I know FDS says that men who watch anime are an automatic red flag, but I'm wondering if there are exceptions? It seems like everyone and their grandma watches anime these days, and though I have never watched anything recently, I used to be into kid shows like Pokemon and Yugioh, etc. when I was younger, and a lot of my friends growing up watched Naruto or Bleach because those also played on Cartoon Network later at night. Those ones seem harmless enough, so I'm sure there are more that are too?
Are there "good anime" and "bad anime?" If a guy says he watches anime, should I ask for examples of his favorites? And what are some instant b&d examples?
No. Men are not capable of discernment. They enjoy women's suffering in shows and in real life. It's not the same as a grandma watching a show. Block and delete.
There are exceptions.
Anything by Miyazaki.
The male supremacy tunnel is so dark though, that you often don't realize your bf is a misogynist. Anime is the same way.
Even in Naruto, no really fleshed out female characters. No older women who LOOK older and are skilled.
Japan is a very anti-woman country, so your ex option will truly be an exception.
I don't know if this counts as cartoon or anime, but the new She-ra was really good.
The fact that so many trans women have anime photos as their Twitter profile photo is enough for me to stay far away from avid anime watchers. Sure, there are probably some exceptions but who has the time to weed through a cesspool to find them?
As and avid anime consumer in my teenage years when I was involved with too much people in differents age ranges that claimed to like the hobby, I say that If he watches it regulary enough to say he likes anime: run. There are barely enough non problematic animes to fill two counting hands. I wish it wasn't like that, but every male otaku is an automatic incel in (not so much) disguise.
Some block and delete carry the follow themes:
Female Harems
Male leads are perverted characters (jumps on the chance to demean women)
Sexual Assault
Crappy Treatment of Women
Female bashing if the series has male characters that do the same thing, but no one criticisizes them.
If you are unsure of series they watch, feel free to DM me.
Anyone is free to disagree with me, but at my age (43F) any man who actively still watches anime is a big red flag, IMO.
It is a strong indication that he is both profoundly immature, and also highly likely to be a pedophile. Or both.
I realize there are plenty of younger FDS women that disagree, and that’s totally okay. But give it a little more time, and you’ll probably notice the near 100% positive correlation between a man’s toxic immaturity and his undying interest in porn, video games, and anime. The connection is just impossible to deny from my perspective.
It really doesn't help that alot of newer anime (witha few exceptions) is blatant scrote/incel-bait. It seems to be deliberately catered to creeps/manchildren/misogynists/incels . Especially the isekai type ones and harem animes. Dear god the harem anime. Don't get me started on their blatant slavery fetish and treating women as fuckdolls.
If a man is into harem/hentai/isekai anime i consider it a huge red flag. Some exmaples of those types of anime are: Shield Hero, SAO, Rent a GF, or Bunny Senpai, kiss x sis and goblin slayer
I loved anime as a kid, but now it's meh for me at most. Last recent anime I used to like was Demon Slayer, but the constant sexualization of female characters, including Nezuko, who is a child, gave the ick.
It is difficult to find medium that is not catered to for gross dudes.
Seconding Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood which was written by a woman. Even thinking about it now, it has plenty of well written female characters that are also pivotal beyond shallow scote tropes.
Edit: Scrotes up in here down voting. Lol go back to reddit.
No
This might be a reach, but a good anime with some HVM male leads is Fruits Basket. Cardcapter is another one.
Generally there is anime that is targeted for women. Often times, the author are also women as well. You just have to look really hard lol
I'm more of a manga/Manhua reader. I know that there's been a push in the community for better male leads. A lot of female readers want the male leads to be polite, courteous, and gentlemen. Consent is really huge in many of the stories.
With really current works, I no longer see the trope of the rude male lead and the submissive female. Honestly, it's for the best since I think it's like another version of the manic pixie dream girl and it's quite overdone.
I casually watch anime, but I’ve decided I don’t want to date a guy who also watches anime. They tend to be underachieving men.
Anime, like gaming and porn, is a low value hobby.
It depends on the anime title he likes. The good ones can be very, very good, and the bad ones are the worst. I watch anime (and consume Japanese media), so I know how to vet through it. Naruto is a big NO from me, I'm not favorable about Bleach either. Popular titles aimed toward male teens usually features sexualized female characters (often dumb and useless too).
If you don't watch anime and don't want to take risks, don't date an anime guy. Especially not if he's watches anime a lot or active in the fandom.
I know dozens of men irl that watch anime regularly and only one of them have FDS approved taste. He's extremely picky, avoid fanservice-y popular titles, and only watch anime with a good story and well-written characters. He's the only one. LOL. The odds isn't very good.
Exceptions exist, but they are more rare than you would probably think.
In my entire life (30-something years), I've met one—and only one—man who enjoyed anime and was not LV.
As an anime watcher of over fifteen years, anime, once a small focused medium in Western countries, has taken a strong foothold around the world. Depending on when a series comes out, the anime can be a product of its time. What was popular back then, might not be what people like today, but it still has a place in people's heart for nostalgia or feel good moments.
To gauge a man's taste in anime look at the following:
Does he prioritize anime over other stuff?
What type of anime he watches (keep in mind Japan has some biases against women so if the series has misogyny in it and he speaks poorly of female characters, that's a red flag)
Merch: I like collecting anime products, but I make sure that it is tasteful and I don't cover up if my conservative mother comes. If they have a lot of inappropriate figurines, get away. If he spends all of his money on merch and is not saving money, run.
Actions: Does he use inappropriate dialog from series? Run. If he does things that were appropriate for the anime situation that is not appropriate in real life, run.
Hygiene: Similar to other indoor hobbies, if he is unkempt and smells bad, run.
Sometimes I feel anime gets a bad rap compared to other forms of medium. As I get older, I learned to be picky with my anime watch. I expect men to also be picky with what they watch.
There are a lot of sweet normal animes on netflix.