What is Anime Anonymous, you ask? It is sort of like Alcoholic Anonymous, except of discouraging from drinking alcohol to achieve wholeness and happiness, it encourages one to embrace and find fulfillment with anime, manga, and gaming. To my surprise, a throng of attendees filled up the room very quickly.
In this panel, each person was encouraged to actively participate, creating new relationships and bonds between fans that have common anime interests. Towards the end of the article, a link will be provided to information and merchandise of Anime Anonymous, a group that held a panel at Anime Expo three years ago. Like AA, this one also has one introducing his or herself, with everyone else responding, “Hi [blank],” and based on the topic presented, one answers with a story or a short little answer, and explain the reasoning.
The panel started with defining P.A.D., post-anime depression: the nostalgia feeling one gets when one has not watched a really good anime in a long time, or, as the panel calls it, “the feels.”
Naturally, because there are so many responses, I will only address the select few questions and answers that caught my interest. Here is the first question:
Response 1: “Hi, my name is Leana…so after I watch a really good anime, I would create fan-fiction in my head and incorporate myself into the story.
Response 2: “Hello, my name is Roberto…for my PAD, I will re-watch the anime in sub or dub depending on how I watched it first, or I will try to look for the manga, and start reading from there.”
The next topic:
Response 1: “Hi, my name is Jay…and I am going to straight for Clannad. It’s always terrible when your favorite character dies.”
Response 2: “Hi, my name is Ryan…I don’t know how well my favorite sad anime is but I’ve seen a lot in the light novels, anime, and manga, so I am just going to go with Angel Beats.”
Response 3: “Hi, my name is Aidan…and I have to say, surprisingly, the saddest anime…was Assassination Classroom.”
The next topic:
Response 1: “Hello, my name is Ed…my favorite anime/manga series is Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and my favorite character from Jojo, surprisingly, is Foo Fighter. I adore the series because you go through highs and lows, crazy action, lovable charcters, great comedy, depressing scenes…”
Response 2: “Hello everyone, my name is Avi…my favorite character, it wouldn’t be anime necessarily, but video game/manga, but [my favorite] is Zelda…so relatable and fragile.”
Final selected topic: [What is the most overrated/underated anime?]
Response 1: “Hi, my name is Gabriel…I think the most overrated anime is My Hero Academia…The first two seasons were okay, but after that, it just got boring, and Deku is not really a good main character.”
Response 2 (Me): Hi, my name is Martin…for me, an underrated anime and has a special place in my heart is Video Girl Ai…the reason is because it’s about a boy who is heartbroken and alone and saw a lot of myself in that character when I was teenager. My sister recommended it. Also, it starts off, at first, with the trope of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl with the title character, but eventually, she starts to form her own agency and questions her feelings towards him.”
Honestly, there is so much to include, but from what I heard, it is amazing how anime, a niche ordinarily looked down by the general public because of its negative associations of outcasts and losers, can create such a positivity community where no one should feel no shame. I enjoyed the panel, and if anyone is interested in Anime Anonymous, here are select links below.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnimeAnonymous/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnimeAnonymous?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Thank you, and until then, see you at AX 2020!
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