How do we treat anime skeptics (and should we treat them in any manner at all)?
Not everyone likes anime, and that is fine.
It might be a little strange, seeing how anime is extremely diverse and different, which means that disliking all anime is similar to disliking all movies… but still, it is fine.
That said, there are people who go a little further than disliking anime. They become strangely invested in telling everyone who loves anime that it is silly, childish, or otherwise inappropriate for the person in question. In fact, if a child is into anime, anime might suddenly become for grown-ups so that children are not allowed to watch it either. There are those people.
It is questionable if it is even worth trying to get this person to like anime. Unless they are your relatives, you probably should not bother. However, you can always prove them wrong when they make a claim about anime in general.
They might believe, for example, that anime is childish, but you can simply thrust a drama or a complex tragedy upon them that is so profound it is absolutely clear it is not for children. Think of Perfect Blue: an anime that shows quite well what it feels like to lose your mind. Also, there is also a murder. Not exactly meant for children.
Of course, they might state that anime is not suitable for children at all, and you can provide them with a long list of anime that are explicitly made for children or families. For example, Sailor Moon is meant for children and features teen heroes who save the world while becoming great friends. This is a very family-friendly anime.
But they might believe anime is unimportant, incapable of tackling deep ideas and difficult topics. If that is their position, just let them watch Grave of the Fireflies, a tragedy about war that will leave any skeptic crying and show them how important anime can be to culture.
Finally, if they try to argue that all those could have been done in a movie, remind them that animation can make significantly more things happen, while movies and special effects have their limits and, most importantly, budgets.
In reality, the best way to treat an anime skeptic is not to treat them in any manner. Ignore them if you can, if they are not that important to you, and if you cannot, try not to talk to them about anime. You'll find them bringing the topic up every now and then — ignore those attempts. Hopefully, that can help keep the relationship civil.
How do we treat anime skeptics (and should we treat them in any manner at all)?
Not everyone likes anime, and that is fine.
It might be a little strange, seeing how anime is extremely diverse and different, which means that disliking all anime is similar to disliking all movies… but still, it is fine.
That said, there are people who go a little further than disliking anime. They become strangely invested in telling everyone who loves anime that it is silly, childish, or otherwise inappropriate for the person in question. In fact, if a child is into anime, anime might suddenly become for grown-ups so that children are not allowed to watch it either. There are those people.
It is questionable if it is even worth trying to get this person to like anime. Unless they are your relatives, you probably should not bother. However, you can always prove them wrong when they make a claim about anime in general.
They might believe, for example, that anime is childish, but you can simply thrust a drama or a complex tragedy upon them that is so profound it is absolutely clear it is not for children. Think of Perfect Blue: an anime that shows quite well what it feels like to lose your mind. Also, there is also a murder. Not exactly meant for children.
Of course, they might state that anime is not suitable for children at all, and you can provide them with a long list of anime that are explicitly made for children or families. For example, Sailor Moon is meant for children and features teen heroes who save the world while becoming great friends. This is a very family-friendly anime.
But they might believe anime is unimportant, incapable of tackling deep ideas and difficult topics. If that is their position, just let them watch Grave of the Fireflies, a tragedy about war that will leave any skeptic crying and show them how important anime can be to culture.
Finally, if they try to argue that all those could have been done in a movie, remind them that animation can make significantly more things happen, while movies and special effects have their limits and, most importantly, budgets.
In reality, the best way to treat an anime skeptic is not to treat them in any manner. Ignore them if you can, if they are not that important to you, and if you cannot, try not to talk to them about anime. You'll find them bringing the topic up every now and then — ignore those attempts. Hopefully, that can help keep the relationship civil.
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