laceblade

I want to link to this post by littlebutfierce, which just identifies precisely the feelings & defensiveness I feel over a lot of the anime series I've been watching lately (K-ON!, Tari Tari, Hanasaku Iroha, just started Natsuiro Kiseki).

I would like to quote it in large & awesome sections:

[T]here's a lot been said about how the audience for these types of shows are often middle-aged salarymen, that these are just bits of fluff to help them relax after a hard day. It's supposed to be soothing, &/or allow them to perv (look at K-On! bootleg merch & you will see a lot of body pillows, IJS).

These kinds of shows -- where adolescent girls are just hanging out being themselves -- are routinely panned on anime blogs, in the round-up posts of each season's new series. They are, say the critics, shit. Because they're boring. Because nothing happens. & again, maybe that's okay if you're a stressed out salaryman, or possibly a 10-year-old girl or something. But the rest of us? Should have more taste than to actually want this stuff. Possibly the plot device of the magic rock gives Natsuiro Kiseki just enough structure to avoid being slammed as "just" slice-of-life, but I suspect a lot of people still won't care.

...

What does it mean, that some of the most high-profile shows about girls' friendships are routinely blown off as being a relaxant for middle-aged men or as being generally dull? What does that say about the value anime viewers place on girls' lives? On girls' everyday concerns & interests? Why aren't they useful or worthy? Why doesn't it matter that people like me & my friends find a lot of comfort/amusement/value in these shows? Does it matter that we're not the intended audience? Does it matter that what we take from these shows may not be what is intended? That, for example, I love that K-On! has no boys in it, even as I recognize that this is probably deliberate so that male viewers have no competition should they insert themselves into the story? Why should we feel bad about liking a show that places the highest value on friendship? Because it's girls' friendship? Because it's not about friendship being tested in a war situation or something epic like that?

I'm just... tired of being told I should feel ashamed for liking these shows -- both by people I would say are garden-variety sexists, but also I think there's sometimes pushback because people see these shows as only fulfilling stereotypes about girls, being retrogressive or whatever. & I'm not saying these series are radical or perfect -- no, they're not at all -- but I'm tired of the assumption that there is nothing valuable I could get out of them, & that if I find value in them, it's because there's something wrong w/my taste or the philosophical stance from which I approach them.