Things I Hate About Being An Anime Fan

In case you haven't guessed by now, I love anime. It's basically 90-95 percent of everything I watch nowadays. I've only really been watching it for like two years now, though, so there's a lot that I still haven't seen. However, there are quite a few aspects/comments I see/hear as an anime fan that just irk me, and I thought I'd share them with you guys. Disclaimer: this is not attacking a person, but rather the statements/arguments I hear.

1. Sub vs. Dub Wars

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This. This is my number one issue with being an anime fan, and it angers me every time I see it. For those of you who don't know, subbed anime means that the voice cast speaks in Japanese while the viewers watch with English subtitles. Dubbed, on the other hand, means that the entire show is in English. (Just FYI, some anime is subbed in other languages; English and Japanese are just two of the popular languages for anime.) Personally, I prefer dubbed anime because I don't like reading while I'm trying to watch something because I feel like I'm going to miss something while I'm so focused on the text. Plus, I was an English major; I deserved a break from reading. Not everyone shares this opinion, however, which is fine. What's not fine is arguing with other fans about which is superior/worth watching. Guys, it's the same show/movie. Granted, some things are lost in translation, but still. It's not worth fighting over. If you wanna watch subbed anime, then watch subbed anime. If you wanna watch it dubbed, then watch dubbed. For crying out loud, just let people watch what they wanna watch and be happy with it. Geez.

2. "You're an anime fan and haven't seen (insert popular anime show/movie here)?"

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This one slightly annoys me if I'm honest. Yes, I'm an anime fan. No, I haven't seen (please don't jump on me for admitting this) "My Neighbor Totoro," "Kiki's Delivery Service," "Dragon Ball Z" (I missed that boat in my childhood, OK?), "Spirited Away," "Bleach," "One Piece," "Naruto" (not a lot anyway), and probably other popular anime shows/movies I've forgotten about that are fairly mainstream. Just because you're an anime fan doesn't mean there are certain shows/movies you have to see. You watch anime because you love anime. Now, if I said I was an anime fan but had only seen like one or two anime, that'd be different; that would mean that I like those specific anime and that I hadn't really gotten into anime as a whole yet. Trust me, I have a list of at least 70 anime shows/movies that I wanna watch (OK, so I may have a slight problem) as well as 17 I've started but haven't finished (OK, a big problem, I admit it). I don't see myself not watching anime anytime soon, so there's a pretty good chance that I'll see some of the ones others can't believe I haven't seen.

3. Ship Wars

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This comes into play more with fans than the actual shows/movies. A ship is basically two or more characters a fan likes to see in a romantic and/or sexual relationship that either actually happens in the show/movie or is just wishful thinking on the part of the fan. Almost every if not every fan has at least one ship that they like, which is cool; even my life has been ruined by a few ships (Jeanmarco, Nezushi, Mikayuu, and Royai to name a few). However, I have issues with fans, much like in sub vs dub wars, who argue why a ship is superior/the only ship worth shipping. Now there are certain types of ships I have issues with, such as minors with adults, but that's me. People ship who they want to ship; they shouldn't be attacked for that. I mean, they're fictional characters; aside from the feels, ships shouldn't be taken that seriously.

4. "Anime is for kids"

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Really? What anime have you seen? The ones I watch are PG-13 at best. Ever heard of "Attack on Titan?" "Tokyo Ghoul?" "Gangsta?" "Hellsing Ultimate?" "Parasyte: The Maxim?" "Black Butler?" "Future Diary?" "Death Note?" "Deadman Wonderland?" "Rosario and Vampire?" "Terror in Resonance?" "Fullmetal Alchemist?" These aren't really child-friendly, either due to the subject matter or language/gore/other related aspects. Granted, some anime might be appropriate for children, but, at least from what I've seen, a lot of it isn't. Might wanna check out an anime first before showing it to someone under 12.

5. Merch Costs

OK, so this one's not as serious and can't really be helped, but I still wanted to add it. Anime merch can be super expensive, which is a problem if you want all the merchandise like I do. The only remedy for that is to save up (or have friends/family that feed your obsession).

This is just a small list of issues I have as an anime fan. What are some of yours? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below. Overall, being an anime fan is great, but there are some aspects that could be better.