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We are not obscure anymore!

First off, being an otaku and claiming to be so doesn’t make people turn and say, “Is that a medical condition?” Nowadays, it comes down to either two responses: A) “Me too, which shows do you like?!” and B) “Oh, you like those perverted Chinese cartoons, huh?”

The second kind of response still surfaces nowadays (and it could be justified as far as the perverted part goes) but it’s more likely to see the first. Some people may even say, “Oh you watch anime, right?” which in some cases leads to a conversation about an anime they watch(ed). The latter bit is subjective to age groups, but it’s not uncommon to hear names like Dragonball, Bleach, Naruto (it’s not even that uncommon to meet Mazinger Z and Voltron fans), it basically comes down to any anime that airs in the big networks as part of a popular line-up.

Otakus have grown and spread to the point where every country has a community of them, each one having an identity of sorts. It no longer feels weird to say, “I’m an anime fan,” or to hear “Otaku”. This is because, and get your hipster glasses ready, anime is now…

Mainstream

Sure, there are hardcore Otakus out there, from the creepy and massively perverted ones everyone pictures in stereotypes (that are later shown to be painfully true by the way new titles cater to them) to the hipster types, the ones that walk a fine line between, “someone with great taste and knowledge,” and, “obnoxious jerk.” But today things are different. Anime is way more accessible thanks to the internet and TV. You can find fans of several titles walking down the street with assorted merchandise, or even see clubs and it all plays out wonderfully.

Otakus have gone from being a minority that was rather secluded in its origins, to big thriving community, almost as if anime had created a new social group separated not by race or beliefs but only by personal taste and knowledge of certain titles. Then again, everything that is good has to have a downside and anime fans sure do. You know what it is….

Enter the weaboo

The word has an extremely innocuous origin in the extremely awesome Perry Bible Fellowship, from where it was picked up and transformed by the internet at large into an insult for anime fans. Why use it then? Because it’s sadly the best word we have to describe the worse kind of fan, you know the one (and if you don’t then you are one).

They are the ones that continue to type in pseudo Japanese. Not because the character’s names or certain words lack a translation, but because it sounds cooler that way or because, “it’s more authentic.”

They are the ones that pelt every website they go to with emoticons and descriptive actions. Sure it looks cute at first if the speaker is a girl but Jesus, does it get annoying to see almost every conversation typed out that way.

They are the ones that use pseudo Japanese and claim to be learning it, when in reality they are well aware that their comprehension level of the language falls alongside that of a parrot. It’s not that they can’t learn it (I myself know nothing of it), It’s the fact that they can’t admit not knowing it and act as if they did, often being jerks to other fans who call them on it.

They are the ones that worship individual characters from a given story and treat them as if they were flesh and bone, going to the point of calling dibs on them.

They are the obnoxiously loud convention goers who squeal and speak in high pitched voices, while copying the mannerism of a given character. Not for the sake of cosplay, but just because they can.

And lastly, they are the denizens of forums and the rest of the internet that act like 15 year olds that discovered their first adult movie. Drooling like simpletons over thigh exposure and centering the extent of their anime watch lists to the perviest titles.

They are the anti-otaku

I know what the word otaku means, and how tagging those fans with it is extremely appropriate. But the fact of the matter rests on the simple fact that if anything they make the rest of us look weird, they are fans and yet follow a set of niche shows and act in such a way that they make other fans look bad in the eyes of the general public.

They can liven up the place but are also the ones with the biggest penchant to cause drama, and whine and bicker over titles and characters or go around with an aura of elitist smugness that makes most hipster look humble and dignified.

But they are fans and as such we, their fellow Otakus, have to be a part of their world. A large, mildly obnoxious family, with the occasional pervert…but still a family at the end of the day, no matter what.

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[wordbay]Otaku[/wordbay]