What’s up Nerds!
Over the last few years the presence of anime and video games have started becoming more mainstream. It’s inevitable as big names like Netflix and Hulu begin ramping up their anime content. On the outside this should be a good thing right? Your favorite characters get more airtime which leads to more publicity. But is it good for the fans?
As someone who has watched anime for a long time (even though I didn’t know what I was watching was actually anime), it was not a topic of discussion like it is now. I remember being in middle school talking to one of my guy friends and saying that I played video games. He was in disbelief. Thinking that I obviously only played games like Nintendogs or Sims. But that’s wasn’t me, I was the one playing Mortal Kombat, Need for Speed and Legend of Zelda. To say he was surprised is an understatement.
Nowadays more people are accepting of women in games and anime. There’s a lot more discussion. However, there’s still a lot of gatekeeping. Not only that, but because anime and games are in the mainstream you have more and more people jumping on the bandwagon. To be honest it’s bittersweet for me. On the one hand I love that more people are talking about anime and the shows they love. You have more celebrities even sharing how anime has impacted their lives. On the other hand I don’t know if I like seeing anime and games like gimmicks or cash cows.
Although anime has been coming to the west since the 80’s, it’s been mostly for a small population. It used to be fun to meet or see someone wearing a cool anime shirt and instantly click. You can’t really get that anymore since you can find anime shirts pretty much anywhere now. Again it’s bittersweet. There was a time when only a small group of people actually understood the anime clips used in memes. Now you have politicians using shows like Attack on Titan to push their own agenda, not even understanding the what the show is even about. And these are the same type of people who try to demonize video games 🙄.
I am happy that the access to great anime and games are readily available. I’m happy that big studios like Netflix are investing in anime (and games apparently??). This will allow more stories to be told which hopefully means more diverse stories. What do you think? Does anime and gaming culture need to be mainstream?
Let me know if the comments and keep nerding out!
