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The original was posted on /r/anime by /u/elhumanoid on 2024-11-04 14:56:07+00:00.

I remember being a teen in the mid- late 2000s and having to hide my love for anime/manga, because it was considered super weird and nerdy (not in a good way.)

Or if I didn’t hide it, I was made to feel shame and a level of disgust in it.

It’s taken a completely different tone these days and people’s attitude is almost the opposite, and I’m all for it.

Could be a cultural/generational/regional thing too, I’m from Finland so my experience is of course very limited.

Nowadays I let my weeb-flag fly high and proud and it’s so cool to be able to just wear my Berserk or Sailor Moon tees for example, and people compliment them and actually sparking conversations around them.

I remember talking to friends/acquaintances from my high school days and it turned out that they too have been into anime their whole life, we never connected or knew about it back in those days because it was such a taboo. Now we’re catching up and talking about various titles and sharing recommendations.

Edit: Could also be that I’ve grown up (in my 30s now) and simply just don’t give a f*ck anymore about what people think.

Also kids are brutal.

But I still think that a significant shift started to take place somewhere around the 2010s, where the public opinion and perception of anime and Japanese culture in general got more accepted and mainstream in the West.