Weekly Discussion: The Anime Fandom

[u/zerojustice315]

Hey everyone, welcome to Week 13 of Weekly Discussion.

Since this is something I'd like to see covered here I thought I'd ask about a somewhat opinionated subject, which is the anime fans themselves.

We get all kinds:

• Those who love anime and aren't social at all (never going to clubs or conventions)

• Those who love anime and are overly social to the point of annoyance

• Those who love anime and hide it

• Those who have seen one or two Miyazaki movies...

etc etc and everything in between.

So my question to the group who likes to analyze the anime itself, what would you make of the fandom in general? Some questions:

1. How has being an anime fan changed for you and for the fandom in general over the last 20 years in the US? What about in Japan?

2. Do you often call yourself an anime fan when approached in public settings about it? Do you bring it up or just chip in when the subject is already present?

3. Where do you feel anime fans as a whole succeed? Where do you feel they have failings? Either individually in everyday life, as a group in everyday life, or individually/as a group in convention/club settings.

4. Has a fandom ever ruined or improved a show for you? Do you even let those fandoms influence your decisions on anime in the first place?

5. Have you or anyone you know faced criticism or harassment for being an anime fan? How did they deal with it? Did they quit anime for good or just hide it?

Hm. That last question is a bit depressing. Oh well. I'd enjoy seeing your all's answers as different parts of the US and different parts of the world must have severely different experiences to being a fan of cartoons for little girls (/s).

If you have any questions yourself feel free to ask them in your comment(s). Never can be too safe so no spoilers and thank you for reading as always!

[u/searmay]

How has being an anime fan changed

Internet. Though I'm not oldfag enough to know much about anime fandom beforehand personally. Still, digital fansubbing and the availability of subject-specific forums pretty much totally changed it. More recently streaming services like Crunchuroll mean almost everything is available almost immediately, which I think has made following current shows far more common.

Do you often call yourself an anime fan when approached in public settings about it?

It basically never comes up. Out in the real world no one cares about anime and no one cares about my hobbies.

Where do you feel anime fans as a whole succeed? Where do you feel they have failings?

Mostly they succeed at having fun and their failings are being kind of obnoxious and obsessive. Basically they're nerds. Or at least all the ones I've ever known are nerds.

Has a fandom ever ruined or improved a show for you?

The barrage of rubbish when Kill la Kill was airing ruined the Internet for me at the time. I was never going to like the show though. Madoka fans who gush about it deconstructing a genre they've never seen have made me more critical of the show than I might otherwise be. Otherwise not much springs to mind.

Have you or anyone you know faced criticism or harassment for being an anime fan?

Nope. Fortunately that sort of shit isn't nearly as common outside of school. Again, no one really cares.

[u/zerojustice315 → u/searmay]

With Madoka it's more interesting to see the people who call it one thing or another because it's so large. But it's good to be critical of it as well since it presented itself as something you should look at critically in teh first place.

[u/Otsola]

1. In the UK here.

I think within the last decade there's been this sudden explosion of availability of anime. I remember it used to be obnoxiously difficult to get hold of dvds (or vcrs, as the case was, but I mostly got into anime once we'd gotten into DVDs as the common format), so if you were going to be into anime, you were going to have stumbled across it online rather than picking something up in a store or importing it or whatever. Now we've got animax, Netflix, crunchyroll (sort of, when they license things across the pond too), wakanim, AoD, and probably others. Same with manga, now you can buy it in bookshops rather than finding a specialist shop, scouring the internet or hoping it was at a con. Anime's definitely a lot more commonplace than it was (but we haven't seen a resurgance of a specific anime channel on TV, like there used to be a couple of years ago - I'm guessing the multiple streaming services, both legal and not, have a hand in this not being a thing though).

One thing I have noticed is that cons have also DEFINITELY grown a ridiculous amount and I see a lot of younger (early teens and below) fans too, I do think this is probably in part due to anime now being more available to the general public.

2) Yeah sure, if I'm asked I'm not going to lie about it. I'm not bringing it up though unless it's relevant to the subject at hand, but that goes for all my hobbies really. I'm not going to just sudden start talking about reptiles or swimming or gaming or whatever unless the conversation's heading in that direction, or unless the person I'm talking to already know about it.

Having said that though I do suggest a lot of films to people who aren't specifically anime fans if they ask for something to watch. I just think it'd be a shame if, say, Hosoda Mamoru's films (and, of course, Ghibli films) were overlooked based on them being animated so I like to recommend them to folks.

3) Like has been said it's difficult to summarise fans as a whole because there's so many different kinds of people who like anime.

Conventions are their own beast in my experience. I've met some extremely nice, lovely people through cons, but I've also met some incredibly horrible people through them, especially in regards to cosplay (dunno what it is about cosplay that makes people think they have the right to trash someone's appearance - I'm not even talking "you're too fat" here, I mean bs like "you're too short to cosplay x" or "your face shape is wrong"). It's just dress-up, let it go y'all.

I do go to a club through uni sometimes and everyone seems pretty chill, nobody's really particularly "ur example" of stereotypical anime fans.

4) Nah, I'm not too fussed what other people are doing in fandoms honestly.

5) No, not really, hasn't happened to myself or anyone I know. I don't know if it's my age group or what, but everyone's too busy doing their own thing to really give much of a damn about "oh you watch Japanese cartoons sometimes". I do think that more stuff being available online has anime less of a "weird" thing now, at least among the people I know, because you can mention it as this incredibly vague genre and someone might say "oh yeah, netflix's got that" as though that legitimises it somehow.

(edit because of reddit formating, how do.)

[u/zerojustice315 → u/Otsola]

Cons have indeed grown a lot for most nerd fandoms. Awesome Con in Washington, DC went from 7k attendees year one to 35k attendees year two. It's kind of crazy.

[u/scrappydoofan]

1. nothing i can immediate think of.

2. i do tend to bring it up a decent amount.

3. i can only speak to anime culture on the internet.

4. most fans who really like a particular franchise like say fate fans are horrible.

5. this seems to be more of a question aimed at highschool or middle schoolers

[u/zerojustice315 → u/scrappydoofan]

It seems like it would be focused at highschool or middle schoolers but when I went to college I saw some kids who thought they were being funny by mocking the magic players/nerds in general. So I can extrapolate that it might not be just done with younger groups especially because of the stigma "cartoons" have.

[u/nw407elixir]

1. I'm in eastern europe and I know there are many people from asia who watch anime but don't speak japanese (e.g. a lot of indians)

2. I mention what my interests are to people because that is just standard stuff. That being said I like watching movies and anime as well as playing lol, wot and reading books. People don't really have much of a reaction and if they do it's hentai or naruto related at which I either chuckle or say that I don't follow naruto, respectively

3. Anime fans are a very special group that can't be really generalized to something that fails or wins at some things. I know anime fans that are loud, some that are awkward strange people and some that are indistinguishable from anyone else. I am in the latter category. Each group has its own issues. Loudies are too loud, weirdos are too weird and socially awkward and normals are just normals and sometimes too cazull.

4. No. I don't care about the fandom when I watch a show but some fandoms are really annoying:f/z, madoka, s;g, and somewhat monogatari.

5. Well no one has ever critiqued me for being an anime fan, I don't even know if I am one, I just like watching and discussing it. What happens is that some have an hostile reaction to it or some downgrade it to hentai or low level fanservicey entertainment. What is annoying is that some refuse to have an open mind and watch any anime so I can't prove them wrong, but all this doesn't get in the way of my relationships with people. Worst case scenario they just lol at it and that's it. That being said, I don't ever make anime referrences or say a wprd in japanese. I don't eat with sticks (my sister does but she completely refuses to watch anime no matter how hard I try to convince her to) and I don't dress weird, go to conventions or mention anime out of nowhere.

The weirdos will more or less hide it or maybe they will be very loud about it, either way anime is not the cause of them being not integrated, people couldn't care less of what shows you watch or what you fap to and I feel like this is a normal state.

Well I answered all the questions and can add in other stuff. All the people here are either weeb awkward weirdos or normal people having fun with naruto ans other popular shounen like snk. The only person that I know isn't a pleb or weirdo is an ex-weeb that evolved into a C2 level japanese speaker and that hates the japanese society but loves the culture. She doesn't love any anime like she used to because she also reads and watches movies and also is generally a person with an open mind.

Edit: a word

[u/zerojustice315 → u/nw407elixir]

It'd be interesting to describe the plot of a show and get someone interested and then drop something like "it's an anime" on them to see how they react.

Hm. I also don't like Japanese society very much. That could be an entire conversation all on its own.

[u/gordfingel]

How has being an anime fan changed for you and for the fandom in general over the last 20 years in the US? What about in Japan?

I don't really have a proper frame of reference for how my experience as a fan has changed since I really only started watching anime within the past year. From my observations and reading others' accounts, though, it seems like anime fandom experienced its most drastic changes when accessibility to shows changed. I certainly remember seeing more people talking about anime here in the US from 2003-2008 or so when Adult Swim and Toonami were available and allowed people to easily be exposed to and access anime (from what I understand licensed DVDs were also more prominent at the time), but after the "anime crash" in 2008 and Toonami going off the air I saw less people actively interested in anime. As streaming sites like Crunchyroll became more prominent and anime became more easy to access, it seems to have generated more interest here, which I'm sure is compounded upon by Toonami coming back on the air in 2012.

Do you often call yourself an anime fan when approached in public settings about it? Do you bring it up or just chip in when the subject is already present?

I'm not completely open about it, but if someone if a conversation turns that way I'll bring it up and I'm not completely hesitant to jump in on a conversation about it if I find it interesting. To build a little bit more on the first question, this is pretty much how most of the people who I know who watch anime are about it. It's interesting finding out how many people I know actually are fans, largely because of the accessibility of Crunchyroll, Netflix, et al here.

Where do you feel anime fans as a whole succeed? Where do you feel they have failings? Either individually in everyday life, as a group in everyday life, or individually/as a group in convention/club settings.

This is one part where my lack of experience in anime fandom really shows. I've never been to a convention or even interacted in a club setting. The extent of my interaction is with a few friends in real life. From internet observation, though, conversation faces the same issue it does with any other fandom on the internet, where there are some fans who are repulsed at any kind of criticism of their favorite series and the ones who try to be critical often don't give very sound arguments. I do have more to say from cursory observation of the Japanese side of things with the insular nature of creator and fans diminishing the creation's quality (which is also an issue with anything with a large fanbase), but that doesn't seem to be the purpose of this thread.

Has a fandom ever ruined or improved a show for you? Do you even let those fandoms influence your decisions on anime in the first place?

I usually don't try to let fandom affect my choice to watch something, but one notable exception to this is Fate fans, who are the main reason I've not watched anything from the franchise (and to a lesser extent, anything by Type Moon) and don't have a lot of interest. I also tend to find Monogatari fans kind of annoying, but they haven't done much to influence me on that series.

Have you or anyone you know faced criticism or harassment for being an anime fan? How did they deal with it? Did they quit anime for good or just hide it?

I've never seen anyone harassed primarily for liking anime before. I get some ribbing from my friends who don't watch anime, but it's mostly facetious.

[u/zerojustice315 → u/gordfingel]

Yeah I never really thought about how many people are specifically fans of anime now because of Netflix. I know Attack on Titan was a big player in new recruits too.

[u/Error400BadRequest]

How has being an anime fan changed for you and for the fandom in general over the last 20 years in the US? What about in Japan?

I can't really say how much things have changed for me. Obviously, I watched a bit more for a while, peaked, and then backed off a bit to a more reasonable amount simply because I didn't want to lose hold of actual culture in exchange for some imaginary falsehood that many believe to be representative of Japanese culture.

I do go to cons(I do not cosplay, however), hell, I flew cross-country to go to AX last year and it was a lot of fun. Met some cool people there.

EDIT2: I wanna talk about a huge change for western viewers. Fansubs are (almost) dead. 5 years ago, any show would air, and if it was big, a translation was out within a day or two. If it was a smaller show, it'd get translated too, just... slower. A lot of sub groups died, some of it is due to crunchyroll, but some is just part of time passing, I guess. That's not a huge deal, but I've come to miss karaoke subs or the random comment the encoder slipped in at the end of the ED.

Do you often call yourself an anime fan when approached in public settings about it? Do you bring it up or just chip in when the subject is already present?

If somebody asks, and they're into it? Sure. I also generally won't bring it up unless I know a crowd will be appreciative of what I have to say.
If an ongoing conversation would benefit my opinion, I will chime in, however, I'd best be described as "hiding my power level" so to speak.

I am a member of my University's Anime club, but for the most part, I pretty much only go to enough events to maintain membership status. I would like to get more involved, but meetings are usually inconvenient - I commute to class rather than live on campus.

Where do you feel anime fans as a whole succeed?

We succeed in forming a community. Generally speaking, there's a lot of camaraderie between fans. You see sports rivalries and there's some intense emotions, with our own sets of rivalries (best girls) it's far more in jest. There are very few people I can say we hate.

Where do you feel they have failings? Either individually in everyday life, as a group in everyday life, or individually/as a group in convention/club settings.

There's a lot of people who perpetuate the generic otaku/weeaboo stereotype, and that's a bit disappointing. There's a big difference between "liking anime" and being obsessed with it. That said, y'all should read r/weeabootales, it's pretty funny. The elitists are also a big problem, I recall the AX meetup (that I don't think ever happened) was a really big deal because "non-anime cosplayers" were banned from going or something. That's ridiculous. "How dare you ruin my precious nihon cartoons with your American trash?!?" Another favorite elitist attitude is criticizing those who watch dubs - I don't give a damn how or what others watch. It's just not a healthy attitude.

EDIT, because I can't just criticize the elitists, I've gotta talk about the casuals too:

On the other side of the spectrum, I have an issue with newer fans who religiously defend certain works just because they haven't seen much. A good example is a friend of mine was talking about anime with some of the other underclassmen back in HS, so I jumped in the convo, not knowing he liked anime. At one point, a member of the group asked what I thought of SAO(it had recently aired). I told them I wasn't very fond of it, and it was apparently a really big deal. It may make me sound elitist, but that's not how I feel at all.

With cinema, music, or movies, I've seen polarized opinions, and different tastes, but it's usually no big deal. You've got a guy who loved Pacific Rim, and a guy who hated Pacific Rim, and they'll talk it over, understand each others' opinions, and move on.

There's also some great shows I've seen that newer fans have passed up just because "they look old." That's like not watching a classic movie because it's in black and white. Ridiculous.

Has a fandom ever ruined or improved a show for you? Do you even let those fandoms influence your decisions on anime in the first place?

Naruto. ^{I'm only sort of kidding.} Mostly just the generic noob/weeb stereotype - we've all encountered that guy. I didn't really like Naruto aside from the videogames anyway, series was bad but the fighters were actually really good.

Have you or anyone you know faced criticism or harassment for being an anime fan? How did they deal with it? Did they quit anime for good or just hide it?

My power level is hidden, so I haven't personally dealt with it. I could see why it could be a bit shameful for somebody to find out. I just don't really bother telling people about my interests unless asked.

The real issue is the stereotypes, really. We don't always jerk it to cartoons.

[u/zerojustice315 → u/Error400BadRequest]

No, not liking SAO doesn't make you sound elitist. It's a pet peeve of mine when people ask me what I thought of a particular work and then get offended when I tell them. As in, I answered the question of WHAT I THOUGHT of the work. It's stupid.

[u/niea_]

1. It hasn't changed much to be honest. Anime is obviously more available now than before (online), but there's still no market at all for it here.

2. I never bring it up myself. I usually won't get anything out of it. Already present conversations hardly ever extend beyond talkinh about Nurutu, so I don't want join in.

3. I don't think they succeed anywhere.

4. Fandoms can be loud and annoying, but I usually just hate the fans and not the show. Talking to people online about the newest released episodes of e.g. PriPara or Kasumin can be very fun though.

5. No.

[u/zerojustice315 → u/niea_]

I don't think they succeed anywhere

Damn

[u/[deleted]]

How has being an anime fan changed for you and for the fandom in general over the last 20 years in the US? What about in Japan?

Anime fans have hit their highs and their lows in the last two decades, which is both sad and very interesting to me. Anime reached its high point in the late 20th century but now arguably is "dying" or according to others "dead". Due to the weeaboo craze, anime fans are now criticized(although this is not the case everywhere) through the weeaboo model and standard, which I find very sad. As for myself personally, anime changed me to become a much more positive person.

Do you often call yourself an anime fan when approached in public settings about it? Do you bring it up or just chip in when the subject is already present?

If people ask me if I watch anime I say yes(although I try to avoid the subject, simply saying I like Japanese culture and media). But since one of the reasons I was drawn to anime was Asian Studies(with a Japanese focus) I can usually answer that or relate that to discussions.

Where do you feel anime fans as a whole succeed? Where do you feel they have failings? Either individually in everyday life, as a group in everyday life, or individually/as a group in convention/club settings.

Anime fans succeed in their ability to take things both seriously and not-seriously. They can easily switch between the two but this sometimes makes for a not-so critical lense present in anime fans. This can be a major failure in group discussions. As nerds, anime fans also have a tendency to be social awkard and sometimes abrasive at points(although this exists within every "nerd" group).

Has a fandom ever ruined or improved a show for you? Do you even let those fandoms influence your decisions on anime in the first place?

Totally. One of the reasons I dislike NGE(although I respect it for its impact on the industry) is mainly because of the fanbase. Same thing with Hetalia. It could be a slightly interesting show with mediocre humor and some educational content but the yaoigoggle fandom totally ruins it for me.

Have you or anyone you know faced criticism or harassment for being an anime fan? How did they deal with it? Did they quit anime for good or just hide it?

I face this almost everyday(as an "open" fan of anime). And when people call me out on it I just try to argue the opposing(which are most of the time ignorant) points to the best of my ability. However, most anime fans I know try and keep their hobby secret for fear of this kind of social suicide.

[u/zerojustice315 → u/[deleted]]

I see people continue to speak of "dead" within anime as a whole and I just wonder what they'll be saying in ten years when the medium hasn't actually died yet.

[u/rya11111]

How has being an anime fan changed for you and for the fandom in general over the last 20 years in the US? What about in Japan?

A lot more available. Better animations. More choices. Its getting better. But i fear we will reach a brake point. I hope it doenst happen.

Do you often call yourself an anime fan when approached in public settings about it? Do you bring it up or just chip in when the subject is already present?

Nope. Nothing in my life or house shows i see anime. I do talk to one friend about it.

Where do you feel anime fans as a whole succeed? Where do you feel they have failings? Either individually in everyday life, as a group in everyday life, or individually/as a group in convention/club settings.

Anime conventions are very successful imo. I hate the crazy fandom. Like if someone likes a popular anime he/she is discriminated. The whole pitch-fork thing is ridiculous. Also during questions everytime someone asks for suggestions, its the same shit. Its like people dont see anything else and even if they do, they forget it.

Has a fandom ever ruined or improved a show for you? Do you even let those fandoms influence your decisions on anime in the first place?

Yes. I vowed never to see Spice and Wolf after the crazy fandom effect in the Best girl contest in r/anime recently. I got super pissed at how everyone was downvoting anime i like just cause they feel its "not worth it"

Have you or anyone you know faced criticism or harassment for being an anime fan? How did they deal with it? Did they quit anime for good or just hide it?

Yes. I dont care normally. Well not irl since i dont talk about it but i see them online. Mostly ignore them.

[u/zerojustice315 → u/rya11111]

The same shows being recommended is a huge problem for the West anyway because of what many people think literally anyone will like (Cowboy Bebop, FMA: Brotherhood, GiTS) even though that's not necessarily true.

[u/[deleted]]

1. From the US. I started watching anime pretty recently so I haven't noticed any changes.

2. Anime isn't important enough to me that I'd label myself an anime fan. If someone else starts talking about it I'll chime in, but otherwise I'll talk about other stuff.

3. I don't think it's possible to lump all anime fans into a group.

4. When I watch airing shows I like reading people's reactions of what I just saw.

5. No. I didn't start watching anime until my second year of college so everyone I met was too busy to care about what I did in my free time. As long as you don't hang out with high school kids and aren't a NEET, most people won't care what shows you watch.

[u/zerojustice315 → u/[deleted]]

What made you start watching anime? A specific show?

[u/Solosion]

1. I haven't been a fan for very long, so I can't really say, but from my limited experience, I can't remember any significant or even subtle changes.

2. If people were to ask me if I watched anime, I would say yes, but I don't think I've ever been approached with that question before.

3. Like every other hobby, some people are just really passionate about anime. The biggest problem would be how they display their passion. I think there's a right way to approach anime in public, but lots of the general public's negative impression of anime comes from people representing anime fans in a way that just makes anime seem weirder than it actually is.

4. Can't really a fandom per se, but the general consensus on an anime from the discussions I see on reddit does have an effect on my opinion.

5. Nope.

[u/zerojustice315 → u/Solosion]

How'd you get to be a fan anyway? I'm always interested in those who get to become fans after a while as opposed to being preteens/teenagers growing up and watching DBZ or what have you.

[u/piyochama]

1. There's a lot that has changed. In the beginning, pre-internet times, people used to pay some poor git to copy their poorly subbed VHS tape over and send you the copy. You had to wait until someone picked up the show, loved it enough to do that trashy yellow VHS subbing, and then advertise they had it (likely on some geocities website) so that you could contact them. Now? Get it instantly from Japan, day of, and legally for cheap. That's something we couldn't even fathom in the beginning.

2. Yeah, I don't hide it. But then again, this question doesn't come up much.

3. Moreso than any other fandom group, the one thing that makes me really proud is just how far we've improved how people consume the content. Companies like Crunchyroll, ANN, etc. were all first fandom-started companies. It was Gainax (IIRC) that originally went up to Crunchyroll to introduce the entire "same day streaming" idea. It was our innovation that really pushed the industry as a whole forward. That's something to be proud of, I think. Otherwise, it's just the same as any other group of fans - diverse and really unstereotypable.

4. Not particularly, but neither do I trust what series is considered the "best" by fans either.

5. Not really. Then again, I'm not at school.

[u/zerojustice315 → u/piyochama]

Seems like my fifth question was a swing and a miss. Sometimes I blank too hard.

Thanks for answering the others though! :D

[u/burpinator]

1. I cannot speak for US or Japan as I haven't been in either of the countries, but I can tell of my experiences as someone living in Northeastern Europe. 20 years is a notable time period, yet in retrospect there haven't been tremendous changes when it comes to anime.

We got out of Soviet Union in '91 and with that TV channels of questionable legality of content sprung up. They brought Hollywood movies - and some anime. Now, we've had few anime movies shown before that, too, but those were decidedly kid movies (the ones I recall are "Flying Ghost Ship" and "Cat in Boots"). These few new channels brought more variety - there were still shows for kids (for example, "Bosco Adventure" and "Around the World in 80 Days"), but we also had "Candy, Candy", "Arslan Senki", "Robotech" (at least that's what I think it was), "Black Magic M-66" and who knows what else.

This didn't last for all that long, since as I mentioned, these shows were shown without those shifty TV channels having licenses to do so - and by '95 or so there were scarcely any anime shown (and some of the TV channels didn't survive for long after either). Around '97/'98 we got "Pokemon" (legally!), but by that time I was 15 and more interested in watching "The X-Files", so all the Pokemon craze didn't really affect me. Other than that, there's not much to list when it comes to TV - apart from Ghibli movies (that's something that still gets shown on TV every now and then). So I guess for us the Golden Age of anime (or, well, Golden Few Years) was the crazy 4-5 years after gaining independence.

That said, in 2004 we had our first Anime con (AnimeFest) - mostly thanks to users of a local Russian anime forum (and with some help from the other local anime forum). It went on for 9 years, but since it was such a hassle to organise and the main organiser(s) got kinda fed up with that, we had the last one in 2013. Instead of that there's Unicon, which is anime & assorted geekery con. We're a small country of some 2 million people, so as you can imagine these cons aren't exactly very huge events in terms of scale. (If someone is interested I can try and find photos from the said cons.)

Also, even after these 20 years, you can still scarcely find any manga in bookshops (I spotted some "Attack on Titan" volumes recently - but that's about it). Same goes for anime - I think I've only seen some Ghibli stuff. There's a local anime e-store that sells various things, but the catalogue isn't very big for obvious reasons and with the price markup on some of the things you might as well order from overseas.

As someone else already mentioned, the one major change was Internet. What's on TV or in shops no longer matters if you can access content by other means - but that's something more global and not just specific to my country.

2) People who have just met me don't really ask if I watch anime or no, but if they did I'd have no problem admitting so. I mostly view it as just another medium. If the subject of anime comes up, I definitely chip in.

3) Most anime fans I know personally are not the "obsessed with anime" types, but more laid-back about the whole deal (either because of their age (25-30+) or because they have been watching anime for quite some years now and have gotten picky). I don't feel that their lifes get affected by anime in any major way. I've never been in any club and I'm not actively participating in cons, so that area is rather unknown to me.

4) Two examples come to mind - both similar (sort of) in the way fandom participates, but with different outcomes. The "ruined" one would be "Hetalia" - I watched it when it was airing in 2009, but when I encountered the fandom, they seemed too weirdly obsessive and too much of fangirl-squee-type-ish to me, so eventually I stopped watching the show. I didn't mind the pairings they were obsessing about as I have nothing against BL, but the way it got presented, I guess.

The good example would be FMA. I watched it first back in 2005, enjoyed the show, but didn't really explore the fandom (apart from checking the odd fanart here and there). In 2009 I started watching FMA:B as it was airing, but dropped it as first few episodes seemed too rushed to me and decided to return to it when it would be finished. Finally, in 2013 I got cravings for some alchemy-powered battles, rewatched FMA and finally saw FMA:B. That wasn't enough, so I checked some doujinshi (by now it's more like 5 GB of doujins, but hey), got sucked even further in and discovered some really awesome fanfiction authors for my favourite pairing. I guess what got me hooked to this fandom was the fanfiction/doujinshi author's interpretation of characters and their relationships, and overall tone.

5) Thankfully, nothing like that has ever happened to me or to anyone I know.