Odd age trend

[Seluecos]

I've noticed most people on the forums are 15-18. At Con, same age group. Is awesome anime/gaming/otaku/nerd-ness just a fad for these ages? Do the otaku of yesteryear whither away into the "normal" life? What happens to nerds later in life?

I guess what I'm saying is: Where my oldy moldy brothers and sisters at? xD

If you want to pitch in your 2 cents, feel free. Mostly was like "Wait...I'm part of a culture littered with high school kids mostly....I feel like a creep, as I turn 20 next month" xD

[Cyprus]

I got you beat Pat...I'm older But also, I think there is a bit more to it than that.

I believe that most people's lives really start to get busy & take off after they turn 18. It's not that they stop being fans of the things they love...it's more that they are going to college, working to support themselves, & living up the freedom that has just be bestowed on them.

As for myself, I was no different in that sense...still kinda the same even. When I hit 18, I was more interested in going out, working & living up my newly found freedom. Though I might have lived a completely different life style as most...I think it all falls under the same lines. Even as I type this, it's 5:30am & I have already been at work for just over an hour & will be here until well into the late afternoon/early evening.

tl;dr - 18=freedom, college, work...time starts to show it's true value. People don't stop being fans, they just start being too busy to do it all.

[reppy]

I r 25.  I think it was more rare for people in our age group to get into anime because when I was in school the only thing around was Pokemon.

[Cyprus]

I r 25.  I think it was more rare for people in our age group to get into anime because when I was in school the only thing around was Pokemon.

I always liked anime, but had very little exposure/access to the ones I did like...Central Oregon does that. But I definately agree with this statement...I can honestly say that I have never cared for Pokemon. I liked shows like Vampire Hunter D, Trigun, Samurai X & Kenshin...those were the anime that really kept me interested in watching. But, at the same time, Reppy said it best...IT WAS ALL POKEMON!

[princessmoon]

I'm oldy moldy....?  0_0  I just found some grey strands in my locks this week, so I guess so ^.^  

I was exposed to the whole shebang in the early 90's and have loved it since. Miyazaki's films, Sailor Moon, DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Rurouni Kenshin kicked it off! I was not aware of Kumoricon until an accidental discovery back in 2006 and have been attending faithfully since then. College, volunteering, and working did not get in my way of attending my beloved con. 'work hard, play hard.'...yo!

Creeper? Never!  I don't care how old you are--always find time to have fun!

---

Oh yeah, growing up with two awesome brothers procured me into gaming ♥. I don't know what my childhood would have been like without these two luxurious fixations!

[TurboSaiyanJason]

I'm an old gun. Only 22 but still feel like I'm ancient. Any anime that was on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network, plus Pokemon on the WB kept me interested. Even as Adult Swim replaced the Toonami Midnight run, new series caught my eye. Inuyasha, Big O, Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, FLCL, and others came into the mix. Now new series at the time such as Naruto and Bleach slowly picked at my curiosity, and I evolved with the times.

Though I still harbor a place in my heart for the old shows that brought me into anime fandom, the manga that they spawned from, and the extended sharing of that fandom through cosplay and comeradeship at conventions and gatherings, and other excuses to declare my otaku spirit.

The average age range may be 15-18 on here, but no one is too old or young for what we stand for.

[CheshireStray]

I may be 15, but i pretty much got inducted into otaku-dom by the same shows as jason up above me. I know its kinda weird that me and my friends were all excited and loving cowboy bebop and the like at age 7, but we loved it all the same

[reppy]

I think the first anime series I watched in its entirety was Neon Genesis Evangelion, back in 7th grade or so.  I downloaded it in a really crummy video format called VIVO back on my 56k modem.  Each video was like 30mb or so, the quality was awful, and you couldn't fast forward or rewind.  But dammit, it was awesome.

Prior to that, I had seen Lily C.A.T., Akira, Vampire Hunter D (first anime, I think .. unless I saw Totoro first .. don't remember ..), Devil Man, The Guyver, Angel Cop, Tenchi Muyo .. miscellaneous stuff on Sci-Fi channel .. but I had never watched an entire series from beginning to end until NGE.

[DemonSpawn]

I started watching anime when I was um, like six-eight, I don't really remember, but my sister and the neighbor girl and I would watch Sailor Moon together. It was like ten year ago, wooooow. I mean I'm almost 18 and I feel old so... *shrug*

[Seluecos]

Psh, maybe I'm just odd lol. I have way to much time on my hands, despite being in college and what not. Realized I was more into anime culture for the people than anything xD

But yeah, I was never too interested in it. I liked it, just didn't have much around. Glad to know I'm not a creeper or anything lol. Cons are cool cuz there's so many people of so many different ages, probably my favorite part about cons is just sitting around talking to people

[Animeman73]

I'm 36 so i got both of you beat.

I've seen anime that none of you have ever even heard of. Star Blazers (Space battleship Yamato), Starvengers (Robo Getter G), Grandizer, The Spacekeeters (Spacezingers), GaiKing, Speed Racer, Teknoman, Ronin Warriors, Vampire Hunter D, Lensman, Robot Carnival.
Just so you know I've been watching anime since 1981.

[AllyKat]

I thought the mode age of our convention was 20/21?

Regardless, I'm 22 and I have enjoyed Anime since I was 10 years old.

whoa... thats like... twelve years...

I agree with the fad/fandom thing... a lot of people enjoy something immensely all
at once and then burn themselves out on it, or find something even more suited
to their tastes to spend all their time on. Many gamers I know do this, they will
go head over heels for a game, play it for a week and then never speak of it again
because something newer or more amazing has been released.

But the generations of Anime fans I'm finding now that have withstood the test of
time are those whose fandom spans many different genres. We are big into dabbling
in all sorts of awesome things!

[Pots]

i liked it more around the age of 12-13 and now that im older i somehow feel that i am drifting away from it. ( not completely though lol)

[kylite]

im 30 and still love anime, started at 14.
Plus im staff for the convention *grins*

[jaybug]

Now all we need is Wuntvor to put in his two cents worth, as he has me beat by about 3 weeks. 9/27/1963 is my b-day. Kennedy was president. That's like before Bush I ya know? lol

I haven't shown up in the forums much as mainly I just don't cosplay, or game, or spoon, seems, and it's a bear to talk about an anime without ruining it with spoilers or spoiler tags.

I have a life, a wife, a job, house, cats, fish, really way too big houseplants that I can't wait to kick out of the house for the summer if it ever gets warm on a daily basis. BUt lucky for me, when I get home from work, and nothing but infomercials are on TV, there's anime, either from Netflix, or on my computer.

[makichan]

For me anyway, when I was in middle school and high school, I had more time and money to do a lot of things. I didn't have to worry about paying bills XD
But now that I do, cosplay has sort of been placed on the "If I have enough money" shelf.
Sucks.
I still love it though! And I still love watching anime (I've been a fan since 4) :>
(Btw, I'm 21).

[Vexenification]

Well, I'm 14. T=If you want to be nit-picky about it, I've only "liked" anime since I was 7, watching pokemon and all. I haven't started "cosplaying" until this year. But if you want to be general, I've been making excellent costumes, and making weapons for Halloween since I was allowed to use a glue gun and use a hammer correctly. So that's about 8 years of cosplay, but not actually cosplay. ^^ An early Halloween

[makichan]

I'm 13.




Liked anime since around 4, (My first anime was Digimon LOL) But that's only 'cause it was popular in HongKong at the time...

You were that young when Digimon came out? ::feels old::
lol
Actually, now that I think about it, I was in 5th grade. So, I guess that's not too bad XD

[Chibi_Kyo_chan]

Bro' I'm turning 20 in three months... lol nerd are nerds for life.

[Chibi_Kyo_chan]

I r 25.  I think it was more rare for people in our age group to get into anime because when I was in school the only thing around was Pokemon.

Lies. there was waaay more than pokemon.

[Kimiski]

I'm old? *sniffle's* I'm only 20~ T___T

Sailor Moon was my first. Then I grew up where no one had anything but dial up, and watching online was impossible. We rented anime from this comic shop in downtown salem (doesnt exist now) on VHS. Saw Fushigi Yugi that way, my first japanese show with english subs. Saw Utena that way too. Then more was added to Toonami, and finding anime like Bidry the Mighty in hollywood video was amazing. There was also an AZN channel that played Blue Seed, Bubblegum Crisis, Boogiepop Phantom, Gate Keepers, Silent Mobius as well as Slayers (in japanese without subs!!!)

Ahhhh, the golden age. 90's anime FTW.

[Pots]

^{i first watched anime when my cousin made me watch slam dunk and dragonball z with him D: yuck}

[makichan]

I'm 13.




Liked anime since around 4, (My first anime was Digimon LOL) But that's only 'cause it was popular in HongKong at the time...

You were that young when Digimon came out? ::feels old::
lol
Actually, now that I think about it, I was in 5th grade. So, I guess that's not too bad XD

Remember that the English version probably came out later than the Chinese orz

Ah, yeah. Probably. I remember it hit as soon as a lot of fans were falling out of Pokemon.

[Fuyuko]

I'm not old! I'm as lively as a giddy high school girl. >3<

But anyway, I was first exposed to anime in my early middle school years. Back then, I didn't even know what anime was since I was raised through the dubbed Pokemon and 4Kids' attempt to rid any hints of the Japanese culture in the show. *was brainwashed to think onigiri were jelly donuts* grumblegrumble = =;
Now, I first found out about this foreign thing called "anime" near the beginning of high school when I was introduced to it by a few people reading manga (which I didn't know about at the time either). Since then, I've been hooked. I not only became a bigger otaku but also an appreciator of the Japanese culture. <3

Ohh, how I wish I had knowledge of anime at an earlier age~ I do remember watching bits of Sailor Moon when I was a kid; except it was in French since I was living in France at the time, and I thought it was merely another cartoon on TV. xD

[Wuntvor]

Now all we need is Wuntvor to put in his two cents worth, as he has me beat by about 3 weeks. 9/27/1963 is my b-day. Kennedy was president. That's like before Bush I ya know? lol

I haven't shown up in the forums much as mainly I just don't cosplay, or game, or spoon, seems, and it's a bear to talk about an anime without ruining it with spoilers or spoiler tags.

I have a life, a wife, a job, house, cats, fish, really way too big houseplants that I can't wait to kick out of the house for the summer if it ever gets warm on a daily basis. BUt lucky for me, when I get home from work, and nothing but infomercials are on TV, there's anime, either from Netflix, or on my computer.

Did I hear my name?  Hard to tell I may need to turn up my hearing aide.  OK so I'm NOT quite that old....yet.  I do need to get my glasses fixed though.  Getting hard to read the subtitles.   Mumble..Mumble...  

Yeah I beat you, but only by a week and a half.  09/18/1963.  For those who don't like math I am 46.  My kids are almost 20, and 24 and a half.  You probably know me as Hohenheim from last KCon.

I started because of all of the reasons stated above, only it was my kids watching and I was just in the room.  Thing is... I like it!  HEY! this is different.  This isn't the same ole Tom & Jerry or Bugs Bunny style stuff I know.  Nor is it like Scooby Doo..  What is this?  Wait did that character just die?  Can they do that?  Whoa, is that person smoking?  Drinking?  Did that woman's boobs just bounce?  Yep, I became fascinated with the whole culture.  Also after seeing my first Ghibli film I became even more interested in the amazing quality of Japanese animation.  Not many of the American films could even compare.  In fact the more amazing and high tech the Japanese animation becomes the more cheap and poorly drawn the American animation grows.  I also really wonder about the content.  Seems like all American animation has anymore is potty humor and cussing, mixed in with random acts of violence.  Why CN thinks that those Adult Swim shows are better than the old Toonami I have no idea.    I can't even fathom how they got the green light to produce half of that crap.  Sorry to all of you who actually enjoy those shows.  

Of course, it seems anime may be getting stuck in a rut as well.  I am seeing remakes of the same plot ideas, over, and over, and over.  I can almost tell you what will happen before the episode is half over.  Also a lot more fan service in the new line of shows.  Of course, being an old guy I like fanservice, but still.  It is getting really prevalent in the new shows.  It is almost beyond Ecchi and going into Hentai.  You wont be seeing these shows in the US that is for sure.  Not sure what I am talking about?  Watch Ladies vs Butlers, B Gata H Kei, Mayoi Neko Overrun, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, or Kiss x Sis.    

[Konan-ChanX3]

I feel like an old man sometimes, I turn 20 next year and the majority of my friends are still in high school D;

I was introduced to anime at the tender age of 2 weeks old. Didn't cosplay till I was in 6th grade. i'm like a 50 year old man, even though I'm not a man.

[reppy]

I r 25.  I think it was more rare for people in our age group to get into anime because when I was in school the only thing around was Pokemon.

Lies. there was waaay more than pokemon.

I meant mainstream, available on TV and such.  There was DBZ and such, too.  I think Cartoon Network had just started showing Tenchi Muyo around the time I was in high school.

[jaybug]

B Geta Off My Lawn Kei.

[superjaz]

there Is an older anime exposure that lead to fans. the year 1986 a 4-5 year old Jaz-chan is watching the disney channel, unico made by the father of manga, of course it was about 5 year till we saw more, thank you random psy fi channel anime weekends, Damn they would just show a solid weekend of random anime some in japanese with no subtitles at all but yeah 27 still a fan

[jaybug]

For some reason, the guys in the engineering spaces would watch Voltron after we knocked off ship's work. Back in 1983-'84. It was better than Go-Bots however, even if the latter sold more toys in America.

Must have been a great one, as Voltron is back! And what's a Go-Bot?