Anyone not into anime, but into BJDs?

I am totally uninterested in manga or anime. I don't know a thing about it. A friend decided to give me a crash course, hoping I would come to share her interest, and we spent an evening watching a few films, and she lent me some books...but it is just not my thing. I am old enough that I did not grow up with the anime/manga that is available today. I am a competent seamstress, and basically I see them as a muse, I like dolls to sew, paint and make jewelry for.

 

I used to be interested in manga and anime, and there are a few series I follow and buy new books when they come out, but for the most part I don't really care about it anymore. The art style is still cute, but I read incredibly quickly. While I'm willing to hand over a couple dollars for a cheap Kindle book that might not be great but will keep me entertained for a couple hours and doesn't take up space on my already crammed bookshelves (and if it's truly terrible, writing scathing reviews telling other potential buyers not to waste their $2 on something with so many typos is fun), manga costs too much and I'm done with it so quickly I'm not willing to settle for anything less than great, and my standards get higher the more books in the series there are because I find it difficult to not finish a series after starting it, and again I'm not spending that much money on something I will finish so quickly unless I know I will REALLY like it.

 

::raises hand::

I'm coming from the "enjoys many other dolls" side of the hobby, so my interest in BJD feels like it was more an inevitability than than anything.

Also, though I don't watch anime or read manga, I do own many stylized dolls, including a couple of the VERY anime-esque early Volks molds. I just think they look awesome.

 

While I can enjoy a little bit of anime & manga, I'm definitely not what anyone would call into it. And I really find anime styled dolls somewhat creepy & not at all to my taste. Yet I love BJDs. There are such a range of doll styles now to choose from that one can easily love the dolls yet have no interest in anime, etc.

 

I'm very much not into anime or the aesthetic but I do really like BJD's. I'm more of a figure collector than a doll collector so I love the detail in BJDs but I also feel very alienated from making friends in the community.

 

Liking anime isn’t required with BJDs. I don’t think there anything linking them other than the fact that they come from Japan/ other Asian countries. So don’t feel bad or anything, there are so many people here who don’t care for anime or manga

 

I personally cant stand anime myself
I collect dolls and customize them i am new to the bjd dolls but some of the bjds ive seen people do especially the horror style i love and cant wait to do my own

 

Hello lvl0rg4n, I know this is a question from a few years back but I think it is still valid today. I am not into Anime. I am not saying it is a bad thing; I am simply saying that it is not my thing.

I am a doll collector and I like dolls. That is my entry into the world of BJDs.

I like that these dolls are poseable. I have a collection of 18 inch dolls who sit with their legs stretched out in front of them. Their posing ability is limited.

 

I have had a wavering interest in manga; it peaks and troughs every so often. But, it's not a major interest of mine.

Anime; I once binged the entire first and second seasons of Vampire Knight (one of the few manga series I really got into) over two days or so. And, I do love Studio Ghibli, but I'm not that big into anime.

However, I do adore BJDs and collecting them. A lot of them aren't manga or anime styled, so it's easy to get into them without needing an interest in the former. And, there's other sources of inspiration; own stories, video games, films, shows, comics that aren't manga.

Just because all these three hobbies are based in Asian culture, doesn't mean you have to like one to justify liking the others. People can like manga without liking anime or BJDs, and vice versa.

 

Volks, the first BJD company in modern times, based their original design on an antique German porcelain ball jointed doll. Even though that original design is considered very clunky by today's standards, it was a vast improvement posing-wise over the antique dolls they were based on. So, "Asian BJD's" were never JUST Asian. I did a short research paper on their history for my Japanese composition class in college, and thought I'd share.

Personally, I used to be really into anime in high school and college. I first wanted a bjd to do a doll of my favorite anime character. I still have that doll, even though I'm not as into anime anymore. In fact, even though I still kind of like the character I shelled, I don't like the anime it came from anymore (Inuyasha, if anyone wanted to know). So now, I'm trying new characters on that doll. She might end up being a composite character of a couple different characters, who knows! I also find I'm more drawn to the semi-realistic or extremely realistic dolls more lately, and that definitely wasn't the case when I first started collecting!

 

Same but different! The way i found my interest in BJD wasnt through anime, but other japanese art forms. I am very interested in Ichimatsu ningyo dolls and the craft of traditional dolls, as well as traditional/digital japanese art. I’m also a big fan of japanese fashion subcultures so that was a big part of me getting into dolls, i love styling them

 

I'm not die-hard anime fan but I have watched a few shows in the past.

 

I love anime/manga/JRPGs/Japanese fashion and culture in general, but I don’t really associate my BJDs with any of that. Most of my dolls are actually Korean.

 

I’m not into anime, but love bjds. I actually discovered them while collecting antique dolls. I was at a doll show, and one vendor had bjds. They captured my heart and have been my passion ever since

 

I used to be very into anime but not so much anymore. Heck I don't even gravitate towards anime sculpts Although smart dolls lead me to the hobby. But Smart dolls looked all the same to me so it's meh to me. But If I got into the hobby in my teen years my bjd preferences would have been all Anime sculpts. Only like few of my dolls are "Japanese" characters.

 

I gravitate towards anime-looking sculpts but I don't watch much anime. Off the top of my head I liked Mob Psycho, Madoka and then movies from Satoshi Kon and Studio Ghilbi. I think some anime can be thought provoking but let's face it, there's a lot of bad anime out there.

I pick sculpts based on my D&D characters so sometimes they're heckin' cute.

 

I think I found BJDs thru searches inspired by an anime, but my mom collected dolls (barbie, porcelain) when I was growing up and now I don't find myself into anime as a whole. There are specific shows that engage me and interest me, but I don't like the anime like bjds or anything related to aesthetic tbh.

 

I have enjoyed a couple of anime series, such as Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist. But I don't associate them with my BJDs at all.
But actually BJDs of Edward Elric and Winry Rockbell might be fun.

What I am into are the Final Fantasy games. My goal is to have dolls modeled after my favorite FFVII characters. I've already starting working on Reno and Rufus Shinra.

 

Ok so truth time, I am a huge anime nerd who married a Japanese man and moved to japan. However! I found BJD's through a totally separate thing, Andreja's videos. I only found out after the fact that they started in japan. I don't think that you need one to enjoy the other. Simple as that. Anime BJD's are cute, I'm sure a lot of people like them, even if they don't really like anime. Plus BJD's come from all over the world these days, you like what you like, you don't need to go any deeper then that. But that's just my two cents hahaha.

 

I was never really into anime beyond Pokemon and Beyblade with the grandkids. Instead, I came to this hobby via a desire to explore fashion, create wardrobes, and build displays to create a fun fantasy world. BJDs were the perfect basis for this form of creative expression. I later came to study Harajuku fashions and fell in love with the Chobits manga series, but that was a case of BJDs leading me there rather than the other way around.