Relating to younger fans...

[labsenpai]

At the same time, I enjoy being around to remind everyone that Japanese cartoons didn't just spring forth out of thin air sometime in 2009.

Amen. I think I'll try to take part in a local college event in the Spring - vend some of my museum-grade stuff just taking up space. Maybe I'll put something on the table that isn't main stream and take bets here on the # of college kids that can identify it

I think many of us would have to be in a position to take early retirement in order to hit the convention circuit again. I'll just have to tell the bosses at HQ that after 17 years I'm really just an otaku at heart.

[Drew_Sutton]

I can't say that I have a problem with anime conventions being filled with younger people because after all, that's what these things are for, they're for young people. That isn't to say that people of all ages can't enjoy anime, but there's a target age range we're talking about, and I ain't in it. At the same time, I enjoy being around to remind everyone that Japanese cartoons didn't just spring forth out of thin air sometime in 2009. I think at this stage of the game I'd be bored just attending a show, and if I didn't have panels or events to present and to give me a point of engagement with the crowd, I would probably stay home.

This is me. I like being at shows where I have something to do other than meander around; I much prefer to have some panels to present to get a conversation going. Part of the problem I have with relating to 'younger fans' is often that I have little point of reference without something else drawing us together - and it's got to be wider than "we're here at this anime con".

Since I often don't keep up with modern anime, I often don't have a mutual point of reference with younger fans. Unless we're both in that "Best of 1986" panel or they're rocking an Uesugi Tatsuya cosplay, this is me in a hallway conversation at a con:

https://media0.giphy.com/media/ifxLK48cnyDDi/giphy.gif

And that's not to say there's anything wrong with them, either! They've not been exposed to, or maybe they don't like, the things I like. Anime is a wide medium and it takes all types.

I feel like I have a hard time relating with fans of my own generation but that's probably not less a generational thing and more a difference in fan mentality (I meet very few people who are into the background details of creators of the media they love to consume - anime/manga/games or otherwise).

I was a lot like you: In my twenties, I had a hard time relating to fans my own age because I had 8 - 10 years of this anime stuff behind me while a lot of people I was around had only been into it for a few years. Now I don't relate to 20 year olds because we don't typically watch the same stuff nor do I relate to 30 year olds ... because we don't watch the same stuff

[SteveH]

I'm pretty much with Dave on the whole philosophy of con-going, minus being a productive content provider. A few times I've kind of somehow bulled my way into being on a panel and it's been decent, I speak in a generally entertaining manner but I just don't have the wherewithal to actually DO a panel, do the work, make a slideshow or PowerPoint or whatever. I need a production assistant for that.

Just put me on stage and turn me loose. I can keep attention for an hour or so.

If only I had the power of the Mike Toole voice. That man has blessed vocal cords.

I am surrounded by friends (well I consider them friends) I envy for their skill and talent. Dave, Sean (Colony Drop and Zimmerit.moe are awesome!), Mike, the brave AWO crew, others.

I'm just Vic Morrow hanging out in the space bar or maybe Richard Boone in the Last Dinosaur, stumping about all grumpy.

[PinkAppleJam]

In the UK there's sort of been a split in events. I class them as conventions and events, despite their names. I attend mainly as a seller (illustration and comics), rarely as an attendee.

The UK does not have huge hotel capacity so these are the options we have for fandom. I find each 'category' brings it's own attitudes. Some work better for me, personally

● The events I really like are the smaller ones in hotels. There are many panels run by fans. Even if kids have just git into anime, it is usually uni students who can attend and afford the con rate and hotel room rate. You pay your money, you enjoy the environment. I attend as a convention-goer because of the fun atmosphere.
● There are bigger anime cons held at Uni campuses, which are a bit more tiresome and halls of residence are as noisy as I remember in my student days. It takes a lot for me to attend these. Many are cosplayers. Sometimes I sell art at these but it is exhausting to do that and have no sleep, especially as a chronically ill person I have not done these for years to be honest.
● There have been a number of "comic conventions" popping up in sports halls. These are attended by families and kids. Many cosplay. They are usually 1 day events in towns and cities. they act as introductory events for newcomers. They often do not spend money, expecially if it costs £20 or so for a family to get in So they have to be local for me to be worth it. As an oldskooler there I've seen everything before, so I attend as a seller.
● Comic cons and events like MCM ReedPOP (who run NYCC) just bought out MCM Comic Con in the UK, so the first of their events has yet to be seen in 2018. I can't see much change, but I am hoping it will assist small press like myself. Everyone attends. Financially as a seller it is worth it as indie comickers get discounted tables. But demand for these are high. It's very much a sales brand event. But as they are so large I see oldskool friends and they find me behind m table, so it's a nice social event too

IMO at the mo, the best part of being an older fan is seeing old franchises get reboots. Then you can drift in from out of nowhere like "ohh, my sweet summer childe", to tell stories about the good old days about a mutual IP (Devilman Crybaby etc etc). They won't know about Danzig releasing Devilman comic under Verotik, the awwwful dub and so on. It helps connect

Maybe a lot of the disconnect problem is to do with mouthy people with no respect and too much time with a keyboard and internet connection. The inability to listen/read correctly, jump to assumptions then get hissy when trying to correct, god forbid even join in with stories. It's like you're taking away a supposedly special something. Makes no sense - anime has been around for years. Then again maybe that attitude say says a lot about our political climate in the western speaking English world too, but that's a whole hive of wasps I am not even gonna go near..!!

[Guyver I]

I can understand what's been said, on some level; at 33, there's still a decent amount of stuff I'm interested in at anime conventions, be it older shows or more recent series that I'm watching. I've noticed not as many panels with voice actors, domestic or otherwise in recent years, as well as more of an emphasis on cosplay for the sake of cosplay, as opposed to showing one's interest in a particular show or character. But, I think that's just the trend at any convention, now. I think that's a whole other discussion about what constitutes a convention, these days, really.

But, to be honest, I can't say I ever really related to a lot of other anime convention attendees. Most people I would meet, that were around my age at least, were interested in what was on Toonami at the time, whereas I was interested in older shows, which were mostly fansubbed at the time. And that's not a slight against anyone, like whatever you what - it just meant there really wasn't a great deal to talk about with most folks that I encountered. Within a year or two, my friends from school, who were, for the most part, more interested in the live action tracks than anime, started coming with me, and it ended up being trips for us, more than anything else, for years.

I've usually found more people that I share common interests with at general science fiction and comic conventions.

Now, for the most part, I only go to conventions if I'm on a panel or giving a lecture.

[DKop]

I find more of a drive to be at a con as a contributor than as a attendee. I've been at this mindset that the older I get, the more people who are current fans don't know a lot about anime and I feel the need to beat them with the holy anime bible of their cluelessness to a "convert or die" (ok not really, but knowledge is power right).

I think that with all the knowledge I possess and will continue to possess, people need to know what I know if they like anime so much. They don't have to like what I know, but to be aware that there is more to anime than just shows in the past 5 years if they are willing to dive into that abyss of the unknown, where you can get lost for a long time just digging old shows, movies, OVA and the craziness that comes with them. You can't make people go back in the past with you, but there are some that would like to and don't know where to start. Thats where us old farts come in (even though im 32, and in anime years im a grandpa to the anime teen crowd).

I liked the fact that AWA is a con that appeals to both newer and older anime fans with the stuff in the dealers room. Seeing artifacts of old Gundam MSiA Figures that were released in america when Gundam was getting big over 15 years ago is such a big time capsule for me, and finding vinyl records to shows that interest me that I don't even think most knowledgeable anime fans even know about or care to know that just happen to cater to my interest. I think with anime we can all agree in a large community to like something, but we all got our own weird and obscure show we hold onto that we don't think no one can appreciate as much as we do, and finding another person who has that interest in that weird thing just connects us even more (Sol Bianca is my jam!)

So if I get a chance to do a panel on something that I want to talk about and more than 5 people show up too it, mission accomplished for me. Its 5 more people knowing about a thing that they didn't before, and its up to them on how they want to take that information.

[Guyver I]

I absolutely agree, like I said, in wanting to be a contributor in some way, than anything else when going to conventions. On some level, I can freely admit that I feel better if I can "justify" going, by doing a panel or helping out with the program guide or anything else, given the high costs of conventions these days. But, a lot of the draw for me will always be a love of the genre and the nostalgia of, not only things in the dealer's room or in the screening rooms, but just the "feel" of an anime convention - they certainly have a character, all their own.

Regarding wanting to show younger attendees that there's more than the shows of the last 5 years or so, I've had some friends of mine asking if I think the younger crowd (good Lord, I feel old just typing that) even care about older shows; if, in today's convention scene, wherein the social cred of being seen as a "nerd" or "geek" or whatever, is valued over an actual, in-depth interest in the subject matter, can anything more than superficiality matter? While I do think that's a lot of what we see today, I don't think it's the entirety, by any means. In lectures I give where I bring many older series into the discussion (Lovecraft's Influence in Anime, being a successful one I've done a few times the last couple of years), there is large attendance, a curious (and informed) audience, and tons of follow-up questions regarding some of the shows mentioned. I feel bad showing them parts of Roots Search but, hey, it's relevant to the topic, haha.

[_D_]

The only things I got asked to contribute in the past couple years were my games machines so bored kids had something to do. After losing equipment at several cons, none of my equipment is going anywhere. If the con has enough money to afford expensive guests, they have enough to get much less expensive games machines. No one here is asking about my expertise on old shows. They know me from years ago or I may have introduced them to con going 20 or 30 years ago. So, it's not in local plans to have anything at all for us "old timers"...

[PinkAppleJam]

Hear hear regards providing some form of content; when growing up I'd write and/or draw something for most convention booklets, now my partner comes to comes with me and he always does a talk. Sometimes we sell stuff we make, sometimes we just socialise.

However I think there's a huge problem with elitist content consumption nowadays and the entitled attitude that comes from it. Lots of people poo-pooing stuff other people provide for conventions, stuff they make, or even if they aren't Japanese - it's pretty rubbish. I find that's the big grind I have with younger fans... but some fans who are old enough to know better have also fallen down that rabbit hole too.

[Fvlminatvs]

I have been a bit hesitant to post on this thread for sometime, now, because this is a topic that could easily descend into griping and complaining without actually addressing the very real generation gap I see within anime fandom.

A lot of things changed during the 1990s and Gen X'ers like myself grew up in the old fandom. Even internet access was largely primitive and didn't enable sharing of anime until dial-up was surpassed by faster access that was also cost-effective for the individual. Anime fandom in Japan started to really shift as well. What Patrick Galbraith calls "Normative Otaku" seem to have started fading into obscurity, replaced by what he calls the "Moe Otaku." Otakudom in Japan changed a great deal between the late 1990s and 2010 or so. Toshio Okada has said a lot of controversial things about that. I think in Japan the older otaku also have a lot of difficulty engaging with younger otaku, as evidenced by Okada himself.

Anime itself changed a great deal as well. It isn't just about technology. Foreign investment had a huge impact on changes in anime. In his book, Anime: A History, for example, Jonathan Clements cites Afro Samurai as one of the anime that was designed based on what Americans imagined anime to be and not on what the Japanese perceive it. That crashed in 2008 or so when a lot of licensing companies went under. However, streaming services are reviving the foreign investment juggernaut and it is becoming a real concern among some Japanese critics and fans that it could change anime in a lot of ways they might not like.

That and the Gen Y/Millennial fandom is also very fractured in its preferences. There's a ton of anime produced each year--more in one season than in an entire year in the 90s. Ease of access has also helped to fracture the fanbase. You can watch certain genres and NEVER go outside of those spheres and still have plenty of anime to watch. We couldn't do that. For these young kids, being an "anime fan" that watches a wide variety is not as common as being, say, a shounen fighting fan, for example.

While we had older fans who could help us get a hold of good old stuff and round out our history (the "know your roots" sort of thing), the Gen Y/Millennials are often ignorant of anything older than Toonami and in fact, I've seen people on other sites who haven't even seen anything from the 1990s, let alone before, and many of these kids are actively turned-off by older animation and art styles.

I've been able to talk to a few younger people and get them into older stuff. However, it isn't easy. You have to be patient and you have to be willing to just give up on some of them because there are plenty of obstinate newer fans that just think old stuff is "dumb and boring" and "looks like crap." Those few, though, who are willing to give it a try are worth the time.