As everyone knows, anime is not a very well accepted form of entertainment in America. Instead, it is ridiculed and hated and nearly always for very poor reasons. There are many reasons why people hate anime. One reason being the generalization of all anime as a copy of Pokemon, another reason being that a cartoon is automatically inferior to live action, or because of the infamous hentai genre. If you have not yet been enlightened to what is hentai, to say the least it’s anime pornography (*cringe*).

One thing I must stress over all others is how all anime is NOT like Pokemon (a scourge and embarrassment of anime). Often people have this misconception about anime thinking that it is entirely copies of a single show. Are all American movies the copy of the same movie? Of course not! That’s an obvious point. This is known as prejudice, stereotyping and generalizations. Some people have just seen a few, or one, or maybe none at all (perhaps they’ve just heard of the crap that is Pokemon from sources) and yet from what little experience they have they choose to judge all of Anime off of it. If one were to only see one American movie, and if that movie were Biodome, it wouldn’t be fair judgment on his part to say that all American movies are the same as the crap that is Biodome would it? The same goes with Pokemon and Anime.

The prejudice of anime is horrendous. It’s almost scary. No, scratch that, it is absolutely frightening. The persecution of anime is everywhere. Well maybe not everywhere, it’s not like it’s your common every day conversation topic, but if ever brought up, it will be quickly shot down. People give anime such a little chance to be successful in their own minds. They give anime no room for movement whatsoever. Perhaps because of racism, perhaps because it’s an unpopular activity of nerds, perhaps because it’s “un-cool”.

Anime is an unpopular genre and that may be a very large reason why it’s so persecuted. For insecure teenagers who would be willing to be caught dead watching a cartoon. Cartoons are considered childish in our American society and immature is the biggest insult you can possibly give to any teenager. So therefore nobody wants to be in the slightest associated with it. Well then tell me who is more mature, those who will go against anything to resist the label of immature on them, or those who do what they think is fun and entertaining? I believe the correct answer is straightforward enough.

Another reason could be, of course, racism. Ah racism, the cause of so much strife and suffering and a bane to human existence. Perhaps some guy just doesn’t like things Asian or, more specifically, Japanese. Perhaps one prefers all things the good old American way Yeee Haw! Well it may sound stupid but it’s completely true. Some people simply look down on all other cultures and see only their own as supreme. They label activities of other cultures as weird and abnormal without considering what that culture may think of their own. A lot of people do this, probably nearly everyone. I know I often do this as myself but I try not to. People who are not intentionally racist are like this. It’s an installed egotism within us that we simply do not notice. People will just be turned off from anime simply because it’s so different. Sometimes it may be hard-core racism and other times it may just be a subtle inability to accept things different.

More prejudice exists over anime than the simple Pokemon generalization. There is, of course, the hentai generalization as well. I must admit that hentai is disgusting. I consider it disgusting myself but essentially I find all pornography disgusting. However the same goes with hentai as it goes for Pokemon. Just because there are quite a few hentai movies and shows doesn’t mean all anime is hentai. It’s no different from the Pokemon generalization. All anime simply isn’t a short portion of itself and neither is anything else.

Now some people may reject to the amount of nudity and violence present in anime. They think their children are being exposed to something simply too graphic for their young eyes and ears. First of all this argument is based on the idea that all cartoons are intended for children. THEY ARE NOT ALL INTENDED FOR CHILDREN! Shish! That’s one of the most difficult things to get through. It’s a simple cultural difference. In Japan everybody watches anime. Cartoons are not limited to a certain age group as they are in America. It’s a simple cultural difference. If you do not want your child seeing cartoons too explicit for themselves, THEN DON’T SHOW IT TO THEM! That is the most simple equation yet so many people can’t figure it out.

Anime is not all intended for children. That is very obvious, especially with the existence of hentai. Just because you do not want your child to see anime does not mean you should stop all children in the world. That’s like saying, because you don’t like violent movies nobody can see violent movies. Or you could say that you don’t like Romance movies so no one can see romance movies. Does that sound very right to you? Any way, if it’s being shown on TV, they’re going to censor out all the parts too hot for American TV, except on the premium channels.

Some people do not like anime for reasons that are beyond stupid immature responses. Sometimes people simply prefer acting over drawing like how some people prefer music over art or text (books) over motion pictures. Some simply believe that an actor is better than a drawing. I respect your opinion, if it is wholesome, honest, and truly your opinion, since our opinions can easily be influenced by the society around us.

Personally, I think of acting, art, writing, animation, etc. to be all methods that show emotion, humor, stories, etc. and nothing less. I understand how if you cut Kevin Spacey he will bleed blood, but if you cut Akira he will only bleed paint. I understand how you believe actors to be superior to actors, but keep in mind, if you cut Madame DeFarge (from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens) she will only bleed ink and if you cut Beethoven's 5th symphony only sounds will pour out.

This argument is personal preference and opinion but often-personal preference and opinions can be affected by culture. For example, in America cartoons aren't nearly as highly regarded as they are in Japan. Huge culture difference. In America cartoons are thought as only meant for children but this is not true in Japan. In Japan many cartoons are intended for older audiences, and I don't mean hentai, but in America after Walt Disney's huge influence few have ventured to try to make a mature cartoon and all have failed. If one is deeply effected by culture then it is embedded in one's mind that a cartoon is only a cartoon and nothing more and this forces one to miss out on an entire genre of entertainment.

This kind of opinion is also xenophobic. As I have mentioned before, you may simply be too proud of your American way to accept another’s. If one shrugs off anime, one may not be accepting another culture, Japan’s. One is assuming that their American cartoon = children culture is dominant and refuse to examine another culture. Of course this is not always the case. Some people just think acting is the best way to portray stories, emotions, humor, etc.

I'd also like to make another point clear. I'm not an anime obsessed fan-boy. I like all forms of entertainment and anime is a form of entertainment. Throughout my life I have loved all kinds of entertainment from art to music, from books to video games and from live-action to anime. The reason why I may sound like an anime fan-boy is that I have just recently been introduced to anime within the past year and I'm making up for an entire genre of entertainment I have missed.

I realize that I have been placing a lot of blame on non-anime fans for the lack of the social acceptance of anime. Well it isn’t your fault. It’s the super-obsessed anime fan-boy’s, or often referred as “Otaku”, fault as well and perhaps even to a higher degree.

Knowing many Otaku’s myself, and in fact being one myself for a period of time, I know a lot about them and how they feel about others. We Otaku’s are elitists. We have this enormous arrogance for following our own opinions and watching what we want to watch without any guidance from society. We thrive off being different. Of course this is definitely not true for all, that would be racism, but it is true for some and probably few. I’m sure many went through this same experience through their teen years,

Another fault of many Otakus, especially younger ones, is the sort of hazing of younger followers of the anime code. Otakus often persecute newer anime fans, or “newbies”, simply because they can’t name all thirteen angels in Evangelion or list all the names of Dilandau’s Dragon Slayers in Escaflowne. I did much of this myself. It gave me a sense of pride and probably does for all the newbie persecuting Otakus out there. Otakus are usually nerds who have been rejected from society. Some jock beat us up in our past and that memory and anger stayed within us forever. Eventually we want to let out that anger and we do to newbies. It’s a sort of an Otaku’s revenge on society.

The Otakus themselves may repel others from anime. People generally don’t respect the obsessive nerd image and that’s exactly what some Otaku’s are. They obsess with some shows and try to gain everything associated with those shows and persecute all those with less than they do. Obviously this is not a very respectable image especially after one has grown older and matured.

Now I’d go much more in-depth about how Otaku’s have ruined anime’s name but another site already has and I don’t want to waste any more time typing. Go to here To read more about this. They go very in-depth and I simply don't have the time or determination to do so.