Isn’t it tough to find people with similar interests as you, especially when it comes to anime? Being an anime fan myself, I can completely understand the struggle, and trust me, I’ve been there too. Watching your favorite anime and discussing it with a friend is genuinely the best feeling ever. While the community has grown quite a bit in recent years, it can still be challenging to find anime friends.
Wondering how you can find anime friends? Here are a few ways through which you can find the anime friends you’re looking for, so keep on reading!
Find Anime Friends With Social Media
Social media has connected people worldwide, making it so much easier to make new friends and talk every day. There are all sorts of people on social media, but all you need to do is look at the right places to find the ones you’re looking for. You can join different anime related groups on Facebook like Tokyo Otaku Mode, Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Anime underground, where you can discuss your favorite anime and make new friends as well. You can also find friends by following anime, Instagram, and Tumblr accounts. Apps like discord and amino are especially popular with anime fans, and you are bound to make some friends there!
You will find considerable diversity even in the anime accounts on different social media. Some accounts are specifically about a particular anime or characters, while others are more generalised. One thing’s for sure; every popular anime account will have a link to a discord server. So, you can join the one that suits your interests best.
Join Online Forums to Find Anime Friends
Online forums are the best places to find rare gems, discuss all the latest episodes and even your favorite anime characters. There are countless forums you can join, and not one of them will make you regret it. Reddit has a very wholesome and welcoming community, making it easy to make new friends there. You can check out r/anime, r/MakeNewFriendsHere, or r/Needafriend, and mention that you want to make anime friends. Reddit also has forums targeting specific anime like r/attackontitan and r/itachi, where you can have a detailed discussion with the other members.
Furthermore, Reddit isn’t the only place where you can engage with other anime fans; Myanimelist, Anilist, and Quora are also quite popular. You can join the forums on these sites as well and chat to your heart’s content. The best part is that every subreddit or forum has a discord link as well, so you can chat with them on discord, join the voice servers, or watch your favorite anime with your new friends. Sounds pretty amazing, right?
Join Different Clubs
Having friends who share the same interests as you at school or college is truly a blessing. It can be challenging to recognise the anime fans in public people tend to blend in with everyone else. However, You can check if there is an anime club at your school or college. The possibility is high, but the members will be less since not many fans are open to the idea of expressing their interest in anime.
Nevertheless, joining the clubs will increase your friend circle and the quality of time you spend at school as well. Socialising is not that easy, but you have to gather the courage to start a conversation, and the result will be priceless. Just think about it; you get to share your manga collection, talk about your favorite characters, and even watch the latest season of your favorite anime! How cool is that?
Visit Anime Conventions
Have you always wanted to express that you’re an anime fan openly? People can be quite judgmental of us anime fans, making it hard for us to show it publicly, but there is one place that’s safe for us. Anime conventions are the perfect place for all the anime enthusiasts to meet up and enjoy together. The convention is all about anime, manga, and Japanese culture. So, you know what that means? You get to make more friends!
Furthermore, you get to cosplay as your favorite character and enjoy the evening with other cosplayers as well. There is so much you can do there, like taking part in competitions, activities related to Japanese culture, anime merchandise, and parties as well. It’s the perfect place to make new friends and get to know them better.
Bring Your Friends to the Dark Side
Last but not least, if you failed to make new friends, there’s always a chance that you can bring your friends to our side. I know it sounds crazy and unbelievable but trust me when I say that I’ve made quite a few of my friends watch anime. Guess how it went? All of them are now hardcore fans. Crazy, right? How did I do it? That’s simple; you just have to understand your friends really well to be able to pull this off. If you’re afraid of being judged, then be discreet about the topic by gently bringing it up in a conversation as an example.
I tried two tricks that ensured my success in this regard. First, I made them listen to a famous anime opening, which I knew they would like. Once they were interested, I shared more songs, particularly from Kimi no Na wa. The next thing I did was invite them to watch the movie with me. As you know, Kimi no Na wa is pretty popular, and there is absolutely nothing to hate about it. So, do you get how easy it was? With these tricks, you won’t have to work hard to find anime friends.
Conclusion
Indeed, anime enthusiasts are often judged as people tend to think we watch cartoons meant to be for children. They couldn’t be more wrong, and it can prove to be very frustrating for us. Furthermore, the key to finding anime friends is patience. It can take some time, but it’s essential that you keep looking and not give up. The result will be worth all the hardship.
