I've lived around sports fantatics my whole life and am very skeptical about anime being unique in this sense. The merchandising, the meta content, the social aspect. I feel like the physical manifestation to reinforce an assumed fanbased identity is something natural that springs from any media where people are heavily invested emotionally and financially. I sometimes think that 2D imaginary characters materialised in physical goods that may tap into a deeper euphoria, but every time a friend or sibling meets a star in real life I'm convinced back again.
Humans have an innate sense of reciprocity. If they spend a lot of time doing a thing, they feel like it needs to account for something.
There are 5 main ways to interact with media in this way:
1. Talk about them
2. Create them yourself
3. Idolize the creators
4. Idolize the characters
5. Gather related stuff
When it comes to anime:
1 is easy to do through the internet. However, if it goes too far, it isolates the person from people who criticize his interest, making his in group more and more zealous.
2 is hard when it comes to anime. Animation has a high bottom threshold of even seeing ones work work as intended.
It takes a lot of skill and knowledge to get a picture moving. Especially in the anime style, as most of the resources are foreign language.
3 is uncommon, as the creators are mostly inaccesible, leaving the "studio" to be thé face of the creation. Also, they Are Japanese, thus removed from even thoughts about getting access.
4 is simple to do, and they can serve well as role models similar to religious figures (what would Jesus/Twilight/Haruhi do?). But, if talent too far, they can take their fans on a downward spirál of simpage, removing them from society. It is hard to make friends with someone knowing they would always prefer a fictional character over you. People do be proud like that.
5 is the easiest way to reach for reciprocity.
It can start as an aesthetic urge, but it creates a positive feedback loop, as buying stuff becomes an additional way of consumption, building its own feelings of reciprocity and inadequacy. Collections start that way and usually only transform into a particular aesthetic or serious endeavor (collecting a smaller niche of something) after some kind of external reality check.
I was hella inspired by ur otaku room back in the day because my parents didn't let me put up things on the wall when I really wanted too. I got to do so in college & loved every picture i hung, placed right where I could see it. It's more tame now since I live with my boo thang & only a few big pieces are up for display while the rest are stored in a flat art bag. Idk when will be the next time I can display everything to my hearts desire, but one things for sure, I'm keeping every single one!
I've lived around sports fantatics my whole life and am very skeptical about anime being unique in this sense. The merchandising, the meta content, the social aspect. I feel like the physical manifestation to reinforce an assumed fanbased identity is something natural that springs from any media where people are heavily invested emotionally and financially. I sometimes think that 2D imaginary characters materialised in physical goods that may tap into a deeper euphoria, but every time a friend or sibling meets a star in real life I'm convinced back again.
Humans have an innate sense of reciprocity. If they spend a lot of time doing a thing, they feel like it needs to account for something.
There are 5 main ways to interact with media in this way:
1. Talk about them
2. Create them yourself
3. Idolize the creators
4. Idolize the characters
5. Gather related stuff
When it comes to anime:
1 is easy to do through the internet. However, if it goes too far, it isolates the person from people who criticize his interest, making his in group more and more zealous.
2 is hard when it comes to anime. Animation has a high bottom threshold of even seeing ones work work as intended.
It takes a lot of skill and knowledge to get a picture moving. Especially in the anime style, as most of the resources are foreign language.
3 is uncommon, as the creators are mostly inaccesible, leaving the "studio" to be thé face of the creation. Also, they Are Japanese, thus removed from even thoughts about getting access.
4 is simple to do, and they can serve well as role models similar to religious figures (what would Jesus/Twilight/Haruhi do?). But, if talent too far, they can take their fans on a downward spirál of simpage, removing them from society. It is hard to make friends with someone knowing they would always prefer a fictional character over you. People do be proud like that.
5 is the easiest way to reach for reciprocity.
It can start as an aesthetic urge, but it creates a positive feedback loop, as buying stuff becomes an additional way of consumption, building its own feelings of reciprocity and inadequacy. Collections start that way and usually only transform into a particular aesthetic or serious endeavor (collecting a smaller niche of something) after some kind of external reality check.
I was hella inspired by ur otaku room back in the day because my parents didn't let me put up things on the wall when I really wanted too. I got to do so in college & loved every picture i hung, placed right where I could see it. It's more tame now since I live with my boo thang & only a few big pieces are up for display while the rest are stored in a flat art bag. Idk when will be the next time I can display everything to my hearts desire, but one things for sure, I'm keeping every single one!