CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Does age effect how you watch anime.... meaning do you think a 25 yr old will be looking for something different when they watch anime than a 13 year old?


Example: maybe a 25 yr old will be looking for a deeper meaning or plot while a 13 year old will be looking for cute characters who have puppy love.... just an example.

~Natsumi Lam~

It depends on the person. I still thoroughly enjoy anime I loved at a younger age. But, my tastes have also definately changed with time.

Yes. I think many older fans look for different types of stories and still have an appreciation for the other forms to some degree, though they may not enjoy it as much in their maturity, while younger fans are more likely to go for the slam bang series and may not place as high a value on story as much as art.

HEY IM 13 and im more deep than most people will be in a lifetime. i can read ata collage level and understand it.[i cant spell good though] I like good splots and twist like inuyash[gets somewhat boring though] dot.hack// and it is all about plot[and cute girls and humer] but i wacth all the stuff a 25 person would watch and i think no i doesnt people who are older think they like stereo type older stuff but its all in there head.

It does deeped on the person that's for sure! I was ten and reading stuff like Stephen King and ran through a couple of his books like hotcakes and V.C. Andrews Flowers in the Attic series (though that got seriously demented not a recommend read).
Still, it is obvious what an adult would call deep and very interesting most children would call boring and vise versa. Cartoons I thought were so amazing as a child are utterly cheezy looking at them now (complete with bad voice acting >.<).

So yes age does affect how one views things.

Never mind anime -- I think this could apply to anything in general. My absolute favorite cartoon to watch when I was little was The Flintstones; and even though I didn't always understand what was going on, I just enjoyed watching the sight gags and such. Now that I'm grown up and can understand all the plot and humor better, I can better appreciate it. ^_^

...And that's how age affects my viewing.

I think so...I watched a movie recently that I had seen for the first time when i was 7, but I didn't catch any of the induendo(sp?) until my second viewing. I now understand why the movie was rated PG v_v.

~Natsumi Lam~ wrote:Does age effect how you watch anime.... meaning do you think a 25 yr old will be looking for something different when they watch anime than a 13 year old?

I thought this was a pretty strange question since I can't see how age -would not- affect the way ppl look at things including anime/manga. If there were no differences, there wouldn't be age ratings and very much less entertainment genres. <-- well, at least that is my personal conclusion

I still watch a few anime shows I used to as a kid but I definitely see them in a different light.

Mave wrote:I thought this was a pretty strange question since I can't see how age -would not- affect the way ppl look at things including anime/manga. If there were no differences, there wouldn't be age ratings and very much less entertainment genres. <-- well, at least that is my personal conclusion

I still watch a few anime shows I used to as a kid but I definitely see them in a different light.

LOL so agreed. There are things that would absolutely ruin a child to see like war films and thing like Kill Bill. It may scare them half to death. Age, personal tastes, and convictions definately affect how people look at things. It's not a bad thing to seperate things based on age and in no way does that mean children are less than just because they are children. Things have ratings in order to pretect them from getting a hold of movies and books and so on that may mess them up in the head and it doesn't even have to be that dramatic; specifically rating things for children lets that audience know "hey, you may enjoy this compared to what your parents are watching/reading." I think that's cool because it shows people are paying attention to the need to produce entertainment for various people from young to old.

I don't think it's age so much as life experiences...

But they kinda run together.

I mean, someone who has experienced certain emotions *may* be able to relate more to some characters and situations. If not relate to it, at least respond to it and have it impact differently.

If someone has lost a person who was dear to them, scenes from some anime and other movies depicting that can hit home more personally.

I've never lost anyone close to me to death, but there are other emotions and situations that are going to affect me and make me think "how horrible!" just because I've had it happen in my life.

The same is true of good experiences.

Years ago, I had a very, very shallow understanding of love. I'm not claiming to understand every nuance of it, definitely, but I can understand so much more now because I've experienced some of it from different perspectives.

Life experiences involving friendship, trust, betrayal, pain, love, death, struggle... Those will affect every individual in slightly different ways. And seeing them reflected in art and entertainment or in the lives of other people will affect us all differently.

The more you live, the more you experience. The more you live, the older you are... They go hand in hand.

Age is still a factor (the brain does work differently in children than adults and the level of reasoning is different too) but the experience is playing a very large role as well.

Example: maybe a 25 yr old will be looking for a deeper meaning or plot while a 13 year old will be looking for cute characters who have puppy love.... just an example.

I don't think one looks for meaning as much as the meanings and emotions just kinda come to mind... generally. ^^; Yeah, thinking about a movie more and trying to analyze it can facilitate that but again.... I think it's more based on experiences.

Like...
"Oh, that's great that she finally found someone who cares about her!" --totally relating to the character/situation because those emotions and stuff are shared.

or

"I can't believe she's so hung up over that guy. She's so desperate. Do we have to focus so much on this?" --lack of experience in that area... or lack of interest because of individual personality... which is *also* affected by living life.

When I re-watch things I enjoyed as a child, I'm always entrigued by the things I notice. For instance, how YOUNG the children in it look. And how young some of the adults look. o.o

I never saw any anime when I was a child, or really any cartoons to speak of. (Except for Superbook and Flying House which I haven't seen since.)

So in a sense, I approach all anime like a child, until I get used to it. (For instance, I liked to watch Pokemon with my brothers when we discovered it. I was in my mid to late teens at the time.)

And you may recall I was really into Beyblade when I first joined CAA.

Alice wrote:I never saw any anime when I was a child, or really any cartoons to speak of. (Except for Superbook and Flying House which I haven't seen since.)

You watched Superbook?? XD I loved that show!
*hugs Alice*

It has already been said that age drastically affects how people watch and perceive almost anything in life, so all I can give are my own observations about myself.

By large, only one thing has really changed: I have become less tolerant of certain aspects. I used to be able to watch shows that featured excessive slowness, incredibly unintelligent characters or pointless "humor" without a problem (though I wouldn't enjoy those aspects), and now I find the entire experience seems not worth the time.

I only got into anime in my 40s so I can't really say.

I think it matters on the person