Anime is pretty popular among autistic people. However, aside from being obsessed with Voltron as a kid, I never got into it. I’m wondering what I’m missing.
I feel like your question is similar to:
Movies are pretty popular among neurotypical people. However, aside from being obsessed with Star Wars as a kid, I never got into it. I’m wondering what I’m missing.
I’m not saying it’s a bad question. But it might be hard to answer since there are so many kinds of anime.
Oh, okay. I guess what I’m trying to understand is what makes watching anime more prevalent among autistic people than others. Being autistic myself, I’m wondering if maybe I’m missing out on something because I don’t understand how to appreciate it. For example, I did not like reading Russian literature at first, complaining that the plot was too slow and they spent too much time on irrelevant details. Once someone explained that the purpose was to understand the psychology of the characters, and that the plot was secondary to that, I was able to appreciate it. Maybe something similar is happening with anime. Another thing is that maybe figuring out why autistic people find anime more appealing than other people might give some insight into autism and better understanding ourselves.
In a lot of them the main characters are all different bright primary colors if you squint. I find it significantly easier to follow stories with something like that to differentiate and identify the characters
That reminds me of my friend. He doesn’t process faces like most people. If someone changes something about their appearance, he has a hard time recognizing them as the same person. For example, we were watching the new season of House of the Dragon. When one of the main characters showed up, he didn’t recognize them because they had aged 2 years, so their face changed slightly. See below.
Prince Jacaerys Valeryon season 1:
Prince Jacaerys Valeryon season 2:
I’m an autistic who doesn’t like anime.
The last few shows I saw I consider an old shame because I disagree with the values although not all of them are bad, I think.
I did grow up on anime and manga too but I still didn’t agree with both medium’s values.
I’d rather read comic books and watch cartoons although I blew most of what I watched and read out of proportion because I disagreed with the values portrayed in both.
Most anime I saw were stumbling blocks for me because of the acting and writing, not to mention the old shames that I moved on from.
For me it’s about the simple portraiture of emotions. It makes it very easy to follow. Also the fresh view on storytelling compared to american, french or german comics.
Plus the oversaturation of boobies.
the fresh view on storytelling compared to american, french or german comics.
I don’t understand what you mean by this. Can you elaborate pls? What’s the difference?
I don’t have many examples at the moment. Just that there are differences in the ways stories are told. Strengths of the main characters, role of supporting characters, motivations of characters, worldbuilding and so on.
One example for american stuff would be (based on the marvel movies up to infinity war) that “power fixes everything” shtick. Like Tony Stark getting a new, better power core and is instantly cured from years of toxic poisoning.
Ah, so the American stuff seems simpler and shallow?
Btw, I do not watch super hero movies because they seem so literally formulaic. It’s all the same variables and operators with slightly different values for each story. Maybe I could give anime super hero movies a try if they’re different from the standard American ones. If so, have any recommendations??
I’m reading this thread and realizing it’s all the same reasons I unironically watch My Little Pony