What happens when someone calls you an Otaku?
Sun 2010/12/12 08:42 JST
Do you feel.....1.Proud? or.... 2.Insulted?
always wanted to know~
I can't decide
reminded me about otaku when I remember Kirino (oreimo) not knowing what to do because he wants both to be Sociable, with his school friends, but also wants to not give up being a otaku.~~
I just say, "I know and Im proud, you (put insult here)"
Proud to be an Otaku, no matter what people thinks of me. It's a path I've chosen till I die ^_^
Born as a gamer. so I'm a game otaku. Anime, manga and figures are like side quest for me :P
need them side quests to get bonuses :P
I'm always proud to be one ^^
I'm a closet otaku so for one, someone should be calling me that. And if I were called that, I would be insulted, for the word does in fact have a negative connotation in japan.
*shouldnt
well you aren't in Japan :P
and it has a "negative connotation" because there have been crimes committed by people who were affected by being an otaku.
Honestly, it depends on the context where it is used and also the definition that they decide to assign to the word 'Otaku'.
Basically, in Japan, the term Otaku is negative. It is used to describe a person who is completely obsessed with something (though usually it's Anime, Manga, etc...) and lacks social skills. But in other places in the world, Otaku has come to mean 'Anime Fan'. These 'Otaku' can function normally in society.
So, I consider myself an 'Otaku' as I am indeed a die-hard Anime fan. However, I'm not an 'Otaku' in the Japanese sense of the word as I'm not completely obsessed, love company and am pretty outgoing.
Im sure someone who has the same interests as you calls you an "Otaku" you would just be laughing at each other :P
Well said.
I agree completely.
I wonder what she is playing lol~
I say, "Hell yeaaaaaa!~" and then I convert them to become one as well. Four added to my army and counting.
I'd be proud to be called an otaku. If someone were to call me one, with the country I live in, more often than not, they're going to be just as much of an otaku as I am, if not moreso. In the US, the general "non-otaku" population for the most part isn't even aware of the word, so it doesn't necessarily carry the same negative connotation as it does in Japan.
I'm proud to be one. Though, hearing a local say it in a normal non-anime pronounciation throws off the proud feeling a tad bit.
Similar note:
Also, it's best to interested in what you like and not be forced out of, or into, other things you don't like by peer pressure/bullies - We had to remind Katie that as well ^^ Share the love/passion?
No in between option?
I know the word "otaku" has a negative connotation in regular society, so I see why some people would be insulted.
But personally, I don't care if someone labels me as an otaku, whether I actually am one or not. I don't feel insulted nor do I feel proud.
not really insulting but not really falttering for me either;;
My family doesn't think much of my hobby but they think that someday I should throw all of it away and grow up lol like thats going to happen haha;;
It doesn't happen very often, but some of my students have called me an otaku before. Since it IS in Japan, I'm not always sure how to take it... I do feel a bit insulted since I don't know what their image of me is (and I want it to be a positive one since I am their teacher), but most of my students read manga/play games/etc anyways and like to discuss it with me outside of class, so I don't really mind.
Neither? I know that I am a otaku, but Japanese meaning-wise, it's not something that is meant to be proud of. Nor I am I insulted though, because I like my hobby and I know I am one.
I think a otaku needs to be more than that.
im just otaku on the net, and normal in RL :P
it is like some of the people in "second Life" who really think that the virtual reality is "real"
Normal in RL? Define normal. :P
I am the same person whether it's the net or in real life.
It's real in my heart, and that's all it should matter. 2D > 3D. Which is why I am disgusted by real life cosplay. >.<;
It's been mentioned, but I'll throw in my 2 cents. I'm not a big fan of the term when people use it as a casual synonym for 'anime fan' or 'figure collector'. The word otaku means your life is 100% anime and that person has little to no social skills, they can't go one conversation without bringing up something anime-related. I'm not that person! I love anime, figures, gaming and all that stuff. But that's not all there is to mylife. I like other things too: theater, creative writing, non-anime music and just hanging out with friends who couldn't tell C.C. from Miku. I call myself an anime hobbyist, anime is one of my hobbies! :)
but Kirino is definately an otaku and she also have plenty social skills :P
But you see, Kirino is an anime character lol
I wanna be an anime character too :P
big eyes, no nose, colorful hair~
really?
*while remain with same body proportion to regular human
lol kill the xenos!
Ha, that's what I was going to say
neither of the 3 options.
i do obsess about things but beeing called an otake does not make me proud, it doesnt insult me... well i think i dont care :)
point of life is to satisfy oneself without harming others :P
what if my point in life was to harm others? O_o
well then I guess you're outta luck o.O
or others are ^_^
To me it seems like the way you would actually be called "otaku" would be by other "otakus" and in that since it doesn't really have the negative connotation it would have had originally.
I'm a closet otaku .... it's my precious little secret XD.
I know you are one now though xD
I've been a gamer since the wee ages of around 3 when my dad got me into playing games. So, I'm kind of an anime-otaku and game-otaku. That won't change, because it's part of who I am. Heck, otaku in Japanese is basically a way of saying you're a geek of x, you can have an anything otaku, train, tv, sports. It doesn't really matter.
Eventually in Japan, much like the word Geek has in the west, will slowly start to lose it's negative stereotypes, but geeks in the west are exactly the same. People will always look down on geeks. That will probably never change, but as a geek, I'll be called a geek/otaku. I really don't mind, because they're not insulting me. It's just who I am. Like me despite the fact I'm a massive geek, or don't bother with me. It's as simple as that.
It's like, I may not have a big circle of friends, but the small number of friends I do have, personally are more like family. I like it that way, although I do need to contact them more often, but they're at Uni so I can't meet up with them often anyways. :p
(From someone who remembers the 80's quite well) the general attitude towards geeks/nerds/etc has much improved in the past 2 decades.
In fact, the world we live in, is in many ways a geek-vision with its plethora of smart phones & apps, social (i.e. not face to face) networking, etc. Not long ago, no one would proudly admit that they stood in line to get into the midnight showing of Harry Potter / Iron Man / and what not... or to get their copy of the next Call of Duty - but now all these are considered normal events.
Being a fan of vg, anime, and sciFi I liked it better when it was an underground cult phenomenon, it was something unique in the sea of commonplace stuff. Now so much of my treasured nerd-dom has been packaged and commercialized. It's no different now than going to the grocery store to buy salt.
I think it really depends on the person whos asking you, since I'm sure most people have their own little definition of what otaku is. More so for those who aren't into anime and what not.
Anyways back to the question! I wouldn't feel insulted because it's what I love, it's just like other people and their own hobbies lol. It's just that the word otaku has seem to have a negative connotation attached to it. There should be a neutral option^^
Well to start with 90% of my friends and family don't even know what Otaku means or even know that the term exist but when they see my room they're shocked at first that I actually collect so many figures but most of them end up thinking that I have a pretty awesome room. But if anyone didn't know or even someone I did ever called me one I wouldn't mind because I'm proud too be an Otaku and I always will be one.
when there are few, it looks pretty, when there are too many, it looks crowded and more like an warehouse :P
ill be a K-Ontaku for now xP
I'm very Proud, even when some my friends call me sissy because i collecting figures, call me like a kid when i saw anime. i don't care it's my hobby and i love it
Yup, I'm a Otaku, so?
dats what I said, the last time someone called me Otaku xP
No one really calls me otaku... But I suppose I wouldn't feel much. Sort of just neutral I guess.
I've never been called an otaku so I guess I should keep it that way. When I'm at my fellow otaku, I talk alot about otaku related topics. To normal people, I just talk to whatever takes my listener's interest. Nevertheless, I read manga at public so maybe I'm yelling "Hey I'm a OTAKU!".
Like kanji tatsumi's shadow at persona 4, "is there anything wrong about the things I like to do?"
I will ask them "Do you want to be one?"
when some people call me a "otaku" i don't mind then but i was proud to call me that hobby but weird is I am a Otaku at old age..
25-30 does not equal old. get off that rocking chair grandpa.
Whatever you say boy XP
I do not feel proud, insulted or anything.
Otaku is actually an obsession not just towards anime.
Well, I'm a music otaku and I am showing it off to my other friends and even caught attentions of girls when I sing. ^o^
If you talking about obsession towards anime and 2D girls...
I am too... (But real 3D girls also I am very very obsess too them) :p
I put them as my wallpaper on my desktop and publicly let other people see...
Nothing happen... LOL
I even planning to put itasha on my car soon... Muahahaha...
Worlds Collide!
"I will not merely be an Otaku among Otaku, I will be Otaqueen!"
-- slightly altered from a quote from the hilarious Otaku no Video, the autobiographical OAV by Gainax
hmmm I don't really care with what people calls me all I care is I know what I'm doing
after all since when being an otaku means you are an alien - but if they go overboard, no more mr. niceguy~
No one calls me otaku around my place they just say "HEY ANIME FREAK!" and I will know it's me.
And no,I don't find it offensive.
Proud to be an Otaku!!! Though no one in my family knows it yet :)
I' am kinda like in the situation of kirino before her parents knew her hobby :)
none of my friends know that i`m an otaku lol...only my family and they cool with it....ahhhh love my live LOL XD
Everyone's cool with it actually..it's just that they follow what's "in" to say. :P
lol Who Gives a Shxt?
I get called all sorts of things
An apprentice in the otaku ways, I still am.
But proud, indeed...
Proud of course :D
but they dont call me otaku in school the call me Gundam LoL(yeah setsuna! i am gundam xD)
Mmm, I won't really care, what's important is that everyone respects each other's differences/hobbies/interests, seeing as how the history of the word otaku goes, hey, you got to be interested in something, right? ^^!
I'm proud to be one!!!!but yeah sometimes feel weird to be one XD
Pround it.... this the path i'm choose... don't care people say / thinks to me....
as i know... there's still many people don't know "what is otaku?"
also become otaku anime / manga... you can find more comrades also you can share it... XD~
feel so happy to live otaku anime ways...
lol i still dont know the answer to this :P
I think there's nothing to be proud or ashamed of! I think you can like or even love being otaku but saying that you feel proud sounds a bit dumb to me (sorry). In my opinion that's the way we simply are, it's like the guy/girl you're in love with, it's something you didn't get to choose, actually. Being otaku is not an achievement, neither a failure.
So if somebody ever calls me otaku I would just take it naturally.
its not easy for me to be labeled from my point of view yes I watch anime yes I read manga yes a I read comic books by marvel and DC and yes I read Judge Dread and yes I like to listen to heavy metal and yes I like the blues I drive a VW polo I like snow boarding and I love cats.... however when other people try to label me thay don't know anything about me... im the quite one in the corner..... those few who do know me well still have no idea who I am..... thay just assume that there is something wrong with me or Im just a freak....
No one knows. I dont purposefully hide it- it just never comes up in conversation with my friends as no one I know is into anime -___-.. I just get on with it on my own/online, so i'm used to it now. If anyone ever called me an otaku, I'd just be pretty excited to meet someone who actually knows what the word means.
I don't mind if anyone calls me Otaku, as long as they are respectful, then I don't slap them across the room.
I don't know about proud... but I really don't feel insulted, 1st because i don't mind about what people thinking about me, they never will change my life for like or deslike me. i'm just me and I don't want change a thing, so I guess I consider otaku just another characteristic like be honest, or be kind, stubborn and angry. And I'm really proud of who I am. I don't know why is someone think of it as an insult, people can like wherever they want, nobody can say a word about this. An insult is only an insult if you fels this way.
Don't really care about it too much, because when you think about it, an otaku is not that much different from say, a car enthusiast, a gun lover, or a gaming fanboy.
I will be proud but if he or she insulted me for being otaku I will be like " What Do You About Otaku !?!" ( in my head)