Anime

From Fandom wank wiki

Cartoons aren't just for Saturday morning anymore. And even when they are, it's art because it's Japanese. For hardcore fans, anime is far, far superior to silly little American "cartoons", because the adventures of talking hamsters are deep and symbolic compared to the numerous social commentaries in the average episode of South Park.

Also, everybody is underage. Everybody. Yes, even the main hero. No, seriously. He's thirteen. He only looks 21 so people don't feel weird wanking over him and/or writing hardcore yaoi fanfics.

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A (Western) History of Anime

Anime's presence in the West dates all the way back to Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy in the 1950s, but real anime fandom among Westerners began in the late 70s with Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets (or even earlier with Speed Racer, depending on who you ask). Back then, anime was distributed mostly at sci-fi conventions and fan club meetings, where multi-generational copies of copies of recorded-off-Japanese-TV tapes were traded like bootleg whisky. English translations were on paper, and you read it while watching the tape when necessary.

It got slightly better in the 80s, when the genre took up half a rack at Suncoast, was distributed by the likes of U.S. Manga Corps and AnimEigo, and was known as Japanimation. At that time, most distributed anime was violent, titillating, and geared mainly towards male viewers (Neo-Tokyo, La Blue Girl, etc.), and only available on VHS, which meant that choosing between a sub and a dub had to be done in-store.

Anime began edging into the mainstream in the early 1990's when shows like Dragon Ball and the girl-oriented Sailor Moon aired on Western television. Some of these shows became rather popular, and to this day maintain ~~wanky fandoms~~ strong followings. In turn, many other shows would air in the years to come, including Dragonball Z, Gundam Wing, Pokemon, Digimon, Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Death Note.

Among other effects, the rise of anime's popularity in the West resulted in more variety in the animation market, and also contributed to the current manga publishing boom. However, it has also resulted in the rise of 1337-speak's feminine equivalent, the dreaded Fangirl Japanese.

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Common Causes/Sources of Anime Wank

An anime-- any anime-- becomes licensed for English-language distribution, and therefore has the potential of becoming popular, ie. uncool.
The ongoing war for supremacy between fans who prefer subtitles, and those who prefer their anime dubbed. Also known as "subs vs. dubs".
Any sort of editing that takes place in a licenced anime, especially one shown on TV. Shows like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura and Gundam Wing have been especially prone to butchery, and therefore, to wank.
Differences between a subtitled version, and the dub. Also, differences between the manga version of an anime (usually the source material) and the anime itself.
The quality (or lack thereof) of the voice actors (usually, but not limited to, in the English language version)
Shipping wars, same as any other fandom.