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

I don't have a major problem with it, as generally they do relate with similar aesthetics between anime characters and BJDs. I do find it a problem if they make the connection after saying that adults shouldn't play with dolls or watch cartoons. Yes, there are anime that are obviously aimed at children. But not all is. I wrote a 2nd year University essay on Ghost in the Shell; an anime which is not intended for children. I think that if someone is interested, and not making judgements, they just don't know what to call them, then it is fine; but if they are making judgements, then I get a bit prickly.

I do however take offence to people calling them otaku, especially if they say it with inflections that suggest they are saying it with distain. Because it is just an insult then, and designed to hurt people.

 

I'm not really interested in anime, haven't been for years , and my dolls are fashioned like regular old New York kids. Still, the first thing I think when I come across an owner picture online is try to figure out what kind of anime they like. Isn't that sad? I have that connection, yet I'm a doll owner and not an anime fan. I don't think if someone said that to me, that I'd mind. To me, the dolls have that same connotation, even if mine have normal hair colors and dress like plain westerners. I get why people see bjds in general that way, so it wouldn't bother me if mine were seen that way as well.

Besides, to my American peers, my drawings have been compared to anime for years, so I've gotten over it. Anime is cool! Nothing wrong with it!

 

I've never heard anyone refer to a BJD as an "anime doll" but I can see why they would, as someone else mentioned, they have the aesthetic of an anime character. So I wouldn't be bothered by someone who would categorize it with anime or Japanese stuff, but you really don't get the difference until you're into it yourself. LOL I do have the asumption that most doll people probably like anime because I see so many at anime conventions but I never clump them together. Doll people are doll people and anime people are anime people. The two might cross paths here and there but I wouldn't say it's always true. Especially because I found out about BJDs through a Barbie magazine years ago! >.> Lol

 

I can understand people making the connection. My love of Asian cultures began with anime, and although a lot of it makes me cringe now, I am very grateful for the introduction. They reflect the same aesthetic and there is crossover between the arts. I can think of at least two mangakas who have mentioned collecting and I can certainly see the influence in their art.
But I can see where the connection can be stretched thin... I still hear comments that my drawings look like anime, when I haven't tried my hand at the style in years. Outsize eyes are a popular aesthetic in all illustration. And any thing with sinuous, continuous lines = manga = frownface.

 

I think that Anime/Manga otakus are a lot more exposed to things that would lead them to learning about BJDs. Say they searched "plushie" and that turned into "figurine" and then they found a "BJD" with its own cosplay. For someone who wasn't into Anime/Manga, they'd probably just really like dolls or happened to find something about it on etsy or something. The probability of an Anime/Manga-lover picking up about it is a lot higher than that for someone who is not.

 

No one has assumed that because I like BJDs, I like anime yet - I introduce my doll simply as 'my doll' to my friends and don't bother going into detail about their 'roots', so to speak, unless someone asks. Anime and manga lovers who aren't Asian are viewed very negatively here, which I find upsetting, even though I'm not a fan of anime or manga myself.

However, I would be offended if someone assumed I was a fan. That's not to say that I view anime and manga fans in a negative light, it's just not my hobby. I suppose BJDs are lumped in there with them simply because they're from Asia. Generalizations annoy me to no end, really.

 

I kinda connect to bjd through Anime. The toy market out there selling Anime figures in bjd form (the korean cheaper bjds like Taeyang, Pulip, etc). I acknowledge I do get upset on such comment, but will ignore them. Anyway, we don't need people to always agreeing the things that we do.

 

The first anime convention that I went to had an art room with at least 2-3 tables dedicated to BJDs.The older BJD companies (especially Volks IMO) have some dolls w/ an anime-like asthetic. (eye size porportion to the dolls head/head shape,etc.)

I mean Volks have their Dolfie Dream series. lol- I call those the "Anime Dolls", they even have dolls based on anime girls as do a few of the other lines of dolls.
http://www.volksusa.com/ddim010.html

Also- If someone's first exposure to ABJDS was through a doll like one from the LE Rozen Maiden dolls (found those a la random image boards several times), I could see where the connection would be made. =p
http://www.volksusa.com/dolpa17suiseiseki.html

(Not to mention that Volks makes a lot of anime resin kit sculpts- That's how I got into bjds. I started out w/ models and resin kits and went from there) =3

 

As a continuation of my comment a few posts up, when my girlfriend and I showed her dad our dolls, he said they reminded him of anime. It didn't bother me at all! That's what they remind me of and I'm not an anime fan. We told him they were originally from Japan, so that's where the aesthetics are similar.

My boy right now looks like an anime character anyway since I don't yet have the nerve to trim and style his huge spikey fur wig into a fauxhawk.

 

I'm not a huge fan of anime, my FRIENDS are the huge fans(You see, I'm shy/really bad at making friends and they were nice). But normally I'm grouped in with the anime gang and labeled as the 'anime loving weirdo'. It's understandable, I'm always reading manga because I don't have the heart to turn down my friends offering me their favorite manga books, I don't want to offend them. And then when I told some people I liked dolls they said "What are they Japanese dolls?" I didn't even find out about them from any of my Japan loving friends, or watching/reading manga. It was total coincidence that anime and BJDs are from the same place. It really bothers me when people clump together things like BJD and manga and then think I'm weird for buying them because they're related to manga. Especially when they think stuff like "anime=dragonball-z" *shutters* People just jump to conclusions to quickly and don't/don't try or care to understand.

 

I'll admit, I came to doll ownership via anime. For this I blame Danny Choo. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I see it as an extension of figure collecting (at least at first). Now, it's taken a bit of an evolution where I'm starting to go beyond the base character. I'm looking at all the outfits, accessories, wigs, parts, etc. that go with it. I'm starting to use it as an extension of my photography hobby.

Am I offended about "that anime doll?" Considering one of my coworkers calls all anime "little doll sh*t," not really. Both of my dolls are actually anime dolls... just bigger than a figurine!

 

my dad said they look like those japanese shows (in a good way) oddly he thinks theyre neat
wasnt expecting it lol
but he was wrong! Sarah is Korean lol

 

I personally don't have a problem with it, and if I had someone being a jerk about it, I'd probably just give them the finger. Seriously, life's to short to worry, fuss, and generally get upset about stupid stuff. (yet I'm interested enough to give my opinion X.x Oh, the contradiction...) It's probably about the same reaction I would have if someone called me emo and didn't want to here my contradiction... give them the finger...

 

Personally I like the anime styled vinyl dolls such as Dollfie Dream or Obitsu 50/60cm so it really wouldn't bother me. I can see how it might bother others though because of the negative connotation with otakus/fans.

Now that I think about it my dolls have some really weeabo clothing like school uniforms, gothic lolita dresses, and shrine maiden outfits so I can't really talk >>;

 

I am a complete otaku so no, it does not bother me.
If I really hated anime/manga or had absolutely no interest in it I guess it would have bothered me a little bit (so I can understand that some people doesn't like it) but not enough to piss me off or upset me.

 

I really like anime, but I posted a picture of my boy on Facebook, and a friend of mine had replied to it with "Cool anime figurine, what convention did you get it at?" and I don't know why, but that really sent me through the roof. >.> Because I have one anime figurine that cost me about twenty dollars, and it's not that detailed. I don't like it that my five hundred dollar doll got lumped with the cheap anime figurines. >.>

 

it doesnt bother me to much[: im really into anime, but i dont like to show it, haha. and i dont think that my dolls came from any anime, just on my own, making my own stories and such.

 

I'm personally not into Anime. I have a good friend who is obsessed, and she really likes all my dolls but even she has never said oooh anime doll! But I don't care :P It really doesn't matter if someone thinks I am into it. I'd just say "Nope, I just like dolls!"

 

I love anime and part of the reason I like them is because they resemble anime characters so very much. However I was introduced to them in a way not really connected to anime. I just happened to stumble on some pictures of them. I never once told owners tho that they look like anime characters even tho they do. I really got in to the anime Rosen Maiden to which could have helped with my interest, but then again perhaps not. I have only seen these dolls twice in real life. once a passer by at an anime convention here in Iowa.. I didn't get a good look at him, and once at a convention in Chicago, and she let me hold her and look at her. So as you can see the times that I have ran in to these dolls was durring times that were anime related.. so this could be why people class them with anime.. because USUALLY anime fans only see other anime fans with these dolls. It wasn't till I started looking around about these dolls and going to so many different sites and other msg boards that I started to get the Idea that not all people that own these dolls are anime fans.

 

There are anime figures that are made of resin and cost around $100 (they are generally 1/6th though) she was probably thinking of those rather then a plastic figures. The volks super dollfie could be said to descend from the "garage kit" as those are Volks' other products.