There you were, talking to your friend about the fight scene between Goku and Fat Buu in Dragon Ball Z when someone says “those cartoons are for children”. Unfortunately, you just met a typical anime hater. Let’s talk about how to deal with them.
Don’t be defensive or try to change their minds. Accept that other people might not share your enthusiasm for anime and focus on finding people that share your interest. They might not even have a reason, but it is not up to you to convince them otherwise.
No matter who you are or where you are from, everyone has encountered at least one “hater” in their life. Everyone also has different ways of dealing with these situations, from cracking a joke or simply ignoring it. Let’s find out what we can do when it happens and why some people dislike anime.
10 Ways To Deal With Anime Haters
1. Don’t engage with them
This is the simplest way of dealing with most conflict situations. Depending on how intense the other person is being towards you, ignoring them can always be the first response. Someone who ridicules others for their hobbies is probably not going to be a friend anyway.
2. Try finding a common interest
If this is someone you do want to be friends with, try finding out what hobbies they enjoy. Maybe you can find an interest you both share, be it reading, playing sports or listening to music. This way you avoid conflict and turn the attention away from yourself.
3. Find other anime lovers or otaku
If you struggle to find others that also enjoy anime in your direct environment, there are lots of different online groups that like discussing anime on Facebook, Reddit, Quora, etc.
There are also in-person events that you might be able to attend, or you could organize regular meetings with some of the people from online groups you find.
4. Ask them to explain why they don’t like anime
This question gives the other person the opportunity to explain themselves. Maybe they only enjoy real-life actors or dislike reading subtitles (and don’t enjoy dubbed anime either). There could be many reasons.
Sometimes you’ll realize that they have never seen any anime or might not even understand what it is. If they simply dislike it because other people tell them to, without even trying it themselves, then there is no use in trying to convince them.
5. Agree to disagree
This is a common way of ending a discussion about something opinion-based. When you and the other person clearly won’t change either of your opinions, then the best is to “agree to disagree”.
6. Make a joke about it
Making a joke about it can help ease the tension. If you are not a natural jokester this might be a bit hard, but here are some responses that can help:
| They say | You say |
| “anime is for losers” | “then being a loser is fun!” |
| “anime is for children” | “children have the most fun!” |
7. Tell them “to each their own”
If someone is insulting you about your love for anime, simply tell them that every person is allowed to have their own interests and politely ask them to leave you alone about yours.
8. What to do if you are being bullied about it
Bullying is a problem for people of all ages, be it in person or online. The previous suggestions can work for a short time, but if a person (or people) are constantly being bullied it’s best to get someone with more authority involved.
This could be your guardian at home, a teacher at school, manager at work or administrator online, wherever this is happening. It’s OK to ask someone you trust for advice about this too. They might understand the situation better and be able to help if something happens again.
9. Remember this whenever someone criticizes you
What people say often reflects more on themselves. Great people do not need to put others down. Someone who does not feel great about themselves can try to uplift themselves by bringing you down. This quote says it quite well:
“At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all.”
-Ann Landers
10. Kill them with kindness
An oldie, but a goodie from a Forbes article about dealing with haters. It’s easier to be resentful towards these people than to forgive them and still treat them well. Worry and retaliation can cause you to be bitter in the end.
Try to be as kind as possible towards a hater, they might secretly also be an anime fan, but don’t feel comfortable saying it aloud just yet!
Reasons why people don’t like anime
It might not make sense to you that others don’t like anime, but there are several reasons why people dislike it. Here are some reasons people give on anime forums:
- Talking and thinking scenes during serious fights
- Unnecessary intense emotional reactions of characters
- One character or group is the most powerful and/or smart being that ever existed
- The specific gender roles portrayed – women always need saving and men are always strong
- The same story recipe is followed for many animes
- Animation does not look like real people, and they struggle to relate to it
These are all valid reasons and personal preference plays a big role when it comes to entertainment opinions. It is also important for anime lovers to respect it when someone dislikes anime.
Understand that you can still like it even if others don’t
Even if you are the only person on earth that enjoys watching anime, you are still allowed to like it. You don’t need others’ approval to enjoy something. Most people won’t make the effort to understand you, and you don’t have to persuade them to.
You do not need to please everyone around you or get along with everyone either. You will find more of your people if you continue your own interests and passions. Go be a proud otaku!