From a strict No...to a Maybe, is it possible to go beyond?

Have you ever spoken to a person who doesn't like anime? Well, I speak with them on a daily basis. They're in my class, on the street, in front of school, and in extra curricular classes. They're everywhere. But have you ever had a chat with one about anime? I have, and here's the story.

More than half of my friends dislike anime. My first friend, whom I found out was such a person, was Daine (this is her nickname). To put it simply, I interviewed her. Apparently her father had forbidden her from watching any form of cartoons except the cartoons he watched, which were full of profanity and violence, in other words, they were not her genre. When I met her she absolutely HATED anime. When I showed her an anime (namely Cardcaptor Sakura), she wanted to spend the night at my house sometime and watch all the episodes with me. We are now best friends through Cardcaptor Sakura. That is one successful case; the others weren't as successful.

Someone (who will remain anonymous) I know, didn't know what on earth anime was. When she found out she absolutly hated it. When I asked her what genre she liked she said fantasy, so I looked up her history one night.

I found out she watched adventure and romance, the two things she hated the most. They were also rated fantasy so that must have been why she watched them, so I sent her an e-mail, that may have been a little too long, about the difference between romance/fantasy, adventure/fantasy, and plain out fantasy. I also explained all the different genres out there. Now she watches anime from time to time, she's indifferent which is good enough for me.

Have a friend that doesn't like anime? Try one of the steps below:

1. Ask them what genre they like the best (comedy, romance, ect.) and find an anime with that genre. Look it over and see if they will like it.

2. Ask them why they dislike it. It may just be the result of a complete misunderstanding.

3. Ask which anime they've watched to see if they have watched a genre they dislike. If they don't like that genre ask them to try a different one.

4. Ask them what kind of plot they like, then look over some series summaries.

5. Suggest some animes you like. They might just like the same ones you do.

If none of these work then they might just not like graphics and prefer real life movies. If this is so, then try and start with American cartoons and ask if they like them. Here are some steps you could take.

1. Get them into regular cartoons (Disney classics like Robin Hood, The Little Mermaid, ect.)

2. Ask which one they like best.

3. Ask what parts they liked.

4. Ask which parts they disliked.

5. Decide which genre the parts they liked were.

6. Look for an anime of that genre.

It may look complicated and long, but it worked for me within a day and got 7 of my friends into it. I went from having 3 friends into anime to over 10 in 3 months.

See what you find out with your friends who just happen to dislike anime. It worked with my friends, so it may work with yours!