Crunchyroll Brigade: The Community of Anime Enthusiasts

                                     Source: GoBoiano                                                                         Source: Most Valuable Software

I've become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live - if I'm able to, then perhaps I'll be closer to portraying a true expression of love - Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese film director, animator, author and feminist

   Anime enthusiasts voiced their opinions on the representation of women in anime and manga via the online genre of social media. Reddit, Facebook and Tumblr allowed people with the same interests to communicate and contribute to this topic, which they were knowledgeable about. People passionate about Japanese animation also visited websites such as Crunchyroll and Watchcartoonsonline to develop communities and raise awareness of their favorite shows. 


  Below are three conversations I had with Facebook friends who appreciated anime and belonged in this stakeholder. I discovered that they shared similar opinions about sexism present in anime and concluded that it was the author's choice to depict their work of fiction as a member of ecchi, or sexualized entertainment. Each person indicated their favorite aspects of anime and manga, which were primarily characterized by content that was relatable to their lives. 

  Another area where I researched how fictional women are characterized was Reddit. People belonging to the "Anime" subreddit used lexis unique to each anime, such as moe, or when characters display cute and innocent behavior. Below is my initial question to Redditors, which involves evidence about the origin of anime and how it characterized women of certain appearances and attitudes. In regards to their responses, I included the 2 best that answered the question with developed vocabulary and awareness of the anime examples that I mentioned. The TV Tropes that the user Terranwaterbender is referring to can be found here. Their opinion, as well as Draco_Estella's evidence that "Clannad" is not a harem cosplay changed my initial thoughts that each female character surrounding Okazaki as the male lead was solely for romantic purposes. 

   The last part of the research process relating to anime enthusiasts was when I visited a Tumblr blog created by Brianna, an avid anime and manga fan. Despite the fact that she lives in Canada, she shared similar views with the other people living in the United States who I gathered information from. Her knowledge about anime and mangaka, the authors of the graphic novel format, was profoundly shown in the examples she provided. 

   Overall, the anime enthusiast stakeholder was effective in providing knowledge about an array of genres found in this form of entertainment. They were either representative of sexism present in anime or the fact that women were portrayed this way because of Japan's cultural perspective on expressing sexuality.