I don’t want to see them making fools of themselves, or more specifically, making fools of themselves in a way that can obstruct or harm others, as is the case with some of my previous comments on the Anime Convention Scene. I’ve come to realize recently though that what bothers me possibly the most is seeing anime fans purposely constrict their exposure to anime.
Whether it’s the Naruto fan who cannot see beyond ninjas and jutsu, or the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex fan who deems any show not similarly themed and animated to be inferior, I feel that people such as these would be served well by expanding their horizons and looking for anime that is beyond their current myopic scope. I’m not asking anyone to really go out on a limb, or to watch absolutely everything that’s out there or even 50% of what’s out there, but what I am suggesting is that those who call themselves anime fans (and I consider the above Naruto and SAC fans “anime fans”) to try out other anime, to get a real sense of what the medium has to offer. You don’t have to go from Violence Action Fest Razor-kun to Fruity Mangirl Vampire, but even a small step is okay. Does your anime have to be mind-blowing? Does your anime have to be an action-adventure? Does it have to feature cute girls or cute guys? Give more shows a chance (provided you have a feasible way of obtaining them of course).
The real problem though is that to expect one show to be like another show is unfair. Both Naruto and SAC are big hits, but you cannot expect lightning to hit twice. If you really want to be electrocuted that second time, you should be chasing the lightning, not the other way around.
I also understand that as an anime blog, my content and scope may seem limited to those who ask, “Why don’t you just blog about comics and animation as a whole?” And to that I say, because I’ve only got so much time, and anime alone is a deep enough well to drink from, and I already do occasionally talk about other animation and such, but always in regards to how it relates to anime.
OGIUE MANIAX 
Much indeed. I spent a lot of time making recommendations to the Narutards at my school, and they would never fucking check out anything I told them to. Shit always made me sad, because these people should obviously be able to enjoy more. It’s sad to see someone believing that they will only like a tiny handful of anime. I’ve seen well over 700 shows, and I have at least 100 favorites – I know that it’s possible to like so much more.
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I’ve come to the stage that no show is low enough for me not to try, but sometimes I carry myself too far with recommendations. Not everyone is willing to explore new shows beyond their comfort zone, but I’m still trying.
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I heard that. In fact I’m coming to a point where I’m not even mad at people like this, I just feel sad for them because they refuse to let themselves like things. Maybe it’s me though, maybe I’m just some horrifically weird person because I find it pretty easy to derive some kind of enjoyment from almost everything.
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Definitely. There’s always much to gain by humbling oneself and learning to see things from a different perspective. For the evolving otakus that we are! :)
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There’s a quote from Alexander McCall Smith’s The Full Cupboard of Life (one of the Mma Ramotswe novels) that’s been hanging in the back room of work for years and years. It reads like this:
“It must be sad if it is your job to read books and you can never get to the end of them. You think that you have read all the books and then suddenly you see that there are some new ones that have arrived. Then what do you do? You have to start over again.”
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It’s a deep enough well, but with little substance.
And that makes all the difference.
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There’s always substance in anime, even in the shallow shows. You just have to consider aspects of the show beyond the show itself, and a whole world of material worth talking about opens up.
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That is a sig-worthy quote, my friend.
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Yes.
I also wonder: How can we do a better job at recommending different anime to folks? I feel like the anime blogger community isn’t impacting the various fanbases. Nobody’s reaching out to the Naruto fanbase and telling them why they might also like Hiwou’s War or Bamboo Blade.
Or am I missing something?
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