Remember the “weird” kid in high school? The one everyone stayed away from. The one who would sit alone, twiddling their thumbs in a stuffed cafeteria while everyone else had someone to share their meal with. Everyone, maybe even you, made assumptions about them with no actual grounds for doing so. People would judge this kid and anyone who associated with them. Maybe they would even call them names which would echo around the school. But one day you got curious. Instead of just going along with everyone else’s opinions, you wanted to see what they were actually like.

For me, this “weird kid” was anime. Even though I knew little about it, I had preconceived judgements. I thought it was weird. I thought the people who watched it were weird. When I thought of anime, I thought of buff guys with spikey hair, who for some reason never wore shirts, throwing massive balls of force energy at each other. I thought of loud, obnoxious yelling, “KAMEHAMEHAAAA!!” I thought of a kid with a red and white cap going around catching fictional animals by once again throwing powerful balls. I thought it was for kids. But one day I got curious. I walked up to the weird kid and started a conversation—and boy was I wrong about them.

Little did I know, the conversation would lead to friendship. I immediately fell in love with this new medium of storytelling. The hand drawn animation blew me away with its intricate detail and distinctive characters. The stories were fresh, devoid of the Hollywood clichés I’ve seen my entire life. Shows like Violet Evergarden told the story of a child soldier and how she became “human” again by writing letters for others. Your Lie in April followed a traumatized pianist who regained his love for the instrument because of a girl with a terminal illness. The evils of racial discrimination and genocide were portrayed in the dark fantasy Attack on Titan. Anime was filled with unique stories. It was new, it was beautiful, it was mature, and yes… it was sometimes weird.

My blood rushed, filling with excitement as I was experiencing these new stories, but with my new relationship came judgement. I was immediately silenced whenever I told my friends about the anime I was watching.

“Why do you watch kid shows?”

“I don’t want to watch anime, it’s weird and I don’t want to have to read what they  say.”

I heard these phrases repeatedly, generally accompanied by a twisted expression and a rolling of the eyes. My pool of excitement would quickly evaporate, and my blood would settle. As disappointing as it was, I couldn't blame them. Just months prior I would’ve reacted the exact same way. But just like me, they got curious. Eventually, we all became friends with the weird kid, and as more and more people joined us, the kid was no longer considered weird. While in my friend group we were able to get past our assumptions, the stigma around anime from the public remains.

Why do people think anime is so weird? Is it because they’ve been told it is? If so, how did that become the general opinion? Maybe it’s because they’re made in Japan and people don’t want to praise foreign products. But if that were the case, why has Korean media such as Squid Game and Parasite done so well? Maybe people just don’t like hand drawn animation anymore and that’s why Disney hasn’t made one in over a decade.

Twitter and YouTube comments are filled with people insulting anime and the people who watch it, calling them “weebs” or saying someone shouldn’t have an opinion because they have an anime profile picture. Of course, most of this is done in jest, and most fans aren’t hurt by people’s distaste in anime. However, many fans (me included) would love to see their favorite medium and the artists who make it get the recognition that many other mediums often do.

The stigma isn’t only carried by the public. A Silent Voice, a highly acclaimed anime film (and my personal favorite) that masterfully portrays social anxiety and suicidality, was almost nominated for an Oscar in 2018. Instead, a movie about a talking baby that boss’s people around was nominated in its place. Your Name, a story about two teenagers from different backgrounds that would switch bodies, earned over $300 million in Japan but was barely heard of in the United States. The only anime films that get any sort of mainstream recognition are the one’s made by Studio Ghibli, whose movies are dubbed and licensed by Disney.

In America, the only mainstream, 2D animated media remaining are children’s cartoons and comedic “adult” shows such as Family Guy and The Simpsons. Disney—a studio that brought hand drawn animation to the mainstream in the first place—hasn’t done 2D animation since The Princess and the Frog over a decade ago. While Disney and Pixar make beautifully animated films using CGI (computer-generated imagery), there’s a certain magical feel that can only exist in hand drawn animation. Every single line is human made and the imperfections give character. The only true form of serious storytelling still done in this medium is anime.

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem as though anime is fated to be forever ignored by the outside world. In the past decade, anime has grown tremendously with the rise of YouTube and other online platforms. Many existing streaming platforms started to stock their library with countless anime shows, with Netflix even producing some of their own. New streaming platforms specifically made for anime such as Crunchyroll and Funimation, owned by AT&T and Sony respectively, popped up and even started hosting award shows of their own.

As more people get exposed to this medium of storytelling, the general perception of anime has grown more positive. Misconceptions replaced with affection. While the weird kid used to sit alone with nobody to talk to, people are starting to realize that they’re pretty cool after all.