You know, I've had a rough week with some anime fans in general. Some of them have been here on animepaper, others on anime-planet, others in general just in games or, life itself, or whatever, and these experiences have finally gotten my motivation up to say what I want to say about the anime fan base.

Let me first begin by saying that in my experiences at multiple conventions, across multiple sites based for anime fans, and in talking with real anime fans in general, the average age that seems to be the industry's main source of profit seems to fall in between 14-17. Now, despite what others may argue, in particular the participants of anime-planet, in saying that most of the members registered there come out to the average age of 25, there is a difference between being older than 17 and acting older than 17, and this is never more prominent at anime conventions. In fact, there was an ironic and rather disturbing episode I saw at this years Tekko and, although I'd rather put it behind me, I will reflect on. You see when walking down the hall towards the very crappy artist alley that year I frequently saw an older woman, say late 20s to early 30s, weighing about 400 pounds at least, and in some scientifically contradictory state in which she can walk on her two feet still without having to waddle like a penguin from her massive weight, holding the hand of a 2-4 year old kid whom I can only presume to be her child. The obese woman was cos-playing none-the-less, which only helped to prove my more longer standing beliefs of the anime business and conventions in general in that some people should learn that they are in no physical way able to cos-play and are so bad that they should be legally bound by a court to be barred from doing such. Putting this argument aside, the mere sight of the woman arose some daunting questions about me, in which now I will explain:

Question 1: Why does this woman insist on cos-playing when it would be an inevitable bankrupting procedure to find enough material to make and sew the costume for her ocean of skin at her weight and still be able to pay for gas to get to the actual con?

Question 2: Why does this woman still enjoy, to the point of fanaticism (because anyone who cos-plays is inevitably fanatical about whatever they are cos-playing as) about a game whose targeted audience is that of one who have not received their high school diploma yet?

Question 3: In my life I've had some relationships with the opposite sex that have not worked out, and alas I am not bitter about them and do not much care for any significant other right now, but then again no one likes to walk down the road of life alone. Knowing this is a normally agreeable and accepted fact, how did this woman manage to find someone who didn't mind riding the waves of the Pacific Ocean to actually perform sexual intercourse with her.

Question 4: Since she does have a kid from sexual intercourse is it safe to assume that the more weight you have the less like birth control pills work (i.e. the effectiveness of birth control pills is inversely proportional to the person's own body fat/weight)?

Question 5: How drunk was he?

I was obviously very disturbed at the site, but it only goes to further prove the fanatical tunneled-vision of anime fans in general.

The next point is the popularity of some series. Main stream anime is normally made for TV series that get wildly popular, which is fine in an advertising stand-point, because it spreads anime's influence and market. However, mainstream anime essentially follow the same path, or at least the companies that make the anime that break into the mainstream do, and this path is normally one of trying to milk the cow for all it's worth and ride the boat as far as it can before sinking. The problem with this is that the boats don't sink, and they normally tend to be made out of rotten tree twigs in terms of storyline. I'm going to target Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, DeathNote, and DBZ. You see a lot of these anime that go mainstream tend to abandon the idea of storytelling in order to offer what is known as "filler episodes" between actual plot related-episodes. This draws the series out, which makes it more DVDs in the collection, which makes it cost more. Now normally an intelligent consumer would just avoid these because of the poor story and production ideals, but as we have established, the anime fan averages 14-17 years old in nature, and so this means that the minds of those who spend the most money on the industry, have not developed any advanced tastes at all. I'm sure mostly anyone can agree that if they look back at what they were doing 7-10 years ago, most of them would question how they were mentally stable. The age at which the human begins to have these feelings of regret and shame towards their past self is around the age of 25, the average age when the human brain stops developing physically. This means that 7 years earlier was age 18, roughly one year after the average age group, and that 10 years earlier is age 15, obviously in the 14-17 year old target range. This can only help explain why popular, yet absolutely terribly written stories like Bleach, and Naruto, and One Piece essentially become popular. This is also why companies like Capcom, Atari, and Square Enix survive off games that are repetitions of whatever former glory they achieved, such as the Devil May Cry series with it's new installment, DMC 4, and Final Fantasy with its latest atrocity, FF 12. The fan base that supports this kind of rubbish though essentially does not know that they essentially kill the anime industry because of the non-extinguishable resource. You see a large group of people (hard to say whether they are the majority or not) after the age of 25-30 begin to fall out with anime and video gaming, either because of time constraints or the lack of individual interest, which means that after the fanatical ages the anime fan, their numbers essentially dwindle. The ages of 14-17 though are always fanatical and never run out, since the human population essentially replaces itself, and thus elder anime fans essentially get kicked out into the streets. You see, anime companies that tend to care about the product they make and generally work towards the common goal of captivating the world over, not just the anime business, tends to get the work they do overlooked, and essentially selling underneath that of what it rightfully should. Good examples of these anime are The Cockpit, URDA, Kino's Journey, Ranma 1/2 (seasons 1 + 2), and the Big O. Now although some would argue the popularity of a series like Kino or Big O, they obviously do not sell like a Bleach or Gundam Seed / Seed Destiny (both of which were crap), and this essentially kills companies that tend to want to make a product that will revolutionize. This tells the industry that there is not point in making any anime worth watching if you can half-ass a storyline and still make more than what you would if you actually put a hard days work into it, and thus the under-age appeal kills the industry slowly. Another problem is the fact that the disposable income of a man of the age of 23 is by far not on the level of that of a 16 year old because the 16 year old can either a work without having to pay off any kind of monthly or timely installation of payments, and that the 16 year old can receive unlimited disposable funds from those who provide for him. Essentially this allows him to out-purchase the elder anime fans, and so the anime industry weakens off of the fact that they are now, more and more than ever, developing anime that do not fit the audience of those over 20. This means that veteran anime fans are essentially shadowed and filtered out of the business by its own means and so, the fanatical fans who don't know any better spoil the chances of anything good to come for the over-20 year old.

This brings me back to cos-playing, as a series that generally was decent, or so I have been told (jury is still out for me on it) is DeathNote, but then every lazy anime fan ruins the anime by thinking that just because the main character dresses in a white under-shirt with khakis and a belt, anyone can pull it off, and essentially you get a bunch of people walking around the convention like they just woke up for the day and are trying to get a cup of Joe and some bacon on their way out the door. This helps destroy the cos-playing industry in which, despite it being fanatical in nature is still respectable as an art form in nature.

The conclusion of all of this is that in the end the more adult and veteran anime fan is kicked to the curb by a society that cannot decipher anything or judge it on a complete and un-biased manner, thus leaving them to swallow anything offered to them and ask for more like they were all trying out for the lead roll of an Oliver Twist film. Normally this self-implosion of the industry would have happened in the 90s, but a golden age errupted like in any culture, and so the inevitable was delayed. After the last of the golden age in 2002, it was clear the anime industry was headed for a decline, with the now 14-17 age group that had the pleasure of living through the 90s essentially see the industry crumble and out grow them. Essentially the anime buisness is only going to improve when the number of elderly anime fans rise, which would allow the freedom of companies to target more specific and individual age groups, but as the over-whelming majority essentially more than quadruples that of the experienced anime fan, the industry can only fluctuate economically to axe its elder members, and so the interest level of people like me will begin to decline, despite other wishes for it not to do so.