Article: The eternal Noob
The eternal Noob
One thing I have heard among some veteran anime fans is that the anime community is not the same as it used to be, and of course they will say it isn’t as good as it used to be. Of course they disparage that the anime fan community has been filled with Noobs. While you may find this sentiment in just about any hobby in existence, the reasons behind anime fandom are unique as it’s change wasn’t mere transformation but expansion.
To understand the position of veterans you need to understand what anime fandom was like. In the late 20th century, anime was watched primarily on VHS cassettes since DVDs weren’t that popular yet and downloading anime was out of the question. It was a time when Shojo anime meant Sailor Moon and when Ranma and Tenchi were king. In short it was a time when an anime fan in America could conceivably watch every anime show available in English.
As we all know that has changed. The idea of watching every anime show in existence or simply available is impossible, and I know this better than most people simply due to trying for years and barely keeping up. As you can expect the anime community has fragmented.
Anime doesn’t exist except as a collection of animated works and it is impossible to speak of anime at length without referencing some anime show or another. Each show or movie has it’s own references and without viewing said show the memes and references a fan of the show would mention make no sense.
This means that the so called anime community is actually a thousand separate communities, each based around it’s own show. There is a lot of overlap if you are discussing a show someone hasn’t seen you might as well be talking to a non anime fan. While the organizer of the anime club I belong to would classify himself as an anime fan he doesn’t know the first thing about several famous mecha show, but then can make a marmalade boy reference that flies over my head.
By virtue of the hundreds of anime shows I have seen and reviewed I can safely say that I am not an anime noob by any standard use of the word. There is a lot of stuff I haven’t watched yet though. This was very obvious to me when I went to the latest Sakura con and the place was crawling with Full Metal Achemist and Bleach fans. Don’t get me wrong I have some familiarity with both show but if you asked me something about the Homonculi or the Soul Society I couldn’t help you.
The reality of being an anime fan is that you are and will always be a noob in some way. When you watch a certain show it means you could be watching another but aren’t. There is always something that you haven’t seen and since you anime is coming out all the time there will always be something you haven’t seen. So stop hassling the fresh meat.