I discuss how people form connections and communities through social media by focusing on anime fandom on TikTok, specifically related to One Piece. I argue that TikTok transforms anime fans from passive viewers to Active participants through platform affordances and user generated content.
Hi Milad! Apologies for the late question response. As someone who is not super familiar with anime fandoms / the One Piece fandom I found your presentation really insightful! This is my 3 questions to you would be:
1. Your discussion of how TikTok transforms One Piece fans from passive viewers into active participants is super interesting. Were there any anime specific articles or concepts that informed your understanding of how One Piece fans build community on TikTok? In my study, I found similar results as to community building through the lens of fan culture, but I would be interested to see if there is anything distinct about the One Piece or anime fandom that could further strengthen your main argument.
2. Additionally, your analysis of how TikTok’s affordances drive creative practices between One Piece fans is strong. It made me think about the role of influential user accounts within fandom spaces. Again, in my own case study, I found certain creators acted as opinion leaders through making content and guiding how followers interpreted events. Did you observe similar users in the One-Piece TikTok fandom? Specifically, were there any specific ‘main’ creators who consistently uploaded edits or other One piece related content that the algorithm boosts? I’m curious to whether these influential creators help stabilise the fandom community or perhaps what a fandom may look like without any ‘main’ influential creators.
3. Your point about trending audio shaping One Piece fandom on TikTok is also really interesting. The clip you showed hints at the idea imitation publics. I’m curious about the motivations behind fans copying that specific audio, was it tied to a specific character within the fandom? And how did this repeated imitation help produce a recognisable One Piece fan public on TikTok? I think potentially expanding on this could strengthen your argument about how fans become creators – through how audio trends specifically function as not only as creative but also communicative affordances on TikTok.
Hi Milad, your presentation about how TikTok creates anime fan communities was interesting. As an anime fan myself, I found your discussion to be really interesting and relatable. Especially the way you described how the elements like comments, viral postings, and trending audio help build strong fan communities, I have a few questions that build on your ideas.
To begin with, while your presentation highlights strong engagement within the One Piece community, do you think TikTok fandoms can also create pressure for fans to follow trends or behave in certain ways in order to stay visible or relevant?
Secondly, in your One Piece case study, how do TikTok affordances such as viral posts and trending audio shape how fans discover and interact with each other, and do you think these connections are primarily driven by the platform or by fan intentions?
Lastly, to what extent do you think participation in the One Piece TikTok community reflects genuine fan identity, and how might the desire for belonging and shared identity influence fans to present themselves in more idealised or performative ways?
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