Did you guys catch Suzume in theaters??? I didn’t, I missed it 😔. I live in (near) a pretty big city but we don’t get anime in theaters often, outside of film festivals, and when we do they don’t stick around for long. You gotta get your behind out to the movies within a few days or you’ll be out of luck. And it just didn’t work out for me this time. But I will definitely be watching Suzume as soon as I can find it so please don’t tell me how it ends.
However, this failed experience did get me thinking about watching anime in theaters. I have managed to do it a few times and it’s a pretty different experience. And once again, I don’t mean watching it during Film Festivals when the entire audience is super primed otaku, I mean watching it as a regular movie-going fan.
Let me give you some context: I like movies. I’m just super original that way: Not Like Other Girls! As a result, I have spent a whole lot of time in darkened movie theatres, carefully sitting as far away as possible from the other strangers in the room while still getting a good view of the big screen. I have watched a LOT of movies in theaters. I’ll admit that lately, with confinement and all that, my movie-watching experience has been a bit more homebound, but I still get out there now and then to catch a feature when I can. It just hits differently on a big screen with other folks around. Other folks, I don’t have to talk to! You know what I mean?
But it hits extra different with anime.
In my experience, anime movies aren’t a huge draw. I have personally never been to a sold-out showing o an anime movie. That’s to be expected and it is changing. So yay. The upside is that you are likely to have a few empty seats around you as a buffer when going to one of those movies which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It also means that it’s not the intoxicating rush of having a huge crowd drag you along as they cheer for their hero, burst out in uproarious laughter at every joke or audibly gasp at tense moments. It’s a more subdued experience with a few polite laughs and maybe one particularly engrossed fan letting an exclamation slip past them when the Big Scene comes on!
If you’ve never been to a festival or any viewing with a huge and dedicated audience, you might not know what I’m talking about. Still, I saw the Mario Movie not that long ago and I got swept up as so much of the surprisingly not toddler audience was chuckling at every reference (it’s a real safe movie) and what was most likely a toddler or even younger child let out an actual squeal of pure glee at a random moment. The air is electric in those viewings, and it can make a mediocre movie seem much more interesting and exciting.
My point is that in my experience, anime movies do not benefit from that. At least not in this town. It’s the usual movie-going deal where you can tell there are other people in the room, but they won’t intrude too much on your personal experience.
But that has its own charm. Because anime movies are not frequently shown and don’t stay in theaters long, moviegoers have to actively seek them out. So they will draw the dedicated fans that show up in subtle cosplay and whisper encyclopedic knowledge about every character, voice actor, or director to their friends. These are getting less frequent as the ease of watching anime on streaming platforms or dubiously legal sites have encouraged to introverts to just watch things at home. Still, I can usually spot a few. You’ll also get the cinephiles that just tend to go to the movies once or twice a week and pick whatever seems interesting or they haven’t seen yet. Unless it’s rated R or something, you’re likely to see a parent with a small child who figured: it’s a cartoon, it must be for kids and who will definitely be devasted/horrified when they realize there are subtitles! And occasionally, you might even get someone who really wanted to see the movie but isn’t normally an anime fan and is taking their first steps into the medium.
I go over the audience makeup because these are folks you would never really see at an anime film festival or convention. They are outside the “community”. And unless you go out to watch an anime movie at the theater, you probably would never get the chance to see their reaction and interpretations of anime.
And if you’re shy or deeply introverted, don’t worry, you don’t actually have to talk to anyone. With a bit of people-watching prowess, you can easily figure out what their experience has been. And that is both unique and adds an entirely different layer of appreciation to anime.
You probably thought I would talk about the virtues of seeing animation on a giant screen or getting the rich full soundtrack on theater speakers. And don’t get me wrong. That is absolutely a plus. If you like the technical aspects of anime, then watching it on a silver screen once in a while is going to be way more fun than just sticking to your phone on public transit.
However, people don’t really think of the social aspect of watching anime in theaters. Even now that anime is an enormous and ubiquitous market, I still occasionally hear anime fans bemoan that they feel isolated in their passion for the medium. Well, going to see an anime movie is a great way to dip your toes into a more social anime experience without jumping into the deep end of cosplay and conventions.
I guess what I’m trying to say is you should go out and watch some anime in theaters once in a while. It can be surprisingly fun. It’s a nice way to get out of your bubble. And who knows, you may meet someone who just watched their first anime and is super psyched about it. Baby otakus are adorable, and you should pet one whenever you get the chance!
