I remember when I was a teenager I'd
spend the vast majority of my time
watching as much anime as I could maybe
I was marathoning a narc in one piece or
getting my mind blown by Cowboy Bebop or
just being envious of the harem that
someone like Katara got himself in love
hina it didn't matter to me either way
my parents would always eventually come
in my room shake their heads and remark
something along the lines of are you
still not out of this phase yet you're
grew out of it eventually and every time
I thought myself Yeah right mum and dad
like I'd ever get bored of this or will
I
you see they weren't the only people to
have said this to me and as far as I can
tell I was you only one my age who are
still in this phase whatever that meant
a phase that started like for so many
others with the explosion of Pokemon now
if you weren't around when Pokemon first
came along its kind of hard to explain
how much of a huge impact it had on the
anime and nerd culture in general and
how many of us are actually fans of
anime today because of it a craze that
seemingly hit the entire world
simultaneously taking a stronger hold on
a generation of kids that were none the
wiser
Bulbasaur squirtle or Charmander was the
biggest decision everyone had made in
their lives
we were all glued to the TV screens
wondering when the hell ash would
finally become a Pokemon master and
playgrounds would be filled with kids
rifling through each other's Pokemon
deck akin to a grade school level
black-market drug deal got got got
haven't got got oh damn I always wanted
that shiny was all you can hear when you
walk through and it was great but
eventually the craze died out and
everyone moved on everyone grew out of
it except for me
see while everyone started to forget I
was still going strong I would catch
every episode I could record them on my
VHS player and re-watch them a million
times until the tape burned itself out
from rewinding so much hell I even
themed my whole room around Pokemon but
what was really important is that it
opened the door to something new for me
Digimon cardcaptors Dragon Ball Z all
these unique animations that were unlike
any other cartoons that were available
and while I didn't know the exact name
of what they were I was discovering a
new world I wanted to see more of I
didn't know it but this was the start of
my anime fandom I was 12 years old when
I got my first wake-up call my pencil
case that was filled with pokemon theme
stationery was dropped and the entire
content was spilled out in full view in
front of a group of girls and it wasn't
just any girls it was the popular girls
they looked at it they led to me and
burst out laughing telling me I'd never
get a girlfriend in my life if I haven't
grown our Pokemon yet to this day I have
never felt so much shame for enjoying
something I love and from then on until
just as I was reaching for adulthood I
never told a single soul that I liked
anime thinking back the ironic thing is
I was still a kid liking things that
kids should like unfortunately though
that's the way things were and as I grew
older I started to properly learn what
anime actually was and my love for it
only increased every week I was
discovering new shows better than the
last new universes to explore characters
to know stories to get absorbed in and I
had to keep it all to myself which at
the time was pretty easy I was that
quiet kid in class that no one really
noticed or cared for I didn't have a
group or clique I wasn't part of any
after-school clubs or anything school
passed me by and that was it I had
nowhere to belong there maybe I never
did but to me that was fine because what
I alone knew was that when the bell rang
and I could go home there was a whole
nother world that I could be a part of a
fantastical world where you can be
anything ninjas pirates samurai fighting
against the greater odds mecha pilots
taking part in the most advanced Wars
you can imagine or being at the center
of a harem where girls are actually
interested in someone like you of course
it was in the real world I knew it was
in the real world but the beauty of it
was for a moment for that brief period
it allowed me to just forget it sounds
stupid now but some of the highlights of
my adolescence was discovering my love
for anime it was a time that I could
easily get away from the world for just
a bit
my way to take five from life and I
think this is a reason I found it so
hard to get into slice-of-life anime I
can wrap my head around why you'd want
to watch a reflection of something I
wanted to escape on I just couldn't
relate as I reach the end of my
adolescence after years of conditioning
telling me that I would grow out of this
phase eventually I wondered why I hadn't
I wondered if it was normal seeing as I
was the a person I knew who was so into
this stuff still maybe I was just weird
maybe I'd be living with my mum for the
rest of my life or maybe I would grow of
this eventually right what I did fully
understand back then and what I wish I
did was that I wasn't alone and I know
I'm not the only one who thought this
see there were group of us who had the
same routine doppelgangers rushing back
to school to catch the latest episode of
Dragon Ball Z on Toonami mischievously
staying up late to watch the elusive
cowboy bebop on Adult Swim or pretending
to throw your tiara like you're part of
Sailor Moon if you're a go of course the
boys would just secretly mine me the
Kamehameha way whenever they could we
all thought we were by ourselves we all
thought we were the only ones but what
we didn't realize was that these TV
networks were speaking to a whole
generation a generation we didn't even
know we were a part of until the
Internet gave us a voice a whole
community and a place together suddenly
we saw there were others everywhere just
like us hiding there all along not only
in anime but every facet of nerd culture
gaming comics cartoons it didn't matter
we all wanted to be heard and boy did
the world listen being a nerd suddenly
wasn't looked down on anymore in fact it
was cool gaming started to be accepted
by everyone comic book movies made
liking superheroes a cool thing and
people actually started to learn what
the hell anime was not only that but we
had more of it than ever before nerd
stuff wasn't just being made by some old
farts anymore nerd stuff was being made
by other nerds inspired by everything
that came before them and who truly
understand the audience they were
appealing to because they were one of us
instead of people growing out of it
you have people growing back into it
even the jocks you knew nothing about to
school now have something small in
common with you the whole culture is
changed in the time I've grown up and
what
and people ask me why I want animates
become more popular maybe I'll come up
with some argument about how more fans
would help the industry create more
awesome stuff which is not untrue but
deep inside I don't ever want anyone to
be made to feel ashamed for being
absolutely passionate about this medium
like I was
we are graduates from a class of only
90s kids will remember only 80s kids
were relate only 70s kids were truly
appreciate a generation that had the
force with them going back to the future
who wanted to be the best like no one
ever was so will we grow out of it like
we were told when we were kids well we
will grow order grow wiser or dumber
maybe and change over time which is
inevitable it's easy to look forward in
the future and think that you are the
person you are and nothing will ever
change that
yet look back in the past and realize
how much you've changed and learned
every year no matter who you are in the
world living an adult life is different
from your adolescence perhaps your
interest will change perhaps your
burnout and have less time to spend on
the hobby and perhaps other commitments
will take over who knows but I don't
think there will ever be a point when
you'll get bored of feeling that same
excitement you did as a kid experiencing
or discovering something truly wonderful
maybe it was geeking out when you saw
the Avengers Assemble for the first time
in live action getting shocked when
watching Madoka Magica for the first
time or dropping in all in some of one
punch man's fights that feeling will be
something we can never grow out of even
if it doesn't come as easily as we grow
older you'll grow out of anime they said
you'll grow out of gaming they said
you'll grow out of comics they said
except we didn't we never grew out of it
we're growing up with it
you