Let’s be honest the western anime industry wouldn’t have half its problems if all of the people in the industry didn’t treat its customers like little more than walking ATM machines to be discarded like trash once they run out of money.

Being a western anime fan supporting the western anime industry is like being a simp, except you don’t even get to pretend someone cares about you, because the industry actively hates its consumers. Blaming the fans for not wanting to be a part of that is laughable.

There is no further proof of this than the current supporters of the industry: people who go around saying “YAS SLAY KWEEN” as their favorite voice actors wish rape and murder on people they have Twitter beef with, who live vicariously through their Twitter idols to “own” people.

Current supporters will try to defend it by saying “we’re just trying to make the anime community safer” but does it look safe to you? Getting into twitter fights to own the chuds and cheering on your preferred VA wishing rape on others sounds like the opposite.

It’s just another parasocial relationship, writ large. Don’t tell me that your stupid anime debates and YouTube vids matter in real life. You know how people with real jobs like me see it? We bring it up as jokes among friends and colleagues to mock you as utter failures in life.

I barely even watch anime anymore, personally. The last anime I watched was Full Metal Panic Invincible Victory, and that was a sequel to a series I’d been following since the early 2000s. So this is all from a relative outsider perspective.

If you asked me to get back into the anime community now, I’d laugh in your face and say “hang with those losers? No way. They need to grow the fuck up already.” Believe me, most people are more along my line of thought than theirs.