You know, it’s a blessing when you can remember the exact date when you became a fan of something. In many cases, some people just accept that they’ve always been a fan of something and keep it pushing. In my case, thanks to the prodigious awesomeness of some kind soul who decided to keep a television schedule archive from early in the 2000’s, I’m able to lock onto the date with precision.

February 23, 2002. I was a junior in high school. Up late watching TV, I was about to head to bed when a show caught my eye: clouds giving way to a city shot. I thought, “Hey, this looks like something from Japan… kinda like Digimon!” Suddenly, a guy in a green outfit with a weird hairstyle is hit by a car. Whoa. This wasn’t Digimon. I kept watching, intrigued. Unlike Pokémon or Digimon, these characters had real attitudes—they swore, fought, and the story ran deeper and went on further than the end credits. What WAS this?

That night, I watched a bounty hunter tackle his past, giant fighting robots with quirky designs and a familiar-voiced main character, more giant robots, a red-headed starship captain, and a country bumpkin with royal blood who’s also a prodigious ladies’ man.

It was then that a switch was flipped in my brain. Something that started with seven floppy-socked dorks in a digital world was stoked by four hours of the most amazing programming I’d ever seen since The Crocodile Hunter. It was at that moment that I became an anime fan. I look back at that night and thank God that I didn’t go to sleep. In retrospect, a weekend of missed sleep was a small price to pay for over twenty years of being in the anime fandom, and I am thankful for it each and every day. My journey through the world of anime is my own, and I embrace it fully, but some don’t see it that way…bless their hearts.

A growing trend among some of the more ignorant in the fandom is saying that people who became anime fans during the COVID-19 Pandemic aren’t REAL fans because they only got into anime because of various lockdowns. This is what I like to call “STUPID”, my little niblings. It’s just another way of trying to gatekeep that which is IMPOSSIBLE to gatekeep; another attempt for no-name brainless elitist troglodytes to get their jollies off by making people mad and attempting to exercise some kind of control over the community. It’s pathetic, really, but a sign of the times. Rage Bait and outrage get clicks, it seems.

What’s worse, there’s even a group of people who believe that new fans have to go through some initiation or aren’t allowed to have any kind of thoughts or desires about what they want to watch. As though fans are some kind of children that should be seen and not heard in the community and have to “prove” their worth to be able to…watch anime? I guess? In their minds, if you haven’t gone through the same experiences they went through as fans, then you aren’t a REAL FAN, you don’t deserve a seat at the “adult’s table”, and you don’t DESERVE to watch anime or say anything about it, even though it can be argued that most anime fans nowadays weren’t even born during the “good ol’ days” these dopes are hailing. But wait, there’s MORE.

There’s even a certain sect of the fandom that is sharply opposed to people who became fans during the COVID-19 pandemic because, unlike many older fans, the new generation has it a lot easier, even when it comes to viewing. Unlike those who discovered anime in the 90’s and early 2000’s, when shows were limited to 2-episode VHS tapes or even badly done fansubs, you now have most major streaming services offering anime across different genres. That, plus the advent of social media, makes sharing opinions and recommendations even easier. No longer are fans restricted to message boards, forums, and convention halls. We can now say what we like and don’t like… for better or worse.  This has, inevitably, caused clashes, where some see a dislike of a certain show or trope as a personal slight, or worse, a lack of respect for the genre as a whole. They’re turning their personal love and nostalgia for a show into a kind of ownership…and unless your name is in the ending credits, it does not apply.

News flash, guys—someone not liking your anime doesn’t change how you feel about it or your enjoyment of it. Just because SasukeFan6969 doesn’t like the fanservice in Golden Boy or SakuraFeetPics6767 enjoys the English dub of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid doesn’t and shouldn’t affect YOUR enjoyment or opinion of the show. They are entitled to their own voice and their own space.

Our experiences with anime are as unique as our fingerprints. We all got into the fandom in different ways at different times, and we’ve had different experiences on our journey. Some got into anime by watching Speed Racer, others by watching Outlaw Star, and others still by watching Jujutsu Kaisen. No one person has the same experience, and honestly, that’s okay. Your experience is yours and yours alone and does not disqualify you from being in the community. Nobody has to bend a knee, keep their head down, or stay quiet about anything they like or don’t like. And contrary to what an uneducated minority says, you deserve to be here and have your voice heard. You deserve a seat at the adults’ table, more so than anyone else who tries to gatekeep anime for rage bait or their own stupid means.

If you got into anime through the COVID-19 Pandemic, then honestly, I applaud you. You found something amid despair and death that brought you happiness and joy. You took the time to get into the community and form your own tastes and opinions in short order in the wildest of circumstances. Again, your thoughts, opinions, and views are valid. Will everyone always agree? Nope. But that’s life….something that a lot of detractors don’t seem to have.

Long story short—it doesn’t matter how you got here—either through a giant purple robot or a sandal-boot-wearing knuckleheaded ninja. So long as you’re here, enjoying yourself, and not harassing others, that’s what matters. We need you. Welcome to the fold.

I’m Josh, the Cajun Samurai. That’s the Way I See It. Have a Good Evening.