Do Otaku Care About Average Americans?

|161x240px|Aggressive by Humo 82 on FlickrHad a good talk with Nickg recently about the anime industry and American fandom, and I realized a couple of things.

1. We complain a lot. By "we" I mean American anime/manga/etc. fandom. We complain in good ways -- we have high standards -- but we also complain in bad ways. A lot. We complain when release schedules don't suit us. We complain when our favorite character doesn't get "enough" screen time. We complain when prices force us to -- heaven forbid -- choose between owning two series now, or one now and another later.

2. We're a niche. A tiny niche. Growing, maybe, but still insignificant to American culture at large.

3. Related to #2: Most Americans don't care about anime and manga. They know what it is now -- which is a big change from just 10 years ago, let's not forget -- but they don't think it's worth their time. They think anime is Dragonball Z and Pokemon, and that there are all sorts of weird, utterly incomprehensible other anime out there. Manga is completely inscrutable to the average American.

4. This is not their fault. The average American isn't an idiot; he or she's just uninformed about anime and manga.

Nobody tells Americans why anime and manga are worth consuming.

Okay, there are a few people. Frederick L. Schodt. Japanese culture societies. But overall, our industry is very inwardly-focused. Our blogs are aimed at other fans. Our magazines are aimed squarely at otaku. What are we doing to introduce the average American to anime?

I'm not talking about Americanizing anime, trying to force it to be relevant to non-Japanese, or ignoring the essential elements of anime that make it what it is, strange or no. I'm talking about helping non-animation-fans to appreciate the deeper, more entertaining, more interesting movies and shows and books out there.

And we do have anime that can appeal to non-otaku. ''Cowboy Bebop. Trigun. Perfect Blue. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Last Exile. ''You don't need to understand Japanese culture or weird otaku humor to get these shows.

How can we help the average gal or guy to get interested in this, the same way they'll get interested in action movies or romance novels or cooking or investing?

A few ideas:


 * We can relate it to things normal people know. So many reviews compare anime to other anime, not to movies or TV shows or books. Why not compare Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex to Law and Order or CSI?)
 * We can submit more articles to non-anime magazines. See the article "Anime for all ages" at the Panama City News Herald as a great example. We can write articles that aren't simply reviews, but also analysis and discussion of aspects of fandom.

What else can we do, to bring more non-otaku into the fold? At least to help average people understand that anime's more than just Pokemon?