Being Otaku in the modern time of the Internet as a fully developed thing is drastically different the way previous Otaku have had it. There was a time where people would gate keep anime series and give people a hard time for getting into anime as those individuals were treated as weird. The years go by and things go towards the opposite where people are weird if they aren't into a certain type of anime that is well spread out amongst other peoples tastes. Exploring those who may still not find it acceptable may still need to hear some of the experiences or lessons from Otaku that had come before them in the age of CDs, Laser Discs, Video Cassettes, Anime Art Books, and Garage Kits.
Because there a lot of people who just simply accepted these days and having some compassion for those that are still having a hard time accepting themselves are who this is for. You could say they are the anime romantics who keep to themselves and are isolated as lurkers online or as some might self identify as a self proclaimed loner. There might be people who just afraid of what they are becoming or have never foreseen that they of all people would get into anime and are finally seeing the changes in their life. Regardless there might be a need out there still for people to have someone gently take them by the hand and tell them the ones who deeply connect with anime to a point where they know that anime becomes a big part of who they are. This is especially common for people looking for a figure to look up to or spent a lot of time alone, so while it might not be the norm anymore it sure was normal for many people in the 2000's growing up.
It all starts with hopes and dreams from the romance of one's heart and it builds up slowly to something strong enough to carry you along. With it with a sense of peace and mystery that makes feeling things connected to meaningfulness flashes within a few seconds of screen time. May the story be filled with belief as it holds your hand through the hardships that make all relatable through time and love of its creators to truly have something special to celebrate at each chapter that rolls by and you are there along for the full ride. The courage it took to open a new story and brave the pages to see what would turn up next with something a little scary and possibly a little dark can be difficult as it is something new, but not in front of you, the messages are like a beautiful painting that speaks a language only your heart can understand.
Turning the Pages with Your Hands: The attraction of a story of text or film is that it can be something explored by yourself and what you like and don’t like about it is thought about with a bit of imagination and wonder. Anyone can go about getting into the fiction of a series from: the quiet person in the crowd, the popular person who accepts different tastes, or the picky person who specifically likes the content as they analyze it like a reviewer, some have friends and some none at all. The person who is looking at each page is the one who asks the question to themself of “does this make me happy?” and it doesn’t have to be shared with others on if they approve of it as socially accepted or not. But, it doesn’t hurt to have a few people to discuss the series with, but these days that can oftentimes be found online.
When people usually bring out something like Animation as their interest it might be open to some hard blows for people who aren’t comfortable with it, dislike it alot and are not okay with it, and then those who just really hate it, and will bully those who do like to make themselves feel better. So, it's important to know who is chosen as someone to talk to about a series of interest as it could lead down to some really bad feelings while wasting time and overthinking something that is simply interesting to you the viewer. The experience, especially in the younger years in life can crush someone's social-skills or confidence and always have self doubt and that's something to be aware about when taking any sort of interest that is not “trending”.
Specific Interests are Different: The call out of people's judgements can crush a person's world in an instant with the courage that was gained will be dashed and the feelings of a series crushed and the ability to brave future chapters fractured with the ideas of possible social repercussions. What do you do when things aren’t simply okay, when others disapprove and shame you for your love, and break you down strategically for the sake of their own satisfaction and superiority complex of narcissism that is the only thing fueling their behavior. You look to the future that is ahead, and then take a look into the past that is now behind, but still recognize how your heart feels in the present, and the present is what needs engagement for such a rainy day to pass.
With hope built back up a star can shine and reach high into the sky no matter how different it may be, but that hope is dependent on the person, since they always have the option for “Doubt” and that includes “Self Doubt” in their interest in Animanga. The Hope on the other hand is built in someone's perception and is built through positive pride from enjoying and accepting that they “can be'' an otaku. Sitting up straight and being okay to be proud of the knowledge of the series they have obtained from going through however many pages or episodes and see how richly satisfying it is discussing every part of it through “priceless ideas'' that is the road of being apart of the live-evolution of how a series changes.
Otaku Questions to Otaku Comfort: Positive Otaku Pride is gathered when there are questions that are positive in their answers and are convincing to yourself on why: Why do i enjoy this series (1)? Does it follow my style of taste in Animanga (2)? Am I okay jumping into Fun Fiction of this sort (3)? Do I enjoy the series without thinking about it much (4)? When I think about it do I genuinely like it (5)? Do I keep coming back to it as a favorite title for interest and comfort (5)?
What are the reasons I love the series so much (6)?. That's just the tip of the iceberg as there are all sorts of questions that can be asked and each person is different, so the sort of questions that need to be answered for someone to get comfortable with what they think and accepting it for themselves is unique to their thought process. More of it can be a convincing job then it is then simply saying its okay, because if anything is really holding the person back from accepting they enjoy a series those are the questions that person needs to be checking out and discussing, until they reach their own personal conclusion to the matter.
Self Confidence through Otaku Pride: It is incredibly common for those who spend a lot of their time watching and reading to be uncomfortable in social situations and being socially awkward due to the nature of knowing such specific information that pertains to only a handful of series. So a way to get past this anxiety barrier of entry is really taking a series into interest and looking at what might be relatable to another person and talk about it no matter how small, because it's not a performance, but it is about getting comfortable with one another and communicating about something fun like a series. What might seem scary at first will slowly become more comfortable as a better understanding occurs with practice and sometimes even asking to practice with another person on making small talk and then moving into some deeper topics.
There is a common reason for each person having constant struggles with their own feelings of: self-doubt, or awareness of shame, and that is from growing up they may have had a traumatic event that they had taken really personally and gotten emotionally injured. While this sort of thing hurts and raises awareness it makes an opportunity to either be okay with knowing what they know in something they are passionate about and strive for more for positive pride. Or not okay and let the other person evaluate their social acceptances of a series and if it's a bully the person will know it's not for their best interest and the words will be extra hurtful.
Conquering Social Understanding: Enjoying Animanga shouldn’t hurt and people should like what they like without some person keeping them from enjoying it, but it will continue to hurt until the insecurity is pointed out to the person it's impossible to move forward. Those who learn to accept themselves and their own hobbies and dig a bit deeper into the “whys'' eventually will be thought to have high self-esteem, even if it's more of the illusion of having such esteem, because the person wants to personally evaluate themselves for themself and taking criticisms if there are any legitimate ones into account by friends or family that care. It's a balance of preference, egocentric thinking, and battling self-denial of interest of Animanga.
Joining the discussion with other Otaku people is a great way to start talking in a specific sort of environment where someone may have a higher possibility of being interested in something similar to yourself. There are streams like “Trash Taste” podcast where there is a mixture of Otaku topics and many other YouTubers or Journalists that bring up all sorts of things going on in the world of Otaku. All these resources can be the first steps in initiating your Otaku-hood and conquering a bit of that social anxiety for less socially awkward situations and more self-confidence in the long run of things. So hopefully accepting that Animation and kick ass stories in Animanga can get each person on the right path to having a “Can Do” vision for themself and pave for themselves a better tomorrow.
Shame of the Being an Otaku
The social landscape is defined by social normalities of the times and things that are underground, or non-mainstream can be seen as weird and not normal, until everything becomes a sort of specialized interest with wider groups of people with the same interest to socially interact with. With an interest in the culture of Japan and animation from being a “Western Otaku” it isn’t going to be the same amount of general national knowledge, but a community interest of like minded people with the same interest. While this may seem strange to think about with the internet connecting so many people from so many other people with likewise specialized interests and labeled “Weird” and apart of “Counter Culture” as it's no longer out of the ordinary and becomes the “Norm” and is a part of “Popular Culture”.
So, even when people ask what is normal it might have to have a specific context of: Geographically Normal, Social Setting Normal, Special Community Normal, Specific, Professional Normal, etc. Otaku who identify as people who enjoy Japanese Culture and Animanga continue to be labelled under weird, but the real question to ask is why? A few main reasons is the art form is a bit abstract (not hyper-realistic), the stories often show a culture unlike the west (oftentimes Japan), there are those who overindulge in the content and escape from people in general (social exclusionists). As any community of people there are going to be a wide variety of sorts, so it's not positive to just put the stereotypes of a culture on display, but it does happen all too often.
What is Normal Anyway?: To understand what makes an Otaku weird or a Japanophile is that they gravitate towards “Social Movements” and/or foreign cultures which are of interest to the person specifically and are culturally specific. This in opposition is towards people who have self-proclaimed normalcy which has them gravitate towards “Regional Culture” and/or national culture. But the question remains, is Otaku weird where someone chooses a special interest or is Normality strange in having no notable interests that are different (strange, weird, niche), since normal can be considered what is the usual, typical, expected, or standardization to create behavioral “Norms”.
The “Normal” is separate in its definitions from the word “Normie” in which the word normal is its derivative, but it has additional meanings depending on how it is used. The positive context is that it is harmonious, peaceful, and conforming as to not stick out from the crowd and not make a voice heard with following expectations over personal interests. The negative context when used as an insult is when someone projects another person as a “Normie” in a condescending manner it is to point out they may continue a belief that good, smart, socially superior, and accepted is measured by its popularity and validation by a majority of people. It has been embraced as a term of self-mockery comedy with the term “normcore” (merriam-webster) that attempts to neutralize the conforming definition of the word.
Weird by Being Otaku: The people who enjoy Animation that is fictional or illustrated in ways that are not hyper-realistic can be seen as weird to someone who may not be exposed to the Artform of the style of Animanga and that would make it appear to some as weird. What makes it weird to some is not what makes it weird to others, since some people are in the Otaku community their sort of level of weird would be something much more abstract or wild rather than weird, since many shows explore all sorts of ideas with it being fictional and all. The Weirdness of Animanga has to do with its Fiction writing and amazing imagined worlds, characters, and scenarios, but that's not necessarily a bad thing about it. Otaku people are different at times and can be treated very poorly and oftentimes kept out of the circles of people that could cause problems gained from prolonged isolation.
It isn’t uncommon to find many of them who are accustomed to social shaming, with many being treated as weird, the idea of being alone is a struggle for them as enjoying something different is seen as strange to those who don’t know about it. Eventually a choice has to be made where a person gives in and follows the popular culture “Mainstream” and seasonal or generational trends or join the Otaku community. The ones who choose to stay in the Otaku community will see things in detail and dive ever so deeper into the series they enjoy as well as the series communities by: special topics, dedicated fans, Animanga studios, and content creators. When seeing everyones passion and understanding everyone's love for Animanga as the reason they enjoy their series it isn’t all too hard to find those that will identify themselves as Otaku.
Shame of being Otaku: With negative definitions and treatment by others it can be to no surprise that shame can have a great effect on a person's view of themself and their self-image seen in a negative light, harshly, and unfavourably in a multitude of ways. Such shame does cause Otaku to have more self-awareness from the deep rooted anxiety they face of not meeting the majority's approval and end up spending plenty of mental energy not facing the “Otaku Identity” question by avoiding thoughts of emotions with dismissal. It is a sensitive topic that is difficult especially for those who are shy and who want to be like other people, so fitting in can be enough to be happy, yet shameful, so some stop loving Animanga and Japan Culture and say they had “Grown Out of it” as a easy way to phase it out of history.
The shame can make Otaku feel less than another person who is considered normal or not good enough and horribly dumb that can cause a wave of emotions that can be felt with every sigh. It is a deep rooted pain that is a horrible feeling that creeps up from time to time and even in the form of people online or offline if bullies are about. They will type loudly or come up to the person and creep up with disrespectful comments that will hurt the person as piercing words lead to further anxiety to make themselves feel superior and have the intent of causing depression in the other. This commonly happens with trolls who infiltrate animanga groups in person or online and pretend they are into Animanga and Japan Culture, but actually have the idea to hurt others by displaying an excessively critical point of view to push points of fault-finding and disapproval.
Otaku Identity isn’t Out for Everyone to See: Identifying as an Otaku isn’t something as easy as just stating it, since it is an ongoing process that continues as a question that may seem obvious at first with someone's specific interests in Animanga and Japanese culture. It isn’t only about liking it, because it's also about the reasons behind why they like it as it is a really personal decision that applies to many events or groups in that person's life and it isn’t as simple as just announcing it. First of all people who have their own definition of Otaku could label you in a box of expectations and you could lose friends (1), your family may not be understanding or accepting of liking a foreign culture and moving illustrations (2), you could out your friend group in pressuring them to identify themselves (3), and you could risk online or offline bullying for mental harm (4).
Telling everyone isn’t for all Otaku mostly due to the fears of the fallout of letting others know with the aftermath of the announcement. The Animanga and Japanese Culture communities will say that “They told you so” as it is looked down upon as a non special announcement and a target of having their voice silenced, disrespected and scoffed at, and denied the right to be so from veterans as “Gate Keepers” even if it is a personal choice to identify as Otaku and not anyone else's business to project their label to a personal decision of yours. For such reasons it seems almost ridiculous that the pop-culture mindset has become and is deeply ingrained in anyone who responds in a way that doesn’t respect a differing perspective of a personal choice through demonization. So it is common that the private life of an Otaku may not completely mirror the public life that is announced as whatever it is their public identity maybe.
Otaku Bullying in Society
Surviving from day to day in the social world can be difficult and when it comes to places like otaku culture is can be a place that can attract bullies who are not even apart of the community to come in and start abusing victims and seeing hang out spots, conventions, and events as a sort of otaku hunters paradise. This isn’t exclusive to those outside the community at all considering there are also veteran Otaku from multiple generations of shows that are bullies through the ways of gatekeeping with unkind words or leaving those new to the scene left out. People don’t forget unkind words or being left out as it stays with them as they develop to adulthood and stays with them until it is resolved inside their mind.
An example would be if a less experienced Otaku had voiced a different view on a Animanga series subject or if they are supportive of series specifics in a way that opposes certain senior Otaku in any way they are ridiculed in discussions, through text, through voice chat, and over email. They are exposed to a sort of negative type of behavior and makes the person feel like not talking in discussions and feel that talking with groups of people is a waste of time in voicing an opinion or not would not make a difference in anything going on with others or in the scene. It isn’t a sense of being silenced, however the negative engagements suck energy away from the person and feed into the distressed-look others may be looking for while verbally dismissing things to open up vulnerability of the person being talked down to.
Judged by Society for Being Otaku: It is important to speak to younger enthusiasts, especially those who identify as Otaku, because Otaku are targeted often times for enjoying animation and foreign culture, but especially women, and then those of color are more likely to die by suicide. This is linked to social stigmas, family rejection, bullying comments, and online fandom toxicity. While it's easy to walk by and say that the person will have better days or grow out of it as a stronger person, it's having positive neglect of another's situation they are going through that adds as another layer to the indirect and direct impacts of anti-Otaku bias and Otaku Hunter beliefs to be reaffirmed.
This leads to social discrimination that accompanies the bullying and the stress grows alongside social anxiety for a sort of existential lifestyle crisis that shows the need for non-discrimination protection from people within the community itself to be more aware of such issues instead of bypassing them as people suffer in silence. These sorts of impacts happen due to compounding reasoning of others who are the ones doing the bullying in society who may happen to have: xenophobia, superiority complexes, racism, cultural stigma, and starving for attention. So awareness of those who have spoken about their identity as an Otaku helps people cope and brings more social importance to making people aware of the culture itself that exists in the Otaku community. Just a few who have shown their love for otaku-things is: Michael B. Jordan, Elon Musk, Ariana Grande, Robin Williams, Keanu Reeves, Samuel L. Jackson, Avril Lavigne, and Snoop Dogg.
Gatekeeping Reinforces Social Insecurities: It reinforces the insecurity of not being able to speak in a social setting and can cause trauma to the person, meanwhile they are also realizing they didn't have anything to gain from speaking to senior otaku who were way past their generation who preach about their experiences that overrun any opinion that came after their own generation. The person also will come to understand from themself that beyond the personal satisfaction of sharing a view of an Animanga or Japan related topic, there was no tangible benefit to me talking in discussions with such people in their mind and giving a bad reputation to other veteran otaku.
The Older Otaku are not all bad, however if they lack social graces they sure could be bad and they may even have their own social insecurities may lack the social capability to frame their perspective as a discussion piece and instead project it forcefully on another person without any thought of the other person. This is an answer that is self centered and comes from centering their own assumptions to only discussions through experiences they as the individual has had without thinking of the other person's experiences and discussions and the older otaku may personally believe that they have already talked about a particular subject more than enough times to have credibility in it. However, it's not as easy as assuming a discussion is re-threading old ground, or brought up the exact same way as before, or having a superior opinion to a newer or less experienced person to the scene.
The Projected Rhetoric Approach: There is a frequently voiced rhetoric surrounding Otakus, whenever they identify as one and speak as a part of that particular community that they have agreed to become the trash of the public eye that opens one up to negative definition stereotypes. But, just because people have that sort of view that it mentally gives them the okay to allow them to have the opportunity to criticize and insult a person it doesn’t necessarily mean it's the right thing to do or something they even should be doing. It's usually being stated by those who are living by a double standard of their own prejudgement of personal preference of the identity; for example in the case of saying “Be yourself and don’t give a hoot about what others are saying” or “Like what you like and be you” and when that change is to identify as Otaku comments come out like “No functional member of society actually calls themselves an Otaku” or “You referring to yourself proudly as an otaku is really cringey.”.
When responding to such or reporting these concerns to others in the community there are common responses of: you’re too sensitive, otaku can only mean super fan, knowing that much means you're an otaku and being proud to be one is disgusting. Those who criticize the generational idea of what something should be or could be are often met with apathy as they feel it is arbitrary and unfair to question why things are the way they are and why they continue to do so without room for change. Veterans in the 1990s took one of two ways, which is a Western Otaku approach or the traditional Japanese Business (Weebs) approach of Senpai and Kohai. These Weeb Senpai were often pushy and demanding with no respectful words that would result in many of the Otaku who were shy, afraid, or standing out from the group would be hammered down with negative treatment.
The Hunters Become the Hunted: The trauma of Bullies is long lasting and as it festers inside the Bullied it starts to create an erosion of sense of self for the victim who often times will have to deny their identity of being otaku or japanophile, abandon their passion and love for something, and betray themselves out of survival for a chance at less bully encounters. Such victims eventually become loners as a result of their Bully and then their lonely life, which is due to that person and each other bullied person who has reached their “Crisis Point” where anyone could reach. When they become marginalized and spoken to as insignificant, even from the internet people are starting to form groups with other victims to reach out to news outlets, for example the infamous acts that happened at “Anime Matsuri”.
In Extreme Cases of Mental Trauma: Naysayers may believe it is not harmful for the long term, but they would be mistaken. Their victims endlessly keep those events in their mind throughout their entire lifetime and look for any opportunity that anyone within their network can cross their predator. Looking for every possible way to hurt the person who hurt them in an endless cycle by getting even by lessening the quality of life for that bully as they are tracked by any means necessary. Depending on how alone the person may be, they can possibly become excessively radicalized as social exclusion ensues with bullies being on a revenge list, bullies being discussed by word of mouth to lower their friend groups and job opportunities, and online documentation and exposure of negative acts that stay forever on the web.
Otaku Have a Right to Be Themselves: While there are those who get emotionally hurt that turn to degradation, there are those who try to make themselves improve from the situation and find support with like minded people, until they feel better. Throughout the time of being alone and becoming comfortable or by talking to others and getting comfortable, the idea of having a right to exist is what helps people get over the shame and fear of being a Otaku. Though each individual person has the right to like and dislike whatever they want, the things people are passionate about or love is their own, and that embracing identity is a personal choice and not the bullies choice.
Arts and Entertainment are extremely personal in the like or dislike, since it comes from a person's personal tastes in what they prefer and what they would like and can oftentimes be unique. If it's pretty basic and nothing exceptional or different from what's popular it will be the average expectation of what is to be liked. Because otaku culture is growing at a fast rate it is becoming more spectacular as its once narrow appeal is broadening to a larger audience. But it is still not accepted by everyone and has begun losing its generic audience while those who stick within the Otaku Community are starting to see it thrive.
For years people have watched anime and there are different sorts of audiences that keep things going on with the community depending on how much into the Animanga or contents thereof they dedicate themselves to. The face of the community tends to be the ugliest parts of the community, which is not necessarily the majority of people, and the hard truths that some members must deal with through bad press that is brought up time and time again, because bad news is good viewership ratings and makes all negative topics a great way to bring in dollars with news business. But, what this does is magnify things in the community of such issues with people having increased: social anxiety, social disorders, low self-esteem, and use an interest that was once primarily for Entertainment to be perceived as an easy way to use as a method of Escapism.
Shaming from Japan News Outlets
Public Shaming of Otaku is something that had been dominant in building the stereotypes of Otaku in Japan and is always ongoing in examining them as some sort of mental nut job with being nor “normal” and are eventually separated from family and society, plagued with depression (hikikomori), and/or homicidal thoughts (Tsutomu Miyazaki, 1988). However in the West this didn’t happen due to the effects of Otaku being attached to not only Animanga, but also Japan Culture in general. What did happen though is a few of the Japanese stereotypes of being an Otaku had been spreading to the West due to the internet and the speed of information that was allowing people to be educated of what Japanese view Otaku as. It made people ask themselves is “What is an Otaku's place in Society”.
Rise of the Wotaku
Western Otaku (Wotaku) were viewed more as Animation Diplomats and Ambassadors of Japan Culture that would be supported by Animanga Magazines like Animerica, Otaku USA, New Type, and programs from NHK World. This made it quite easy to get into the interest of Animanga and Japan as the information available was made abundant. There was a large glossary of terms from the 1980’s, 1990’s, and 2000’s that were mostly Western made words that helped expand the Otaku Culture with its own nuances to be the building blocks of what Otaku Culture in the west is today. However, as things went into the 2010’s and 2020’s this would start moving more towards studying “Japanese Language” for Otaku at the time, and “Japanese Pop Culture” for those wanting to travel to Japan, as well as “Japanese Fashion” in the Cosplay and Lolita scene, and “Japanese History” for the Fujoshi and Rekijo scene. So in a sense the Western Otaku had to deal with the problems from the origins of Western Otaku compiled with Japanese Otaku problems as an even larger more diverse problem.
International News was a double bladed sword with its good and its bads as it was the cause of the the negative reputations of Otaku to reach the West in the 00’s, but it hadn’t transformed to a western image until the 2010’s, which was when the term otaku was popularized and magnified as a negatively labeled sort of “Animation Escapism” which made it spotlighted in the Otaku scene. Those who had known it as a negative term would be attracted to Animanga for a different reason that solely for entertainment reasons, but to jump into another world for the sake of escaping deeply into the contents of the show or to watch or read something to totally blank out into a still and relaxed state without much thinking. So while there was some good from people being aware about what it was like to be an Otaku in Japan for its origins it also brought over some of those social tendencies to the Western Otaku scene as another definition befit for an Otaku sourced from Japan's definition.
Built on the Shoulders of Shut Ins
In the earlier years of the 1980s-1990’s, there was a lot of people who talking about the future of the Otaku community and what made things Otaku in the first place and it was a mixture of things that caught on with the people who watched it or made things in real life instead of using the Animanga serieses as a sort of headcanon, but have the headcanon be real life. Following peoples lives would sometimes be referred to as their real life “Lore”, or seeing things from Japan as from “Japan Canon” versus “Western Canon” for Otaku-things of social scenes, and recording of foods ate with social habits and mixture of weird english Japanese terms was seen as “Otaku Culture”. These were developed by Otaku who at the time were called all sorts of names that would be labels placed on them, like: Computer Nerds, Comic Book Geeks, High School Losers, Sheltered Shut-Ins, Japanese Loving Traitors (WW2 ref), and Weirdos.
People who were long-time Otaku kept on thinking, discussing, and reevaluating “the culture”, due to the public eye taking their own opinions to the otaku scene with ideas of: shallowness of cosplay elite (1), product exclusivity (2), obsessive collecting (3), escapist narcissists (4), vast-drama of discrediting and complaints (5), redirecting people towards indecisiveness in their life priorities (5), alternate cultural alienation (6), and a sort of societal rebellion (7). Out of the struggle of this argument there have been discussions from the otaku on social media on several factors that could change the scene drastically to fit a wider range of people interested in the culture no matter how invested they might be as well as how they may want to also fit in society while enjoying their hobby. This involved discussions of: image fixing of otaku through the appearance and hobbies to bring interest through Otaku Fashion, the second is the developing the experience of otaku food to extend for more casual interest through Otaku Cuisine, the third is the infrastructure of the otaku into Otaku culture to be more formalized.
Please! Enjoy Otaku with Pride
It seems that maybe the Otaku people are using the experience of public criticism and its experience of its nation wide judgement to rebuild a culture bound by the mutual feelings of being accused of. While many may not agree with the changes and will continue to remain unchanged as an oath to themselves, the experience of surprise of the public eye has shocked and united otaku in a way they can simply not look back on what activities they contribute all their free time to. Understanding lessons from animanga directors have been unearthed and taken seriously to make otaku realize that balance of life and fantasy is necessary to a commitment towards otaku pride.
Exposure to these sort of News Outlets, Outsider Opinions, and Societal Judgement has got Otaku thinking things, such as: “Otaku aren't as bad as people perceive us to be, we can make things for the better”, “As a culture we can develop to be more than about products, even if that Hatsune Miku statue is quite seductive”, “It isn’t impossible to turn things around, we can make a change”. It's actually about having pride as an Otaku and thats a different sort of pride than the feeling of in general “Pride”, but its having “Otaku Pride” in which the person is feeling good about being apart of things that are historical (1) that are expressed in fandom and Japanese terms defining the otaku community as “we”. The second is much more civic in being more inclusive and requiring only respect for the Otaku Communities notable influencers and studios for a sense of belonging and legitimacy.
Made for the Well Being of Otaku
While it might surprise those who may not be familiar with depression, those who have overcome depression would be some of the most vocal voices in social-cohesion in making Otaku Culture thrive through commonalities instead of fandom differences. The reason for this is because many Otaku lost their sense of belonging whether it be from less people in their fandom, generational interest, and/or dropping out of the otaku community from feeling alienated from more modern trends. The most predominant tends to be the generational, because of the way the casual Otaku go from what's trending and less so a sense of comfort in staying with a shows fandom for the long term, plus some series just don’t age well and there is better stuff out there possibly, but it can make Otaku spoiled for choice and effect their perspective of good or bad depending on their options.
All of which can determine if there is any social connection between one otaku to another based on their knowledge of generational serieses and affect their feelings of belonging and thus well being. That's what makes sub-communities of Fandoms important because it goes down generally from the broad category of all “Animanga”, to the “Generational Animanga Serieses” of a particular time period, and then to “Specific Animanga Fandom”. Each person can have pride in what they feel is what they value and it can be and will be different as people will like what they like, choose what they want to be a part of, and show how they have pride in their own way that makes them feel good.
Taking it to Next Level Otaku
But how far can we take this experience and its renewed pride in identifying as an otaku? the success and recovery of embarrassment stays from the people and their cooperation with conventions and smaller events. The pride of otaku will stand forward with ideas that change minds, ideas that are perceived as dangerous but explore everyday things for the better, ideas that are a challenge to the very foundations of what otaku do. The possibilities of what could be is in reach with pride and planning of what could be done here and now.
So knowing all that it's okay to take a stance and be known as Otaku or to come out so to speak. Take that chance to sit back and understand things in depth and not feel shamed or strange in having such a unique interest. It's okay to take pride in the wonderful creative aspects of what is seen in animanga, the stories that go farther than any product in its messages, and really get into it. The very meaning of being Otkau and participating in Otaku-things which gives you the feelings of pride in taking on the identity of being “Otaku”. With more people getting into the scene than ever before, sky's the limit for what is possible in the future for otaku, and that is what people should take into account before judging themselves so harshly and instead have Otaku Pride.
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