Did weebs exist before normie internet?

Captain Harlock and Starblazers cosplayers at a Cali convention in 1981:
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The sad thing is that they look far more normal than most anime fans today.
 
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They existed but were different. My sister is 9 years older than me, so when I was like 6-10 she was in high school (so like 95-99). She was a weeb and had a bunch of weeb friends and being the weird little brother I'd tag along with them and thought they were sooooo cool cause they were into cartoons and stuff. I think it ended up being the reason I ended up having such a hatred of weebs in middle and high school after the fact because of it looking back.

The best way I can describe how they were "different" is by pointing to that Pedo loser on Youtube named TheLoreRunner. They acted JUST like that dude. They loved Japan, but instead of naruto running and stuff they just acted really smug about everything.

At least, that was my experience with them.
 
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albertbrown26 said:
“Weeaboos” existed in the U.S. when Pokémon, DBZ, and [adult swim] started playing re-runs of Cowboy Bebop en masse. Japan was filled with weebs since the late 70’s and 80’s.

I have noticed that the term in the past few years has lost its lust, since people are trying to make otaku-ism in America a healthy lifestyle, when most Japanese otaku would not like most of the American otaku in their country.

It’s a main reason why, for me, reading manga was far more superior than watching anime. There’s way too many episodes of it these days to catch up.
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One of the things that sucked about anime was finding a series that engrossed you, watching a season end on a cliffhanger, then waiting in vain for the next season to show up because the show didn't do well enough to warrant it. (Or the production studio decided to move onto a different project.) Meanwhile the manga it was based on is up to volume 800 and now you've got to try and track it down and read up to that point. Never mind the fact that you don't like comics very much and didn't want to read a static, black and white version of the anime story - you wanted to watch the damn thing.

Then you have things like filler episodes and anime that has to put in a weak ending that isn't set up well, because the manga it's based on isn't anywhere near finished and the producers had to come up with something.

Munchingonfish said:
Captain Harlock and Starblazers cosplayers at a Cali convention in 1981:
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The sad thing is that they look far more normal than most anime fans today.
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I'm not so sure about Captain Fivehead on the extreme right, but most of the people in the pictures look thin at least. I also think I've seen the guy who plays Captain Harlock at a convention ten or so years back when he was about 50-60. He looked much the same, except gray and older. Can't remember his name, though.

I wonder, are nerds fatter today because of video games and computers? Or does High Fructose Corn Syrup play a role? I swear people were just as lazy when I was a kid as they are now, but I don't remember seeing so many buffalo butts back in the 80s.
 
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2005 was the peak year for weebs, anyone that thinks 2013 was the peak year is a retard that doesn't know what they're talking about.

In 2005 in the US there were more magazines about anime and manga being published, there were more DVD publishers, there was more anime on broadcast television, there were more brick and mortar media stores and bookstores selling anime DVDs and manga.

Anime was riding a cultural wave that started with the release of The Matrix that made it seem hip and the next big thing, of which 2005 was the peak.

Now 2013 was a noteworthy year to be fair, because it was the start of a big revival in popularity of it, spurred on by series like Attack on Titan, but by 2013 most of it had migrated online, if you ask me it's more noteworthy when something has a bigger "real world" presence than online.
 
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Hey great question my humble normie!
Weebs come in three categories you see

1. New age weebs that you find everyday.

2. Vintage weebs who watched shit like inuyasha or lupin the third.

And the most unspoken of the bunch

3. Ancient weebs. These are like the strangest people I've ever met at a convention, this one guy even hosted a panel talking about how LAZERDISK was the optimal format for entertainment. This fucker literally brought in the most generic looking stuff I've ever seen. One was literally a mecha anime called Giant Robot. The name of the mech? Giant robot. If you come across one they're a rare sight. Just dont tell them you like digital download or they'll sperg the fuck out.
 
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1980s was the heyday for genuinely unhinged fans of eastern esoterism. Japan's economic boon made the world believe they were en route to buy the whole planet (a like where china is now except through zealotry instead of just money). Early 90s is also when rich fuck people began eating exclusively sushi for lunch and for dinner, and ended up with cancer by the early 00s due to undocumented accumulation of trace metals on tuna.
 
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K. V. Bones said:
Hey great question my humble normie!
Weebs come in three categories you see

1. New age weebs that you find everyday.

2. Vintage weebs who watched shit like inuyasha or lupin the third.

And the most unspoken of the bunch

3. Ancient weebs. These are like the strangest people I've ever met at a convention, this one guy even hosted a panel talking about how LAZERDISK was the optimal format for entertainment. This fucker literally brought in the most generic looking stuff I've ever seen. One was literally a mecha anime called Giant Robot. The name of the mech? Giant robot. If you come across one they're a rare sight. Just dont tell them you like digital download or they'll sperg the fuck out.
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I don't know whether it bums me out or is a badge of honor that my era of anime (mostly the late 90s and 2000s) is now vintage.

I know the old, old generations of weebs you're talking about though, back in 2005 the store Media Play would throw these "anime nights" every so often that were like a mini convention, mixed among us teenagers was this older guy who somewhat looked like Comic Book Guy, long hair, beard, big belly, it was kind of a funny sight to see him hanging out with us teens.

And I think I know the anime you're talking about, I believe it's called "Giant Robo" not "Giant Robot" and it's supposed to be pretty good despite the generic title.

Keep in mind, that stuff looked generic because it was probably the stuff that started or were huge influences on the genres in the first place, of course when you go back to the beginning of something the original work can seem generic compared to what came later.
 
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Dom Cruise said:
I don't know whether it bums me out or is a badge of honor that my era of anime (mostly the late 90s and 2000s) is now vintage.

I know the old, old generations of weebs you're talking about though, back in 2005 the store Media Play would throw these "anime nights" every so often that were like a mini convention, mixed among us teenagers was this older guy who somewhat looked like Comic Book Guy, long hair, beard, big belly, it was kind of a funny sight to see him hanging out with us teens.

And I think I know the anime you're talking about, I believe it's called "Giant Robo" not "Giant Robot" and it's supposed to be pretty good despite the generic title.

Keep in mind, that stuff looked generic because it was probably the stuff that started or were huge influences on the genres in the first place, of course when you go back to the beginning of something the original work can seem generic compared to what came later.
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You make a good point. But I stand by the fact laserdisk sucks.
 
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2013, wow you're just a kid! Off by two decades

The More Normie Internet era started in 1993. That's when AOL opened the gates to Usenet and the noobs flooded in.

Weebs existed before that time, watched Japanimation. But as with everything else, the Net allowed weebs to express themselves in anonymity, show sides of themselves they were ashamed of.

And more importantly, it allowed to connect with others who also had this secret Japanimation shame.
 
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Weebs existed in the 1970s and it kind of exploded in the 1980s with the fansub and tape trading scene. If you can figure out how you can search Google Groups Usenet for posts dating back to the early 80s about anime. Weebs were using abnormie Internet - if you were posting on Usenet in 1985, you sure as hell weren't a normie.

Pokemonquistador2 said:
Weebs were called "Otaku" in the early 90s; most western otaku weren't aware oif the negative connotation that label had in Japan. I'd say anime really blew up in the 90's during the OVA boom, when media companies began grabbing whatever they could out of Japan, giving it cheap dubs, and shoving it onto the shelves of media stores like SunCoast.

Ranma1/2, Tenchi Muyo and Evangelion were the big series, and Akira and Ghost in the Shell were the big movies of the early/mid-90's. More obscure fare was available, with fantasy and cyberpunk being the big sellers. If you wanted anime that wasn't commercially available, (ie: anime that wasn't fantasy or cyberpunk,) you had to join college "Otaku Clubs" and watch grade Z, 8th generation dubbed fansubs that were recorded on slow-speed archival VHS and mailed from place to place. You kids today have it so good. You'll never know what it's like to have to wait every other month to get 2 episodes of a commercially released series on VHS or have to make the agonizing choice between subs or dubs. Nor do you have to worry about how bad FoxKids will hack up your favorite anime when they bring it to American TV.
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I remember seeing Laserdiscs of Tenchi Muyo going for like $50 a volume, and TM was considered to be some of the normiest anime there was at the time. (It was popular, but I could never get into it. I just don't "get" harem anime)

Anyway, look up Fred Patten and Frederik Schodt.
 
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Autumnal Equinox said:
Warms my heart to see more people finding out what a degenerate this faggot is. He really is an insufferable piece of shit, even before I found out about the kid diddling.
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I like to joke that I used to watch him to fall asleep before finding out he was a pedo, but really all of my experience with him was having a friend of mine insist I watch some of his bullshit videos and get really confused when I asked what was so special about him just...relaying the story to me.

I didn't find out that he changed his name to Magus or that he diddled kids till I came here, but in hindsight it should have been really obvious to me. Makes me think it was probably a miracle none of my sisters friends tried to diddle me.
 
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Yeah, but they called it "afghanimation" and communicated via carrier pigeons instead of the internet. Apparently they watched stuff like "Tenchi Muyo" and "Devil Hunter Yohko" instead of whatever zoomer weebs watch. (One Punch Man?)
 
TaimuRadiu said:
Weebs existed in the 1970s and it kind of exploded in the 1980s with the fansub and tape trading scene. If you can figure out how you can search Google Groups Usenet for posts dating back to the early 80s about anime. Weebs were using abnormie Internet - if you were posting on Usenet in 1985, you sure as hell weren't a normie.



I remember seeing Laserdiscs of Tenchi Muyo going for like $50 a volume, and TM was considered to be some of the normiest anime there was at the time. (It was popular, but I could never get into it. I just don't "get" harem anime)

Anyway, look up Fred Patten and Frederik Schodt.
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I don't think harm anime was even much of a thing when it came out. And at least the girls were interesting and actually after Tenchi, instead of "omg you tripped and accidentally grabbed my tit!" followed by a slap (even though Tenchi was bland as fuck).
 
Fangsofjeff said:
It depends on your definition of weeb. In some countries there were Jap shows airing on mainstream TV in the 70's and 80s.

The Narutard type of weeabooism didn't seem to kick in until the early 2000's, though.
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U.S. had showed anime on mainstream TV usually during weekday mornings, afternoons, and Saturday mornings in the 70ies and 80ies. But never calling them anime, or any label associating them with Japan. Since the syndicators and local TV stations had zero FTG about where the cartoons come from as long they're in English, have the appropriate episode count, or have anything in the show that would cause the karens of the day to be calling them to bitch about it.
 
Aberforth said:
Proof
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That wikipedia article could easily just be this single image:

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same movie:

(I also believe this is the movie where Dolph Lundgren's character builds one of those japanese butcher-paper houses out in rural LA county complete with the hot springs barrel style bath tub.)
 
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