What makes anime so appealing to young men?
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You ever wonder what it is about anime that gets so many guys DEEP into it? Me too. So I talked to some experts in the topic in @supereyepatchwolf0 and @mothersbasement and looked back at my own experiences as an Anime fan to figure out what it is about Anime that resonates so much with boys and men.
00:00 OP
01:00 I used to be a WEEB
05:55 Anime and Masculinity, a combo worthy of discussion
13:00 What makes Anime special and why you should watch it
28:35 What do boys and men like about Anime?
36:20 Boys and the Anime Power Fantasy
44:07 A quick aside on misogyny in Anime
48:30 Anime Power Fantasies Deconstructed
57:02 A roast of Eren Yeager
1:20:02 What if Eren wasn’t trash?
1:29:21 Closing thoughts
Intro by @NeedlessNick
Edited by @TheZatzman
Feat @mothersbasement and @supereyepatchwolf0
special guest @roramdin
Femme Centered Videos on anime
@Noralities – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buv3TA7dvdE&t=1s
@harriyanna – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfK6OLn4jTk
@hazel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHTBvvRCqmk&t=2558s
More Eren Yeager/AOT Slander
@LostFutures1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8B-p2ke9uU&t=8s

@aaronstacey9612
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
"he had no choice" literally shaped the future
@ember_37arts
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Itās crazy this came out 2 years ago. It feels like last month he put out the Tyson video and yesterday the drake v kdot vid
@yourboi8617
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
31:40 its funny you say this becase goku is an examle of intrenisc motivation, and also the reason why vegeta cant surpass him, cause vegeta holds alot of his extrenisc ideals
@noahinvero351
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Young men when Paul Atreides
@noahinvero351
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
49:05 I got an adrenaline rush as soon as I heard the damn intro play
@majikai9077
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Rewrite by Asian kungfu generation and, if it falls in this category, Out of Control by Nothing's Carved in Stone from Psychopass.
@IndiaHamilton-e8e
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Eren Yeager has alway had big school shooter vibes to me, including and maybe even esp due to his inability to properly explain his horrific actions. We see similar characterizations of homicidal teenage boys in the first season of American Horror Story and the movie We Need To Talk About Kevin. To me, Eren's childish excuses and whining in the finale made perfect sense and even reminded me of Light's exceedingly pathetic demise at the end of Death Note, and I just wish Hajime Isayama had done a better job of underscoring Eren's immaturity and utter lack of accountability and emotional development. Ending with Eren's genocidal success was such a bold, unexpected choice with so much potential as a commentary on war and the glorification of violence, and instead we got…that.
@SisekoIzwelethu
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Doubt Japan has the CIA giving them scripts to push as Anime don't you think? Maybe thats diff between the 2 industries.
@JohnnyWishbone85
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Also, so you're saying Attack on Titan can be summarized as "What if Tyler Durden became 'Paper-Hanging Mustache Boy?'"
@MightyTuna221
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
I know im been getting back into the xmen and with the new season, come out i cant wait. But im going to defend that rogue and Magento story cause for me it show the type of character Gambit is and come from trauma as well abandon by his family and leading to his deal with Sinster which would later lead to Morlock massacre ,try to stop it fail and he carrying that weight ,So even in the new xmen Seeing Rogue with Mag he hurt yes but it doesnt stop him from saving people and giving one the best speechs. people may say that both Gambit and Guts are Adult but still have trauma that dont stop them from being who they are may be a bit harder for guys but he tries,From the tmnt 1990 āAnger clouds the mind. Turned inwards, it is an unconquerable enemy.ā
@imonlymakingthischannelbec8743
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
25:38 bro what
@lincolnhaldorsen5649
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Eren had no choice and Sasuke also went on a village revenge arc lol
@MADDMOODY516
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
What's the editing software used?
@rafaelgutierrez2682
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Berserk was huge for me, especially growing up in such a tumultuous political time. I felt scared and overwhelmed by the world in general. Then I read Berserk.
Guts' story isn't a man saving the world. The world might already be too far gone for that. But he's saving who he can, and maybe that's really all you can do at the end of the day.
I came into Berserk as an edgelord wanting to check out "the evil molesting demon manga," and left feeling like maybe being a better person wasn't impossible even in the face of cruelty and pain.
@regisphilbinxdd
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Continuing to do dig through the backlog. Right on the money as usual
@Bigpapafrank
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
So fun fact something I have read was the creator of Astro boy took his inspiration from original Disney drawings. The whole large eye small mouth aesthetic actually started with Disney characters Mickey mouse Donald duck all those guys were were already having those large those those adjusted features. And he took that and so what have you apply that to to more human-like figures and and you know we're off running with big eyes small mouth humans in anime
@hillscasino
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
great video but i really disagree with the takes on eren, not in the way of a yeagerist but in a completely different way. especially the random dude popping in and out to roast him (even tho it was funny)
@SkuIIKn1ght
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
48:00 I get what you were going for here pointing out how some people will immediately label something āwokeā if thereās a prominent female or minority character. But I think using Captain Marvel weakens the point a bit, since the film itself had a pretty mixed reception at best and the character writing is very often criticized. When you use that film as the baseline you canāt clearly separate bad-faith āanti-wokeā backlash from more grounded criticism. I think a way better example would have been Mad Max: Fury Road. Furiosa plays a very central role and the film is widely regarded as exceptionally well-made, and yet it still got hit with āwoke agendaā complaints. That contrast makes the point much clearer and makes it way harder for people to dismiss.
@rojeriofumasa
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
58:30 WHY THE TWENTY ONE PILOTS SLANDER WHAT DID WE DO šššš
@annafilou
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
SPOILERS
My interpretation of Eren's behavior at the last episode was that he was being manipulated by Ymir the entire time.
That Ymir was so mad at the world, but also so mad at herself for not killing king Fritz rather than protecting him.
When Mikasa kills Eren, we get a flash of Ymir imagining protecting her children, instead of the king, and letting him die. She sees herself as Mikasa and Eren as the king, and orchestrated things in such a way that they would act out her own fantasy so that she could get some closure.
@lar8551
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
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@Nate-er4pn
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Good vid ššš
@deftnitelyNotARobot
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
I'd like to hear your take on Vinland Saga. It's really great
@iamataldi
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Bro the thumbnail literally only has shounen characters on it – characters written to appeal to young men šššš
It appeals because itās meant to.
I know thereās more to it but the thumbnail alone just makes the title feel a bit redundant yk
@Sintanity
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Sorry; this is a great video but i am very one track minded Mob mention <3333 That's my son <3333 My dear boy whomst i love and is SO dear to me, SUCH a good anime, i fucking love it
@Frightful_Lag0
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Because animation is diverse, not only anime from Japan, men are trying to find a purpose and a warrior or friend to look up to man
@sayhmm
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
41:11 gotta be that person and say "pr0n addiction" is pretty controversial and arguably… fake.
addiction experts tend to disagree with putting sexual behavior in the addiction category
@youalluiop-q5i
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Eren Yeager was right. World tell his entire race monster and he becomes the monster. Only thing eren did wrong was stop at 80%
@tessalihogan4306
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Speaking to the brief mention of women in anime: one argument Iād like to raise, as a woman, is that Iām not simply satisfied by shojo, because I gravitate most strongly towards the sort of fantasy-action that shonen has. Thereās something like a slap in the face to me that I am expected to be satisfied with just shojo, as if girls canāt be interested in action. But if I ever watch shonen instead, I have to brace myself to be slapped with some of the most blatantly offensive, misogynistic portrayals Iāve ever seen, peppered in with the fantasy action I came forā¦
@bluesandshrew1
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
I would love to hear you talk about John from the webtoon unORDINARY. He's my favorite character from my all time favorite series and I think he would fit perfectly into your ongoing edgelord discussion
@somekid3893
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Look man I highkey hate SAO but the one saving grace I can even give the show is that… Kirito literally earned his power. Sure, he earned it off-screen, but he earned it. Also for the record I think you're confusing it with some other show bc his backstory is that he beta-tested the game. The only reason he is as strong as he is in the show is because he had an early leg up on account of the beta testing and the fact that he knew the best places to train and he didn't bring anybody with him. And then, during the boss fight they thought he was a cheater because he knew the attack pattern because he was the only person who no-lifed the game so hard that he'd gotten to the level above them that had the attack pattern.
Sure whatever other weird shit happened the "daughter" who's obviously an homage to .hack// but Kirito trained more than everybody and had more experience in the beta than everybody and that's why he became an outcast, and it's also why he stayed training harder than everybody.
Again, basically the only saving grace I can give the show is that technically they removed the concept of talent from it — except that he played the beta more and got more intel, so it's more like an allegory for privilege or capitalism than it is unearned power.
@clintonjeffrey6699
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
1:20:13 DARK SOULS FANS ASSEMBLE!!!!!!
@aaron-dx7gz
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Yaw don't know what weird anime is. Urotsukidoji, Angel Cop, Genocyber, Fist of the North star to name a few.
@c.alt.94
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
The ending made me tear up. Thank you, yet again.
@6lackgato
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Lol I always feel so odd regularly watching your content as an older gen z woman
@drmajalis1583
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
I would pay money for an entire video of Fd talking about Code Geass- so I signed up for the patreon!
@its_ot
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
Watching this after the Charlie Kirk video has me seeing the connections.
@starstreamer725
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
The first opening clips of anime was pretty funny ngl
@barongaslight4615
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
My read was that Eren was meant to be a tragic figure. A man who wanted to kill all the titans became a titan who wanted to kill mankind.
@steveartist966
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
I didn't know there was so much hate for Eren š personally I feel like the show has few "likable" characters with "Likable" choices Eren embodies the manical nature of the show you can't hate the child that went to war, you should hate the war. The conversation on him being weak is interesting because of his "sacrifice" which is typically portrayed as strength. I just think the show is too complex to address whether he was wrong or right. Also I love how his facade broke he was always the little guy playing tough so the return to his crying ways was inevitable š¤·š¾ anywho amazing show and writing, hot take ig but w plot. (P.s Light was worse)
@artistpenguin5890
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
I am blessed to be on the same timeline as Berserk. I didn't like it at first, but there is something in the story that makes me return to it time and again and fall in love with it every time.
@WhatTheForge
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
I didn't even realize the themes in flcl when I was younger holy moly. I just remember it being a quirky and weird anime that had a short run, and if I was lucky enough I could catch it late night before my parents told me to go to bed. Definitely need to do a rewatch of that now.
@b2sav999
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
58:30
@Pianohnonono
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
The bass on the intro is so loud I can feel it in my skull, ouch
@The_Biggest_M
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
When it comes to sao unironically I think alicization does make one major improvement with the character eugeo I personally think heās the best character in the show
@GrobbyNoblin
June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am
4:11 I seent that