Submitted 3 days ago by 
dws@ani.social to anime@ani.social
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.
Every sunday night (from my perspective in Mountain Time anyways) there’s a discussion thread posted to /c/anime where people talk about what they’re watching and whether they’re liking it. You can go there and post a comment or reply to someone else. Of course you can do the same in other threads as well, but I bring it up as a good place to start.
As for what to watch, there are a few ways to find stuff. One option is to just look at the highest rated stuff out there and just pick some random thing that looks interesting. Another option, especially if you want to keep up-to-date with stuff that’s being currently discussed, is to watch videos from channels like Mother’s Basement and Gigguk. Right now at the start of a new season a bunch of new shows are just starting to air, and so in a week or two both of those channels will have videos out pitching their favorites to viewers.
If you just want something to watch without needing to do any research here are my favorites:
dws@ani.social 3 days ago thank you for the info! i will have to check out those youtube channels for sure.
all i’m doing now is just looking through the top rated on AniList and such.
i finished Vinland Saga, and thought it was very good. i’m watching mob psycho now.
Nice! I forgot to mention it because there are just too many great anime out there, but Mob Psycho is also one of my favorites.
lvxferre@mander.xyz 3 days ago 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 worth 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).
dws@ani.social 3 days ago 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)
lvxferre@mander.xyz 3 days ago 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.
As a newer anime fan, I figured I’d throw my two cents in here. What started my interest in anime was actually going to an anime convention with some friends a couple of years ago. From there I began watching YouTube reviews like Mothers Basement and Glass Reflections and took their recommendations to find new stuff to watch. I eventually found that I actually prefer watching the seasonals as they come out, so I began doing that as well (and in doing so have really upped my number of watched shows). Beyond YouTube, I also listen to several podcasts (Anime out of Context and Quest for the Best, for example). I’ve hopped into several Discord servers, though I don’t comment very often, if at all. I think there’s no real wrong way to be “in the anime community”. Just find the stuff you like to participate in and do that, though don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone. You just might find another part of the community that you really like.
dws@ani.social 2 days ago its kinda the same for me! i have always been around people who were in to anime and manga series, but i was never in to anything myself.
i really would like to be up to date on the seasonal stuff, and watch those as well as some of the longer running favorites. watching as they come out sounds so fun!
It is fun! I enjoy reading up on what everyone else is thinking of the episodes as they come out. I use AniChart to follow what’s coming up and AniList for tracking what I watch as well as reading threads on new episodes. I also recommend the MAL-Sync extension, which can automatically track what you watch as you watch it.
Gutek8134@lemmy.world 3 days ago Definitions, according to me:
isekai - someone, usually the protagonist, got transferred to another world
trash isekai - there are about a dozen of extremely similar anime released each year, each being isekai or adjacent
if you watch one, you’ve seen all of them
their defining traits are:
Examples include: Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu,
Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki
While they are called this way, I know a person who watches them because they don’t have to focus and still have some dumb fun.
battler - anime focused on battles, I’m pretty sure Dragon Ball: Z falls into this territory, but I’m basing that on two random episodes I’ve seen and everything I’ve heard over the years
season - most anime air in 12 or 24 episode parts, 1 episode per week, starting and ending within 2 weeks of each other, hence they are grouped into 4 seasons per year
VN - visual novel, basically a book with pictures and sound; you’d be surprised how many get adapted
I’ll begin with where NOT to start:
Decent starts:
Comedies, the weirder the better:
Other recommendations:
dws@ani.social 2 days ago my hero! thank you SO much!
i think once i get more knowledge under my belt, the parodies will be great. i think now i wouldn’t know that they’re even parodies lmao
based on your reccomendations and notes, it seems lke we have very similar taste when it comes to “serious” anime. thank you for your detailed response, i will defintely check some of these out!
ludrol@bookwyr.me 3 days ago Other than weekly discussion, and episode releases there are couple type of post that you could make.
dws@ani.social 2 days ago awesome!
i tried to avoid the “what should i watch” type of post because i feel like those are… low effort? might be the wrong descriptor, but it doesn’t feel like that is the kinda info im looking for at the moment.
i defintely want to find out about more of the community stuff, like the watch together thing, thats is so fun!!
There isn’t really much ettiquette that would be non-stansard (such as be nice to people). But not everyone follows it anyway.
Its unclear what exactly you want from this. “Joining the community” is very vague and kind of not possible. There isn’t just one anime community. There are many groups, and while they may all share anime in common that doesn’t mean they all get along with each other. Some language groups don’t like others (and sometimes it’s justified, sometimes its not the language groups fault because the translators did a bad job or changed words from the original creator’s work usually without them explicitly knowing, etc). Its kinda like saying you want to join the Lemmy community. What exactly do you mean by that, or better, what are you looking for? Some instances dont get along, some communities on the same instance dont get along, some people in the same community dont get along and form their own on the same or different instance.
So what is it you want? You say to “discover anime and get more into the trends, etc.” Well the first part is simple enough, but what does the second part mean? You want to know what the current trends are? Past trends? You just want a sampler suggestion of different kinds of anime that showcase different trends? This is unclear.
I am happy to make suggestions (though my suggestions skew older and more cultured than modern offerings tend to have, but I do like some modern stuff), but without clarity on what you want I wouldn’t want to offer something you don’t need or care about.
dws@ani.social 2 days ago Its kinda like saying you want to join the Lemmy community. What exactly do you mean by that, or better, what are you looking for?
this is the kinda thing i meant in my post! i simply dont know what i dont know!
You say to “discover anime and get more into the trends, etc.” Well the first part is simple enough, but what does the second part mean?
the second part means to become more involved in the community that surrounds the anime. several times in this post people mention spaces where others gather to discuss their favorites, discuss what theyre watching now or excited to watch in the future, or watch along and break down episodes together. thats the kind of stuff im looking for, the community of people who share an interest with me and aren’t going to be mean because i say something wrong or dont know something yet.
Hmm. I see. Well in so far as places where you can chat with other anime fans is concerned, the only places I really know are online forums like here on Lemmy or on Reddit or Facebook. Though, finding places where people won’t poke fun at what you like or call you a tourist depending on your tastes will be difficult (regardless of what you like, usually).
You might try checking your local library for local events of anime or manga fans or something. You could visit local hobby shops to strike up conversations with others about it. Anime conventions are a good place to go for that as well.
I’m a huge fan of isekai - anime where the protagonist is transported to another world to become a hero, or at least live a more important life than the one he had in the “real world”
Examples include:
Overlord Saga of Tanya the Evil GATE Mushoku Tensei Ascension of a Bookworm The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious Konosuba So I’m a Spider, So What? Re: Zero How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
There are lots of others, too. Give a few of them a watch and maybe you find out if you like them. A lot of people don’t and think isekai are slop, and that’s fine. I can’t get enough of them.
dws@ani.social 2 days ago i like the premise too! though from others it seems they can get redundant. i guess that applies to everything, right?
thank you for your recommendations :) i will check them out for sure!
Someone told me that 70% of animes released last year were Isekais. I’m not sure that’s exactly right but it’s a justifiable number. It’s still a good concept but dramatically over saturated, stick to the top picks and things that have made it to season 2/3/etc to start.
It’s not like isekai stories are inherently bad or anything, it’s just that there have been a few very very successful ones and so a lot of substandard stories get greenlit for animation in this genre because executives are desperate to recapture that lightning in a bottle. There were 59 stories released last year alone with the isekai tag on anilist. Most of them are slop that can barely be distinguished from one another.
One of the big problems that the genre has is that most of them take place in the same western RPG fantasy world. As Geoff from Mother’s Basement pointed out in his recent video, a lot of Japanese people were introduced to western fantasy through games like Wizardry rather than through book like The Fellowship of the Ring or The Wizard of Earthsea. As a result, the worlds of these isekai anime (almost) all feel very same-ish the way the worlds of those RPGs often feel very same-ish. When you watch an isekai anime, you’re not watching someone get sent to a mysterious world full of strange magical creatures and dangerous roads. You’re watching them get sent to go play Dragon Quest some more but in-person this time. There are exceptions of course; I’m quite fond of the world of Vision of Escaflowne for example, but the majority of these shows just feel exactly the same as all the other isekai slop out there because they can’t be bothered to do anything at all to even try to feel different.
Are you gonna play the truck-chan game?
Sadly, the community died a long time ago. Nowadays there are just isolated camps throwing shit at each other and normie tourists
dws@ani.social 3 days ago i don’t have a frame of reference for that, so i don’t know what you mean. it looks like a community to m
Just stay away from the isekai trash or anything that has title longer than 3 words amd you’ll do fine.
dws@ani.social 3 days ago i don’t know what “isekai trash” means lmao
“isekai” is “another world”.
The protagonist ends up leaving our world and is transported/reincarnated in another – usually JRPG-like medieval fantasy themed – early in the show. The stereotypical mechanism is that the protagonist gets run over by a truck… Usually they end up in some sort of power fantasy story taking advantage of either their knowledge/technology from our world or special skills they got via the reincarnation or whatever.
There’s, uh, a lot of them… of varying quality.
Some popular examples are Konosuba, Re-Zero, and Mushoku Tensei. Which shows qualify as trash is, of course, a matter of taste. 🙃️
lvxferre@mander.xyz 3 days ago Subgenre of fantasy, where the protag goes to another world. Extremely popular, and extremely diverse, so this leads to a lot of less-than-inspired authors writing isekai. It’s really fun, though, at least in my opinion. [Disclaimer: I watch a lot of isekai.]
The Log Horizon series I recommended is IMO really good; a bunch of players of a game are trapped inside the game they were playing, and trying to come back to Earth. Other popular isekai series are:
Endmaker@ani.social 3 days ago
nice meeting ya
hello!