how to tell if youre an otaku

[froody1911]

The question is, what if you continue spending most of your time watching anime and thus never snapping out of the fascination about Japan? Well, then you are an otaku, right?  

It simply can't be put better than this

The moment your interest reaches unhealthy heights, you're an otaku. Except you don't get to decide how much is considered "unhealthy", the people around you do.

[kurandoinu]

Another thing that can influence you to snap out of Japanophilia is to dig too deep into their culture and find a numerous dark sides about it. I will not mention which, because rabid Japanophiles will eat me alive if I do, so that is up for you to discover. Hell, even I went through a similar phase about 6 years ago. However as there became less and less quality anime to watch, all the fascinations about Japan became stale and after a while I got a more objective view about Japan and their culture. Nowadays anime is just another form of entertainment for me and little else.

Yeah, that's what happened with me. I'd now love to VISIT Japan but think I've been put off living there...

[Natheria]

I've never really had the dream of living in Japan but I've always had the dream (and still do) of visiting for an extended period. As much time and energy as i put into watching anime and other Japanese related things I've always been that type A who is looking for something deeper and more meaningful. I've always balanced my obsessions with objectivity because i realize those things just don't happen.

I guess that doesn't make me an otaku by this thread's standards?

[TiYlER]

I am so gonna leave for Japan RIGHT after Graduation!

[TMRNetShark]

I would like to live in Japan... but I would more rather have Japan come here. I would like to have shops that aren't ALL corporate, public transportation be easy to get to with a simple walk or even less with a bike ride, and I love Japanese food. I like the way building designed and I love cherry blossoms. To actually go to Japan, live there, learn the language, and make a living would be too much. I would much rather than US start emulating the cities they have over there... here.

Oh, and make women more moe... cause women in the states are bitches.

[TiYlER]

I would like to live in Japan... but I would more rather have Japan come here. I would like to have shops that aren't ALL corporate, public transportation be easy to get to with a simple walk or even less with a bike ride, and I love Japanese food. I like the way building designed and I love cherry blossoms. To actually go to Japan, live there, learn the language, and make a living would be too much. I would much rather than US start emulating the cities they have over there... here.

Oh, and make women more moe... cause women in the states are bitches.

+1
I know, right?

[TMRNetShark]

I would like to live in Japan... but I would more rather have Japan come here. I would like to have shops that aren't ALL corporate, public transportation be easy to get to with a simple walk or even less with a bike ride, and I love Japanese food. I like the way building designed and I love cherry blossoms. To actually go to Japan, live there, learn the language, and make a living would be too much. I would much rather than US start emulating the cities they have over there... here.

Oh, and make women more moe... cause women in the states are bitches.

+1
I know, right?

I mean come on, why do you think the US has the most hooker-to-death ratio? Cause women are bitches and drive men nuts to start killing them... even when the women are giving them sex! Hahaha

[ajslayer]

this post made me think a little. ok so the deal is before i started watching anime, i already found japanese women to be attractive than most and i already had an interest in japanese food, for example.

Personally I already knew that Japan made good electronic and cars before watching anime, but only that is not enough, is it? However then it goes as following:
 

but now, since i started watching anime regularly, ive been a little obsessed with the culture and whatnot.

Natural reaction. After all through anime you are literally getting influenced by Japanese culture export. Not very unlike people wanting to learn German language just because they like Rammstein or learn more about shaolin monasteries just because they are impressed by martial arts performed by the monks.

now my dream is to move to japan and maybe open an italian restaurant or something. (studying to be a chef) i hope to possibly start a family and raise my kids there as well.im even starting to study rosetta stone japanese.

Yes, learning Japanese and moving to Japan is another wish which is also natural after being influenced by Japanese culture through modern mediums like anime, manga and j-movies.

well i dont think my obsession with japanese culture is unhealthy or anything but im just a little worried. i dont have anything physical in my room like dvds or figurines or anything like that though. and yea thats about it. your thoughts?

My thoughts are: nothing to worry about at the moment. For most people it will pass as soon as they find something more interesting to do than watch anime all day and after some time the interests about Japan will go more stale and the ideas of moving to Japan will seem less realistic.

Another thing that can influence you to snap out of Japanophilia is to dig too deep into their culture and find a numerous dark sides about it. I will not mention which, because rabid Japanophiles will eat me alive if I do, so that is up for you to discover. Hell, even I went through a similar phase about 6 years ago. However as there became less and less quality anime to watch, all the fascinations about Japan became stale and after a while I got a more objective view about Japan and their culture. Nowadays anime is just another form of entertainment for me and little else.

The question is, what if you continue spending most of your time watching anime and thus never snapping out of the fascination about Japan? Well, then you are an otaku, right? 

probably one of the only dark things ive seen out of japan media was this movie, all about lily chou chou. but its nice to hear my reactions are relatively normal. as for the dark aspects of japan, do you mean something along the lines of the gender gap and equal rights? because slums are basically the same all over, whether youre in japan or britain or mexico.

[AceHigh]

I would like to live in Japan... but I would more rather have Japan come here.

You live in US. Would it be too far fetched to assume that big US cities have a "japan-town" just like Chinatowns?

as for the dark aspects of japan, do you mean something along the lines of the gender gap and equal rights?

Hmm... among other things. I certainly didn't mean slums or organized crime etc, because that shit is everywhere. Ok, it seems that people did not rage at my previous posts, so I will give a few examples. They are off-topic, so here is a spoiler:

(click to show/hide)

Fucked up justice system. Because of divided social class between defence attorney and a prosecutor, being a defendant lawyer in Japan is probably the hardest job on this planet. If you are accused of crime in Japan, you are fucked. According to statistics the conviction rate is 99%.
Funny thing is, this darker side is also reflected in the popular game series: Ace Attorney, in which you get a hard job of being a defendant lawyer.

Another dark side is the whole mental state of Japanese society to get good grades at school or to die. I am talking about the phenomenon of mass suicides among students in Japan. Is the Japanese society pushing their kids too hard? I would say, yes they do.

Some people would also mention the infamous Japanese xenophobia as a darker side, however my opinion is that it is their right to be xenophobic in their sovereign country. However if you plan to move to Japan, that might become your problem.

Hiding their past atrocities from the younger generation. I don't believe it is right to hide or manipulate the history, like taking out their past atrocities and war crimes out of the history school books. China is especially bitter about it btw.

There are other things that I will leave to people to discover for themselves.

Oh, there is another thing about otakus. They wear their "otaku" badge proudly, even though it is a derogatory term in Japan. 

[james123hous]

more aroused to 2D girls than 3D girls

[AceHigh]

Getting turned on by this still makes you an otaku.

[kurandoinu]

Those things creep me the fuck out...

* kurandoinu shudders

[james123hous]

Getting turned on by this still makes you an otaku.

i think the reason why an otaku would feel arousal from those "life-like" 3D figurines isn't because they ARE ACTUALLY 3D, (my initial post implied 3D = flesh and blood girls, and my initial post didn't claim 0 arousal either)

but the reason why an otaku feel arousal from those figurines is because they serve as manifestations of the 2D girl in whatever show they're from.

the fact that those figurines are 3D isn't unique/requirement in order to feel arousal

but ya, if you get aroused by those things, you have issues

[froody1911]

Another dark side is the whole mental state of Japanese society to get good grades at school or to die. I am talking about the phenomenon of mass suicides among students in Japan. Is the Japanese society pushing their kids too hard? I would say, yes they do.

I think that's more of an Asian problem than exclusively a Japanese one. This happens just as much in India and Pakistan and to some extent in China too.

more aroused to 2D girls than 3D girls

Change that to "more aroused to drawn girls than real girls".

[james123hous]

Change that to "more aroused to drawn girls than real girls".

no, i think you're "correction" actually applies a shittier definition to my statement. even though a girl is "drawn", this doesn't mean they aren't "real." it just means they aren't living.

when we get into useless corrections of semantics, everyone looks dumb.

[froody1911]

Change that to "more aroused to drawn girls than real girls".

no, i think you're "correction" actually applies a shittier definition to my statement. even though a girl is "drawn", this doesn't mean they aren't "real." it just means they aren't living.

when we get into useless corrections of semantics, everyone looks dumb.

Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to refute a guy who claims drawn people are real? And no, we can't have an argument over the semantics of "real". Meaning comes from context, and here it can't mean much more than what I intended it to.

[james123hous]

Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to refute a guy who claims drawn people are real? And no, we can't have an argument over the semantics of "real". Meaning comes from context, and here it can't mean much more than what I intended it to.

{}use rational arguments to justify his point
{x}throw in an ad hom and continue to argue about semantics in order to justify his point
{}winning

[AceHigh]

Here I just used an opportunity to throw in a kigurumi to freak people out and add some humour to the thread, but you guys buzzkilled it.

At least I managed to get Kurandoinu freaked out, to be honest those things freak me out as well. Probably a healthy sign that I am not an otaku.

[james123hous]

Here I just used an opportunity to throw in a kigurumi to freak people out and add some humour to the thread, but you guys buzzkilled it.

At least I managed to get Kurandoinu freaked out, to be honest those things freak me out as well. Probably a healthy sign that I am not an otaku.

ya, im with you. boy! am i glad that i'm not an otaku...
*check my wallpaper* TEH REI
*look at AceHigh's post count*

this entire thread is filled with denial

[Gangster301]

Here I just used an opportunity to throw in a kigurumi to freak people out and add some humour to the thread, but you guys buzzkilled it.

At least I managed to get Kurandoinu freaked out, to be honest those things freak me out as well. Probably a healthy sign that I am not an otaku.

ya, im with you. boy! am i glad that i'm not an otaku...
*check my wallpaper* TEH REI
*look at AceHigh's post count*

this entire thread is filled with denial

>Implying that being a regular on an anime tracker forum means that you're obsessed with anime.