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

Uhh, yeahhhh, really. Hey kids, what's that old saying about who shouldn't throw stones? Whenever I overhear some chubby white grownup in a frilly babydoll dress calling a FFVII cosplayer a weeaboo or making fun of a Naruto fan.... or a male furry at a yaoi convention sneering at BJD-owners (actually happened!).... I just wish I had one of these stickers...


Infighting! - can you dig it. Srsly, simmer down, y'all, there's enough room in the Freak Pot for all of us.

I'm a grownup and no longer care which labels get applied to me collaterally. Life is full of being-misunderstood-by-strangers, so you eventually get used to it. Nor do I care whether somebody I know identifies my doll as an anime-related thing, or Asian, or creepy, or all of the above, or what. Whatever "shortcut" helps it make sense in their minds, fine by me.

 

I just can't find the energy to get worked up about things like "anime dolls", "dollfies" or "made of plastic". I'll let somebody know if they're showing an interest in joining the hobby that it can offend some people. However, I would much rather make a new friend then snub somebody because they made an oopsie. It just seems petty to do so.

 

You see, I LOVE anime. It is a huge hobby of mine. However, my relatives always say "She looks like one of those anime characters!"
Well, she does I guess. (Miyuki's eyes are HUGE)
But for some reason it bothers me a bit when they relate anime with the dolls. Which is weird, because i LOVE both. But it doesnt bother me anough to correct them or get haughty about it.

 

Lots of them DO look "anime-ish", with the large eyes and petite features. (I say some because others look more realistic).

The connection doesn't bother me at all, I don't see why people get so worked up over it. We do it with furniture, clothing, stuff like that...

 

I think it has to do with associations people make. Just shortcuts for the brain, especially when confronted about something you know little about and don't really care much for. It's the same way of stereotypes, they're just small things that get stuck in the collective consciousness. There's been an connection made somewhere between anime and dolls and it's probably not going to go away.

I personally have never been told that, most people who comment or ask questions about my doll are random people who don't even know anime, or people already at an anime convention. xD

I also have a standard response for those kind of things. "Kinda like that." completely noncommittal. =D

 

I wouldn't get worked up over it; I know that people are ignorant so the connection doesn't bother me. I think that it is rather...not intelligent, since the two are very much not related most of the time. Unless you go looking at more anime/manga inspired dolls like erm....Dollfie Dream? And also those that truly are anime/manga dolls, like the Sebastian Michaelis doll from Fairyland. Other than that though, the two aren't related much. The connection does just make me think once again about how ignorant people are. x'D ((And I am one of the hugest anime/manga geeks; you don't even know.))

 

I think it depends more on the way that it's said. I'm not going to be offended by someone who genuinely doesn't know about ABJDs, but I will get a little annoyed if someone's using that as an excuse to dismiss or demean my hobby. BJDs aren't exactly part of the mainstream, so a lot of people simply don't know much, if any, about them. And, because they're from Asia, they tend to fall under the "anime" umbrella. Unfortunately, there are those who look down on any hobby that isn't "normal" and look for a reason to poo-poo what doesn't fit their idea of that.

 

To be completely honest, it doesn't bother me at all~ Atleast they understand that the dolls are much more unique then say barbie and what not.

 

I would be a bit surprised if someone connected bjds to anime. I'd probably answer that yes, if you want to make a doll based on anime, it's possible since you can decide on everything about these dolls. But why should I bother? ó.o What I like about this hobby is its diversity.

 

It doesn't bother me at all. I love anime and I only smile when I hear from my friends and relatives smth like *what anime is he from?*, *he looks just like Sebastian in this suit!* or smth like that))

 

I'm not bothered.

I love manga and I love anime. When I did storyboards or character designs for my stories, I drew them in that fashion. I've been doing it since I was about 13 years old. I first found out about BJDs through a photograph of a doll cosplaying Sephiroth [game version] ~ Even though I was never a fan of those molds, some of the girl dolls that I liked could have very well come out of the shoujo mangas that I collected. I understand there is a resemblance between anime and some molds -- you can't help that. And people will automatically clump them into anime -- which is a more mainstream hobby/interest.

A lot of Korean dolls look like characters out of a manhwa too. A lot of people don't understand the difference in style between a manhwa and manga, so the term manga is generally used for Asian comics. Do I get mad that manhwa's are called manga? No. Manga is more mainstream than manhwa, so I accept it. But I've never called a Korean doll, "Oh that manhwa looking doll."

The thought "anime doll" never crossed my mind. I've never considered them as such. There's many owners who obviously either don't know what anime is or you can tell they're not interested and yet they own a doll... and sometimes one of the more 'animesque' molds. Just because someone likes a mold that resembles anime doesn't mean they like anime.

 

It bothers me a little, but it would also bother me if they said, "Those Marvel comic dolls." My doll doesn't look very manga-esque. He may have fantasy parts, but he also has a minimalistic face-up, a natural hair colour, and a more prominent nose than eyes. I wouldn't be OFFENDED, but it wouldn't be a comment I would be hoping for or even expecting. One of the reasons I went with Resinsoul was because I didn't like how reminiscient of anime many BJDs are.

Edit: My doll does look rather much like a character from a manhwa. I would find him being compared to a character from a Korean comic to be more in line with my expectations.

 

It bothers me a little, but it's probably because people always assume that I am an anime fan when, in actuality I am not. I'm Asian, I love video games, I love Japan (China and Taiwan too), and I used to cosplay, so people have a miserably bad habit of assuming that I must love anime as well, which gets annoying after a while. The association of ABJDs and anime doesn't bother me so much as people making assumptions about others' interests in general.

 

I found my love of the hobby through anime. And I collect Dollfie Dreams. The DDs are based off of many popular anime girls. It doesn't bother me but I would probably correct them if I owned any other type of dolls. I wouldn't be "You're wrong that's a etc etc" but more like "I can see why you think that, but actually etc etc"

 

I got in to ABJDs throgh the anime rozen maidan! Lol

 

Ive never had an issue with the connection, anime is part of how i discovered BJDs through conventions and browsing the internet, ive never had a problem with people looking at me funny.. tho i have only ever taken out my pukipuki for photo shoots and had people peering and then smiling at how cute she is ^_^

 

I also found bjd thro anime but I never thought it would bother anyone too much if I made that assumption that if they like bjd, they probably like anime maybe cosplay too or photography or kpop/jpop fan, and maybe even drawing/painting. =( I kind of consider people love anime, bjd, and cosplay to be from the same "world." I heard some psychologist said that human like to group thing together for easy processing. Some bjd really resemble Kpop boy, and you guys have to admit, of bjd really resemble anime character. I guess this why I kind of group them together. Not really on purpose but it's just the way my mind process. ^^;;

 

I get labeled with the anime thing Constantly, not just with the dolls.
The comments of "Oh you love japanese cartoons alot' when I haven't watched a new series in well over two years. Drives me crazy as my doll love stems from FAR before my interest in anime in high school.
Most of my dolls characters have European folk lore style personalities/ back story so yeeaah. Drives me a bit batty.

 

I've also been into anime for years, tho I found bjd's 5-6 years after I actively quit watching it. I still have a soft spot for most things japanese, so the comparison doesn't bother me. The realization that not all bjd lovers even like anime came to me just a few years ago, so I can understand when someone thinks "bjd = anime" when seeing a doll for the first time. Imo, better compare them to anime than barbie.

 

Well, I wouldn't get bothered by it for it's quite a common issue that people would get mixed up and connect anime with dolls and yea, I agree with Gibbet and I rather people calling my dolls "those anime dolls" than "those Barbie dolls"...hahaha XD