What happened to anime culture? In the 2000s it was so much fun. Yeah, it was cringe, but everyone was so excited to be into anime, and everyone was so excited to meet other people into anime. There were so many shows ABOUT otaku and how proud people were to be otaku. 2chan and 4chan were doing all kinds of masturbatory stuff about how they loved their weird anime subcultures. This all happened despite anime being a weird gay thing that got you bullied (even online). "Japan weird" was the prevailing narrative everywhere.

Nowadays anime is more popular than ever, to the point of being basically mainstream... And yet, nobody is excited about it. All the shows we get are either trying way too hard to be "important", or just embarrassed about anime tropes.People act all ironic and shit about liking anime, or they're embarrassed to like anime. It's all very sad.

people like you got into it

>>280790973 (OP)
You never know how good you have it until its gone. We had this new anime club at school and the club president convinced us to join in exchange of a blowjob. I was too much like >>280783314 to do the deed but I heard several members gangbanged her

>>280791091
fpbp
OP blown out of the fucking galaxy

>>280790973 (OP)
You answered your own question, it was inevitable and there’s nothing that could have been done to stop it, Normalfags got in and they always water down everything they touch, unlike otaku they have to worry about social status and fitting in, so to appeal to the huge normalfag audience those shows that seem to be ashamed of tropes came out until the whole process of making normalfag anime got streamlined enough for maximum profit

Zoomers and social media destroyed it as they destroyed everything else

>>280791192
It was specifically late millennials that tainted the culture with the irony shit

>>280790973 (OP)
Westoids happened

>>280791091
I've been beating off to anime girls longer than you have been alive

It's just that the mystery around it is gone. If anything it's sort of inescapable now.

>>280791192
So fucking obsessed lol.
You cucklennials ruined every hobby, from videogames to comics. Anime couldn't survive under your disgusting claws

>>280791091
/thread

>>280791153
>>280791304
>>280791192
>>280791346

Here's the thing: there are still antisocial hardcore fans who live outside normal society. Most of them are just annoying doomers, nazis, or zoomers obsessed with having no girlfriends and killing themselves. It's stupid. That depression was always there, but the whole point of anime culture is that you participate in it to escape that stuff.

>>280790973 (OP)
Target audience turned towards the people who would hate anime back in the day

>>280791442
Anime as a medium may suffer due to the limitations imposed on it by the outcasts it caters to.

>>280791578
it used to thrive on those limitations though. All through the 2000s and early 2010s you got stuff like Genshiken, Lucky Star, Comic Party, Oreimo. That stuff was about otaku culture and fed into the culture, while also selling the myth. Every show had a comiket episode. That's not even counting the stuff like Nanoha that were obviously made with otaku in mind. Those people were antisocial freaks, but ultimately there was a strange, but ultimately harmless world for them outside of society where they could thrive.

>>280790973 (OP)
Bro has anime culture

>>280791192
He's right.
>>280791381
You're wrong.

Millennials problem is once social media and the all seeing eye of "I might be recorded saying the wrong thing" came about, Millennials got really fucking gay and lame trying to kowtow to social media's idea of political correctness. But Millennials were fun at one point in the 00's. Edgy. Cringe. They were people making original content in web 1.0 communities for better and for worse. In that sort of environment 4chan can flourish. People make things, some of the better things made get bumped to the front page, and then that inspires more things to be made in that vein when other people see it. So on and so forth.
Zoomers were never fun. Zoomers grew up in the era of "Oh no they might record me" and Zoomers self defense is a permanent wall of irony. Zoomers will never be fun. Zoomers will always stay guarded, disingenuous, and unable to make anything because they might have to put some of their soul out on display for the world to see if they were to make it. Millennials fall is that what they make has become disingenuous, pandering. But Zoomers have been disingenuous from the drop. Look around 4chan and what are the Zoomers good at? Being mad about other people who still make shitty things.

Good luck to Gen Alpha. I hope they cope with the potential judgement of their peers better than both these cohorts chose to.

>>280791795
I thinking this while getting nostalgic, going through my old pictures folders. This is a con from 2011. It's actually a frame from a video of a bunch of people who randomly started dancing. I don't know who these people are.

>>280790973 (OP)
What is different now compared to that era? I still see conventions being made and cosplaying

>>280791759
>That stuff was about otaku culture and fed into the culture
I think that was the problem though. As much as I loved shows like that, it was ultimately an inward-looking, self-referential spiral that simply could not have lasted forever, and it didn't once things started receiving mainstream attention.

justice for Johnny Otaku

>>280790973 (OP)
Excerpt from the life of a zoomer who was introduced to anime at a young age:

The Early Years Part 1:
Born early 2000s, grew up on Sesame Street and other sanitized, educational shows for kids. Parents extremely strict, wasn't allowed to watch CN or Nickelodeon freely until around 12. Exception was leniency towards picking/watching older/dated looking stuff. Was allowed to watch some stuff on 4kids (really just kirby and sonicx) and was allowed to pick CDs/disc collections of stuff like Scooby Doo, direct to DVD Disney/Pixar movies (Sword in the Stone,Mr Limpet, etc.), Speed Racer, Ghibli stuff, Night on the Galactic Railroad.

In elementary school the majority of people talked about/had merch of CN and Nickelodeon shows, especially, Spongebob, Adventure Time, Courage the Cowardly Dog, EE&E, Samurai Jack, Ben 10, and Star Wars the Clone Wars. The only anime casually mentioned were Bakugan, Beyblade, and Pokemon, but this was mostly for the toys. There was one person I knew who watched Dragon Ball. They were a charismatic nerd, well liked for being cheery, sociable, and funny, but a nerd in every sense (smart, glasses, unathletic). I only learned about it when they invited me to their house and we played some DB vidya, but besides that you wouldn't have known they were into anime.

Context: I was one of those who would sit quietly at whatever seat was open at lunch, so I have insight on various kinds of elementary social groups (except ones involving girls). There were the collectible kids who would pull out their pokemon/bakugan stuff and spend lunch doing that. These guys were mostly in their own world, and weren't outright bullied for it, but were generally disregarded by everyone else. There were the fresh off the boat ethnic groups (asians, indians, middle easterners) which didn't talk about cartoons because none of them watched them. When they weren't talking in their language they talked about their cultures which was pretty lame.

>>280790973 (OP)
I strongly believe that /a/'s obsession with hiding your powerlevel and avoiding being cringe(worthy) is what set up this domino effect on the entire internet.
You could have prevented this anons, now drown in your cynicism and die

>>280792665
Do I want to know?

I LOVE JAPAN, PERIOD

>>280792674
TL;DR
Cool story bro
TN: You story is not actually cool and you are no one's bro

>>280792685
It wasn't about not being cringe. It was about not engaging with normalfaggots.

>>280793047
False dichotomy. Normalfags define what counts as cringe, so by extension, being seen as cringe only matters if you care about the opinions of normalfags.

>>280792685
Not gonna lie, I’ve developed a newfound appreciation for this one guy who back in middle school, unabashedly loved anime and had no problem reading hentai mags in public or using the library's DVD player to watch moeshit.

>>280793168
You're doing that one fallacy, whatever it's called.

>>280793247
I wish I could have befriended that guy back in the day. Imagine his power level now, 20+ years later.

>>280791091
this, assuming OP is a brown high schooler who likes shounen

>>280790973 (OP)
Social media and tiktok. The most recent con i went to was filled with people who just sat around in groups watching at their phone or filming shorts.
And the people in cosplay would give weird looks to people asking if they can take pictures.
It's all just trend hopping.

>>280790973 (OP)
>All the shows we get are either trying way too hard to be "important", or just embarrassed about anime tropes.
The sheer amount of disposable isekai shows we get every season proves this wrong.

>>280793564
You had a bad time because you're out of the loop and are too autistic to adjust.
Everyone else had fun. No one was actively preventing you from having fun. Your only obstacle is yourself.

I'm just glad people started washing their asses at cons

>>280790973 (OP)
Anime culture like most internet culture was a fun goofy space for weirdos to connect but the space was infiltrated by bad faith accelerationists and foreign powers circa 2010s to propagandize and indoctrinate vulnerable goofy weirdos.

>>280790973 (OP)
Using the internet was rare, for one. And anime was also rare.
People used to be cringe because it was something you'd only like with other fellow weirdos, but the attempts of trying to get people to understand anime can be serious and "cool" lead to everyone slowly try to make anime mainstream. Now that anime is mainstream to hell, that's how you got undesirables that hate fanservice, hate loli, hate anything cutesy (/v/fags that call cgdct 'tranime'), etc.
And now nobody actually has fun. Everyone is stuck in that mentality of "I'm not insecure about my hobbies, anime is deep!"

>>280791091
/thread
Faglord OP has an otaku and culture obsession and wants to get railed by his fellow "otaku"

>>280793676
I disagree.
The smell may be more tolerable these days, but the yaoi paddles are sorely missed. You may think that's unrelated, but would girls really shatter the pelvis of boys who showered? Wouldn't boys have developed thicker butts to compensate? Would you prefer to f*ck boys who don't shower and girls who are fine with that, or their present day equivalent?

>>280792512
NTA but cons are literally full on advertisements and commercialization now, while there was definitely some sponsors in the past, they were nowhere near as big as they are now. You will actually see your average normalfag go to cons to "bang cosplayers" and this is seen as a good thing when during the 2000s no self-respecting "normal functioning adult" would ever be spotted in con grounds.

>>280792893
this website would be 1000x better if it was filled with people like him instead of joyless irony zombie pussies like you.

>>280793943
>You will actually see your average normalfag go to cons to "bang cosplayers" and this is seen as a good thing
brb, booking my con ticket

>>280793943
So big deal, now there's more merch and girls put out more often. What's the issue there? I only see it as a positive.
Not like in the 90's where you could only acquire merchandise by jumping through hoops and could barely get the vhs if you were lucky.

>>280793984
Sum up his post in 100 words or less.
You can't, because you didn't read it.
That's not joy. That's defending a tribe that only exists inside your head.

>>280792674
(continued)
When the fresh off the boat kids weren't talking about their culture they talked about school work and junk.

The more social/popular groups were mostly talking about cartoons, but by fifth grade they transitioned to more sports related content. Even then, there was still talk of cartoons, which was held up by the charismatic but not athletic people.

Around 4th-5th grade I got access to the parents' device which opened my view to youtube where I started really getting into anime through watching stuff like Code Geass, Fairy Tail, Mariaholic, Gurren Lagann, Ghost Hound, Tamagotchi, and whatever people would drop online. By 6th grade I had discovered kissanime.

The Rise of Anime Part 2:
Moved to Northwest US, from Midwest, for middle school, there were a lot more people into anime. The people in OP's image started appearing, but they were honestly pretty well received there. Some of them were part of popular groups, and anime stuff would happen even in these groups (like quipping or hitting poses). In general, freakiness was kind of accepted here and it was very positive and friendly. Very 2010s fun internet vibe, people putting swastika notes on each others lockers, but in a mischievous way, rather than hateful. I would say it was from this kind of culture and acceptance, that anime started going more mainstream.
By the end of middle school I was browsing /a/, and had a few friends who were also into anime and also browsed chans. It was a very nice time and I think if things had stayed this way, nobody would be complaining.

The Decline Part 3:
After middle school I moved south for high school where anything but normie anime wasn't as accepted. People discussed whatever fotm tv was happening and sometimes this did include stuff like One Punch Man, but not stuff like Jojo's Bizarre adventure, which was strictly discussed by nerds. It's hard to say what formed the dividing line, but I will go over it in the final part.
>>280792893
lol

>>280794032
>(continued)
Fucking hell. Just stop.

>>280793995
>So big deal, now there's more merch and girls put out more often. What's the issue there? I only see it as a positive.
You're a failed normalfag and the cancer that killed anime, congratulations. You'll fit right in on /v/

>>280794024
>You can't, because you didn't read it.
kek you're such a lame, stupid faggot, bet you think you're sooooo cool for treating 4chan as le trolling website
>That's defending a tribe that only exists inside your head.
oh I assure you, people who don't hide their personality behind cynical aloofness do exist even if you can't relate

>>280794328
Can you express yourself without buzzwords?
Go ahead. Try it. I promise it won't hurt.

>>280794390
Can you express yourself at all?

>>280794057
No need to feel embarrassed on my part, we're all losers here anyway, right?

>>280794024
(continued)
I think what made up the split and eventually made anime mainstream wasn't normies being exposed to anime through social media, but anime fans being exposed to normie shit. Never did I see all the "ironic" shit and popularity of anime happening in real life. It was either everyone being accepted because everyone was somewhat of a weirdo, or the strict social hierarchy. All the stuff OP is complaining about started strictly on the internet, likely in social media. I believe, such things as algorithms and feeds, that create cultural consensus, have put anime into the zeitgeist along with stuff like trends and that is where the shit comes from. The 6'2 chad who teased you when you forgot to plug in your headphones to blast Miku isn't watching the newest episode of Frieren. It's that anime fans got more exposed to vine, tiktok, snapchat, instagram, etc. and started losing the identity that made them weebs, and replaced that with all the normie shit. Then, when weebs became normified, and started making modern anime memes or clips or hood shit or whatever gets normies to watch, did normies begin to flock and was anime doomed.

>>280794502
I did. Multiple times. Can you identify my posts?

>>280794508
>(continued)
Keep going.

>>280794551
Sorry I replied to the wrong post

>>280794508
> The 6'2 chad who teased you when you forgot to plug in your headphones to blast Miku isn't watching the newest episode of Frieren. It's that anime fans got more exposed to vine, tiktok, snapchat, instagram, etc. and started losing the identity that made them weebs, and replaced that with all the normie shit. Then, when weebs became normified, and started making modern anime memes or clips or hood shit or whatever gets normies to watch, did normies begin to flock and was anime doomed.
This is actually true, I have not thought of it like this.

>>280794588
I refuse to believe that was a mistake. Continue your or cower in shame forever.

>>280793995
Subhuman

>>280794624
I FORGOT THE BLOG WORD
FUCK ME
GUESS I'LL DIE

>>280794624
What do I continue?

The zoomer is a brainless creature who just mindlessly scrolls through disposable content on his phone all day. He is incapable of being passionate about anything. He might watch the latest FoTM crap in his phone between his TikTok clips, but he forgets about it a few minutes later. That's also why we don't see anything becoming 'iconic' nowadays.

>>280794671
The story of your life. Don't leave us hanging before the traumatic part that made you crave validation.

>>280793995
There is only so many normalfag cosplayers; cosplaying as the same 5 normalfag shows and gacha games until I wish death upon normalfags for eternity, kys.

>>280794694
All ages do this right now, not just zoomers. Besides it was likely your generation that was at the forefront of all this shit that zoomers are now poisoned by. It wasn't zoomers who made vine popular, it wasn't zoomers who made facebook popular, it wasn't zoomers who started making every piece of media into a shitty remake, it wasn't zoomers who voted for laws to make everything gay and censored. Don't blame zoomers for their shitty personalities which were created by the aftermath of your gay generation.

>>280794817
But call him a zoomer, and watch how he recoils: "I've been found out!"

>>280791091
yup

>>280790973 (OP)
Non-autists got into it and started shaming the autists