Why do autistic people like Anime so much? - So many autistic people are obsessed with big eyed Chinese cartoons.

[Alex Hogendorp]

What's so specific about them that makes autists appealed to them?

 

[Soup Sammiches]

I must be on the wrong end of the spectrum because I can't stand Chinese cartoons.

 

[Los Hinojosos]

It's very simple. Japanese cartoons have a lack of complicated story telling. Most long running japanese cartoons are just the same story arc repeated with different characters. Moreover, the characters are very simple with common and clear tropes that autists can cope with. Autistic people have a hard time reading emotions, so the cartoonish faces that can only convey overt emotions makes it easy for them to understand what the characters are feeling. Autists also like simple bombastic music without subtle composition or lyrics, so the japanese pop songs that accompany the cartoons fit them perfectly. This is why autists prefer slop like Evangelion compared to high brow tv like the Sopranos or Friends.

 

[I'm Really Feeling It]

I've barely watched all that many anime, but seeing Gigguk's videos at gunpoint made me realize that there's so damn much of it. There's something for everyone's tastes, not even fetish wise.

 

[Ultrapenguin]

I think autists just like simplicity and familiarity so they continue watching cartoons well past the point other people would, and the autistic cartoon rabbit hole eventually leads them through to the terminal endpoint of anime.

Also they're very emotionally retarded, and the emotions expressed in anime tend to be much more decipherable. Like if someone loves someone else, they'll straight up have little hearts in their eyes, or if they're mad they'll turn red.

PS: Why do you people always make Q&A threads in the middle of the fucking night? You'd probably be less autistic if you at least made a token attempt at keeping a normal sleep schedule.

 

[blubberlubber]

Because no one finds anime deeper than Naruto or Dragonball other than recluses. It's just the same as any other hobby where if it isn't entirely mainstream a bunch of diehards or recluses will congregate around it. Have you ever met anyone into dumpster diving or excessive exercise or those extreme couponers? Now are they entirely normal, quirkless people? Normies find shows like extreme couponing or auction shows weird and crazy because your average person isn't doing anything beyond the surface tension of what they like. Autists hyperfocus on shit so they take it far more seriously and will know far more than the passerby.

Oh, and because most Japs are autistic as shit and game knows game. Made for autists by autists and shit like that.

 

[Reverse Ideology]

The subtleties of 東方Project appeal to intellectuals. People with autism may not fully understand the intricacies of Yukari Yakumo’s power levels or fully appreciate the subtle complexities of Yuyuko Saigyouji being a ghost who enjoys eating. (a nuanced observation about the weakening American empire.)

 

[Soycast Guy]

They like anime because the faces anime characters make are so exaggerated and expressive that they can actually understand the social cues. I remember a statistic that connects love of anime and manga to autism.

 

[Pierre D'Olnique]

Because meow. For the most part, anyway.

There's annie mays which don't follow the cat profiles. Like FoTNS, which you should watch if 6 foot tall Bruce Lee exploding people with his punches in a Mad Max setting sounds like your jam.

 

[WTBOnlineFather]

It portrays Japanese society, Japanese fantasy ideals (magic powers, fighting skills), Japanese social interactions and mannerisms, all of which are incredibly autistic and distinct from our culture which appeals to autists who have trouble orienting themselves in reality.

 

[George Lucas]

The most popular anime in the west is shonen and shojo. I suppose it’s the same in Japan, but that’s because kids and teens watch it in Japan. Most Japanese adults don’t care to watch anime on TV, though they’ll watch the popular movies. Otakus mainly gravitate to OVAs because they’re higher quality. Anyway, there is a whole bunch of anime that is geared more towards adults than children, usually based on seinen manga.

This style doesn’t have the vibrant colors and cartoony emotes of shonen/shojo. The characters are proportioned more realistically, the plots are more mature, and characters don’t follow typical tropes or arcs (or if they do, not so straightforwardly). However, unlike manga, there isn’t sharp distinction between different age groups, so you’ll see elements of both shonen and seinen in a lot of anime. Some metaseries will even have series in various demographics. Movies and OVAs for shonen series will usually step up the maturity. That said, I’m old and newer anime seems to be becoming less and less mature, at least the stuff that’s popular in the west.

The point is autistic people are mostly interested in things for children, so they like anime that’s for children (and teens; teens are children). They ignore the anime that’s for adults.

 

[X Prime]

It's very simple. Japanese cartoons have a lack of complicated story telling. Most long running japanese cartoons are just the same story arc repeated with different characters. Moreover, the characters are very simple with common and clear tropes that autists can cope with. Autistic people have a hard time reading emotions, so the cartoonish faces that can only convey overt emotions makes it easy for them to understand what the characters are feeling. Autists also like simple bombastic music without subtle composition or lyrics, so the japanese pop songs that accompany the cartoons fit them perfectly. This is why autists prefer slop like Evangelion compared to high brow tv like the Sopranos or Friends.

This is completely correct. I would like to add that they also like the bright coloration.

Ever notice that the trans flag colors are all bright? That's not a coincidence.

 

[gamerweeb1]

Because of the deep “plot”.

Also known as “giant boobies”.

 

[Overwritten Tapes]

Anyone who watches anime past middle school is a fucking weirdo. I ran into some old friends over the years and I am flabbergasted at their hobbies and the way they dress.

The only cool anime is lupin the third, and it's been years since I watched a movie or episode

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Japanese cartoons have a lack of complicated story telling

This is untrue, at least, no more true than it is of any television show, in fact probably less true on average. I don't think CSI Miami is more complicated than Death Note.

 

[HyperboreanRightsActivist]

It's very simple. Japanese cartoons have a lack of complicated story telling. Most long running japanese cartoons are just the same story arc repeated with different characters. Moreover, the characters are very simple with common and clear tropes that autists can cope with. Autistic people have a hard time reading emotions, so the cartoonish faces that can only convey overt emotions makes it easy for them to understand what the characters are feeling. Autists also like simple bombastic music without subtle composition or lyrics, so the japanese pop songs that accompany the cartoons fit them perfectly. This is why autists prefer slop like Evangelion compared to high brow tv like the Sopranos or Friends.

This is untrue, at least, no more true than it is of any television show, in fact probably less true on average. I don't think CSI Miami is more complicated than Death Note.

Fiction is for kids.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Fiction is for kids.

What about porn? That's at least fiction for adults.

 

[HyperboreanRightsActivist]

What about porn? That's at least fiction for adults.

Porn is for manchildren

 

[Snuckening2]

It's coz they're autistic

 

[skykiii]

Its kinda funny how anime topics always bring out people who clearly have only ever skimmed the surface. They didn't like Pokemon so they think all anime sucks. Which is a little like not liking Twilight so you think all books suck.

The person who said part of the appeal is the variety is onto something (though it used to be way more obvious in the past--nowadays it really is hard to find the gems among the repetitive shonen and waifu shit). When I was getting into it, anime told stories on par with live-action movies of the 1980s, just it was animated.

Which is itself part of the charm. For all the talk that "adults should not watch cartoons" fact is cartoons have some benefits you never get with live actors (hell, a lot of live movies today have to resort to animation for special effects--the Transformers films, anyone?)

And yes, one of that is the attractive and--even better--identifiable character designs. Sometimes with live movies I have a problem of "all these people look the same to me." Like no joke sometimes when I watch X-Files I get Fox Mulder and Alex Krycek confused. Never happens in animation.

Plus of course, animation can do things that would be impossible, or at least prohibitively expensive, in live-action. This is again why transforming robot movies usually still resort to CGI.

...... Buuuuut I got off-track. We were asking why anime in particular appeals to autists.

I think its mostly because of two things:

One, anime can take complicated ideas and make them digestable. Ever heard of thermal expansion? Yeah, there's an anime where its literally a plot point. Or how about anime that discuss things like the Majestic Twelve or the concept of a Time Paradox? Yup, those have happened too. For a real-life example, I once explained the concept of Solipsism to someone by saying "a solipsist is someone who thinks they're a real-life Haruhi Suzumiya, and reality only exists literally because they made it exist." He had asked three other people and they had all confused him, and I was the first who said it in a way that made sense.

Two, anime prioritizes emotive storytelling. In anime, emotion is first and foremost. For me this is sometimes one of the exact things I hate about it, but for people who have trouble feeling or understanding emotion, seeing scenes like Kotomi's mental breakdown in that one episode of Clannad can actually be powerful moments that can break through their usual mental barriers. And anime stories usually do go through a range of emotions, even the most basic and prosaic ones. And remember--there's always someone out there for whom even the most basic emotional manipulation is something they've never experienced before.

That's my thinking anyway.