Acceptance

[Guest gwenthlian]

One of the key aspects to maintaining your sanity as a ts person is hobbies. Nearly everyone has something with which they can distract themselves from the stress and worries. Some play sport, some game, some read or write and many many watch anime. This trend seems paticularly apparent in younger MTFs and after a long chat with a friend on the subject, ive arrived at something of a theory.

A lot of being trans is about being alone, before one transitions and finds acceptance there is no where you feel you fit. Not in your own body, not in your current life as the wrong sex and not in a society that understands none of this and often seems not to care. With transition this is eased, the correct role can be assumed and life becomes better. As a teen many of these routes are not yet open and as such we must find other ways of finding acceptance. If ones culture does not fit the logical conclusion would be to either change it, a slow and hard process, or to find a new one. What anime offers is a culture so unlike the western one, that of Japan, where nothing is quite the same and so much more seems possible. Anime is about different worlds and times, something many people would like to escape to.

If you do, why do you watch anime? Do you feel it provides a sense of escape in a way other things cant?

Any other thoughts?

[Guest S. Chrissie]

A lot of being trans is about being alone, before one transitions and finds acceptance there is no where you feel you fit. Not in your own body, not in your current life as the wrong sex and not in a society that understands none of this and often seems not to care. With transition this is eased, the correct role can be assumed and life becomes better. As a teen many of these routes are not yet open and as such we must find other ways of finding acceptance. If ones culture does not fit the logical conclusion would be to either change it, a slow and hard process, or to find a new one. What anime offers is a culture so unlike the western one, that of Japan, where nothing is quite the same and so much more seems possible. Anime is about different worlds and times, something many people would like to escape to.

That is very true. But I guess I was luckier, I was, and still am, a serious band geek. Marching band in high school was all that I had, I didn't mind socializing with other band geeks and made close bonds with them in my "pre-transition" stage, they were a cool bunch of people that don't mind me acting more on the "female" side. But outside of band? My social life is nil. Go figures

If you do, why do you watch anime? Do you feel it provides a sense of escape in a way other things cant?

I don't think I know the answer to that. I am from South East Asia after all, the tv stations always make translations of anime and air them on tv. I just watch whatever that's screened on tv

And I have this manga avatar just because I couldn't find any other avatar that fits my liking

Anyway, perhaps the reason is as simple and similar as what other cisgender otaku and anime fans have?

Sherlyn

[Guest Jean Davis]

Definately,(which most people think it's weird that I watch cartoons at 39 years old ) I find them to be an excellent way to escape .

I also love the superhero movies and cartoons.

Jean Davis

[Guest Kaze]

This is a bit long and may go a beyond what you were talking about, but for some reason when watching anime on TV (Gundam 00 on Syfy) while talking about anime I sometimes feel like typing a lot.

When it comes to culture, I don't know if Japan would really be all that much better if one were trans. Japan is largely about conformity, while we fall outside of that. I don't know how common transgendered people are in Japan, but I wouldn't be surprised if most go not understanding that they are or have families that refuse it, particularly when it comes to MTFs, especially only children. Japan has a high suicide rate, in part due to social pressures and depression, both of which could in part be transgendered people unable to recognize who they are or being unable to transition.

I'm not sure if it has changed in the last few years, but at least in the early 2000s, being an anime otaku in Japan as a late teen/adult was considered a rather negative thing. Despite there being anime that was obviously not designed for children to watch, people have lost jobs and status if it was found out that they liked anime. Oddly enough, manga isn't judged as negatively, despite many manga and anime being the same titles with the only differences being animation and full color. There has been some anime exceptions as well, such as the Miyazaki films (i.e. Princess Monanoke, Spirited Away) which from what I understand were quite popular. For many it is something they'll enjoy privately with their friends, but when it comes to being in public, won't mention it openly.

If you're just talking about anime on its own, I doubt it is really all that different than anyone finding some fantasy material that they enjoy watching/reading. Part of the reason may be a sense of escape, but that is something many people look for, even those who fit in well with their society. If that was the case about anime you'd have to expand it to TV, movies, books, etc in general as anime isn't entirely about Japanese culture and western fantasy isn't just about their culture either. Many fantasy stories from all sorts of places are about different worlds and/or things that aren't possible in reality.

Anime has a certain style to it that you don't see in most western TV/movies. Not just the art style, but the stories, the depth, the characters, they're just different than the standard show. If anything the closest comparson would probably be fantasy novels, just minus the animation obviously. Part of the appeal may be in that it is from a different culture, but I think that's more in how the creators think than the fact that anime is foreign. That is the reason I like and watch anime. It is in essense an escape, but I mostly see it as an enjoyable hobby, if it wasn't anime I'd find something else to occupy that time.

[Guest S. Chrissie]

Well put, Kaze.

Miyazaki films (i.e. Princess Monanoke, Spirited Away)

OMG Miyazaki!! I absolutely LOVE his animations. Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle are some of my favourites! Mostly because of the music though, Joe Hisaishi did a great job on composing the music for those animations.

Sherlyn

[Guest androgynous]

Good points. although I'm no expert, and I don't want to come off as a smart donkey but I like to chirp in a little;

I'm my path of life, I was pretty much always alone. Even as a boy/man. At first this is scary, and the silence was deafening. I tried to figure out why I was so afraid of being alone, afraid of the silence. Turns out that I did not accept myself who I was. I did not love myself and tried to BE LOVED by getting into around 20+ relationships.

I personally believe that 'being loved' is not the whole answer, it's about loving yourself, the self love is sooooooo underestimated. Once that happens you can deal with anything this world throws at you, it doesn't matter anymore.

Nosce te ipsum, know thyself.

Then, being alone will be a true blessing since you are in the center of yourself, the center of the universe, at peace, at mind. At least for me.

[Guest gwenthlian]

OMG Miyazaki!! I absolutely LOVE his animations. Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle are some of my favourites! Mostly because of the music though, unsure.gif Joe Hisaishi did a great job on composing the music for those animations.

I love his films! and you are right, the music is superb, apart from Nausicca Valley of the Wind, all that keyboard funk stuff