You know, I have posters and such on my walls at work, nicely-rendered promos for animé that I like such as Wolf’s Rain and Lain; and I have a full set of ATFH stuffed toys: Shake, Frylock and Meatwad.

I like well-done animé; I’ve been a longtime fan of Cowboy Bebop, I love Ghost in the Shell, and Fullmetal Alchemist is pretty damn good.

And I’ve been infected by [adult swim] on Cartoon Network latenight as well. ATHF, Harvey Birdman and even Metalocalypse are known to me; I was a fan of the short-lived Perfect Hair Forever; and I like them all to varying degrees save Metalocalypse. I watch [adult swim] to keep a good bead on the pulse of the younger demographic, partly (it’s a great way to get some edgy ad/PR ideas); but mostly because these shows, like the now-classic Ren and Stimpy, are often quite good.

And I surprised a woman recently by being able to say with certainty, based on seeing the program on the TV for a few seconds, that her son was watching Ben 10. (The animation style is distinctive.)

And what surprises me most is when people I work with, people whom I know have kids that fall into the demographic of my graphical- and social-commentative interests, are unaware of what these things, these icons are.

Their kids get it, right away. Yet the parents seem completely oblivious. That means those kids are being fed, by the shovelful, stuff of which their parents are almost totally unaware.

How did this blind spot develop? How is it possible to be so out of touch with your own children that you can buy them the latest season of ATHF or Robot Chicken on DVD, yet look at a stuffed Shake and wonder what it is?