I'm doing my part. I bought 2 volumes of Haruhi Suzumiya ($210) , the whole series of Elfen Lied ($75) and some others. Don't think it's a lot because it came with a lot of things too. Such as:

Pillow Cases
Drawing Pads
Iron-ons
A lot of extra features on DVD.

Now I'm saving up money to buy even more. Also, Animethon15 is just around the courner! I can't wait. It comes here every year at the University in downtown. That's where I mostly buy my anime. Also, sometimes at HMV.

So do your part people! Try your best!

Young people support the intertainment industries because they are the ones with disposable incomes. Thus the catering of, say the music industry, to juvenile tastes. They drive the whole industry.

There may be some parents that think anime and manga is the devil, but just like comic books and rock-and-roll, they come around.

And Paul is right...most of this stuff caters to a teenage and 20s audience. These are the people that aren't paying a lot of bills, go to conventions, and buy their products.

Unbfortunately, since that's the case, we tend not to develope more sophisticated tastes, because what we become acculterated to from the market. Then there's a general lack of advancement in the arts. When something worthy comes along, it usually doen't last.

You don't think so? I would say my tastes have certainly expanded as I get older. That doesn't mean I give up all my old likes, (but certainly some) but I also have new likes.

Of course, some people's tastes develop as they age, as yours did and as mine do. But we become bombarded with such basic stuff I think it stunts us. You know the type of person who never gets further than the tunes he listened to in high school. I think that's the average, which is why the arts suffer. Most peoples standards are too basic and low. It takes effort to educate yourself about the arts and effort to train yourself to acquire a taste for stuff. You know the phrase, it's an acquired taste.

It takes time to go from three chord pop to classical or jazz, or anime to classical art. To understand the the physics, history and technique behind great art as compared to watch the tube.

Most adults listen to juvenile, simple music and don't know anything about art. That other stuff is ok, but appreciation of the deeper stuff is important for an adults development.

It's hard for me to decide if I agree or not, because most of the adults I know have developed their tastes and grown, but that might also be due to like-minded thinkers flocking together.

I do think that the Internet and YouTube has made people (me included) impatient, so I appreciate less because I have access to so much more. I still listen to albums, but I know a lot of people that don't. They'd rather spend their time making playlists. There are arguments for both, for sure.

Agree with you there.

I just think that when mediocrite and simple things are accepted as a high enough standard there's not always a reason to search for more. That's what happenned, again, in the music biz. We get schlock and drek. That's seen as acceptable. We agreed tat stuff is pretty juvenile, but adults accept that stuff as well and it defines their tastes because they are not always exposed to more.

I know very few people who listen to classical, even know what flamenco is or know that south america was the center of classical music and guitar for a hundred years. But they think Radiohead is brilliant.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not a snob. I watch tv, play xbox and occasionally listen to pop music. It's just that there's more and I don't see people developing the patience to appreciate it. It's sad that art has declined to the point that Andy Warhol is even considered an artist.

I think people are too eager to label one thing as 'better' or 'worse' than another. Is a Monet painting better than a manga sketch, is a Beethoven symphony better than a Spice Girls tune. Each one is a different experience and generally the more experiences one can get the better. Somebody who goes to the opera may have missed out on going to an anime convention simply because of the labels and associations they make.

As I'm in my late 30s now, other adults say my interest in Anime and Manga is childish and immature, but when you compare a series like Ergo Proxy, or Kino's Journey to the soap operas they watch then you have to question that. Unfortunately I think tapping into the adult market is an almost impossible task, my mate sees his kid watching Dragonball and Pokemon, and I could never make him see that he might enjoy anime himself

Yes. don't be so PC with the attitude of, "Well, we can't judge." We can judge an to do so is how the mind works. We make judgements all day and everyday. NOT ALL THINGS ARE THE SAME. Reletivism of that sort is not realistic. Relativism is a philosophy in which you understand something based on its proximity. Not a way to strip value and make everything the same.

Don't mean to be rude or harsh. Just shooting straight.