Looking over the comments and reactions to
Free! Iwatobi Swim Club reminded me of how defensive people get with regards to anime, both on the love and hate side. I don't care about homosexuality. I don't care about moe or KyoAni. I don't care about pandering or who likes or hates whatever. This defensiveness could extend to works like Sword Art Online, Code Geass, Evangelion, anything that has received some sort of criticism. It could even apply to things obscure, art styles, authors and directors, studios and publishing companies, perhaps the medium as a general. The defensive reaction to criticism in anime as a whole is what worries me.
I'm going to purposely not bring up any controversial topics because I'm not qualified to talk about them. Instead, I want to look at the act of defending anime itself. It's natural to defend something you love, especially if it also involves something you believe in. I'm guilty of this myself, when I am forced to defend my love or position with regards to anime on the internet and real life. It's a kneejerk reaction where you can't help but feel threatened over some comment or off-hand remark. Even worse if it's straight criticism, or perhaps straight hate if it gets bad. Obviously the problem comes in a pair: Person A who expresses their opinion and Person B who responds to that opinion. This context gives us a situation where it becomes dangerous to voice one's own opinion, and it becomes dangerous to try and make some comment on that opinion. It's no wonder why anime fans seemingly can't get along. One person's favorites will, eventually, be criticized by another person's disappointment.
There's no real solution to this since this change has to occur with the anime-viewing community as a whole, and I'm certainly not one to suggest such a radical change, but it's something I want to throw out there. Perhaps it's something ingrained in people to try and become superior to others. Perhaps it's the want to become special - to think that as anime fans, we have experienced things that no other medium can offer. In that vain, we're pretty damn divided on things. It's not enough to ask for everyone to get along. Actually, not only is that impossible, but it's with these arguments that we can have growth and actually address things that need that passion to get across. However, it's when we start insulting and getting defensive where the problem starts.
If I may venture to guess, it has become taboo to ever claim your love to any anime online, for fear of being seen as a "fanboy/girl," or to have your love crushed. Is it the work of some individual who finds pleasure in making fun of others? Is it a legit criticism where the anime actually failed in some respects? Sometimes yes, but we can be better then that. At the very least, we can avoid becoming "that person" who has to vocally/verbally tell off someone's love, even if the love is really dumb. If a topic is really bad, just don't give it attention. It'll go away on its own, and commenting on how bad that topic is just gives it more attention. There's no need to crush someone's love or point out how bad their taste is. If you see someone with a bad opinion or is being a jerk, try not to give them attention either. Pointing out is okay sometimes, perhaps even going so far as to defend if they're in the wrong, but really, is it worth it? Rhetorical as it is, if someone was so bent on having that bad opinion or being a jerk, is it worth talking to them?
It's great to love anime, and it's fun to spread your love of your favorites, but the defensiveness really needs to be addressed somehow. No one enjoys watching pointless debates that go on for pages. No one enjoys being part of the debates. No one enjoys moderating those debates. It's a pain for everyone involved. It's no so much as to simply walk away and admit to those bad opinions or criticisms like a wimp, but it's the maturity to accept that they exist and to leave sleeping rage machines lie. At least, that's what this anime lover thinks.
To give a personal anecdote, I am an architecture major at my university, and I've been trying to incorporate ideas and concepts I've found in anime into my designs. However, I've never gone so far as to use a specific anime as an inspiration until recently.
Kino's Journey was my inspiration for the design for an architectural public library made for the 21st century. It's one thing to profess your love for anime by walking around with an anime T-shirt or posting on some website, but using it openly in an educational environment is something else.
My concept was using the idea of the "journey" as a multi-step process from the external experience upon entering the library into an internal understanding gained upon leaving. Having to explain this to classmates, peers, professors, and trained professionals and architects from around the country, in context of having an anime as my inspiration, was nerve wracking as all hell. Yes, I had to explain Kino's Journey many, many times. Yes, the concept was thoroughly thrashed. Yes, I got a lot of awkward looks and questions about it being a cartoon or not. However, I never corrected anyone. I never talked back. I accepted everything, took it to heart, responded by asking for a better understand of their thoughts, and moved on.
But you know what? I got one man to Google Kino's Journey. He was probably three times my age and probably knew more about life than I could ever try to fake, but he looked at my work, asked me a few questions about the anime, pulled out his phone and Googled it in front of me. Sure I got a passing grade for both the project and the class, and sure I'm moving onto upper division studies next year, but that moment, where I got someone to be interested in Kino's Journey, was the very reason why I went through all the grilling and thrashing. And y'know what, I'm going to do it again.
tl;dr - Stay classy, keep calm, move along.
