Parents + Anime — A Teen’s Point of View

May 25, 2008 at 1:10 pm | Posted in Life | 19 Comments
Tags: Anime, Cosplay, Manga, parents, yaoi, yuri

 I’m pretty sure we all know this, but not every parent is like Konata’s father in accepting/supporting anime. Some may outright oppose it. Personally, my parents don’t mind it (They joke with me about it still, sometimes sarcastically making fun of me for my love of Anime), but I do know of people whose parents aren’t like that.

 

Let’s first explain what my parents know about Anime. They both know what Yaoi and Yuri mean. My dad knows what the plot is for Gravitation. My mom knows what Cosplay is, and helps me make my cosplays. My dad has seen the Hare Hare Yukai. My parents know what Pocky is and order me some from time to time. My dad has seen anime with a panty shot in it (Not even kidding). And they know I prefer Japanese Music to English music and don’t mind it (Though it does help them know who’s music is too loud between me and my sister. ;3)

Now, for some of you, I bet the fact they know what Yaoi and Yuri are is a bit of a shock. Well, understand that my parents don’t care if a person is homosexual or not. Most of the reason they know is because at an Anime Convention some friends had the Yaoi/Yuri paddles, so I told him what they meant. But think about it, if it’s something you enjoy, why shouldn’t your parents understand it? Or at least know about it, since some anime/manga isn’t even understandable to those who watch it. Don’t expect parents to be like Konata’s father, at least not yet in America. Once our Generation gets to having kids, we might just see parents like that, showing their children anime and games and supporting it in the way Konata’s dad does. =3

Moving along, Let me bring in examples of those on the other side. I recently went to a small Anime Event at a local library, and my mom told me after we left she had been speaking to the parents hanging around waiting for their kids to come out. She said that most of them didn’t know who these characters were, what anime they were from, nor did they understand it. I’ve been hunting the manga shelves in Walden Books a while ago. Some girl came over and picked up a manga (I believe it was Full Metal Alchemist if I remember correctly), and headed over to her mother, hiding the manga underneath another book (Not a manga). Me and my mom overheard the girl’s mom tell her to put the manga back and that it’s not a book. *Ahem* It’s bound like a book, it has words like a book, and it’s sold in a book store, No no of course it’s not a book. (/sarcasm)

So, how can you get parents to understand anime? Well, show them some shows. If you cosplay, while working on one, start up a conversation about what show the character’s from, the character’s back story and such. Then they’ll know who you are in the show, and if the show is interesting to them, maybe pop in a DVD or two and show them an episode. Bring your parents to understand it, just take a step at a time. Maybe they’ll get interested and do their own research on the show, or maybe start asking who it is you’re dressing up as this time. ^w^ If you help your parents understand it, they will most likely be willing to listen. If it makes you happy and you enjoy they probably want to know what the whole thing is about.

Oh… and as a side note, My dad saw the panty shot while doing voice over. Tottally not my choice for him to see a panty shot.