I GOT BULLIED FOR LIKING ANIME

It’s been a while since I’ve been here. 

No need for the re-introduction. 

I’ve been good. I pray you have been good too. 

Let’s talk. 

This may shock some of you who have been reading my blog for years. 

I have a TikTok account. 

*Gasp* 

I posted a video on TikTok where I discussed my annoyance with the “I was bullied for liking anime” personality trait. I call it a personality trait because the majority of nerds use that fact like a draw four uno card every 3-5 business days. Doesn’t matter what the subject is of the conversation. They will bring up that they were bullied for liking anime and I really don’t know what they want the reaction to be. 

Personally. I have a “Get the fuck over it” attitude when I hear people say that shit because there’s no action behind it. There’s no redemption story. There’s no explanation of a downward spiral and how they survived that downward spiral. There’s no offered solutions for themselves or for younger people who are possibly going through the same bullying. It’s just that I got bullied for watching anime and that’s it. Silence. 

I was made fun of for watching anime. I remember being made fun of by a girl for collecting Pokemon cards. The same girl had a crush on me years later. I curved her. Life is funny. I was made fun of for liking nerdy shit but I was able to handle it on my own. Everyone isn’t able to handle it on their own and I’ve known this all my life. I’ve defended kids who couldn’t defend themselves. Getting bullied is terrible and I don’t like to see it happen to anyone. I will never diminish the pain bullying can cause. 

Now that we understand that you’ve been bullied for liking nerdy things, where do we go from here? Are you going to seek professional help? Are you over it? Are you going to keep reminding us that you were bullied? I really would like answers. What I believe is that a lot of people (majority men) only bring up the fact that they were bullied for liking anime because of how popular anime has gotten over the past decade. If anime was not as popular they would never bring up that they were bullied. The more popular anime gets the more they feel people who weren’t bullied are infiltrating what was once sacred to them. Bullying aside, anime felt exclusive to them because anime was something that provided escapism. No one understood them but the people who went through the bullying like them and fellow fans of the anime who look like them. When they started to see people who didn’t look like them and those people didn’t go through what they went through, they started to feel a way about it.

I can imagine someone watching Naruto as a teenager and getting made fun of for liking Naruto and not too many people being into anime in general and out of nowhere anime is this huge phenomenon in the United States. Popular kids they went to school with suddenly like anime. Anime is discussed out in the open more without shame. Athletes and celebrities bragging about loving anime. It’s accepted way more than it was when they were a teen and deep down they resent that fact. 

Why do they resent anime’s popularity and growing acceptance?

The victims of being bullied for nerd interest resent the people who are new to anime because those newcomers didn’t have to go through what they went through. They resent them because they feel the new fans have it easy. I can imagine the frustration someone would feel if they saw someone who bullied them for watching Sailor Moon when they were teens suddenly become a fan of Sailor Moon a few years later. There are people who never bullied anybody and just started watching anime recently and victims of nerd bullying are mad at them too. 

If you know a person who bullied people for liking anime and they now like anime themselves then you should reach out to them for a conversation. Let them know how you feel. Start a dialogue. If that’s something you’re not comfortable doing I recommend seeing a therapist. If you’re not comfortable doing that then shutting the fuck up is the only option left cause that shows me you don’t want anything to change. You want sympathy but won’t take steps towards healing. 

If you told me you want to lose weight and you’re tired of people calling you fat but while you’re venting to me about this you’re eating three Whoppers from Burger King I’m going to tell you get the fuck outta my face. You’re complaining but not taking any steps towards change. So why should I give a fuck when you don’t give a fuck? 

I don’t understand why people are bringing up the fact that they got bullied for liking anime to people who had NOTHING to do with them getting bullied. Why are you making this their problem? What the fuck do you want them to do about it?

The other excuse I hear for them sharing their bullied past is that “People only like anime cause it’s trendy.” What the fuck that got to do with you? You enjoy anime right? That’s all that matters. If they like it cause it's a trend then they won’t be around long cause it’s a trend. They’ll move onto something else. Stop using that as an excuse if you’re not going to mention the fake fans by name. If they’re using anime for “clout” then they won’t be around long. Y’all are mad at the popularity of anime today, not fake fans. Let’s really dig deeper though on what really makes these dudes mad. 

They see a bunch of pretty women into anime today. Some people never saw pretty women into anime growing up. When they see these pretty women all over the country into anime and nerdy things all they see is the girl that they didn’t have a chance with in high school. In a girls case she sees the girl that she wanted to hang out with but couldn’t. If they see an attractive woman interested in anime they automatically quiz her about anime. Why? It’s because they cannot fathom the thought that women are into anime today. So when you hear these dudes talk about people who they think are “fake fans” they are talking about women and mainly women cosplayers. They’ll never admit it but I can see that’s where their resentful energy is aimed at. 

These people become bullies. They want people to care about their past of being bullied but will then turn around and bully strangers and act as a gatekeeper to anime. Make it make sense. 

Has anyone ever once thought that people can come around? People can change their way of thinking? People can have a change of heart? I’m sure you do it every week. I used to make fun of rock music. I said it was wack as fuck. Look at me today. I listen to rock music often and I’m a fan. It just took the right song for me to connect to the genre and look at it differently. Does that make me a “fake” rock fan because I made fun of it and now I love it? No. It just shows I was judgmental and wrong as fuck. Nirvana and N.E.R.D made me into a rock fan and showed me that I was missing out on something great. 

Anime works the same way. They may have saw what they thought anime was and judged it without experiencing it. Kids are FOLLOWERS so if the majority make fun of something and say it’s lame, majority of kids are going to follow that way of thinking. I tried to introduce my friend to anime and he thought anime was lame. I recommended an anime for him to watch and he didn’t like it and he thought anime was a waste of time. I told him about Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and he was hooked on it and now he’s an anime fan. I’m not calling him a fake fan and constantly bringing up the dislike he had for anime. He’s one of us now. Welcome to fucking greatness. Now he’s always talking to me about anime he’s discovered on his own. 

Plus y’all forget that teenagers are fucking terrible. Pieces of shit. I was annoying as fuck as a teenager. The shit I thought was lame as a teenager I love today. It’s called growing up. None of us knew shit as teenagers. I’m not holding anything against anybody for what they thought, said, or did as a teenager. It’s pointless. 

I’m sorry that a lot of you were bullied because of your interest in anime. I understand the effects it have on you. If you really wanna make a change go to your old school and request to speak to the kids that might be going though the same bullying you went through. They need it. Start a blog like this and give advice on how you’re dealing with it today. Explain the good, bad, and ugly. Just continuously posting on social media to strangers that you were bullied for liking anime and not doing anything about it is not helping you heal. 

Love, Benny

Twitter: @bennygreenheart

Tik Tok: @bennygreenheart

Instagram: @bennygreenheart