What makes Anime Roleplaying so popular?

I bet masturbation is that communities #2 activity.

Edit: My only guess would be the numbers are somehow skewed to a specific demographic.

Dunno but they had 7 million more members than the #2 community with over 16 million.

Because it beats reality all to Hell!!!

I second what loser said. Lurve to him.

Anyway, I can’t speak for the Gaia community, but I have been to a couple of Anime Conventions, and from what I can tell, people roleplay not only to show support for their interest and be acknowledged by their peers, but to get a chance to take part in these fantastical stories that usually make up animes. Most recently I cosplayed Koizumi from “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and it’s a cool feeling when people ‘recognize’ you and want to take a picture or something.

well roleplaying is generally pretty popular, especially online. And even online “communities” are a form of roleplay, because even if you don’t go as far as creating a completely fictional character in “Second Life”, you still tweak your real self when you create your facebook or myspace page. You put your best pics, you mention hobbies that you never really do (yeah, I also rode a horse twice, but “horseriding” is not one of my regular past-time activities).

I am not familiar with Anime, or that site you mention, but I assume that this is the reason for its success.

As someone who has cosplayed (anime roleplayed) before, I have to say that it’s great fun. It’s a real escape. If you’re really into an anime (which is often complex with deep characters), cosplaying is a way to express your support/love for it, and engage in some awesome fantasy roleplaying.

I thought it was overrated too…until I tried it. It was great!

kakashi x sakura ftw!

@seekingwolf

haha agreed. It’s a whole different culture, and it’s weird going back to normal life afterwards. After my first con, I walked around for about a week thinking that everyone I was in a white shirt was cosplaying L

@Foolaholic

haha that’s awesome!
Honestly, since I started getting into anime when I was 11–12, I don’t look at life the same. :) It’s really refreshing.

I cosplayed with some friends and my old bf, who looked JUST like Gaara, eyeliner, hair dye, costume, everything! I could never look at him the same again hehe.

Never done it and don’t think I’ll ever join them, I was told there is sometimes some pretty weird stuff going on.

@antimatter pretty weird? think so?

@antimatter

Oh well yeah, I’ve seen people get way too into anime. There was a girl in my high school who started dressing like a character from Naruto. A couple weeks later she was suspended for a week because they found shinai throwing knives in her bag. Any obsession has a chance of becoming unhealthy, people just seem to notice more when it happens in anime.

@Foolaholic

Omg that’s awful. :(

I agree, anime can be taken too far, esp. when one neglects important aspects of life and puts themselves/others at risk.

It’s really crazy because I think more common addictions (drugs, alcohol, and the INTERNET) can be much more dangerous. internet addiction is so overlooked. But if an anime nut like me goes to an anime club once a month, suddenly, people say I have a weird addiction?

Sort of reminds me of the quote “You’re apt to notice the speck in your neighbors eye, but not the plank in your own.”

Because you wish your eyes and jawline were that great.