So, here's an interesting tidbit that slapped me in the head here recently.

I was at Fanime here a bit ago, and the situation that struck me was this:

I was walking up on the upper level of the convention center, right outside the dealers hall, looking for cute and/or cool cosplayers, when I saw this girl, who was the very definition of a geeky anime fangirl in costume. Probably not very sociable, and most likely incredibly shy. Not bad looking exactly, but not smoking hot by any stretch of the imagination. Was wearing what we in the military kindly refer to as, BCs. BCs stand for Birth Control glasses, which, put bluntly, means that no one will want to fuck you wearing those ugly ass things. She was being hovered over by a guy who fit the definition of 'Greek God' and looked at every other guy around with eyes that said, "You can take pictures; touch my woman, however, and I'll eat your liver with some fava beans, topped off with a nice ciante!" I took my picture, slightly bemused, thought about what I had just seen, and then looked about me.

Now, I know you're probably thinking; another article about how anime has gone mainstream. This cannot be further from the truth, though this may well be a symptom of just that. Everywhere I looked, I saw geek guys with hot girls, geek girls with bishie guys, everything in between and a few things beyond. Some even had children in tow...KIDS! I don't mean kids who had become anime fans and were dragging their parents to this con, I mean anime fans who were dragging their kids to this convention...some of whom were fans themselves. All we'd need to do is slap a Decepticon symbol on them, and we could call these ones Generation 2.

This prompted me to sit down and think about the conventions I'd been at since I'd started going to them back in '97. Comic Con was a complete and total chaotic mess, however, I noticed a distinctly large amount of men when compared to women. I wasn't exactly surprised, but was somehow disappointed...not so much that I wanted to hit on any girls there, but that it seemed like there wasn't really that much interest by the fairer sex in Sci Fi and anime. Then again, that segued into the thought of the odds of finding a girl that would share my pass time, and that if I ever wanted one of mine own, I'd probably have to give it up, so maybe it was disappointment in not being able to hit on girls, heh.

In '99 I wound up going to my first anime convention, Anime Expo, up in Anaheim, California. If anything, it was far worse there. Total sausage factory, except for the occasional fangirl; most of them very much like the men around them. Their looks aside, as their looks ranged from hot to...well...not, but they acted just like the men for the most part. Introverted, nearly scared and tongue tied even trying to speak to the opposite sex (or same sex, if that was their thing)...yet a longing in their eyes when the extraordinarily rare couple walked by. Back then it struck me like a hammer through my own envy and longing: So many fans just reaching for companionship; and it was all around them, yet whatever it was that kept them from connecting, held fast...keeping them apart.

We shared a drink we called loneliness, but it was better than drinking alone.

In the year 2000, contrary to popular melodrama, the world, unfortunately, did not go up in a ball of nuklear fire...in fact, all I got to attend was Comic Con, and I was looking forward to Ragnarok too. I didn't get back in time for AX from being shot at in the Middle East. Yes, even sailors get shot at occasionally out there. Pretty much same thing I was used to as far as that went, though this was also the time I noticed how HARD it was to actually walk around in Comic Con...I think they started the expansion of the convention center about this time just for Comic Con. However, 2001 it was a whole new ballgame. From what I hear of the Anime Expo that took place in Disney Land...I didn't miss much.

First thing I noticed in 2001, there were girls EVERYWHERE! Young, old, cute, cuddly, not so cute and cuddly, hotter than hell, not so hot...all their shapes and sizes, they were all over the fucking place. Emphasis on fucking, let me tell you. At first I attributed it to anime gaining popularity, but there was actually more to it than that. You remember those girls I was talking about at AX '99? I guess they had gotten tired of that drink called loneliness, cause they were on the prowl this year. In your face, talking to you about anything and everything, smiles, winks...the attention was overwhelming, and even better, reciprocated. The guys were geeking out just as hard, and just as openly, with as much interest in the girls, and both halves of the gender equation were loving every moment of it. It was Otaku mating season that year, and from the midnight showings of H anime to the dealers hall in the middle of the day, I'll be damned if there wasn't hookups happening all over the place. I myself must have been propositioned at least five times...only problem there is I'd been snared by the lovely Literary Eagle, so I could do no more than regretfully turn them down only to receive in reply half grins of, "Your loss, boy."

Excuse me a moment, I need to go and cry again like I did back then.

Anyway, in the year 2002, this was MUCH calmed down. However, it had settled into something a little more...saccharine. Heh, rather than fans on the prowl, there were couples all over the place. Still doing those cute little things that new couples do...the entire, "I wuv you my widdle snookums!" even after a year of obviously being together since the previous Anime Expo. It was all so...damnit, I need insulin just thinking about it. Still, it was far more calmed down; and far happier fangirls and fanboys all around I'd say.

Since then, this has been happening more and more often. Before, I'd hear the cries of sorrow of, "When will I meet my man/woman?" from various friends, acquaintances, and whatnot; and I still do. However, I'm hearing more and more, "Well, I met this girl/guy who's into anime just as much as me..." and well, you get the picture.

Now I'm seeing families. Entire families of fans, many of whom were from this first crop of anime fans that could barely look the opposite gender in the eye without doing that anime blush and running for their lives. Sure, the kids aren't that old, but they're already well into loving all those fun animations coming from Japan. To them, this will be the norm rather than some oddity that forces them to hide in obscurity for most of their lives.

What I think I realized, was not that it had become mainstream...I could give a shit less about an observation to that effect. No, what I realized was that we as fans have shed many of the shackles that we voluntarily put on when we became fans. Not all of us to be sure, but more and more...we've shed our fear, our doubts, and our insecurities. Reaching towards each other...finding each other, becoming more open...learning to love each other in whatever form that may take, and in turn, learning to love ourselves; in some cases for the first time ever. People respond to that, and they've come from outside to share in this wonderful thing we've become.

I realized that we had, both spiritually and physically, grown. We have become far more than we were.

And that, my fellows, is a damn good thing.

Hell yeah.