How do I be older fan?

[dshwshr55]

Also we should set up a 18+ or 21+ meet up for us older otaku?

I'm there! Break out the old school!

[dakiro]

hey I'm 22 yay blah whatever =_=...
anyways.... yeah didn't get really into anime till senior year of high school so bleh...although i did watch some stuff before i realized what it was like dbz some sailor moon.... you know the stuff on tv although the one that really got me into it was cowboy bebop =D

It's kinda awkward when you see a girl that's cute and then find out she's like 6 years younger than you. 

*reminds him of finding this cute Belldandy only to see her green badge and to find out she was only 16* o.o;

Don't worry, old people!  We love you, we really do!  In a quite healthy and not unhealthy way!

yay i'm loved XD

Also we should set up a 18+ or 21+ meet up for us older otaku?

I'm there! Break out the old school!

count me in too =D

[EveofAbyss]

Also we should set up a 18+ or 21+ meet up for us older otaku?

I'm there! Break out the old school!

count me in too =D

I'm down for that. ^_^

[TomtheFanboy]

OMG, is someone finally forming Sake club!? Someone tell Pi!

[laurifer]

Count me in if it's 18+

If it's 21+ then have fun lol

[nintendiehard]

It's kinda awkward when you see a girl that's cute and then find out she's like 6 years younger than you. 

Is it wrong to go to a con to pick up chicks? 

[reppy]

(I saw an anime a long time ago on Sci-Fi that I wish I could find the name for.) :\

describe it please! I used to love Saturday Anime on SciFi.

To be honest, I don't recall a whole lot about it.. I was probably around the age of 10 or so when I saw it. All I remember is a desert atmosphere and some over-the-top animated reactions from the characters. And I think there was guns and all that good stuff.

[EveofAbyss]

(I saw an anime a long time ago on Sci-Fi that I wish I could find the name for.) :\

describe it please! I used to love Saturday Anime on SciFi.

To be honest, I don't recall a whole lot about it.. I was probably around the age of 10 or so when I saw it. All I remember is a desert atmosphere and some over-the-top animated reactions from the characters. And I think there was guns and all that good stuff.

Sounds like Venus Wars, but who knows, could have been something else.

[dshwshr55]

Of course, if you remember anything about Venus Wars, it's those one-wheeled motor bikes with the guns. For competitive racing.

[melchizedek]

when I went to the clackamas meetup, dakrum and I were the only ones there that were not in high school. 

Given that I am 28 I'm happy there were no jokes about it being pedobear approved. 

[uraharafreak]

Eh...I don't mind being considered "old" on here. Seriously I've almost always been the "youngest" in everything I did...work, school, and social groups...it's been refreshing not being that anymore. It's still a little weird, but whatev.

[dakiro]

when I went to the clackamas meetup, dakrum and I were the only ones there that were not in high school. 

Given that I am 28 I'm happy there were no jokes about it being pedobear approved. 

oi i remember that....(look in sig old name dakrum...) almost felt out of place if it wasnt for melchizedek i would have felt so awkward... XD

[pieisexactlythree]

Heh! I'm 31.  When I'm chatting with Meg, the subject always comes up: OMG this (what ever we're talking about) is older than Patrick, LOL!

[nintendiehard]

You know what I've found really helps?  Most of the younger members here, don't seem to mind that we're older. 
Even though it's never come up, I've always been worried about coming off as some sort of creepy older guy.  I'm glad don't treat us any different.

[reppy]

Well, eventually one day they'll be older fans too. I think a lot of younger fans were intrigued by DBZ, Naruto, etc, etc.. each wave brought a new influx of younger fans. Eventually they'll turn older fans and they'll complain about the new series everyone is watching, "Why, back in my day...!!"

[melchizedek]

You know what I've found really helps?  Most of the younger members here, don't seem to mind that we're older. 
Even though it's never come up, I've always been worried about coming off as some sort of creepy older guy.  I'm glad don't treat us any different.

Yeah, I think it bothers us > avg age con goers more than then those in their teens.  Deff right.

[laurifer]

We love you older people, so no worries

I tend to gravitate towards older people because older people tend to know better and are more mature. Usually. And I feel more comfortable too.

[DancingTofu]

I just came home from a DDR tournament (see sig; it looks like I did terribly but I actually did pretty well) with a bunch of older folks.  At 17, I was the youngest person there.

[megchan]

Eh. I'm 20, but I've been at con since I was 11, so even though I'm not that old, I FEEL REALLY FREAKING OLD at con.

I say things like "Harlock" or "Ranma" or "Kenshin" or "Future Boy Conan" and everyone gives me blank stares. I have to go in a corner, cry, and talk about the good old days of fansubs when you had to know somebody who knew somebody who knew someone else to get copies.

I appreciated that you're 21.

[TIMEcard]

I think the reason there isnt such a huge amount of older fans, is that the older you get, the more fans that are your age are weeded out because they arent true fans. I like the older con goers, they tend to be like sages of knowledge... or total d-bags who are like "I'm better than you."

[Oniyukai]

At San Diego comicon, I met a fifty-year-old Kaname (Full Metal Panic) cosplayer with gray hair... and she pulled it off...I hope whoever I'm married to looks like that at 50...oh yeah... I just turned 30...so yeah...I'm old...but whatever. I was the "dirty-old-man" at 18... didn't bother me then...doesn't bother me now...that and over the course of 10 years I've lost 70 pounds...so I think I look a lot-less-creepy at 30 then I did at 18.

Oh yeah...my first anime series was the G-Force/Speedracer double-feature  reruns (G-Force has since been corrected to Gotchamon: Battle of the Planets) on UHF channel 49 (1983).   
 

[Rathany]

Also keep in mind that people who are active on forums tend to be younger.  Way more than half the badges we are mailing out are adult badges.  And yes, some of that is parents and perhaps adults are just better at pre-registering, but there are plenty of 'older' fans at this con. 

And being olders means being able to go to the late night programming

I would be up for an 'older' meetup, if I could make it.  The days of my summer are filling up fast. 

[Mei Long]

Wow, this thread certainly has grown! Just shows how many adults really do hang out at the forums. =) Though I just turned 19 (which on average doesn't make me much of an adult age-wise) I've always found I gravitated, much like laurifer, to the "older crowd" for their maturity. Though my friends my age aren't immature (but know when to have fun, of course) I have met many 14-17 (and even up to 25) year olds who, frankly, needed a boot to the head. Dry-humping every "hot" person you see and making fun of every passerby who doesn't meet your approval is just a display of complete idiocy. Of course this doesn't apply to every person under 18, I'm just drawing this from a recent (and rather eye-opening) experience I had.

Though of course when it comes down to shows like LILY Cat, Venus Wars, Robot City, Demon City Shinjuku, 8 Man After, etc... I have no clue. Thaaat's when I feel like one of those "kids" ya'll are talkin' about. ^^;;;;

Personally, at an anime convention, I'd like to chill with some people who are mature enough to know not to do things that could bring police attention. =) Plus, fans older than myself are awesome because they give me hope that even when I'm older I can still be as much of an active anime fan as I am now. (Which was an honest fear when I was younger). Huzzah for older anime fans!!! =D

[Daxe]

HUZZAH!

[valliegirl]

I'm turning 28 in October.  *gasp!*  I need a coffin over here, stat!

I've been a fan of anime since I was 16, but loved animation in general for much longer than that.  I remember being a teenager and being told I was too old to still be watching cartoons.  I was living in Michigan at the time, the internet was in the process of becoming mainstream, and I was just very isolated.  I had a few friends that shared interests, but on the whole, I had a hard time finding a support system to geek out with.  Also, at the time, anime was impossible to find in Michigan.  What you got is what you could find on TV, which was badly edited Sailor Moon.  I found a store that sold bootleg video tapes straight from Japan.  Horrible quality and there's only like two episodes per tape, and they never had all the tapes you needed to have any clue of what was happening.

So, skip forward 16 years, I love Kumoricon for what it provides to fans of all ages.  We not only have this huge once a year event, but we have the mini event get togethers, the forums where people can chat openly, and fan held meet ups where you get 20 people in the area together to storm a movie theater on the opening night of the next big fandom movie.  I'm envious of people who discover this outlet when they're a teenager, because it's not just a convention, it's the support system I never had growing up.  I got involved because of friends, and I've made so many friends through the con, most of whom are around my own age, but there's a few teenagers I consider my friends as well.  People are people, no matter what age they are. 

So, when a teenager comes onto the forums and puts on a spaztasic OMG I NEVER KNEW THIS EXISTED!1! post, I just take a deep breath and remember back to when I was that age and know if I'd had this sort of a place to come to I probably would have been spazzy about it as well. 

As far as meetups are concerned, I don't think I've ever been to a meet up that's me and a bunch of teenagers.  And actually, most of the stuff I try to arrange it's people over 18 who show up, because teenagers don't have the freedom to just go where ever they want whenever they want.  And even if you are in the minority as far as your age group is concerned, you just hang out, listen, and have fun. 

If I meet someone who is older and has been a fan of anime longer than I've even known about it, I've got a huge amount of respect for that.  Because for the people who've been around, it's not a fad.  It's something they knew about way before it was mainstream, and they'll continue to watch anime long after the popular series of the year has been lost to obscurity.

[Prinz Eugen]

Wow, this thread has been lively...
Where to start...

I'm 26. It's a little older, but not to that point where I "shouldn't be watching cartoons" (I'll probably never reach that point).

I quit watching cartoons in the seventies. Now I watch ANIME.

I comfort myself in knowing that manga is aimed at every age and social group in Japan, even if it's mostly the younger stuff that gets brought over.

Runa and I were just watching one of the last eps of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, (2nd season) and they talked about that. In Japan one unexpected marketing channel was discovered when pachinko machine makers came out with anime-themed machines. Same bunch o' ball bearings and forests of pins, but the background pictures are Asuka, Rei, ("oldies!") and some newer stuff such as Code Geass, and game chara too. We saw these all over the party-sections of Tokyo when we were there last fall. What this has done is to plonk images from games, recent anime, and manga in front of the 47 to 57 year-old set. Now these guys wander over to Shinjuku and Shibyua and Ikebukuro to look for the source materials. The younger crowd kinda gets creeped out: 'EEuuwww, whats a man with a comb-over doing amonst all this shoujo-manga...'

Oh boy, I would hope that older fans would appreciate the advances dubbing's made even in the past ten years. We have dubs now that are WONDERFUL.

My biggest obstacle to listening to dub is that English doesn't grammatically mark social class or refinement the way Japanese does. So when I listen to court-level Japanese in a jidaigekki show, I can only imagine that English would sound 'plain' or 'ordinary,' because there's no grammatical equivalent to the Japanese signals that 'this person is noble,' or classy. A few days ago I accidentally ripped a 'Last Exile' ep with its English audio, and Sophia's English voice grated like a snarly airline stewardess having a bad hair day. Sorry, Julie Ann Taylor. But Yamazaki Wakana was just so much more ... classy sounding.

Hmmm,  I guess that makes Prinz Eugen and I...   ancient

Oh why, thank you... And I can remember Peter Graves too, Mr. Phelps. OK, my older sisters remember when his hair was brown.

Hey there's nothing wrong with a 6 year difference haha. It's just weird in this stage of life I guess XD

It only gets better with time. My wife and I are 6yrs apart, and one set of her grandparents were also six or so years apart. We will be married for only a few weeks shy of 18yrs over Kumoricon this year.

[Prinz Eugen]

I met a fifty-year-old Kaname (Full Metal Panic) cosplayer with gray hair... and she pulled it off..

There was a Magno (Grandma) from Vandread a few years ago at Kumoricon and I happened to be cosplaying her opposite - (Grandpa - who is never really named although he is Prime Minister of the planet Taraku.)

The number of anime CHARACTERS who happen to be older people is small but growing. Miyazaki often has a few seniors, but other series include GITS, Toward the Terra, Samurai 7, and certainly Bakamastu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto. (Lots of historical characters there, so lots of adult guys to pick from.) But it's often hard to get recognized; who here would know Wanyuudou from Jigoku Shoujo?

If I meet someone who is older and has been a fan of anime longer than I've even known about it, I've got a huge amount of respect for that.  Because for the people who've been around, it's not a fad.  It's something they knew about way before it was mainstream, and they'll continue to watch anime

A few years ago at a world-con (SF convention in Tacoma, WA) I met some SF fans in their EIGHTIES. These guys had been going to fandom conventions - like - during World War II. They drove 2 weeks out to the con and two weeks back because the big interstates hadn't been built yet. I was agog at their stories. Very little media, mostly SF readers, so costuming was its own challenge: Do you go for the author's description in the book, or the cover art?

long after the popular series of the year has been lost to obscurity.

And then there are series only a few years old but we immediately want to become 'lost to obscurity.' :-D

One thing the spread of age ranges shows is that anime has a lot to offer people in many different
walks of life. Not to say that fans under 25 all like x, y, & z and fans 30-45 all like j,k, & l, but that if you ask 10 fans what each likes most about anime, you'll likely get 10 different answers...

[laurifer]

Hey there's nothing wrong with a 6 year difference haha. It's just weird in this stage of life I guess XD

It only gets better with time. My wife and I are 6yrs apart, and one set of her grandparents were also six or so years apart. We will be married for only a few weeks shy of 18yrs over Kumoricon this year.

18 years is a long time! Happy early anniversary!

[DancingTofu]

teenagers don't have the freedom to just go where ever they want whenever they want.

True that; story of my life.   My grandparents tend to freak out whenever they realise I'm hanging out with a bunch 20-30yo's (not just at cons; at 17, I was the youngest person at DSR Squared out of about 50 people, and the next youngest was my friend Wesley at 19 I think).  I think that the freedom achieved with such stages of life as turning 18, going to college, turning 21, graduating college, etc actually add a lot of youth to people, so I often find that people in their 20's are far more energetic and fresh than people my age.

[Prinz Eugen]

teenagers don't have the freedom to just go where ever they want whenever they want.

True that; story of my life. Tongue  My grandparents tend to freak out whenever they realise I'm hanging out with a bunch 20-30yo's (not just at cons; at 17, I was the youngest person at DSR Squared out of about 50 people, ...

Yeah that was like my first con I went to. A bunch of friends who were SF fans took me along. We rode the bus into Boston and back for the weekend. My mom said "Where were you?" and "You went alone!?!"
- "No Ma, I went with seven or eight friends" (from highschool.)
- "So who was with you? A teacher?"
- "No, but we were a group of about nine."
- "YOU WENT ALONE!!!"

Translation: Anywhere you went without an adult was ALONE.

Even if there are thirty of you.

[nintendiehard]

Oh wow.  I've missed a lot.

Heh, well I can understand that.  Without an adult, I was pretty much alone too, and so my High School years tended to be kinda boring.
Unfortunately, my little sister gets all sorts of extra privileges that I never got.  *grumbling jealously*

But I'm glad now that I'm in college, and I can go where I want (for the most part).  I guess that's why I actually get to go this year! (and last year, if it had worked out).
I guess being older has some other advantages too eh?

What else do you all think is especially advantageous about being older?

[Higuma]

What else do you all think is especially advantageous about being older?

Having kids. My children and I have Anime in common and we can relate to each other that way. I enjoy Anime conventions as much as they do. It is so much fun to dress up my kids in cosplay and watch them enjoy all the pictures and hugs they get. Conventions have become our family vacations.

[nintendiehard]

Oh wow.  How old are the lil' chibi's?

[dshwshr55]

What else do you all think is especially advantageous about being older?

Gaming experience, of course!!
October (November?) 1985. Nintendo's NES opening day at Toys-R-Us. $200. Don't remember how many games debuted though.

If you can beat Contra without the Konami code or any continues, you have my respect! Games today are pretty easy, In my opinion.

[Higuma]

Oh wow.  How old are the lil' chibi's?

9,6, and 5

[nintendiehard]

Congratulations my friend!  Which ones have they gotten really into? 

[Higuma]

Congratulations my friend!  Which ones have they gotten really into? 

Neon Genesis evangelion, Sgt. Frog, .hack//roots, POKEMON, all miyazaki films, naruto, bleach, D.Gray man, Lucky Star, Haruhi Suzumiya, Beck, Cowboy Bebop and many more.

[Washougal_Otaku]

Regardless of whether you are young or old, if you only watch dubbed anime on t.v. you're missing out on a lot. Try hittin' up subtitled anime sometime and I'm sure that your horizons will be broadened.

But don't forget, sometimes the English dubbing is done better than the original Japanese, in terms of the voices matching lip movement.  (One of the reasons for this is because sometimes, when anime is being created, the drawings & the acting are done at the same time, so the actors have nothing to go off of).

Also, sometimes when you're watching subtitles, you miss out on what's actually happening, because you're so busy reading words.  At times it's better, because the translations may be more accurate, but that can also sometimes be a curse.  Some jokes in Japan wouldn't make sense in America, so they'd be better off changed.

Just something that I've observed in my years of watching cartoons from other nationalities, including our own.

[nintendiehard]

Neon Genesis evangelion, Sgt. Frog, .hack//roots, POKEMON, all miyazaki films, naruto, bleach, D.Gray man, Lucky Star, Haruhi Suzumiya, Beck, Cowboy Bebop and many more.

Wow, and they are able to understand what's going on in them?  Miyazaki's work is really good for kids though, I'll agree, but like Cowboy Bebop?

Regardless of whether you are young or old, if you only watch dubbed anime on t.v. you're missing out on a lot. Try hittin' up subtitled anime sometime and I'm sure that your horizons will be broadened.

But don't forget, sometimes the English dubbing is done better than the original Japanese, in terms of the voices matching lip movement.  (One of the reasons for this is because sometimes, when anime is being created, the drawings & the acting are done at the same time, so the actors have nothing to go off of).

Also, sometimes when you're watching subtitles, you miss out on what's actually happening, because you're so busy reading words.  At times it's better, because the translations may be more accurate, but that can also sometimes be a curse.  Some jokes in Japan wouldn't make sense in America, so they'd be better off changed.

Just something that I've observed in my years of watching cartoons from other nationalities, including our own.

I agree 110% with you!  I've always prefered Dub to Sub, mostly cos reading the subs takes attention away from the show (and I've just taken a 400 level class on Perception and Attention, so I should know ).  But yeah, kudos Wash.  I also prefer subs because it really lets American Voice Actors the opportunity to get some work, and apply their craft.  (Yeah, I'm a big voice acting nut...wanna be one when I grow up...get a little older.)

[DancingTofu]

What else do you all think is especially advantageous about being older?

Gaming experience, of course!!
October (November?) 1985. Nintendo's NES opening day at Toys-R-Us. $200. Don't remember how many games debuted though.

If you can beat Contra without the Konami code or any continues, you have my respect! Games today are pretty easy, In my opinion.

Despite the fact that it was less popular, I prefer the diversity of the Amiga/C64 line to the moar gamez of the NES line.  I really enjoyed my Amiga500 (until it broke) due to the fact that I could play such a wide variety of games.  It could play console-style games, arcade-style games, and computer-style games.  The full keyboard, 4.5" floppy drive, mouse, variety of joysticks, and killer graphics (for the time) really set it above other 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th gen consoles.  All it didn't have a was good engine for 3D, but neither did the Atari 2600, its main competitor.

I agree about newer games being way too easy.  I only ever beat 2 large-scale games that you can beat on my Amiga: Warlords (the strategic war game) and Settlers: Life is Feudal.  I don't think I ever got even close to the end of Super Frog, Chaos Engine: Soldiers of Fortune, or any of the other progressive storyline games I played on it.  I've also never gotten further than 54 stages on Bubble Bobble on one credit, a game which I consider myself very good at.  And 54 beat my old record of 45 stages. 

Anyway, this is getting off topic; we can talk about games in the gaming forum.

[BlackjackGabbiani]

I quit watching cartoons in the seventies. Now I watch ANIME.

...you DO realize that they're exactly the same thing, don't you? Because that statement smacks of elitism and is part of the reason non-Japanese animation has such a "kiddie" reputation no matter how many mature shows get released.

[dshwshr55]

I quit watching cartoons in the seventies. Now I watch ANIME.

...you DO realize that they're exactly the same thing, don't you? Because that statement smacks of elitism and is part of the reason non-Japanese animation has such a "kiddie" reputation no matter how many mature shows get released.

Whoa, now! Being the same thing is personal taste and relative, not scientific fact! With that in mind, let's put it to a vote.
Personally, I think "cartoons" have the kiddie reputation, and 90% of the population can tell a the difference between a mature show's animation style, and "cartoons" such as Garfield or something.
SO....Anime and cartoons are NOT the same thing!

[Washougal_Otaku]

Well, here's the thing, anime is a type of cartoon.  It's like a square is a type of rectangle, but a rectangle isn't a type of square.  So, there is a difference, a category with a sub-category, which has many sub-categories of its own, which includes "kiddie" & "adult."  BTW - There are "adult" cartoons here in the States, too, that aren't anime.

[nintendiehard]

I quit watching cartoons in the seventies. Now I watch ANIME.

...you DO realize that they're exactly the same thing, don't you? Because that statement smacks of elitism and is part of the reason non-Japanese animation has such a "kiddie" reputation no matter how many mature shows get released.

I still watch both actually, but that's beside the point.  I can see how people can make the differentiation though.  It's all in the culture.  Carrtoons in the US used to be for adults (not cos they were adult, just cos they contained concepts that children wouldn't understand).  This changed, but still cartoons were (and for the most part are) geared toward children, up to 14 or so.  It was only recently that adult cartoons came back into being, thanks in no small part to the fine folks a Williams Street.

Now Japan, in their anime and manga industry have been geared to a wide variety of ages, the most popular of which seeming more adult.  So many people can think of anime as being less juvanile, but really it's all in a peoples' perceptions.

[Higuma]

I quit watching cartoons in the seventies. Now I watch ANIME.

...you DO realize that they're exactly the same thing, don't you? Because that statement smacks of elitism and is part of the reason non-Japanese animation has such a "kiddie" reputation no matter how many mature shows get released.

I still watch both actually, but that's beside the point.  I can see how people can make the differentiation though.  It's all in the culture.  Carrtoons in the US used to be for adults (not cos they were adult, just cos they contained concepts that children wouldn't understand).  This changed, but still cartoons were (and for the most part are) geared toward children, up to 14 or so.  It was only recently that adult cartoons came back into being, thanks in no small part to the fine folks a Williams Street.

Now Japan, in their anime and manga industry have been geared to a wide variety of ages, the most popular of which seeming more adult.  So many people can think of anime as being less juvanile, but really it's all in a peoples' perceptions.

Also in the US there are no serious adult cartoon series like in anime, all the adult cartoons I see are comedys with not continuity through out the season. Each episode is has its own topic. So far only anime as adult series that actually tell a story over many episodes. Also I have never seen a main character die in US cartoons.

[melchizedek]

That's not true, they made spawn into a cartoon, lots of characters die in that.

[nintendiehard]

Sadly, Spawn is one of the few exceptions.  The fact is, that too many ill-educated parents (or those who think their educated enough) want to spare their children, and all children, from such unpleasantness.  That's why you don't see it all that often in American Cartoons.  Now, American comics see this enough, but comics aren't as popular as they once were, and so they don't get the negative attention either.  Blessing/curse.

[Prinz Eugen]

I quit watching cartoons in the seventies. Now I watch ANIME.

...you DO realize that they're exactly the same thing, don't you? Because that statement smacks of elitism and is part of the reason non-Japanese animation has such a "kiddie" reputation no matter how many mature shows get released.

OF COURSE I REALIZE IT - I WAS BEING **SILLY!!**

But I *do* have my elitist hot-flashes now and then (see partway down below) - though I'm happy to admit they're just my own opinions and preferences.

But don't forget, sometimes the English dubbing is done better than the original Japanese, in terms of the voices matching lip movement.

US audiences care much more about lip-sync and timing than the Japanese. Also Japanese animators only use three generic mouth positions: full open, partway open, and closed. Maybe it's because of the 47 character syllabaries  they use, compared to the roughly 4,000 syllables in English. I remember hand animating a fourth mouth position for the long 'o' in "BLOWN UP SIR!!" in the Chibi Things vs. .50BMG AMV I made a few years ago. The Gundam animators never had their characters round their lips (like when you whistle.)

<SILLY ELITISM>

Also, sometimes when you're watching subtitles, you miss out on what's actually happening, because you're so busy reading words.  At times it's better, because the translations may be more accurate, but that can also sometimes be a curse.

What happens over time is that:
a) You become deadly with your media player's pause hot-key. Space-bar for me, it's the biggest target!
b) your reading speeds increase, especially when there's dialogue below and a cultural note which explains the joke above.
c) If you start learning Japanese by means of the subtitles, you find yourself understanding more and more of the language as it is sopken, and your eyes are only scanning the English subtitles to locate one or two words you don't get. This is like raising the training wheels on your child-size bike.
d) the glorious next step to that (and I'm not there yet) is to take the training wheels off completely - watch the RAWS! (and I'm almost there!)

Some jokes in Japan wouldn't make sense in America, so they'd be better off changed.

For me this is my chance to learn about Japanese culture so I can 'get' the joke in its original context. "NAN DE YA NEN!" (whack!) For example: learning WHY characters get hit with large wash basins from above/offscreen.
</SILLY ELITISM>

Just something that I've observed in my years of watching cartoons from other nationalities, including our own.

Cool! I've watched Asterix, and some particlularly cherished Swiss animation I still have on VHS: One is about life and growing up in Quebec, 1920s - 1980s, and the other is a beautiful, beautiful story about a man who plants acorns all over a dessicated section of southern France and reforests an entire region, even raising the water table so that long abandoned Gallo-Roman villages become reinhabited...
]http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'homme_qui_plantait_des_arbres]

Smurfs were originally German animation, weren't they?

What other countries' animation do people watch? (OK Wayyyy off topic by now...)

[Washougal_Otaku]

Also, sometimes when you're watching subtitles, you miss out on what's actually happening, because you're so busy reading words.  At times it's better, because the translations may be more accurate, but that can also sometimes be a curse.

What happens over time is that:
a) You become deadly with your media player's pause hot-key. Space-bar for me, it's the biggest target!
b) your reading speeds increase, especially when there's dialogue below and a cultural note which explains the joke above.
c) If you start learning Japanese by means of the subtitles, you find yourself understanding more and more of the language as it is sopken, and your eyes are only scanning the English subtitles to locate one or two words you don't get. This is like raising the training wheels on your child-size bike.
d) the glorious next step to that (and I'm not there yet) is to take the training wheels off completely - watch the RAWS! (and I'm almost there!)

Okay, you're taking on the assumption that, when everyone watches subbed anime, it's on their own computer.  For me, about 80% of my Japanese-dubbed anime is watched from someone else's system, so I have no control over it.

Some jokes in Japan wouldn't make sense in America, so they'd be better off changed.

For me this is my chance to learn about Japanese culture so I can 'get' the joke in its original context. "NAN DE YA NEN!" (whack!) For example: learning WHY characters get hit with large wash basins from above/offscreen.
</SILLY ELITISM>

Okay, I mean spoken jokes, not cases where someone gets smacked by something; I'm talking about puns or references to something that the average Japanese person would get, but not necessarily an American.

Just something that I've observed in my years of watching cartoons from other nationalities, including our own.

Cool! I've watched Asterix, and some particlularly cherished Swiss animation I still have on VHS: One is about life and growing up in Quebec, 1920s - 1980s, and the other is a beautiful, beautiful story about a man who plants acorns all over a dessicated section of southern France and reforests an entire region, even raising the water table so that long abandoned Gallo-Roman villages become reinhabited...
]http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'homme_qui_plantait_des_arbres]

Smurfs were originally German animation, weren't they?

What other countries' animation do people watch? (OK Wayyyy off topic by now...)

I've also watched British (that's some weird stuff!), Israeli, Mexican, Chinese, Korean, Australian, German, and Russian.  As for the Smurfs, I personally have no idea.

[Cassiopeia]

I've also watched British (that's some weird stuff!), Israeli, Mexican, Chinese, Korean, Australian, German, and Russian.  As for the Smurfs, I personally have no idea.

What Israeli shows? Just wondering if I know 'em.