I'm gonna do a thread that's gonna cost me followers, but it needs to be said. This is about anime, & the way white people need to examine how their critiquing it.

I know you're not used to things being not about you, but critiquing anime from a white lens is racist.

I'm a Japanese American. I actively read/consume diverse media across all mediums. I almost *never* come across any media that accurately portrays my understanding of being Japanese.

*Except anime*. It is my sole mirror to recognize this aspect of myself.

Do y'all know what Asian glow is? I have that, and I've *never* seen it shown in any media that wasn't anime. To the Western world, I don't exist.

There is Japan and there is the West, there are no Japanese Americans, so if I want to see Japanese anything, it has to be mainland.

This means that I have to look past the elements that may not ring true to me, the parts that may seem harmful given my Western background.

But the trick is, I *can* see past these bc I was raised Japanese. I was brought up with those values, those expectations, etc.

That means when an old, Japanese grandmother says "Why are you so fat?" in an anime, I can acknowledge that that's fatphobic while also acknowledging that's just the way it is.

Japanese culture *is* fatphobic. It's also misogynistic & queerphobic & sometimes abusive.

But guess what, white people! So is *your* culture. The US is fatphobic and queerphobic and misogynistic and sometimes abusive.

The difference is that your Western defaults tell you that the way you do it is normal and the way Japan does it is harmful. That's how you critique.

I talked about Yuri On Ice once and was told I couldn't mention enjoying it without calling out the fact that Yuri is mocked for gaining weight.

But y'all love shows & movies where people are scared to eat carbs. Is that not fatphobia?

Mocking a person for gaining weight is fatphobic, but in Japanese culture, the context changes. Not just bc it's normalized but bc it's often *loving*.

Words that are seen as "abusive" in the West are used as terms of endearment for a lot of Japanese. This context matters.

Because at the end of the day, these are cultural elements that shape us. I have been weight-shamed my whole life, but I don't fit a white understand of fat or fat-hatred.

I can't speak on these things in a society that first and foremost doesn't acknowledge my existence in it.

My experience with weight is informed by my Japanese heritage, and the implication that I'm not allowed to see or deconstruct that experience bc it's harmful to *your* experience is cruel.

Anime wasn't made for white people & Japanese culture wasn't made for your consumption.

My experiences with homophobia, and abuse, and self-image, and love cannot be separated from my Japaneseness and neither can these shows.

The cultural context of being Japanese changes the subtleties and nuances behind every element that y'all never stop to question.

You're welcome to view and enjoy it, but you're *not* in the right to critique how it handles things you have no understanding of.

And for white people to try to save or change a culture is a long, racist history I don't have the time to get into.

The point is that you are a visitor here. You are visiting the elements of Japanese culture that Japanese people have agreed to share with you.

You don't visit someone's house and spit on their plants. You are an observer. Let Japanese people rearrange their own furniture.

Also, it'a just straight up gross to imply that Japanese people and activists aren't doing the work so you need to step in.

You *don't* need to step in. Fix your own house before you try to fix someone else's.