"Those Anime Dolls"- Does the connection bother you?

There are similarities in the look between certain bjds and anime/manga characters and I see no problem if people see a connection. I like some anime (and movies in general) and very few mangas. Apart from that I love dolls and I would have fallen in love with abjds even without liking anime.

I always thought that I would love to collect dolls, but I didn't like that usual artist dolls look so much like real children. Once I talked to my mum about her dolls and I said, that I would love to have dolls that are skinnier and look older than the typical china doll. I said, if I would be able to make dolls I'd create dolls that are pale, almost elfish looking dolls.
I found out about bjd via Blythe and it was as if somebody heard my wishes. But I immediately had to think about anime when I've seen certain molds. I'm not an otaku, I never cosplayed and I don't go to conventions, but I personally like Japan out of many reasons, but this has nothing to do with the fact that I like dolls. It's more a happy coincidence that two things that I like are somewhat related.

 

I bought my first doll at Anime North. So I really have no right to let the connection bother me at all. And as a general rule it doesn't bother me unless I get disparaging remarks because anime is for children.

That doesn't happen often though. My dolls have natural coloured hair, realistically coloured eyes, and are all in jeans and t-shirts for the most part so the anime connections from those outside of either fandom are few and far between for me.

I will be cosplaying my dolls at the next Anime North though.

 

it doesent bother me why should i care what people say

 

It doesn't bother me at all. In fact I discovered BJDs at a con. I even like the ones that have manga-ish features (big eyes, pointed chin, smaller mouths) Maybe it's because anime has so many figurines that BJD are considered similar?

 

BJD being anime related is very much like the Lolita fashion being anime related. Both are Japan-based and there will always be a connection whether we like it or not. Majority of the BJD aesthetic (IMO) is anime-like. And most of my friends who own BJDs are anime fans.

 

Ya know....
I guess i can't exactly be mad at them, i mean ya know when i was at a convention and saw a doll i thought,"woahhhh, cool dolly, looks like haruhi desuuuuu." hahah back when i was very much into anime. Since the dolls are most usually dressed as gothic japanese lolitas with long flowy hair held up with chopsticks etc. it's very easy when you dont know anything to try to tie things in and figure it out.
I think for the first 3 months of loving BJDs i totally thought they were from japan.

 

I love anime/manga all that good japanese stuff, so I wouldn't mind.

But "Anime Dolls" sounds kinda yucky to me. Sounds kind of like some weird eroge thing...

And BJD are asian in origin so it's correct that they are associated. And Volks is considered the BJD standard, and they're japanese. So it's all cool with me, but I wouldn't like BJD to called "Anime Dolls", BJD sounds better or even just "Asian Doll" sounds better XD

 

I'm not sure why the connection is made. What I do know, is that anime and manga actually are the reason I know of these dolls. I went to a cosplay convention and I saw them for the first time, and fell in love.
I also did a school project on cosplay and part of it was about BJDs because many people who own one and go to cosplay conventions have their doll cosplay aswell.
but I've also had people who like anime that never even heard of these dolls.

 

they do have an anime look. So it does not bother me at all. If someone were to say: oh the anime looking doll, at least i will be happy that they know there is a such a thing as collectors items, that have nothing to do with the erotic dolls i see for sale sometimes :P

 

Well, you're not far off the mark Volks and Alchemic Labo are Japanese BJD makers and (correct me if I'm wrong) I think Cerberus Project who sculpted and designed many of the Delf line for Luts and Feeple, MiniFee, LittleFee and PukiPuki for FairyLand are Japanese artists.

What can annoy me sometimes is that terminology from anime and manga is adopted so quickly into the hobby. Words like "yaoi" and "bishounen" that really have no significance or meaning to some people in this hobby. Some people got into the hobby independently of anime, some people got into the hobby independently of loving Japanese culture and/or language! I had to google "yaoi" to figure out what people were on about (where I come from its called "slash"!) and I have absolutely no clue on how to pronounce it because I've never heard it spoken!

I love Japanese food and what little I know of the culture and language are fascinating but I came into collecting BJDs from loving the dolls themselves, so I'm starting to learn about Japan, anime and manga sort of as a side project!

 

It dosn't really bother me, I like some anime and manga but I am no fan girl over anything.

The only thing I find annoying personally is at meets when often younger ( sorry to generalise) colelctors start talking aboit anime and their dolls and then move away from the dolls competely and go all 'fan girl' on me and assume I know what the hell they are talking about!

It can be a bit alienating sometimes, usually I smile and nod! I don't have an issue with people being into anime and manga in a big way, it would nice for people to sometimes consider that a wee introduction to what they are talking about would help sometimes!

 

I guess the connection kind of bothers me because of the stereotypes that come with being an anime fan. If people are associating such expensive dolls with being a hardcore fan or something, they might assume we're all "wannabe Japanese" (or "wapanese"), which I am far from. Additionally, people who worship Japan and think they can speak it just from watching anime (this would be considered "wapanese) irritate me to no end. To me, although they share some of the same aesthetics, they are two separate hobbies for me.

 

I like anime and manga, but I'm not sure how I feel about the fans these days. Not everything is KAWAII NEKO OTAKU DESU, and I don't like being lumped into that kind of group. I guess the actual connection doesn't bother me, though, since I do like anime. Just... stop butchering the language! You can't speak Japanese! D8 Ergh, wappy weeaboos. TnT

 

The only thing that bothers me is that there is a connection between anime and BJDs - through the aesthetic.

That bothers me because I'm not that into that aesthetic. I have to go really far out of my way to find BJD accessories/sculpts/etc. that I like.

So no, I'm not bothered by people drawing a correlation between anime and BJDs, but I am very, very slightly bothered (ever-so-slightly) that there is a very real correlation there. Inconvenient!

 

no, I'm not that into anime, but it doesnt bother me at all

 

It wouldn't really bother me, because for the most part if they said it about me they would be right, as the two dolls I plan on getting would be Dollfie Dreams which are specifically sculpted to have a face and eyes that look like they are an anime character. I can see the issue for people with dolls that don't imitate that style, but for me they would probably be correct in that statement.

 

I like some anime, but I don't usually seek it out and I don't know much about it. I usually end up having to look up terms like "bishounen", etc. So I don't let any perceived connection both me too much.

 

I recently took my doll to school with me and my french teacher (who knows I go to cons and such) immediately asked me if it had to do with anime. I think its because of their big eyes and the fact that they come from parts of Asia. Another factor is that many people take them to cons with them and doll clothes and sometimes the dolls themselves are sold at cons. People see them there and automatically associate the two. I admit to putting my doll into cosplays, but I do that to help hone my sewing skills and to practice a pattern before I make it for myself. I'm not offended by the association, I think it just kind of comes with the territory

 

It reall doesn't bother me. When I went to my first anime convention, I referred to them as "anime dolls" because I didn't know anything about them. Also, the specific things that got me interested is a BJD panel at the con (I still refer to that info sheet sometimes) and a Volks boy dressed up as Fai D. Flourite from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles (which I took many, many pictures of). If it wasn't for those, I probably would have never have gotten into the hobby, and if some people I know call them "anime dolls", all I need to do is correct them.

 

I am not bothered by it so long as it's not in a condescending tone. I love anime and manga, and I would have to admit that a certain particular manga, with the help of my best friend's fanaticism of it, got me more interested into BJD's. It was about this new super popular toy doll that came from an egg container and the owner has to customize it to their liking and in that universe there was a game played with said dolls where they'd fight against other dolls. The anime/mange I speak of course is called Angelic Layer. Later on I noticed many similarities between the "origin story" behind the Volks dolls and that of the dolls in this anime, and I wonder now if this is a mearly coincidence or an homage of sorts.

Now I find that I tend to like dolls with more anime-like proportions (no idea why I just do, it wasn't always like that), I happen to adore Volks' Dollfie Dream line, so I can understand completely where the connection can be made and it would not bother me if someone did make such a connection with my dolls so long as they weren't all "ew I don't like anime and therefore am disgusted that you like it and you should hate it like I do" kind of way. Though I doubt I'll have to worry about that because most of the people that have had contact with my dolls are all anime/video game geeks, including my own mother and my fiance's father.