I began my first out of four days of temporary work as a sales promoter today, and at the same time, I was introduced to a couple of new colleagues, 2 girls and a guy, all slight senior by a couple of years. The day started without many customers, so we were rather free to get some small talk going. The guy then approached me since we were all bored, and somehow or another, since we were selling routers, we approached the topic of bittorrenting, and eventually he introduced himself as someone who watches anime.
This image is irrelevant to the post since I’m not working in the office
This might just be interesting, I thought.
He popped me the question of what anime I am watching. Before I could answer, he popped yet another question. ” Bleach, Naruto and One Piece?” Technically speaking, I could have answered yes, since I actually watched one of of the three he mentioned, One Piece. Still, I gave a negative as a reply, followed by prompting him to guess what I was currently watching. His guess was Dgrayman. I did watch it, though it’s been more than a year since I dropped it after a couple of episodes, so it’s as good as not watching it.
Seeing that he couldn’t really think of any other answer to my prompt, I gave him the answer instead. A couple of currently airing series came out, namely Code Geass R2, Major, Toshokan Sensou, Golgo 13 and Macross Frontier. I was quite hopeful that he would recognize at least more than 50% of the series named.
Sadly, I was mistaken. The only one he knows of and is watching was Code Geass, and he mentioned that he has heard of Major before but never checked it out due to it being 4 seasons long. The rest was a bunch of unknown gibberish to him. I was prepared to list out a few more series, but I’m glad that I stopped at naming just those series and not going on further divulging the fact that I’m a collector of pretty plastics. The conversation wasn’t going anywhere since he appeared to be lost.
That was probably the first time someone automatically came up to me trying to start a conversation regarding my hobby. Usually, it would be me starting it, after I have scouted the target enough to determine if he/she is suited for such conversations. This made me re-realise two facts which should have been engraved deeply in my mind aeons ago.
Anime is mainstream, and not everyone who watches it is like who I think they might be. I was a total fool to have forgotten that well-known fact for that couple of seconds.
Maybe I should have just answered positive to his question with Naruto and Bleach in it, and be the one struggling in a conversation regarding the knowledge of two series that I have never watched or read. The conversation just might have gone on, instead of us switching to the topic of routers instead.
Anime over routers any day, any time.
You should ask him who is his favourite Naruto hero or what is his most favourite jutsu.
For me, it was the opposite reaction.
A fellow NSF of mine talks about Naruto/Bleach. It’s been aeons since I last touch on both, the latter midway into the Arrancar/Vizard arc.
I replied that I did watch. And I watched myself divulged into the horror of not being able to say more of the series. (Whatever happened to Inoue anyway?)
I guess that even with anime going mainstream, it’s not that every one who watches it will watch every series out there. (I can never fathom One Piece, BTW. I took a peek from its manga incarnate releases; insofar they’re halfway into searching the One Piece. Considering over 300 episodes had been made, and over more than 50 volumes sold, I guess you can say that it’s going to be one heck of a ride, then.)
If there is something I can talk about:
For any other anime viewers, only 3 out of 10 will bother to talk about other series. Lesser than that can extol greatly the series such as Golgo 13 (MANLY, I say).
i stopped telling ppl i was an anime/manga addict when i started working.
something about anime/manga fanatics that scares suits.
Same thing happens to me. The place where I do my outsourcing work was full of mainstream watchers (naruto, bleach and all that), they knew nothing of any seasonal albeit currently latest ones. ^^;
With this.. We now know…
As for me… Tekong to go.
I’m also selling PDA @ suntec IT show =) Need $$ to buy more pretty plastics LOL. 3 more days to chiong sales, Jiayou haha
nah. nah. nah. He’s BELOW you on the aniladder. Then again… I have yet to have a satisfying anime conversation with someone I’ve just met. So it might be fun.
this post is interesting indeed.
my observations-> he askes u whether u watch animes? and whether is it Bleach, Naruto and One Piece?
is this implying that he takes u as a person who watches only Bleach, Naruto and One Piece or he himself *only* watches Bleach, Naruto and One Piece?
i’m thinking it’s the later.
sometimes i always think to myself should people who watch mainstream animes consider themselves anime fans? since they are only limited to these few animes titles which runs for hundreds of episodes with no ends in sight. so even after a few years, they are still watching the same titles…
There’s once in NUS where I met a Bleach fan and since he’s a die hard of Bleach while I’m not, I cannot say anything for Bleach at all. It became a conversation where each of us tries to promote the anime to the other; him trying to promote Bleach while I’m trying to promote Claymore. Otakus will manage somehow. XD
Still schooling in my tertiaries so I don’t really have this problem. On the other hand, I only know one or 2 people who watch seasonal anime with the rest watching the so called mainstream anime. Although I’d say that isn’t too bad.
Actually something similar happened to me, I was at work as a marshal for a gaming tournament, so at lunch break I had a talk with a fellow marshal of mine, I was actually making small talk about what we do in our spare time, ad the conversation shifted to the fact that he torrents a LOT of anime.
Turns out he was a fan of quite a few series I like too, namely Hayate no Gotoku, D.Gray-Man, Code Geass, Evangelion, Macross F, Black Lagoon..etc.
Anime CAN bring colleagues together, lol.
I just wonder what would have happened if I told him I play VN’s too…
I find it a bother sometimes to talk about anime to people in real life for the sole fact that it’s so difficult to find (stumble upon) someone with remotely similar titles in common to talk about, given the incredible vastness of the medium and all. And whenever I’m asked “What anime are you watching now/can recommend I watch now” my mind somehow always goes blank as to what to answer…
It’s always after though that I get that same thought about how the discussion that never happened could have happened instead… Funny how it’s really not a problem over the interweb though
I wish I knew a weaboo at work, even if it was a Narutard.
The Sojourner ＞ Who’s your favourite Naruto Hero?
TP > Well, for me, I did not watch Bleach or Naruto at all, so I’m totally clueless. Like a caveman using a computer.
Lss > I try to conceal unless being asked.
KYPMbangi > That’s to be expected, I guess.
bj0rn > GLHF
luvluvluv > I need the money for something else more important than pretty plastics.
Os > Somehow, he came up with the anime topic again today, but one of the girls actually hijacked the conversation when she reveal that she watched a lot of anime. Looks sure are deceiving…
gordon > I think it’s the former, but when I spouted words of nonsense, I think he realised that I’m not such an anime watcher.
Hynavian > Somehow miracles will appear when otakus gather.
Ez > I’m schooling in a tertiary institute too, and anime watchers are aplenty.
C.I. > From what you’re saying, workplaces should have frequent anime bonding sessions to improve the workers’ productivity.
issa-sa > You’re not the only one who blanks out. I did too, for a couple of seconds.
Shin > You wouldn’t want to. But this guy mentioned in the post is quite a nice dude.
There are lots more people who follow the Big Three exclusively compared to those who watch other more obscure anime series like those you named. Like, 80% of the entire anime-watching population. :O
NaruSasu LOL. <– Random Naruto ship.
Perhaps it’s because you’re a animeblogger and all, but it just seems to me that your circle of ‘otaku’ friends is just mostly online and from the animeblogging community. So that’s why your taste in anime(Eva, Cg, Macross) are just gibberish to some guy whom you just happened to talk about anime with.
And I don’t think it’s that bad to be showing you’re an anime fan. As long as you don’t carry your Haruhi nendos around, or wear Eva underwear and offer to show it to people that you’ve just met, I think they’ll just go like your guy did and ask if you’ve followed up to the latest episode of Bleach.
@ Double: I wish.
But anime’s actually good conversation for slow work days..
Same thing happens to the Japanese as well; you’d expect some otakus to know better than us, lol.
But yea, 70% of the anime-watching population are mainstream, and 50% out of the 30% are slightly non-mainstream, like the guy who want to boost his anime-epenor.
Why? It’s due to anime being cool to youngsters, in a sense.
I’m getting too lazy to watch really non-mainsteam anime, and I totally dislike mainstream anime (bleach/naruto/DGM/OP, anyone?). Not dissing them, but just a preference of mine.