ColumnAnime
Anime Reaction Videos, Explained: Why We Watch People Watching
Reaction videos are such a fixture of English-language anime fandom that it's easy to forget how strange the format looks from the outside — a face in the middle of the screen, the actual show tucked into a corner. In Japan, where real-time broadcast live-tweeting is the default way to watch together, the genre is far less central. Here's a look at why we watch people watching, what actually happens in those comment sections, and how the whole culture compares to Japan's own traditions of viewing together.