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What makes anime so appealing to young men?

F.D Signifier | June 20, 2026



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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

Written by F.D Signifier

Comments

This post currently has 46 comments.

  1. @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.

  2. @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 “Anger clouds the mind. Turned inwards, it is an unconquerable enemy.”

  3. @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.

  4. @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

  5. @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)

  6. @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 “woke” if there’s 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 can’t clearly separate bad-faith “anti-woke” 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 “woke agenda” complaints. That contrast makes the point much clearer and makes it way harder for people to dismiss.

  7. @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.

  8. @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 😭😭😭😭
    It appeals because it‘s meant to.
    I know there‘s more to it but the thumbnail alone just makes the title feel a bit redundant yk

  9. @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

  10. @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

  11. @tessalihogan4306

    June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am

    Speaking to the brief mention of women in anime: one argument I’d like to raise, as a woman, is that I’m not simply satisfied by shojo, because I gravitate most strongly towards the sort of fantasy-action that shonen has. There’s something like a slap in the face to me that I am expected to be satisfied with just shojo, as if girls can’t 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 I’ve ever seen, peppered in with the fantasy action I came for…

  12. @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

  13. @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.

  14. @steveartist966

    June 20, 2026 at 5:36 am

    I didn't know there was so much hate for Eren 😂 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 🤷🏾 anywho amazing show and writing, hot take ig but w plot. (P.s Light was worse)

  15. @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.

  16. @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.

  17. @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 he’s the best character in the show

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