Many people use anime as a form of escapism from the cold, harsh real world. Therefore, their preferences of the 2D world tend to be as unrelated to the real life as possible. The more unbelievable stuff that will never ever happen in the real world, the better. This is basically a refraction of real life, as the wavelengths between the 2 worlds differ, separated by heaven and earth.
Take Zero no Tsukaima for example, since I’ve just completed both seasons a couple of days ago. A tsundere mage as the main lead, excessive fanservice, a harem, an insane 1 vs 70000 battle and many more illogical. The reason why people enjoy the series is because none of this ever occurs in the real world. Hence, when watching such a show, it literally transports them into a totally brand new fantasy world, distant from the unfeeling world that one lives in.
On the other hand, not all anime viewers have such a requirement in mind when picking and choosing their media. Some people do actually look for reflections of the 3D world in 2D. Things that are realistic, can happen, or might be already happening in the real world.
Genshiken would be an awesome example for this point. Since majority who watch the show are actually of the same breed as the characters in the show, one can related well to their 2D counterparts, and occasionally even yell out “Hey, that’s what I did some time ago!”. Such fragments of real world reflections in anime often calm the regular otakus’ herd instincts, especially since band wagoning and whatnot is a popular habit that many develop.
Sadly, most anime are based on refraction, seldom reflection. Personally, I long for more interesting, fresh concept animes that reflect what people, otakus or not, actually do in real life. It’s not so much of escapism, but rather seeing the real world in another light and angle. In this case, in 2D. Sometimes, excessive escapism isn’t as beneficial as one might think.
By the way, this post focus isn’t about escapism or the rabbit hole (why rabbit hole?). It might sound like it since the word “escapism” is mentioned a couple of times, but this and that are 2 different topics.
It’s the Rabbit Hole because then I can’t kill bunnies if they’re hiding in there — actually, I think itsubun said something about a rabbit getting out of its hole to escape reality or something like that ….
I really liked your article and it inspired me to write my own interpretation.
You can find it right here: http://www.j-isle.com/blog/2008/06/anime-functions-preference-like/
Wanted to write about my view of why anime may be popular, as well as what people look for in anime. After this, I am inspired to do it this month…ok…procrastination…
Rabbit hole refers to the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland.