J-Pop America Fun Time Now Is Terrifyingly Authentic
I’m not sure why Saturday Night Live ran a skit this weekend making fun of insane, obsessed-with-a-very-particular-vision-of-Japan anime fans — I mean, how many viewers could be even be familiar enough with anime fans to get half of what the hell they’re doing? — but I would like to say this skit isn’t funny, it’s a 100% accurate recreation of the most obnoxious portion of anime fandom. Now, I love anime, and I love anime fans. But I’ve been to many, many anime cons, and there is literally nothing in this video that I haven’t seen done by white, Midwestern Americans in utmost seriousness with my own eyes. Watching this video was like my own personal ‘Nam flashback. Thanks to Dancore for the tip.
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.