ALERT: Experts Predicting Surge In Uncles Asking You To Explain Anime To Them This Christmas
This holiday season, expect a seasonal chill–the one that runs down your spine when your uncle asks you to explain your favourite anime to them, that is! Experts are warning ahead of Christmas that a spike in uncular curiosity is expected around the topic of anime, and that anyone who enjoyed Dragon Ball Z in their teen years should prepare to present a combined explanation of Japanese animation styles and a defense of their own right to enjoy some of it.
“We’re having a hard time explaining this spike in uncle interest,” researcher Tap Waddler told Point & Clickbait. “All we know for sure is that, at some point over your family Christmas, your uncle Wade is going to trundle over and ask if you can tell him about what he’ll refer to as ‘Japanimation’.”
“Your uncle, I’m afraid to say, has never even heard of Spirited Away,” Waddler added.
Despite the relative cultural ubiquity of anime in 2019, Waddler and his team recommend that anyone under the age of 35 who has ever expressed an interest in anything nerdy should prepare themselves to “feel a bit embarrassed” as they, inevitably, slightly overstate the quality of Akira. Uncles are expected to ask if “the cartoons are in Chinese,” and are warning anyone capable of answering the question that “somehow they’ll feel like the asshole for correcting them.”
The warning is especially important for teens, Waddler said, who are expected to field questions from uncles as young as 30 about “this Yu-Gi-Oh shit.” A new phenomenon, Waddler explains, is the uncle who rented the individual discs of Cowboy Bebop from a video shop in the early 2000s and has since lost touch with the scene.
“It’s alright to pretend that you don’t know that much yourself,” Waddler explained. “Your uncle can’t tell the difference between a quiet teen and a hardcore otaku. You don’t need to explain to them why the animation changed between seasons of One-Punch Man.”
Asked if there was any further advice he could give, Waddler become somber. “You’ll hear the word ‘Evangelion’ pronounced many different ways over Christmas, and it’s very important that you don’t correct any of your uncles,” he said. “Otherwise you’re in for an entire day of them trying and failing to get it right.”
