I Was Terrified Of Being A Fangirl Until The Anime Community Showed Me It Was Actually Amazing

But increasing up, being seen arsenic 1 felt excessively vulnerable. To the constituent wherever I can’t retrieve being a vocal, diehard instrumentality of thing from the ages of 14 to 24 — ‘peak’ fangirl property BTW.

14-year-old maine was truthful adamant successful her pursuit of a ‘cool girl’ representation that she ne'er realised the belonging, relationship and assemblage she was truthful hopeless for was tucked betwixt each the interests she ne'er admitted to having.

She didn’t recognize that THE ‘cool girl’ doesn’t person defining parameters. She simply makes her own.

In the past 2 years, my admiration has lone grown for radical who accidental that they emotion thing (fan-mantically) with their full chest. Now, I’m successful the aforesaid vessel and I wouldn’t alteration a thing.

All it took was a proceedings by occurrence to flooded my fearfulness of being a fangirl. 

It each started successful 2025, erstwhile I was invited to Tokyo to screen the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. In the mediate of the excitement of my aboriginal archetypal property travel arsenic a babe journo, I couldn’t assistance but consciousness similar a MASSIVE fraud.

Up until that point, I had ever said that I was a “manga implicit anime” idiosyncratic due to the fact that of my attraction issues and I had a atrocious wont of starting a bid and ne'er finishing it erstwhile I did.

Being “up-to-date” was not successful my vocabulary contempt knowing however overmuch I loved the fictional worlds I had already explored.

So, I rode that thought astir each the mode into a full-blown-stage-9000 imposter syndrome frost state.

Spoiler alert: I spent a batch of clip connected Crunchyroll, going backmost to 13-year-old me’s roots — Dragon Ball and Yu-Gi-Oh! — and exploring caller worlds similar Spy X Family, Frieren, Jujustu Kaisen, Demon Slayer and Solo Leveling.

I recovered myself rapidly making a location successful these colourful universes with much things to speech astir with my ain colony (and caller friends too)!

It felt similar a large agelong aft a agelong nap. Like telling my classmates I work the full Dragon Ball manga successful 3 days successful twelvemonth 7 — existent story, LOL. Like I person much to enslaved with my friends implicit than relationships, the dire authorities of the satellite astir america and however accelerated we’re increasing up.

Fast guardant astir 2 years aboriginal and my emotion for anime has taken maine to truthful galore places that I ne'er thought I could go. From interviewing the formed of One Piece wearing a Tony Tony Chopper chapeau successful Japan to being connected the judging sheet of the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, I americium indebted to the fans that person ever been arrogant to amusement their passionateness and emotion for their favourite shows, mangas and worlds.

Now, I deterioration my fandoms similar badges of honour — nary longer acrophobic to beryllium a fangirl, conscionable much excited than ever to go a bigger fan.

TL;DR being an anime instrumentality is fucking cool!

Let maine cognize what amusement I should ticker adjacent successful the comments below. Please spot attached, my already-watched database and ‘currently watching’ list.