Sorry to ask, but TL? (• ิ _ • ิ)? Someone translated it for you, or am I missing the acronym?

I'm not sure what to expect out of Cinder. Mostly I keep thinking how we're going to see Salem do a magnificent impersonation of Sunset Shimmer by the time they wrap up the series: *gets blasted by Team RWBY's friendship powers* *suddenly turns good*

That's flippin' adorable! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

More than anything I want to give some recognition for posting something that fits right in to the community's focus while being outside the normal anime girl and being cute, to boot! <3

Yeah, I had been aware^†^ and like you I have low expectations but will probably be watching as I've now sunk way too much time into these paper dolls. They're my blorbos, for better or for worse (if you'll forgive the tumblr tourist terminology).

I don't begrudge you your choice of best girl, but personally I have a massive soft spot for Raven. More for what I think she could be than for what we got, TBH.

^†^tho myself and many others had understood back in... what was it, last year? when they said "it's in the early writing stages" that had already meant "Volume 10 has been greenlit" so the actual announcement was met with mixed frustration and bafflement--tho I'm unlikely to keep up with the news going forward, as I had been getting it all from reddit and I've finally abandoned reddit due to the old.reddit shenanigans

I guess I thought of it as people needing to actively be anime fans specifically, rather than just occassionally watching some anime and having fun with it. I suppose it’s similar to movies in that sense, where there’s quite a difference between a cinephile and someone who likes to put on Netflix to unwind.

Yeah, I think that's a good way to phrase it. There is also a generational element, as I mentioned with the Gen Z statistic (probably more pronounced with anime because it is animation and a lot of the anglosphere still treats animation as "for kids").

Also I want to apologize for probably coming across too brusquely before. I jumped to respond and then rushed to actually complete the response before I had to go to work. My bad.

I especially don't know where anime (or, I guess more specfically, J-Pop) stacks up on the music/radio stage. AFAIK foreign-language songs just don't crack the American music scene, but I'm no audiophile and I haven't listened to the radio for close to two decades so

╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭

In terms of blockbuster: how about Demon Slayer's Mugen Train movie being the highest grossing movie of 2020 worldwide? Infinity Castle was also the seventh-highest grossing movie of 2025 (and was the highest-grossing international film in the U.S.). That's beyond Disney making Ghibli a household name.

Yes, my views are going to be U.S-centric, I'll admit that, and I'm sure what counts as "everyday conversations" is going to vary by region -- however for me "mainstream" means things like the above, that anime movies like Chainsaw Man and One Piece see theatrical releases outside of Japan and get placed on lists of highest-grossing movies worldwide. Pokémon is also partly anime and it is literally THE most profitable IP in the world. Big companies like Sony and Disney have anime as part of their regular catalogue. It's not some niche little thing that only scrappy companies like Tokyopop will touch anymore. Goku is in the Macy's Day Parade (which is a major national event in the U.S., I am completely unaware how well-known it is outside the country).

I'm sure you can argue that there are a lot of anime that no one outside those really entrenched in the greater anime fandom have heard of, but to discount anime as a whole being some niche form of media only known to those in the hobby is, IMO, misguided at best.

Oh, and something else to back up my claims: a 2025 global research report by Dentsu found around 30% of "global consumers" (which I'm reading as those with disposable income, probably 16 and up) watch anime at least once a week, and another 2023 report for the U.S. specifically found that 1 in 3 adults 18-54 watched "viral anime titles" with that number going up to 44% for Gen Z aged 18-24 at the time.

The common joke is that gooners looking for a doujin to fap to end up being emotionally broken -- which personally I didn't get but to each their own -- but because it's so grounded in reality it can set some people off, especially if they've had past trauma.

You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!

In all seriousness Metamorphosis (AKA 177013) should probably come with some content warnings. Just wanted to give you a heads up in case you're being completely genuine.

( ≧▽≦) Oh sweet baby Dionysus

Jean-Claude Van DAYUM that girl is bursting out of her everything d(꒪ ཀ꒪ d)

Calling bullshit that anime only became "mainstream" by the time of AoT's final season. That was literally only 2020, anime had been mainstream for years at that point (I'd argue close to two decades). Also I remember watching those Bleach episodes as they premiered, the 3am claim is hyperbole, Toonami may have been part of the Adult Swim block by then but there was plenty of anime airing at primetime (as she herself mentioned earlier in the vid). I'm definitely being pedantic but these youngin's actin' like they had it so bad while vastly overselling the experience irks me.

Also I find it a little weird how she mentioned "anime stigma" like a dozen times and never once brought up the way a lot of parents used to associate late-night anime with hentai? That may be because of youtube, tho.

Artist seems to be What if Animation (possibly @WhatifAnimation but I do not visit twitter so cannot confirm).

Obliviousness aside, I'm glad to see the general vibe here is not Lawful Stupid. Whatever team is working on this is clearly putting a lot of work in in addition to the AI and I'm very much looking forward to it, but of course because AI is even mentioned it has to be embroiled in the latest culture war. Le sigh.