DD fans who don't like anime/games?

I searched for a similar topic but couldn't find anything. I'm sorry if there's already one and I just missed it (and if there is could someone please link me >.<? ty!)

 

So, I was wondering if there are Dollfie Dream (or similar dolls) fans who don't like anime/manga/games? Do you think it's more or less common for people who like DDs to be anime fans?

What is your opinion about it?

Especially, how do you think being an anime fan or not impacts the experience of being a DD owner or fan?

 

 

Personally, while there are some series I have enjoyed, I do not consider myself an anime (manga/etc) fan. Occasionally I will watch something if it's so popular that you can't click anywhere on the internet without seeing something about it (eg. Attack Titan) but other than that I don't really know anything or any of the characters. So when I see a DD, it's purely about how it looks, not about whether or not I have any attachment to the character.

 

Going beyond officially released DD, I know that anime characters are the inspiration for a lot of amazing custom DDs. I think this is where I feel the most like "something is missing" for me. I have always been one to prefer a custom doll over a character doll or fullset, but since I don't have any anime fandoms... there aren't any characters I feel inspired to make. I love Japanese anime style, but without a favorite series, character, or OC of my own... I feel like maybe I don't enjoy it as much as others. I wanna find a way to get more immersed in the style I guess but I'm not feeling the drive XD; I don't know.

 

How is your experience?

I love anime and games, but I don't buy DD to have those characters.

 

I don't know anything about Fate/Stay or Idolm@ster or ikki Tousen or any of the other fandoms that a lot of the character dolls have emerged from save for Sakura Wars. Mostly I just know who Kanu, Ryoumou, Al Azif, Etheldreda and Hatsune Miku and the Rin/Len are from their fandom though I never really partook outside of a stray episode or piece of a song. Actually have never heard the Kagamine twins, not even once. lol The only reason I would bring any of them home would be to house my OCs.

 

The dolls for volks collaborations are usually at least as far as I know from shows or games quite far off my radar.

 

I get excited seeing a pretty face that matches my OC not because of who Volks is making into a doll.

 

I think even though you don't consider yourself a fan, you are enough to enjoy the aesthetic of anime and the medium when it falls under your radar. Might just be like me and don't really go for the stuff that DDs usually get made from xD

 

I can't see someone buying an anime looking doll and not really having at least some passive liking or interest in the medium. I may be being too black and white about it, but think of you don't like any of it at all, one might not find the aesthetic appealing either, you know?

Eh, I find that I don't watch a ton of anime these days. Most games haven't really caught my attention lately either, but I do like them. When it comes to DD character releases...I'm not familiar with the vast majority of their characters. I may recognize their designs, but I don't know anything about them otherwise. But I enjoy the hobby just fine in my own way. I like to see other people's girls and I've always liked anime style aesthetics most anyway. I could never see myself owning a "realistic" style doll, for example.

 

But at the same time, I also don't particularly see myself owning a DD girl any time soon either. There's really only one character I'd care to own, and she has a good chance of being made, so I'll see if I change my mind then.

 

I just can't see myself buying a fullset of a character I didn't know. For me, that's where I feel that "something is missing" feeling. I have to know what the character is like if she's a fullset. And if I ended up buying for looks and then not liking her character later, I would be so disappointed. I'd feel like I'd have to change her into a different character at that point. And that's the other reason why...I don't bond to my own female OCs at all, so I also don't really feel inclined to make a custom girl either. I may like a female character I draw out for about a day, but they always end up trashed within a week lol. I can just never make myself care for them.

 

So I guess it depends on how you enjoy the hobby already. I think it's totally possible to enjoy DD just as much without really being into any anime/manga/game fandoms. I think what matters is that you just enjoy what you do with your own dolls. If you enjoy that, then I don't think you're missing out compared to anyone else.

Oops XD I just re-read my post and I think my wording was off. When I say "don't like" I don't mean dislike. I agree I think it would be a bit rare for someone who actively dislikes anime to be interested in DD.

 

I just mean... neutral I guess? In my case I only watch coincidentally if I'm in the room while my boyfriend is watching (and I usually fall asleep XD). It's not an activity I usually am interested in, nor do I seek out things because they're anime, so I do not consider myself a fan of the cartoons. Although I do love the style, I am interested in illustration and design more than in TV shows.

 

Anyway you brought up something I didn't think about! I guess there are lots of people who are DD fans AND anime fans but not necessarily fans of the shows/characters they got a doll of . But now I wonder, how many people, anime fans or not, go and watch the show or play the game the doll is from out of curiosity if they get it...?

I know a lot of people who collect figures will buy any figure they think looks nice whether or not they even know who the character is, and personally this is something I'll never understand. My liking of figures comes from my liking of the characters - when I really like a character, I want some kind of 3D representation of them. I only ever buy figures of characters I really, really like and I never understood why people would buy a figure just cos it looked nice...I mean what if you watched the anime later and really hated that character lol

 

With dolls I do think its different though - because you can see on this forum alone that there seem to be more people who buy certain girls for their sculpts and not the character associated with it. It's a lot easier to turn a doll head into something you like - you might not care about Asuna from SAO at all, but her head sculpt might be just what you're looking for and by the time you've given her new eyes/wig/clothes she's not even really recognisable as the Asuna character anyway. Me, there's a list of DDs whose heads I'd like to get hold of to turn into certain OCs - doesnt mean I have to like the character they were originally, because after they get new faceups/wigs/eyes they arent going to resemble that original character much anyway.

 

So I don't think it's that unusual. In fact, I tend to see a lot of DD fans confessing they dont(or rarely) watch anime. It is a little strange to me, but I'm one of those people that watches at least the first episode of all the new shows that come out each season (although that's cos I run the review blog Moeronpan) and not everyone has that amount of dedication. I think it'd be kinda weird to buy a fullset character and keep her in her fullset if you werent familiar with her at all, but what other people do in the hobby is their own choice and concern, not mine.

I used to be more of an anime fan when I was younger, but now I mostly just casually watch it whenever I'm on my computer and want to have some background noise. I'm not at all on par with the more recent anime, and only one of my DDs was bought partly because she was from a series I consider a favorite (Im@s). I've only finished watching Fate/ Stay Night very recently, even though Saber Alter was my first DD.

 

However, I did start to get an interest in Idolm@ster because of the DDs and the figures, when Miki and Haruka were released. The first series and Cinderella Girls have become personal favorites, as I usually like simpler, slice-of-life series like those. I came to like the Fate series as well, but have never played any of the games, what makes me unfamiliar with any but the first version of Saber.

 

What really attracted me to the DD hobby were the lovely, amazingly beautiful custom dolls out there. There's a lot of people on Instagram, Twitter, Flickr and here that post the loveliest dolls, original characters or not (sometimes even characters from well known series that haven't been released officially), and that appealed to me more than the image of the official character. I usually made my OCs into resin BJDs because of the many options for boys and the realistic aesthetic, but the custom DDs made me very excited to play more with my girls and take initiative to try and customize them as well. They have more anime-ish features, but I find them just as versatile as other dolls I've played with. Also on the issue of OCs and original stories, series like Im@s and K-On also have shown me that all-girl stories can be just as good as mixed ones as well, which made me less reluctant to try. Now I even want to get into the Pure Neemo hobby!

 

If I ever want to have a palpable representation of a character I like a lot, I usually look for figures or statuettes.

 

But that's the beauty of the DD hobby - there are dozens of ways to enjoy it.

I was pretty heavy into it years ago (when it just started to get more popular in Germany, starting 2001), bought lots of Manga, went to conventions, even cosplayed.

I was still pretty mellow compared to some other hardcore fans, but I was also still a minor with no income and not a big fan of watching streams or scanlations.

 

The last anime I watched was Ristorante Paradiso in 2009 and the last convention I went to was in 2011, and I already felt very out of place there.

I have sold all my stuff (or gave it away) and since then neither read a manga or watched anime again.

 

I do still enjoy the aesthetic in some cases, which is probably the reason I also like DDs.

Mostly got into them though because there are lots of gorgeous DD photographers on Flickr (like AzureTB), and their style is very different compared to the BJD photographers I follow.

 

So, in short: not much into anime/manga anymore, but I like the aesthetic of DDs still.

Was never interested in the shows the limited releases belong to either, and I don't know most of them anyway.

I heavily prefer BJDs though because the customizing community is different there, you have more options and it's less limited.