To all anime fans (otakus).

I hate you.

Well, not all of you, just a lot of you.

Because, I used to be one of you.

Because, I remember thinking: "OMG I'M GONNA GO TO JAPANN!!!1 AND BECOME THE BEST MANGA ARTIST EVARRRR~~~!!!!", "JAPAN IS THE BEST OMGG!! THEIR CULTURE IS SO UNIQUEEEE!!!!1!!!!"

Let's get one thing straight, I don't hate anime. So, if anyone wants to comment about the "deep and philosophical meaning" totally apparent in Evangelion and whatever, please hesitate to do so. I've seen plenty of anime, and while I don't hate it, it bores the hell out of me. It's stupid. It's vapid. It's pointless. (Not that that is bad. Sarcasm lifted, a lot of things on this planet rely on sensationalism). But, anime is especially so. Whatever. I don't hate anime.

I hate anime fans.

I hate anime fans that do that whole Japanese shit. Wapanese. Nipponophiles. Whatever.

As I progressed through these years, my Nipponophileness started giving way. All of my OTAKU friends started...betraying themselves. And, I couldn't stand that.

For example, my Korean friend lied and said that she was actually half-Japanese or some shit. Chinese people said that they were Japanese. Hell, White people were even Japanese. Everybody became Japanese.

Now, before you totally-uber-cool-otaku fans get your panties in a twist, let me tell you now that I am not a Japanese basher. Japan is fine. Overrated, yes. But, it's a great country I guess. This journal post isn't going to be about the "war crimes" they did in China and Korea. That's stupid. Of course war itself is always devastating, and what Japan did was deplorable. Blah, blah, blah. Heard it a thousand times. The present Japanese generation isn't responsible for that shit, so this isn't gonna be about that.

It's about people LOVING Japan, being INFATUATED with Japan, to the point where they would LIE about it.

Why?

I did understand before. It was just the whole sparkle of Japan...no...not of Japan. It was of anime and manga. Otakus think that anime and manga is completely representative of Japanese culture. Ok, let me rephrase that. They KNOW that Japan is probably not perfect, as a fact, just like I KNOW Euler's formula. They BELIEVE that Japan is perfect, though, subconciously.

I remember being so fascinated with kimonos and hakamas and shrine bells and OMG LOOOK AT THAT MIKO and allll that shit. I remember thinking that I would join the JET program to go to Japan, teach english, and draw manga. One day, drawing a manga about some Japanese myth (yes, I still remember the stories I made in my head).

I remember being annoyed when someone referred to manga as "anime" because anime refers to animation and manga refers to the comic. It was SUCH an offense to Japanese culture, and the Japanese people, and Japan, and anime, and blah, blah, blah.

I remember making posts on message boards about how anime was the new art. Because Naruto (I hate Naruto) is completely up to par with the Renaissance, you know?

But, I matured. I grew out of it. Manga and anime became so STUPID to me. It was vapid. It was plain. It was insipid. Under that pink and blue hair, big expressive eyes, and perfect hair -- there was nothing. Well, I don't mean that it was completely bad. Anime is not at fault here. My otaku "friends" (I drifted away from them as I drifted away from anime) made me question the integrity of this subculture.

They ran around clutching their manga books, holding their purikura pictures, squealing at those HAWT anime guys and HAWT japanese (real) singers or whatever, exchanging burned CD and DVD discs, talking with "kawaii" and "gomen", greeting each other with "ohayo!!!!!", taking Japanese classes and excelling at it, swarming around the only Japanese boy (he was a geek, by the way) in school, doing anime gestures that made no sense in real life (waving ur hand up and down when you want to say everything is ok, holding your fists next to your face when your happy, talking with your eyes closed), and lying about themselves.

I did all the others...but I never understood the last one. Why?

I could never lie to myself.

Well, I'm not THAT virtuous. I did TRY to lie to myself. I was on AIM and I was talking with a friend who was able to like anime but still be Chinese (it's completely paradoxical). One day, I sighed and said that "I WISH I WAS JAPANESE!!!!". She gave me the biggest beat down...EVER. She yelled at me for betraying myself and giving into that shit.

I didn't realize it then...it took more and more confused observations at my transforming "otaku" friends to realize it...I realized that this wasn't how I wanted to live. (Consequently, I also realized that anime was stupid, but that was a coincedence, I think).

I am Chinese. No, I do not hate Japanese people. No, I am not an extreme nationalist. I hate extreme nationalists (it's very annoying). I do realize that there is bad in China. Yes, the government sucks and there's bad (and also, yes, rude) people there. But, I do believe in MY culture now. I realize that there's a lot to MY history and MY culture that is valuable. I no longer want to be Japanese because I realized that I am Chinese. I have strength in myself now.

The point of this post is not to say that OMG CHINA IS THE BEST, or JAPAN IS THE SUXXXORRRSSSSSS. This is a post with the purpose of making those Nipponophile otakus wake up.

You're not Japanese.