Question

People just use whatever they like for a profile pic

Or sometimes what they find funny or cool idk

Mine is a 3D chessboard

People are insecure of showing their face, they think anime is cool: therefore

Enjoy your evening folks 😊

same to u

Yep

Yup

In my opinion, anime isn't that bad for a profile photograph. Some like me aren't comfortable showing their face, and you can't trust everyone on the internet.
I first was introduced to chess.com by a lama profile pictured girl, and it was weird. Then meet others who had anime profile photographs, so I copied them.

Same to you, @blackfirestorm

WE ALL LIKE ANIME

Would it be fair to say that a lot of young people like anime? I only ask because I am not overly fond of any kind of anime but respect the fact that others do!! 

Hmm. This is an interesting question (perhaps because I am fond of psychology). I still don't think the majority of 'young people' like anime - it is just the case that it is becoming more culturally popular as of the last few decades. It is also my observation that the younger generations tend to be more open-minded and accepting than previous generations (I'm not yet sure if this tolerance is a good thing or a bad thing, but in many contexts I do think understanding others is a good thing). Therefore, I find that younger generations are more likely to give anime a chance and indirectly more like anime as a result of more trying it out. 

There also might be a disconnect between the perceived number of people into anime and the actual number because non-anime watchers will just see some 2D character drawing and assume it is an anime when it may or may not be the case. Anime is more a style of art as well as a genre I think. There are many sub-genres even within anime just like with movies. Romance anime, action anime, comedy anime and so on; there are probably at least several anime shows for everyone, but the people less open-minded to exploring those are less likely to discover one (or several) they themselves like. Watching one anime show and not liking it might not mean they actually hate all anime - just that they didn't like that specific show. I don't watch one movie with actors in it and then declare I hate all movies now

I probably get a bit more philosophical than most, but those are some of my loose thoughts on the subject. The final thought I'll bring up is that just because someone hasn't found an anime they like (perhaps not experimenting with it enough or not watching any at all), that doesn't mean they need to find one. There is nothing wrong with not liking anime; if someone doesn't like it, then that is up to them; we are all entitled to our own hobbies and interests.

The danger of overly liking anything is when it becomes a dominant focus in your life and especially so when that becomes destructive. Nothing wrong if someone binge watches anime as an interest, but it becomes a problem if they never try other things, suffer poor hygiene as a result of so much screen time and so on. This isn't just about anime though; the same could be said for any hobby! Why does this happen more often with anime though? Probably because the growing anime community is so vast and can overwhelm the newcomer getting introduced to it, but again, just some (too many perhaps as this post is getting longer already) loose thoughts of mine.

I mean, the police can't stop everyone from doing it so...

@KeSatoKaiba thank you so much for your very in-depth post there. It made for very interesting reading

I don't think anime is a special case if we look at childhood trends. 50's 60's 70's and early part of the 80's most (and I qualify this by reminding people about that set of decades most people only had 1 tv with 2 channels and in black and white) young people were either watching cartoons such as Tom and Jerry Bugs Bunny etc or they were playing out. More often than not they were outdoors till the lights came on and then they were in etc...!! Peoples tastes were very, shall we say, bland. Boring even. Anime WAS a thing as early as 1900 but it never really took off. 

Then mid 80's we started having much more fun tv programs and although the vast majority of kids still played out they started spending a little more time indoors watching the Saturday morning "kids TV" programs before playing out. Anime was still going but for the most part it was still quite specialised and it was mid way through the 80's that it started going through a kind of visual change to appeal to more people. 

It wasn't till the 90's that it really started taking off but of course by then several films and cartoons started appearing in various contexts but as a woman that was born in 76 I was never aware of anime until much later when I started having kids. 

My boys (2 youngest) are now 17 and 19 and now we are in 2021 I know that my 19 year old enjoys watching anime and he is always trying to get me involved but I guess I missed out on that subculture of tv because from the earliest years I was hardly ever indoors. I went out crack of dawn and bed time was when the lights came back on. I only came in if and when I was hungry.

I would not say that I hate it cuz quite simply I haven't watched enough of it to make any kind of view of it. I do agree with you though in that peoples tastes change over time and as generations get older I imagine there is going to be a number of anime movies which will hit the main screen at the cinemas and I guess if the trend continues then I don't see why it cannot reach box office records because of that change in trends.

Sorry I waffled on a bit there hahaha 

Glad you enjoyed my long post

I can see where your perspective is coming from because yes "animation" goes back to political cartoons in the early 1900s for the USA. However, I see you are going by the informal definition of "anime" as basically meaning "cartoons" such as Tom & Jerry (great show too by the way and a big part of my childhood) and any animation-based show; however, this is not the definition everyone uses to describe "anime." Calling "anime" and "cartoons" synonymous is a common thought and also the definition Japanese culture tends to use. If one was to ask a native Japanese citizen, then "Tom & Jerry" and anything else with animation would indeed be considered "anime", but the modern definition for "anime" according to western cultures (i.e. USA) is specific to Japanese manga-styled anime. 

Your definition is therefore not un-wrong, but it is not the same definition I had in mind when I posted earlier. By this thought process, Tom & Jerry would be considered a "cartoon" but not an "anime." 

Obviously, just semantics and perception, but I just wanted to clear my stance for those perhaps confused by my defining

Yeah I am known to ramble quite a lot when I am tired / in pain / both and mine is very much in the latter.

FGS I typed out 3 darned paragraphs and then the page glitched and deleted the lot and I am way too tired now to retype it out :/ 

Fair enough; I've typed out a ton and lost it occasionally too

I will come back after I have had a sleep and finish it