Anime and low intelligence.

[Andropov]

Everybody I know of that is an avid fan of anime/manga is extremely pretentious and unintelligent. From what I've seen online, it seems like this applies to everybody, even those outside my circle of acquaintances. I don't know why this is. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[MoonPhantom]

Ironically, the most intelligent person I know in person (yes, the specter of people I know well is not that wide) is absolutely psyched about anime/manga.

 

[Andropov]

I think this is because anime in general isn't a very good art form. For the most part, the plots are shallow and the characters are one-dimensional. There are exceptions (Miyazaki), of course.

 

[MoonPhantom]

It is a rear thing, but there are very intellectual and philosophical type of mangas/animes out there, but it requires a lot of searching to approach one. They are generaly not so popular. And yes, the biggest part of it are stereotypical.

 

[Puffy]

This seems naive, no offence. Anime fans are people and like people they are diverse in traits. In my experience anyway.

 

[Fukyo]

Here's an idea.

You've been only watching low grade anime and your acquaintances are 15 year old weaboos/and or you hand around anime sites that cater to 15 year old weaboos.

Anime is actually an excellent medium for expression, and I think your generalization is quite unintelligent.

 

[Cogwulf]

I think this is because anime in general isn't a very good art form. For the most part, the plots are shallow and the characters are one-dimensional. There are exceptions (Miyazaki), of course.

I think anime tends to be deeper and have better developed characters than most western TV and films.

People who are obsessed with anime are often pretentious twats. But most people who are obsessed with a certain thing are like that anyway.

 

[Glordag]

Akira and Paprika. End thread.

(On a side note...anyone know if any good Anime similar to the above? I hate silly/cheesy humor oriented Anime, but love the serious stuff.)

 

[JarNew]

Smartest dude I know IRL is a huge anime fan. He's actually a free thinker unlike the majority of my friends who's interests for the most part range from techno, action sports, and getting drunk. These friends are pretty much just "riding through life", in the same boat as everyone else that's headed to the waterfall. Whereas my friend who is into anime, is levitating 10 feet above the river.

"applies to everybody" damn that is a bold statement.

 

[DarkGreen]

Akira and Paprika. End thread.

(On a side note...anyone know if any good Anime similar to the above? I hate silly/cheesy humor oriented Anime, but love the serious stuff.)

Tokyo Godfathers or The Girl who leapt through time or Millenium Actress

 

[descendant]

I'm a HUGE anime fan although not avid but I seem to be more intelligent knowledgeable than my friends who would never watch an anime

how do you define intelligent anyway and have you ever watched an anime before?

 

[powerpenguin]

While I would not agree everyone who is "an avid fan of anime/manga is extremely pretentious and unintelligent", I can say that, anecdotally, many of the 'more intelligent' people that I know (including myself, if I may be so bold), have become less "avid" fans of anime over time.

What I would think is, as has been suggested, the people who are really "avid" fans of anything are the kind of people to be "pretentious and unintelligent". This may also be due to the fact that a large portion of anime is shallow, cliched, and trite.

I suppose my point is to not be so quick to pass judgment, because there are quite a few very intelligent people who enjoy anime, but you might just have to look a little bit harder for them.

 

[leopold]

I used to have a really low opinion of anime/those who were interested in anime but that's because i associated it with 13 year old annoying weeaboos.

I don't now, and I realize that my previous notion was completely misguided because I was getting the entirely wrong picture.

I think anime is nifty and have met a lot of really interesting and intelligent people who absolutely adore it.

 

[Adymus]

SHe's actually a free thinker unlike the majority of my friends who's interests for the most part range from techno, action sports, and getting drunk.

Wtf!? What did Techno do to get lumped in with the Bros, douches, and frat boys?

"Uuuuhhhggg, look at those guys with their Heineken, and their football and their Techno music."

 

[Nysamis]

90% of everything is crap.

With that said, I'm sure most people of distinguished taste* would agree that most anime is visual diarrhea. But as many others have mentioned, there are intelligent animes out there. Lots of them rank up there with the greatest books, live action TV shows, and movies.

*That is, your own taste. By definition.

This is because anime is just another medium just like these others. All too often, people clump the good shows/movies/books/comics/websites in with the inferior ones made in the same medium. They discount the entire (usually strange or new) medium because most of it is crap. It wouldn't be so rational to lump all movies in the shit bucket along with Battlefield Earth and all those WTF-inducing sci-fi B movies that Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) spun into comedy gold. It's the same with anime.

And who says something has to be intelligent to be good? Sometimes you want something WTF-inducing like MST3K. Laughter is important as well. You might want to watch one of those overly cliched shows to laugh at it. Likewise, one of those yaoi or yuri shows where the creators are trying way too hard to make everyone gay for the main character/s. Or something with horrible animation. What other form of entertainment can beat the visceral creepiness of tentacle porn? :P There is also something to be said about the "so bad it's good." Anime has those things in spades, as well as the good intelligent shows mentioned above.

"Uuuuhhhggg, look at those guys with their Heineken, and their football and their Techno music."

Techno music and beer pong would either be a totally awesome combination or some drunken idiot would dance his way into the game, spilling all the Heineken. The image I get in my head of the Fox Sports dudes announcing a Super Bowl highlight with techno music playing in the background is quite hilarious.

 

[Adymus]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitle3tinj4tz
Techno music and beer pong would either be a totally awesome combination or some drunken idiot would dance his way into the game, spilling all the Heineken. The image I get in my head of the Fox Sports dudes announcing a Super Bowl highlight with techno music playing in the background is quite hilarious.

The first image that popped into my head was a frat party at Delta Kappa Delta, with beer pong and the guys from Schprockets

 

[Cognisant]

You're watching the wrong Anime.

 

[CrazyTalk]

I see where you're coming from here, andy. I'm not much of an anime fan either and the diehard fans can be annoying sometimes, but did you consider that looking down your nose at them and calling them pretentious could, by some, be construed as a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

 

[Anthile]

I'm not really sure what to say about this. It goes way beyond clueless and idiotic. Really, I'm not even going to defend anime here because it can very well speak for itself. It's simply an art form - and nothing more.
You don't even name a concrete example or anything. There is absolutely no substance to this thread. It could as well be named "Waffles and intelligence" and it would be just as pointless and puzzling as it is now.

I personally apologize in my function as administrator of this forum that this place has made you think, that this kind of thread is acceptable. It is not.

 

[Polaris]

This thread, among others almost made me quit today.

Although there probably have been worse.

 

[Melllvar]

This thread, among others almost made me quit today.

I honestly don't understand why people keep taking this attitude. Why do they actually bother reading threads that they don't like or find boring or pointless? What's the point in leaving and missing out on the good ones instead of just skimming and/or ignoring the ones you don't care for? I probably only go into less than 20% of the threads because I just don't give a damn about the others, and there are users whose posts I usually just skip altogether. The fact that they exist really has no affect on me one way or the other. Why even care?

 

[Cognisant]

Masterful trolling Andropov, truely I am humbled by your talent.

 

[Melllvar]

The funny part is that had the thread been "WWE wrestling and low intelligence" or "VH1 reality shows and low intelligence" or "baroque classical music and high intelligence" there probably wouldn't have been any problem.

Not that I'm supporting the statements made or anything. It's generally seemed the opposite to me: the few people I know who like anime are definitely not the less intelligent ones I know.

 

[Meer]

Although I wouldn't say anything about their intelligence, I find people who are into anime kind of creepy and weird but not in a good way. Especially if you set your avatar to some anime thing.

Really, anyone who soaks up pop culture kind of makes me gag. I don't know what's wrong with me.

This was a good, funny thread. I liked it.

 

[Wizardry]

I'm going to assume you are serious here. Anime is as diverse as it gets. Tell me your likes/dislikes and general interests and I can probably find an anime that appeals to you. I was surprised when I found a few and I'm extremely picky in what I like to watch. Its just a fact of life that the unintelligent, or at least not very bright by our standards, comprise like 80% of any population. Its sort of like, the majority of mainstream music you are exposed to is shallow but you don't stop listening to all music because a lot of people enjoy that other crap right?

 

[ApostateAbe]

Everybody I know of that is an avid fan of anime/manga is extremely pretentious and unintelligent. From what I've seen online, it seems like this applies to everybody, even those outside my circle of acquaintances. I don't know why this is. Anyone have any ideas?

I don't know. I have noticed the reverse. I thought it was because the people who are more intelligent tend to have tastes in the unusual.

 

[SpaceYeti]

I think this is because anime in general isn't a very good art form. For the most part, the plots are shallow and the characters are one-dimensional. There are exceptions (Miyazaki), of course.

The characters in most movies and shows, drawn or live action, are one-dimensional. Art is subjective. My best friend was in MENSA and he's down with anime.

In my not entirely humble experience, the people who like anime/manga are... the people who like anime/manga. Further, I doubt you've actually run intelligence tests on these people. I find that many people simply assume I'm smart because I agree with them, or that I agree with them because I'm smart. It's a peculiar occurrence. Remove your bias and try again.

 

[Black Rose]

Although I wouldn't say anything about their intelligence, I find people who are into anime kind of creepy and weird but not in a good way. Especially if you set your avatar to some anime thing.

Really, anyone who soaks up pop culture kind of makes me gag. I don't know what's wrong with me.

This was a good, funny thread. I liked it.

I don't understand. Define creepy.

 

[SpaceYeti]

Although I wouldn't say anything about their intelligence, I find people who are into anime kind of creepy and weird but not in a good way. Especially if you set your avatar to some anime thing.

Really, anyone who soaks up pop culture kind of makes me gag. I don't know what's wrong with me.

This was a good, funny thread. I liked it.

Pop = popular.

Things which are good tend to be popular. Or, rather, things that are popular, most people consider good. God forbid people soak up things they like.

 

[Taniwha]

I like manga and I am currently working on one myself, I have animated for anime projects in the past. I'm not into mainstream manga or anime, I prefer to extend myself and look for undiscovered gems. Whether I am stupid or not is debatable, and it depends what and who I am compared to.

There are loads of intelligent manga's and anime's out there, it just takes a bit research to find them.

 

[pjoa09]

Arousal ? I doubt serial killers are into manga? I hate anime and blackberrys.But I love cars and used to play with fire a lot.

I think one thing should correlate : Intelligent + Manga = Good Grades

Now if you show me one guy who dropped out of school to read comics and is a genius I declare them mentally unfit.

 

[Minuend]

I honestly don't understand why people keep taking this attitude. Why do they actually bother reading threads that they don't like or find boring or pointless? What's the point in leaving and missing out on the good ones instead of just skimming and/or ignoring the ones you don't care for? I probably only go into less than 20% of the threads because I just don't give a damn about the others, and there are users whose posts I usually just skip altogether. The fact that they exist really has no affect on me one way or the other. Why even care?

There's a difference between uninteresting threads and unintelligent threads. If the majority of threads go "OMG BOOBIES!!!" you don't stick around for the one about Nietzsche. It's lowering the overall quality of threads, attracting more of that kind.

 

[GYX_Kid]

it's okay, i've been practicing my J too lately. we'll get better at it.

 

[Stigmata]

How do I even begin to respond to the OP's statement..? Anyways, as far as anime goes, it's whatever you decide to make of the "experience", if we even want to call it that. If you decide to view it as nothing more than simple cartoon animation, then that's all you'll take from it. If you decide to explore further that which is present beyond the surface, or simply use it as the foundation and create your own underlying theme from what you've interpreted, then it can be a bit more engaging.

 

[Hadoblado]

I am not an anime fanboy, but some of my favourite shows are anime. I enjoy the less linear plots, and the 'asian' portrayal of humor where everyone is super excited over small things. I am well above average intelligence, and a few of my friends who love anime are smart also.
I'm not even talking the less popular animes, stuff like code geiss and deathnote are really quite stimulating, and also very popular.

 

[Lava Cupcake]

I've seen dumb anime fans, smart anime fans, outgoing anime fans, and loner anime fans. It's a broad subject that interests a broad range of people; however, some people may fall into stereotypes, like the enthusiastic, short answered fangirl/boy or the maniacal /b/tards for example. It's kind of like sports; there's the jock stereotype that can sometimes apply, but many walks of people also like and play them. There's a lot one can take from anime if they so choose, actually.

 

[Haven]

I think the loudest anime fans are the way you are talking about. I wouldn't consider the loud ones representative of the whole though.

 

[17pounder]

Just like most pastimes, 95% of people who enjoy it will be part of the 95% of people who are idiots. Almost every interest is going to have lots of idiots, and regardless of how intelligent someone is, if they dress or act out any kind of imagined subject they will look stupid. Its hard to appear intelligent if one does not seem to care for real things. Nuclear physics makes someone seem smart, star wars physics makes someone look like an idiot.

 

[xbox]

Smartest dude I know IRL is a huge anime fan. He's actually a free thinker unlike the majority of my friends who's interests for the most part range from techno, action sports, and getting drunk. These friends are pretty much just "riding through life", in the same boat as everyone else that's headed to the waterfall. Whereas my friend who is into anime, is levitating 10 feet above the river.

"applies to everybody" damn that is a bold statement.

Haha I like.

 

[Konrad13]

I rather enjoy anime, and have a growing collection of it. My best buds, who are fairly intelligent, also enjoy it. Now, the group I hung out with in high school (the Anime Club), went from intelligent (my first year in the club), to down right creepy and non-intelligent (my last two year in the club). When I joined, we were watching X 1999, .hack/SIGN, and Akira. When I quit, they had devolved into watching I My Me Strawberry Eggs (?) and some sort of yaoi (gay) ecchi (near porn, but never really achieves, mostly just alludes).