relatives ever accused you of being a pervert/sicko from the anime/manga you like because you're a teen?

Question

My mom thinks I'm disturbed for reading Hellsing, accuses me of being a pervert for trying to get Chobits vol.1 (I didn't know there were b**bs in it!) and my grandma thinks that "manga" is a synonym for porn. She thought KINGDOM HEARTS was PR0N for GOD'S SAKE!!!
Americans are WEIRD!!!

Answer 1

It is not only Americans, relatives where ever in the world you are, will think you are childish, sick or whatever, because you watch animes.

My aunt told me, that I am going to regress from watching animes (Do I need to say that she never ever saw one, so that she didn't know what about she was talking?).

My parents saw a stupid report on tv, which was telling that animes are all porn and such stuff, and they believed it. And they also saw how expensive artbooks, mangas and all the other wonderful things a fan needs are, and so they thought that is not only porn and sickness, but money wasting, too. They really got on my nerves with that for a long time ...

Answer 2

My family has usually been pretty understanding, probably because my dad is an anime fan and understands that anime and manga are not all pornographic, just like American books and movies are not all pornographic - anime and manga are just animation and comics/graphic novels originally made in Japan, with as many genres and levels of nudity and violence as anything that might be found in America.

One of the problems is the different way that Japanese culture deals with nudity - the link I included in my sources has a bit of information on this, and I'm sure you could find even more out there.

If your family is at all open to trying to understand more about anime and manga, then you might try showing them something that you have made sure doesn't have anything they might consider objectionable in it, even if it's a title you might not necessarily like. Something like _Hikaru no Go_ is a good example - as far as I can remember, there is no violence, no nudity, and the artwork is gorgeous (so, high quality, and not "pornographic" ). The only problem I can think of is that Sai, the ghost character that teaches the main character how to play Go, is a bit effeminate. I can see how a newbie with manga might consider Hellsing disturbing, since it's pretty violent, and Chobits has rather a lot of fan service - that's one you'd actually have to read to understand how sweet it actually is. Introducing them to something prescreened could help open the door to explaining why the other stuff is so good.

Has your grandmother actually tried out Kingdom Hearts, or did she make that judgement about it just on the basis of what she thought she knew about it? You may have a harder time if your family members refuse to try any manga out before making judgements about it.