Age Relations with Anime

I remember when I started watching anime at a young age, I'd plan on cosplaying as certain characters because I'd be about there age and it made me believe that I could still do anything. Characters like Konata, Tohsaka and Lala seemed fun to fantasize about, like, "Oh I could totally be in her class! We could be friends and hang out! And we could fight evil!" depending on the character, and I would have fun day dreaming about how I'd... do things with them. And I'd go collect hundreds of pictures of them, maybe even a thousand. But now that I'm getting older I don't really have that sense of freedom. I'm losing my connection with something that made me relate to a character.

Have you experienced the same thing?

Sure, used to, still do. Really I consider it a link to my immaturity. Everything in this world is so damn serious. I really like having the same over-active imagination like I used to. Only difference is, I now know when not to use it.

a watching anime since i was 4 year's old !! anime that i was watch is DORAEMON. it was really popular on that day. cartoon from Japan more interesting than cartoon from USA or England, but somehow most cartoon from Japan (anime) always see, just for kid's, i dont know why ?! but that was true !!!!
my favorite anime was school rumble, girls bravo, MaR, and some hentai anime !!!!
hehehehehehehehehee!!!
until now when my age is 22 years i still watch anime, many my friends childish, well what ever they said i will always watch anime !!!

Kind of. I use to be like that too, still like that now I think but far less childish. I still relate myself or other to an anime character sometimes. But only as far as behavior, and sometimes their style goes. Not to the extent where it becomes too imaginative like wanting to talk to them, be their friend or the such.

When I was younger, every time I watched anime, the power of imagination had a power compatible to Reality Marble.
I was able to play all day long in my room, imaginating awesome and fun adventures within that "Reality Marble"... (it's a pity I had no interest in hentai stuff bac then). Pokemon, Digimon Adventure, Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya...

Now, being 4th year university student, the only thing I think about after watching anime is my fucking studies - it became really tough now, and will be more tough in the last year... Serious bussiness.

So my Realit Marble is kinda out of fit now :(. So every time I have a vacation I spend almost all time daydreaming and keeping fit of my imagination. I even bought an imitation claymore sword for outdoor practicing of adventure type of RM lol and spent all this year's summer in the field outside the city :)

started to watch anime and read manga at 4 years old because my brother and sister.

one time i was thingking like i live with tendo family when ranma arrives in ranma 1/2.

Um, yeah. I used to imagine myself as a character in anime a lot.
I would pair myself from one girl in the anime.
Also imagined myself in every PS1 RPG I played.

I stopped doing that though. Saaaad.

As you grow older, you find different things to relate to.

Still no problem with daydreaming every once in a while though...

[color=blue]Omg, I did the same thing. '.'

Guess we all stop doing it when we grow older and become bitter realists. >.>

I still want to cosplay once though.[/color]

I think we all can agree, the Real World sucks.. i for one want out im been looking for the red pill ever since i found out about it. I do this constantly, its not a problem... till you you start doing it at work and still manage to get everything done right >.>

I'm not sure I completely understand what you're saying Unsigned, but I think what I have to say is somewhat related.

When I was young, I liked to play pretend. You know, tie a sheet around my neck and run around, saying I was a superhero. I'd physically act out what I was imagining. As an adult, I still imagine at times, but I never make it physical.

For example, I've been watching an Iron Man show lately, and I'll sometimes imagine how Iron Man would act in a certain situation or what it'd be like if he fought a certain enemy. But I never put a cardboard mask over my face and shout, "My metal beats your metal, Doctor Doom!" Partly because that would be incredibly embarrassing and partly because I don't feel the need to. Imagining it is good enough for me. I can be entertained by that little. As a kid, you need more than just your imagination to have fun. That's why kids get toys and play pretend.

Also, whenever I imagine characters and scenarios, I don't imagine it just as a way to pass the time or enjoy myself. I think, "Could I turn this into a story?" and "How would this work as a comic?" I think that's another part of being an adult, the desire and ability to turn what you like into something substantial, that other people could also enjoy. There certainly is a lot of this in the world of anime fandom, with fanfiction and fanart.

If I don't think about a series much, it means that I don't like the series very much. Because if I do enjoy it, my mind will spin with possibilities of how the characters would behave and what interesting things could happen to them.

I experience something similar, but I think the cause is the target audience.

I have noticed that a lot of the more intricate, art films have older characters, so I would say the rift is based on maturity, rather then perceived age.

When I first started watching Full Metal Panic about 6 years back, I related myself the most to Sousuke. Reason being is that Sousuke is somewhat reserved and socially inept, reminds me of my own personality. This is one of the main reasons FMP is my favorite of all time, the second being is that I've always been partial to anime with blue-haired women. (Actually the latter is the real reason I first picked up the dvd case. I saw a blue-haired chick and I'm like "This looks interesting.")

I was watching gundam since my cousin showed it to me when I was 4-5ish. Even so, I do feel like I've lost that happy imaginary self that used to show when I watched it. I remembered how awesome amuro was and I would imagine myself in the cockpit of a second gundam so we could fight together. Now that I've grown, it just seems like a bad idea now that I've realized how much stress amuro probably went through...