I legit give up man, my voice is drowned out by those who treat a medium we pour genuine love into with little respect, dignity or sincerity.
Legit stealing a haven core fans built for themselves and defiling it.
Their commentary reduces everything to shallow punchlines, calling foundational work “diddyblud,” dismissing shoujo as content as “performative,”,
stripping mecha down to surface level drivel, classics are seen as pretentious, only for them to endlessly elevate action machismo above everything else.
Everything is futile, anti-art or rooted in identity politics and "sexuality" to these people. Artistic intent just can't exist anymore, nothing is sacred. It's genuinely conniving, near dystopian.
What's especially dispiriting is how heavily they’re amplified. Anime localization groups in the U.S. endorse them, with Viz Media inviting them to conventions and events, their given 'voice acting' positions by Netflix despite lack of experience, solely due to clout.
It continuously begs the dialogue on why we're platforming those who push harmful stereotypes to define a foreign property. That's very reductive and borderline xenophobic.
When did we become so comfortable with mediocrity that clout-chasing personalities with no real credibility are allowed to represent the artform and our voices? It's discouraging.
There’s no passion in their content, only mockery, self-deprecating jokes and irony. And because of that, I find myself questioning what’s even the point anymore. The joy is gone, not just publicly, but even in self-fulfillment, because the dialogue in my head keeps reminding me that we're obsolete.
It weighs on me because me and my friends are the ones being mocked, berated, and ostracized online whenever their shallow takes reduce “anime fans” to something weird, solely because we're honest. The constant jabs I get for my writing, the work I share. These guys aren't given this treatment, their given a platform, endorsed and make money. While core fans are farther shunned into society's margins.
There was a bittersweetness to the days before anime became mainstream, back then, those who found the community tended to be quieter, more genuine, and less driven by the need to posture or disrespect what others valued, even if outsiders saw otherwise.
Sincerity and passion is dead. Sardonicism, misinformation and irony is pushed, I'm tired dude.
