The Silent Room

There are questions that keep popping up whenever my conversations turn to the topic of anime. There are times when I deal with people who are honestly curious about anime.

These are the kinds of people who don’t watch anime on a regular basis, but find themselves fascinated by the number of anime related events happening everywhere recently, especially cosplaying events. To them, I just give them a brief overview of the anime scene.

You know, the usual talk. Name a few common shows as examples, name a few I currently watch, then maybe talk about what goes on with anime events. Sometimes they’d tell me they’ve seen a few shows on TV and maybe I’d make some small talk about those and just amuse myself with their opinions.

Which is actually pretty cool with me most of the time.

Then there the kinds who have seen the culture, but think it’s the most ridiculous thing ever. Comments usually come in either one of these variants:

“Why are you still watching cartoons? Grow up for god’s sake.” (came from a 17-year old)

“Come out and have fun la. You came all the way to Singapore for this anime shit, ah?” (as related by a friend)

“Eww. You watch JAPANESE cartoons? Aren’t Japanese like, weird?” (from a skimpily-dressed lady)

“Yeah. Crazy superpowers and monsters that always seems invade Tokyo all the time. Quality stuff, huh?” (from a car otaku. LOL.)

“Okay. So it’s like a party where are all nerds like you come together and pretend to be cartoon characters. Is that it?” (from the guy who tries to hit anyone/anything female.)

The first thing I do to these people is laugh in their face. Afterwards, I’d give them a one-liner about how sad they are for being so narrow and shallow. Then, it was during one of those long, lonely drives home from Cyberjaya that got me thinking about the big picture. Is anime really a culture that is enjoyed ‘together’?

Here’s what I mean. The essence behind anime and manga culture is its consumption. I kinda realized that the nature of this consumption is mostly solitary. Allow me to explain.

How often do you read manga or watch anime together with another person? From my own personal experience, I usually enjoy watching anime the most when I’m doing it alone. Sure, it’s fun to watch a comedy show with another person and laugh together, but the shows I really watch, immerse and enjoy are stuff that aren’t really meant for an audience of more than one.

Let’s go back to comedy and look at two sample shows; Gundam 00 and Code Geass.
Wait, I mean, Ouran Host Club and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

Ouran is fun to watch when you’re with, say, a mix of friends. Some watch a lot of anime, some watch sparingly, some are just curious. Everybody would have a good time with Ouran because it’s easy to understand and it’s just funny to watch without giving too much thought.

Zetsubou Sensei, however, is best watched alone. If you tried watching this show with the same group of friends, chances are only two of you are going to laugh. This is simply because Zetsubou Sensei is made up of language jokes, parodies and satire. You need to have the basics of Japanese language, a good amount of general knowledge and a fair understanding of Japanese culture before you could actually ‘get’ the jokes.

Both shows, however are equally hilarious, though in completely different directions. This disparity is even more apparent in action, drama and especially so in seinen [youth-oriented] shows.

While something like Naruto or Bleach can be easily enjoyed in a crowd – due to its light-hearted and easily comprehensible nature – the same can’t be said for shows like Eureka Seven or Monster. The former pair can be watched while you make coffee or do the laundry. Try doing the same for the latter set and you’re bound to miss some important story points.

Even movies are no exception to this. But theatrical releases enjoy the benefit of a cinema audience, where people pay money and pay full attention to what is being shown. So the value of immersion is preserved that way.

I’ve come to realize that many anime shows must be enjoyed alone, and you give full attention to what you’re watching. Thanks to the luxury of a personal desktop, decent web access and the culture of fansubbing, I’ve been able maximize my anime experience – and that is something I can say with a bit of pride.

Then, I realized something else. Anime is only fully enjoyed when you talk about it AFTER you watch it. Comparing opinions, listening to rants, reading the blogs, looking for parodies. That’s where the community comes in, and where the culture comes into play. The culture comes not during the consumption itself, but in the afterglow.

We come together and talk about how this joke was funny, or how that character was so cute. We talk about how this scene was so moe, or how the animation in that fight was so dull. We talk about how that leitmotif music was so goddamn epic, or how this seiyuu sounded so out of place.

Here’s the thing, too. This interaction only happens when people of similar interests come together. The ‘coming together’ part is the tricky deal. A lot of people just want to watch stuff, enjoy it and talk about it online. Not that many people would come out and produce their own fan-comic, or cosplay [well, in this part of the world, at least]. Even lesser of those would actually form clubs and organize events.

Yet, these same people who would rather stay home are complaining that there aren’t enough anime events going on and keep bitching about other countries encouraging and promoting the culture. It’s almost like something out of an MC Escher painting. It all comes back down to the root of the culture: the consumption of anime, which best done ALONE.

At times like these, I wonder if it’s worth to keep on doing these community-powered events. Those of us who have done would probably agree with me when I say this: we are overworked, and under-appreciated. Some of us go to great lengths to get the ball rolling, but very few would step up to the plate and keep the momentum going.

Unless someone can concretely convince me otherwise (i.e. no bullshit like, do it for love!) this raison d’etre is quickly and surely disappearing from my eyes. Seriously.