Escapism= escape from the real world.
In anime people are usually perfect, with perfect bodies and personalities. It's the ultimate fantasy world where fiction is performed by cartoon characters. Now if one were to hate the world we live in, what better way would there be to escape from it than watching entertainment which is not connected to the real world and offers you the perfect world instead? A world which offers great ideas, moral teachings which you can relate with but also the perfect/beautiful people to relate to. I'm not saying ofcourse that f.e. the world of Naruto is perfect, with it's wars and all that. But I'm sayng that the consept of an anime world is perfect.
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How wikipedia describes escapism:
"Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" or dissociation from the perceived unpleasant, boring, arduous, scary, or banal aspects of daily life."
One could argue that most entertainment is just a form of escapism, but let's not get into that here. What I'm saying is that anime is different and it offers you an entertainment option which doesn't remind you of the real world as people who don't feel like they can relate to the real world usually don't find any problems relating to fictional characters.
In my experience people who watch anime are usually the people who are secluded from the mainstream population. I mean "nerds", overly insecure people, cynical misanthropes, overweight and depressed people. People who somehow feel that they are not wanted and so they on the other hand feel that they don't need the world.
Now I'm not saying that all who are watching Naruto are secluded people. I've watched Naruto and I like it and I know it's pretty popular among people who usually don't watch anime. But I think that if you tend to watch other anime as well on regular basis then you might fit into my description above. I don't mean to offend, but it's just an observation and I've wondered this for a while because all my "nerdy" friends are the ones who watch alot of anime.
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Do you feel that you watch anime because you want to escape the reality?