"Casuals"

[SSJ2]

I use that title loosely because I still consider myself a casual. This topic is meant to discuss them, and how they view things. For example, I just got into an argument with probably 15 people on Yik Yak because they were trying to say Bleach and Naruto were better than One Piece. IMO anyone with this opinion is pretty deluded, or just doesn't understand what they are reading/watching. My question is, how can people have such an inability to recognize quality? The same people were also arguing that Dragon Ball was better than all three of those combined.

 

[Kyo]

It's kinda weird. The thing is, you can still find hardcore fans who think Naruto and Bleach and so on are among the best things they've seen. But it's true that generally more casual fans will have opinions like that while fewer hardcore fans share those opinions.

The best way to explain this is that casual fans will (generally) look at things on the surface level. That's not a knock on anime that casual fans tend to like, it's just how it is. For anime in particular they probably also don't treat it as they would any medium (I know people who judge film/live action television and anime by different standards and don't even seem to realize it - and I'm aware that they should be judged differently, but that's not really what I mean). So for something like One Piece where the anime's art style and animation looks a bit weird (and, more often than not, shitty), they'll think Naruto and Bleach are better for looking more conventional and less shit. It's the same reason why the shows that usually have a lot of crossover appeal are the ones can boast style rather than substance (regardless of whether they have substance or not), like Sword Art Online or Attack on Titan to give recent examples. Or Death Note and Code Geass, probably the two most universally loved shows among casual fans - both have that OTT "epic" feel.

Part of it is bandwagon/exposure as well. People in the West are more exposed to Naruto/Bleach than OP and somehow a prevailing opinion surfaced where OP looks goofy and silly and is stupid, even though it's easy to search and find anime scenes in OP that are just as 'cool' or 'badass' as what you see in Naruto/Bleach.

At the end of the day I think whether or not x is better than y is a subjective matter, although there is definitely a trend regarding what 'casuals' and 'hardcores' think. And it's not necessarily the case that 'hardcores' are better at forming opinions, either, the (contrarian, in this case) bandwagon argument can apply to them as well (e.g. "DAE THINK NARUTO IS SHIT??? L0L CASUALS")

 

[Yoshi]

Kyo nailed it. Plus Naruto and Bleach try to be more edgy, while One Piece doesn't try to be dark even though it has more mature themes for sure. I can hardly talk to people who consider themselves anime fans in real life these days, since many of them only watch Naruto, Bleach, Attack On Titan, etc. Now, I was a Naruto fan at one point in my life though, but I've always hated Bleach.

For example, I have a friend who's an Attack On Titan fan and always pressured me to get into it, and when I showed him art from Berserk he seemed disinterested. Eventually he came to me for suggestions when he saw me nitpick mainstream series as much as I did with him. I had also told him about Nanatsu No Taizai and it was the first he heard about that series.

They're posers for the most part... Not saying they all are, but I'd argue the majority of them are for sure. It was a miracle I got into One Piece, as that was how I got into great shit like Berserk, Vagabond, etc... With the help of Kenshi too, of course.

 

[sei'taer]

The whole casual argument is the biggest bullshit the anime fandom has ever fed itself. It's just another way to have elitism in media. It's hilarious to me because back in the day what series you watched didn't matter so much as that a person did watch anime. People were excited to share shows that they liked, and it didn't matter if the other person didn't like it, you just moved on.

Like arguing about people liking a series more is stupid, favoritism is not like debating. You can't make an argument about why someone should like One Piece more than Bleach without sounding like an asshole.

I have people tell me all the time give me shit about the modern shows I like, basically implying there's these older shows I've never heard of that are better. When I probably watched or read those shows years before them. Those people just come off as snobs to me.

 

[Yoshi]

You can't make an argument about why someone should like One Piece more than Bleach without sounding like an asshole.

This is one reason I abhor Bleach fans. There are only a rare amount of Bleach fans out there that actually have good taste like GridZero, and even then, people like him liking Bleach honestly puts him down a notch in taste... He views it as a guilty pleasure and only because he has nostalgia bias for it.

The rest are snobby weeaboos that almost always hate One Piece... It isn't surprising really. I would say they're casual anime fans, but honestly, Bleach has lost so much popularity it's just an Otaku Manga now... Not even a good one. Even the opinion that Bleach is better than Naruto is an odd one. Meanwhile, One Piece's popularity has been rising ever since Marineford, despite 4Kids fucking it over.

 

[sei'taer]

Meh even though i have a pretty bad opinion of Bleach post soul society, I still don't give a shit if people love it. It doesn't do a damn thing to me if someone thinks Bleach is great.

 

[Classic Adamas]

Maybe some people like their show more than your show? 2