what’s the etiquette? where do i start? there are so many niches and such that i’m not sure.
i have watched some anime, but mostly things like dragon ball. i am looking to get more involved with the community to help discover anime and get more into the trends, etc.
There’s a site called anilist.co you’ll find practically any anime series out there.
Since anime is a medium, don’t be surprised if someone loves a series you hate or vice versa. It’s like books, you know? And for recommendations it’s often useful if you list some series or genres you enjoy.
Unboxious’ recommendations look fairly good IMO. I’ll add a few ones:
Remember to have fun. Watching anime is supposed to be enjoyable; if for some reason you aren’t enjoying a certain series, there’s no shame on dropping it.
Usually it’s said three episodes is enough to know if you’ll like a show, but sometimes a single one does it.
Also, watch out for people shitting on the others’ tastes in social media, it’s simply better to block those.
In some cases you enjoy the story and characters of a series, but the production sucks really bad. In those cases, it’s worth to check the manga or light novel series the anime is adapted from. (Hoshi no Samidare, I’m looking at you. Such amazing manga series deserved a better animation.)
It’s worthy to dig into Japanese culture. It makes you enjoy what you see more. And if you’re into cooking, making the dishes you see in anime at home can be a really fun way to experience a bit of that culture.
The “no life weeb” stereotype doesn’t hold true any more. A lot of us have jobs, children, social life etc.
Some people flip the shit out if you use a plural -s in “anime”, “manga”, or “pokemon”. You can either avoid this or to pre-emptively use it to detect and block pass-aggro people from social media. (I never did the later in Lemmy, but it works).
i use anilist now to help me find stuff to watch, it’s really helpful.
thank you for the other info! it’s hard not to feel like a poser nowadays, with anything, and especially with something as complex as anime.
as for japan culture, etc. do you have anything you like? i’d like to learn more about the actual culture and such, rather than just a textbook history (which i’m more familiar with)
Culture: I mentioned cooking because it’s one of the things I enjoy the most, and it gives you a rather good grasp on a culture. Which ingredients do they use? Are dishes typically made for small or large groups? Are techniques intended for everyday cooking, or for more laborious festive events? What about culinary influences? etc.
Depending on where you live, if there’s a Japanese descendants community, odds are they celebrate some festivals, and they’re often open for outsiders. It’s a great way to interact directly with some of that culture.
That said, textbook history helps a lot. As well as Wikipedia; sometimes you learn a lot by stumbling upon some page about lacquer pictures, pottery repair or even cherry trees. It’s all about how you “parse” it together.