Why does everyone have those Japanese-looking animation things as profile pics?

[ScubaCTB]

Showing my age again. But is that part of the androgynous gender thing of new generations? I make very clear I'm male and in my 40s. I see those Japanese animation images on a lot of profiles.

What does it mean? What is it?? I know young people like those BTS(?) Korean bands. But there has to be a reason why everyone uses those animated Japanese face icons, especially in a suicide forum. Would love to know before I CTB.

 

[thinvy]

because people don't use their icons/profile pictures to represent them. To be honest, on most websites, they never have been meant to strictly be a picture of you or that represents you.

The usual exception is for social media that is meant primarily for use with people you know; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, that kind of thing.

I would never in a million years post a picture of my own face here, let alone use as my icon. this is not because I dislike my appearance, but it's because it would be immensely easier to identify me from it. Same as if I had started talking about one of the buildings I was planning on jumping from as a last resort. It's a tall building that stands out and is easily identifiable, so I didn't name it, as there's not that many people my age, my gender, and who work at night (since I post primarily at night) within reasonable driving distance.

Also, some of the characters may be one that they relate to, or are simply a fan of. Sometimes is just as simple as "I found this picture and I liked it."

There's not always a rhyme or reason to things, but quite often, the simplest solution is the correct one.

my icon is this ferret, for example, because I thought he was cute

 

[ijustwishtodie]

What does it mean? What is it??

They're anime characters. From what I've seen, it has nothing to do with gender. They're just using a character that they really like and/or relate to as their profile picture. Also, I don't really use other social medias but I have seen tiktok also contain lots of people who use an anime character as their profile picture

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

My profile picture is usually a Muppet because I like the Muppets and I'm too ugly plus I don't want to be doxxed so that's why I don't use a real photo of myself. That's really all there is to it though I can't speak for everyone else. Some of these anime profile pictures are actually from games or other media that's not just animation but happens to share that style.

The Japanese animation art style as we know it was originally based off of Astro Boy, whose artist happened to enjoy Ducktales comics so if this is still not making sense to you, just imagine that every anime profile picture just happens to really REALLY love Donald Duck.

 

[Seered Doom]

My pfp is from Omori and I like how the game delves through the aspects of grief and PTSD since I have that too. Gender really didn't influence this choice for me much, The Japanese animation pictures you see may come from comics (manga), video games, movies, TV (anime), and many other sources. I would venture to guess many of them choose the ones they do because they're either really like the characters/franchise or they identify with the iconography.

Hope this helps out, from a younger person to an older one.

Showing my age again. But is that part of the androgynous gender thing of new generations? I make very clear I'm male and in my 40s. I see those Japanese animation images on a lot of profiles.

What does it mean? What is it?? I know young people like those BTS(?) Korean bands. But there has to be a reason why everyone uses those animated Japanese face icons, especially in a suicide forum. Would love to know before I CTB.

 

[wildbluekiss]

it's no japanese animation, but the beautiful girl in my icon is my favorite female idol from a japanese idol group! she keeps me going on, at least for a while, now.

 

[Csmith8827]

People just love anime. Plain and simple.

 

[TheShadowKing]

People just like the characters has nothing to do with gender

 

[Tokugawa_Yoshinobu]

It has nothing to do with gender anime is just very popular with the younger generations. People with anime profile pictures are on every single social media site too.

 

[GhostShell]

I like Ghost in the Shell. I read the manga (black and white japanese comic book basically), saw the movies (both original animated one and the live action one) plus saw the animated series.

The story touches on the meaning of humanity and your own experience of existence. I related to that, hence my username and profile picture.