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Is Narou-kei stuff the only "Anime for otaku" nowadays, or are there other things in that category?

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5 hours ago
#1

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Feb 2014
6430
Yesterday I was once again fantasiz- I mean SIMULATING talking to IRL people about anime in order to be ready when the opportunity finally comes.
It went to the subject of me explaining the differences between "Story (Premise)", "Plot" and "Appeal", with a focus on the latter and using as examples some seasonals I've been liking (OmaGoto, Hell Mode and DoraTama) and how I large part I like them is for their RPG mechanic stat progression autism.
I did notice, however, that if I tried to talk about their premises or show images of them, they would seem dumb or uninteresting at best for those not very familiar to anime, to out-right feel cringe and childish.

That made me think: Are Narou-gems the monopoly of "anime made for otaku" nowadays, similar to what ecchi stuff was in the 2000's?
What else would also fall in that category of anime nowadays?
thewiru4 hours ago
5 hours ago
#2
BIKINI⚔️ARMOR

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May 2019
11716
I don't understand the majority of your threads and i honestly don't care to so i will default to my regular answers and say queen's blade and bikini warriors.

5 hours ago
#3

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Oct 2010
22527
can someone explain it, please to me so I can answer seriously?
5 hours ago
#4

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Feb 2016
16605
thewiru said:
I did notice, however, that if I tried to talk about their premises or show images of them, they would seem dumb or uninteresting at best for those not very familiar to anime, to out-right feel cringe and childish.

That is because they are dumb and uninteresting.

thewiru said:
Yesterday I was once again fantasiz- I mean SIMULATING talking to IRL people about anime in order to be ready when the opportunity finally comes.

その目だれの目?
5 hours ago
#5

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Nov 2025
274
Reply to Catalano
can someone explain it, please to me so I can answer seriously?
@Catalano I think he means anime so bad that it deters people from watching any anime. Or that makes the entire medium look bad.

Edit: nevermind, he just means anime that scares off "normies"
OhNoAFanOfTouhou5 hours ago
5 hours ago
#6

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Feb 2014
6430
@Catalano

There's a certain type of anime that you can explain to everyone else and they might understand the appeal.
Lets use other seasonals I'm watching as an example: It shouldn't be too difficult to explain the premises of stuff like Gnosia, Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu or Medalist 2nd Season. I don't think anyone would get "weirded out" by those or find difficult to understand why someone would like them.
The anime I've mentioned in my original post, in the other hand, feel focused on a more niche group to the detriment of all others.

I don't have a modicum of data to prove this, and it is mostly based on anecdotes, but I feel that, with time, more and more anime are of this "universal" kind, so I was curious if there's any other group of anime other than narou-stuff that would fit the aforementioned criteria.
5 hours ago
#7
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Feb 2025
1078
thewiru said:
That made me think: Are Narou-gems the monopoly of "anime made for otaku"

Assuming you're talking about lit-RPG adaptations, no, they're not. You don't understand that this kind of stuff appeals to lots of people. You might obsess over the stat progression idea more than most, but your assumption that otakuism is anything more than that is a misunderstanding of average people. It's not that they don't get it or appreciate those details. It's not a foreign language to them - their interest is just at a 6 or 7 while you've dialed up to 11.

Your struggle to relate to others isn't because they can't appreciate what you appreciate. It's because your lifestyle (and identity/ideology surrounding it) has been so centric around this one subject that you can no longer appreciate the less granular aspects that they appreciate.
5 hours ago
#8

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Feb 2014
6430
Reply to OhNoAFanOfTouhou
@Catalano I think he means anime so bad that it deters people from watching any anime. Or that makes the entire medium look bad.

Edit: nevermind, he just means anime that scares off "normies"
@UhOhFanOfTouhou
No, no, your definition isn't mutually exclusive with mine.
5 hours ago
#9

Offline
Nov 2017
1285
It's exhausting how many of the threads on this site are by the same exact 3 people. I mean no one can make quality threads at that consistent of a rate.

I would make a suggestions thread instead of whinging here, but why bother. No one looks there anyway...
5 hours ago

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Feb 2014
6430
Reply to valico
thewiru said:
That made me think: Are Narou-gems the monopoly of "anime made for otaku"

Assuming you're talking about lit-RPG adaptations, no, they're not. You don't understand that this kind of stuff appeals to lots of people. You might obsess over the stat progression idea more than most, but your assumption that otakuism is anything more than that is a misunderstanding of average people. It's not that they don't get it or appreciate those details. It's not a foreign language to them - their interest is just at a 6 or 7 while you've dialed up to 11.

Your struggle to relate to others isn't because they can't appreciate what you appreciate. It's because your lifestyle (and identity/ideology surrounding it) has been so centric around this one subject that you can no longer appreciate the less granular aspects that they appreciate.
valico said:
their interest is just at a 6 or 7 while you've dialed up to 11.

Isn't that the textbook definition of otakuism and how it came to be in the first place: Certain fans obsessing and hyperfixating over certain aspects more than others, which in turn birthed anime made to focus on such aspects?
valico said:
that you can no longer appreciate the less granular aspects that they appreciate.

WDYM?
5 hours ago

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Feb 2020
2000
I don't think my condo value would drop because of me watching isekai anime, comparing to the guitar 2 floors up. But theoretically that anime is Shuffle, Isekai and some Ecchi on the side? I am about to watch bnh and someday have to finish Banana Fish with the guns, maybe that?

If it helps you, when I was in a bus with an intern he explained me the mechanics of Tower of God, and he compared to something of universal appeal (Hunter x Hunter) and what problem in hxh that it solved (power scaling with letters and characters having attribute rankings). And then when I asked him about unique things in the work he mentioned the dwarf dino -- he actually used better names for all these, but you get the idea.
5 hours ago

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Feb 2014
6430
Reply to Rally-
It's exhausting how many of the threads on this site are by the same exact 3 people. I mean no one can make quality threads at that consistent of a rate.

I would make a suggestions thread instead of whinging here, but why bother. No one looks there anyway...
@Rally-
I may be wrong, but "suggestions thread" brings me the image of people just leaving names and then dipping out.
This one is more about an explanation around the names you might leave.
5 hours ago

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Oct 2023
299
I mean talking to yourself about anime to imaginary people might turn people off from anime if they overheard you and/or saw you talking to yourself about anime.
The Matrix has you...
5 hours ago

Offline
Nov 2017
1285
Reply to thewiru
@Rally-
I may be wrong, but "suggestions thread" brings me the image of people just leaving names and then dipping out.
This one is more about an explanation around the names you might leave.
@thewiru I frequently have a tough time deciphering your posts. What is going on here?
5 hours ago

Offline
Dec 2025
52
Reply to Rally-
It's exhausting how many of the threads on this site are by the same exact 3 people. I mean no one can make quality threads at that consistent of a rate.

I would make a suggestions thread instead of whinging here, but why bother. No one looks there anyway...
@Rally- I think these Wiru threads are fun to be fair, I personally can't imagine caring about most of the things he posts about so it's a fun glimpse into the mind of someone with priorities completely divorced from my own.
<-- the guy
5 hours ago

Offline
Feb 2016
16605
Reply to thewiru
@Catalano

There's a certain type of anime that you can explain to everyone else and they might understand the appeal.
Lets use other seasonals I'm watching as an example: It shouldn't be too difficult to explain the premises of stuff like Gnosia, Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu or Medalist 2nd Season. I don't think anyone would get "weirded out" by those or find difficult to understand why someone would like them.
The anime I've mentioned in my original post, in the other hand, feel focused on a more niche group to the detriment of all others.

I don't have a modicum of data to prove this, and it is mostly based on anecdotes, but I feel that, with time, more and more anime are of this "universal" kind, so I was curious if there's any other group of anime other than narou-stuff that would fit the aforementioned criteria.
thewiru said:
There's a certain type of anime that you can explain to everyone else and they might understand the appeal.

That "certain type of anime" is the good kind.
その目だれの目?
4 hours ago
Offline
Feb 2025
1078
Reply to thewiru
valico said:
their interest is just at a 6 or 7 while you've dialed up to 11.

Isn't that the textbook definition of otakuism and how it came to be in the first place: Certain fans obsessing and hyperfixating over certain aspects more than others, which in turn birthed anime made to focus on such aspects?
valico said:
that you can no longer appreciate the less granular aspects that they appreciate.

WDYM?
@thewiru I think I got sidetracked with my reply. Otakuism to you seems to represent a disconnect from an average person; an insurmountable wall of incongruent levels of interest. But really the issue is you've deemed otakuism as being "too good" for simpler levels of appreciation. This is evident in your recent obsession with that recommendation of 86 as "lesser known".

If you want to discuss litrpg anime with a less obsessed person, you have to learn to appreciate the less granular aspects of them. You shouldn't be too good for that, unless you need to posture yourself as superior to a normal person.
4 hours ago

Online
Sep 2016
24976
I'm not paying any rent.

🏴‍☠️
*kappa*
4 hours ago

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Feb 2014
6430
Reply to Rally-
@thewiru I frequently have a tough time deciphering your posts. What is going on here?
@Rally-
Let me rephrase it:

What I imagine a "suggestions thread" to be: Many comments listing titles, but not talking anything further than that nor interacting with other people in the thread.
What I intend this thread to be: People explaining their rationale around the titles they choose.
4 hours ago

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Feb 2014
6430
Reply to Lucifrost
thewiru said:
There's a certain type of anime that you can explain to everyone else and they might understand the appeal.

That "certain type of anime" is the good kind.
Lucifrost said:
That "certain type of anime" is the good kind.

I don't put a hierarchy in those, I like both.
4 hours ago

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Mar 2023
338
Reply to Rally-
@thewiru I frequently have a tough time deciphering your posts. What is going on here?
@Rally- its better than coomerreviewer clogging up this site with unfunny tiktok lingo
4 hours ago

Offline
Nov 2017
1285
Reply to thewiru
@Rally-
Let me rephrase it:

What I imagine a "suggestions thread" to be: Many comments listing titles, but not talking anything further than that nor interacting with other people in the thread.
What I intend this thread to be: People explaining their rationale around the titles they choose.
@thewiru This is like the second time you not-so-subtlety gloated about how much more superior your low-quality threads are to me.
4 hours ago

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Feb 2014
6430
Reply to valico
@thewiru I think I got sidetracked with my reply. Otakuism to you seems to represent a disconnect from an average person; an insurmountable wall of incongruent levels of interest. But really the issue is you've deemed otakuism as being "too good" for simpler levels of appreciation. This is evident in your recent obsession with that recommendation of 86 as "lesser known".

If you want to discuss litrpg anime with a less obsessed person, you have to learn to appreciate the less granular aspects of them. You shouldn't be too good for that, unless you need to posture yourself as superior to a normal person.
valico said:
@thewiru I think I got sidetracked with my reply. Otakuism to you seems to represent a disconnect from an average person; an insurmountable wall of incongruent levels of interest. But really the issue is you've deemed otakuism as being "too good" for simpler levels of appreciation. This is evident in your recent obsession with that recommendation of 86 as "lesser known".

That may be due to me being from the boonies of Brazil.
Here there really is a stark contrast between normies and non-normies, because living as a non-normie feels similar to living with a small degree of autism.
You feel that most people around you have zero interests above their most primal instincts, people look at you in a weird way if you like something that's not the most mainstream of all, people cannot fathom the idea of you not caring about soccer, cannot fathom you wanting "finer" things, etc
My high-school experience was never having anyone to talk to, because the only things my classmates talked about were soccer, Netflix shows, and the weekend party they went in and rank spirits.

Having access to the internet the way I did made me feel resentful to that, as in thinking "look how many cool experiences I've been deprived of due to having to stick to those people!".

Remember the article about 90's Japan I've been thinking to write about?
I feel that Shizuku explained the idea of "the internet" before the internet: You have your protagonist in scenes where he's schizo-ing out and making weird rants about Japan having lost the war, and in other scene he will appear as a completely normal character talking to a girl or his uncle.
I initially thought this was faulty writing, maybe by the scenes being written by two different people, but no, it's by design, later on the VN admits it explicitly that the protagonist himself feels the dissonance between those two facets of him, asks himself which is "the real one", and comes to the conclusion that "they both are".

I thought that it was the same thing as the internet: The internet gives you "context" to exercise parts of your thought that in any other part of history would only be reserved for aristocrats and such. Those are "the finer stuff" I'm talking about.

Where I live, limited to IRL, the only parts of my brain I would be able to exercise would be those talking about gossip, drinking, bad music, soccer, parties, etc. The rest "dulling out" and then continuing the cycle.
I've mentioned in other threads that the barrier between normies and non-normies is way thinner in more cosmopolitan places, as well as richer and less unequal countries due to that, but this isn't my case.
valico said:
If you want to discuss litrpg anime with a less obsessed person, you have to learn to appreciate the less granular aspects of them. You shouldn't be too good for that, unless you need to posture yourself as superior to a normal person.

I still don't understand what you mean by "the less granular aspects", WDYM?
4 hours ago

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Feb 2014
6430
Reply to Rally-
@thewiru This is like the second time you not-so-subtlety gloated about how much more superior your low-quality threads are to me.
@Rally-
Not really?
It's not that my threads are "superior", I just see that as an issue on the threads that already exist and that I think EVERY THREADS should try to avoid and I simply do my part.
That's like saying I feel "superior" for brushing my teeth.
4 hours ago

Offline
Nov 2017
1285
Reply to thewiru
@Rally-
Not really?
It's not that my threads are "superior", I just see that as an issue on the threads that already exist and that I think EVERY THREADS should try to avoid and I simply do my part.
That's like saying I feel "superior" for brushing my teeth.
@thewiru I wouldn't support getting banned for low-quality posting, but there has GOT to be a feature to automatically hide people like this from ever showing up on the front page.
4 hours ago

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Mar 2023
338
i need to go take a shit be right back...
4 hours ago

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Feb 2014
6430
Reply to Rally-
@thewiru I wouldn't support getting banned for low-quality posting, but there has GOT to be a feature to automatically hide people like this from ever showing up on the front page.
@Rally-
The fact that mine show up in the front page means that I'm creating the exact type of threads that the MAL algorithm wants to reward: One that makes a lot of people comment multiple times in them.
You're correct that in a better MAL my threads would rarely be in the front page, but that would be because other people would be making better threads in the same mold I use, the mold of "not simply writing names and them leaving".

I kinda admit that I'm not competent enough to write the type of threads I want to write, lol.
thewiru4 hours ago
3 hours ago

Online
Dec 2021
1925
How come threads about pooping get locked but this never ending slurry of shit threads never seems to catch the moderators' eyes?
3 hours ago

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Oct 2023
435
Does narou even itch the interests of anime otaku, moe otaku, or otherwise?
KittenCuddler said:
How come threads about pooping get locked

I don't know. I really don't know.
3 hours ago

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May 2014
1786
thewiru said:
Yesterday I was once again fantasiz- I mean SIMULATING talking to IRL people about anime in order to be ready when the opportunity finally comes.
It went to the subject of me explaining the differences between "Story (Premise)", "Plot" and "Appeal", with a focus on the latter and using as examples some seasonals I've been liking (OmaGoto, Hell Mode and DoraTama) and how I large part I like them is for their RPG mechanic stat progression autism.
I did notice, however, that if I tried to talk about their premises or show images of them, they would seem dumb or uninteresting at best for those not very familiar to anime, to out-right feel cringe and childish.

That made me think: Are Narou-gems the monopoly of "anime made for otaku" nowadays, similar to what ecchi stuff was in the 2000's?
What else would also fall in that category of anime nowadays?


First of all, I find it great you're image training trying to talk to people. Most would only prepare job interviews and dates, but it is nice to see you're taking it to the next level. You might lose spontaneity but it helps if you're not a social, extrovert or talkative type.

I don't think explaining what a premise is actually useful or necessary to connect with people. Narrative concepts and story building are better left to writers or critics in certain spheres. That really depends on who you're talking to. Some otakus love action shonen, others love ecchi or horror. Personally, I'm fond of magic/mythology, romcoms and music anime. Although you're right into taking a universalist stance to try to talk about anime, being genre-specific, or even better niche-specific might help you draw out more your personality. That's really a matter of balancing broad connections and deep connections.

That's actually where your next point comes in: is there a common pattern like RPG mechanic stat progression autism, Narou-kei (which I read as "wish fullfilling story"), or being a seasonal hidden gem? a pattern that can help you connect with otakus?

I'm sorry but I don't think restricting otakus to a specific type is going to work. This is not about era trends either (ecchi, isekai, narou-kei). You're assuming there are categories for otakus and categories for normies/everyone, but people don't fit neatly into boxes. If they did, the upcoming robots could very well take our place and suggest perfect anime conversation topics and anime suggestions in our stead.

In a nutshell, I believe that anime reviewing and anime-social categorizing are not sufficiently related to solve a sociability problem. If it were, otakus would be truly popular and the kings of this world. (we are KINGS, we just keep hiding)

24 minutes ago

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Apr 2020
4152
thewiru said:
Yesterday I was once again fantasiz- I mean SIMULATING talking to IRL people about anime in order to be ready when the opportunity finally comes.


This is so sad.



If you actually talk to people....
How about ....don't explain stuff to them^^ There's no need. You're not that clever. They don't really wanna know. Try to have a nice conversation.

Remember: You're afraid of coming across "cringe" and/or "childish". So try to not make it about yourself and just talk as if (I know, I know... it's hard) they're not beneath you and you're actually talking to them on an eye-to-eye level :)

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