As in, what's something you loved as a kid, found cringe as you get older, then gained a new appreciation for as an adult? Here are some of mine:

  • Pokemon. I expect this will be a common one. It's got cute creature designs and fun tactical battling, and since I've outgrown my shame at liking cute things, I'll happily keep coming back to it.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh. I still don't much care for the CCG (I'm opposed on principle to any game where your ability to win largely depends on how much money you're willing to sink into it), but the anime bursts with dorky charm and the video games are fun. A setting where reincarnated ancient sorcerers and billionaires are stone-dead serious about a children's card game is also a nice break from the modern plague of "well that just happened" Marvel soy banter.
  • AmericaDeserved711 [any]
    ·
    16 days ago

    pop music. I liked Spice Girls and Britney Spears and N'Sync and shit like that when I was very young and then it became very clear that as a "boy" it would be gay to enjoy any music that didn't have guitars in it or whatever. it wasn't until I was in my early 20s that I realized that there was a lot of really forward-thinking experimental pop music and started getting into artists like SOPHIE

    also animated movies & shows in general. I never watched Avatar: The Last Airbender when it aired because I was like 13 when it came out, and I was over Nickelodeon and only wanted to watch serious movies and shows for adults. I still haven't seen Ratatouille for the same reason. I thought I was too mature for cartoons when in fact I wasn't mature enough to realize animation could be enjoyed by all ages.

    I actually had the opposite experience with Pokemon where I realized I never actually liked it in the first place, it just happened to be really popular when I was a kid and hadn't formed my own interests yet.

    • AernaLingus [any]
      ·
      16 days ago

      Hell yes to pop music! For me, it was more thinking metal was "real" music, though. And don't get me wrong--I authentically enjoyed metal as a teen, and I will still listen to it on occasion now. It's hard to beat metal if you're feeling aggressive, and metal can be rhythmically complex and compelling in a way that pop music rarely is. But the things I love most about music are melody, harmony, and danceability as well as general good vibes, and most of those are in short supply in metal, especially the thrash/death metal I was most into. Discovering K-Pop is what brought me back into the fold, and I'm not into any cool niche indie artists or anything (the most indie thing I listen to is Kero Kero Bonito lol), but I enjoy listening to good pop music, appreciating the craftsmanship behind it, and just jamming out.