When I was a freshman I joined anime club because the school said I needed more soft-skill practice as an IT intern. Aka, I needed to socialize more and the person recommended anime club because I would be able to relate very easily with them. After I watched my first anime I’d say I very much an otaku and that a lot of what I didn’t check would be checked. I did start to learn Japanese because of anime (last year in my sophomore year), however over time I started to see the Japanese culture more and more thoroughly and understanding that became the center of my educational attention. As a matter of fact now I really only stay up to date with 2 anime (Bleach and Kateikyoushi hitman reborn).
You could say by American living standards I’m Otakuish, but by Japanese living standards a bit more “normal” than that (disregarding my appearance as an American… personality wise I’m nothing like the average American and don’t want to be that way).
Another thing that backs this up is this:
Otaku Test:
Your otaku Purity Test Results
You answered “yes” to 38 of 200 questions, making you 81.0% otaku pure (19.0% otaku corrupt).
Your Weirdness Factor (AKA Uniqueness Factor) is 15%, based on a comparison of your test results with 91823 other submissions for this test.
The average purity for this test is 66.4%.
The first submission for this test was received August 5, 1998.
Which apparently means I’m a part time Otaku… It’s like IRL I’m seen as having no life, which is derrogatory and in Otaku Culture I’m seen as having a life which is also derrogatory in that sense.
So I’m in the Lose-Lose category xD.
Although, I’d have checked more like:
Do you commonly use words like ‘nani’ and ‘baka’ even though you can’t speak Japanese?
If yes, do you know what ‘nani’ and ‘baka’ mean?
(Reason why I didn’t check it: I speak Japanese. Not fluently, but more so than most otaku I know.)
Have you learned all the Japanese you know from watching anime?
(Reason why I didn’t check it: I learned like 10 words maybe, but the other bajillion or so is from self-study. Definitely doesn’t constitute “all”).
Have you studied Japanese just so you will be able to watch untranslated anime and/or read untranslated manga?
(Reason why I didn’t check it: Two reasons, it’s in past tense meaning I no longer do it which is inaccurate. I still Japanese to this day and have been doing it for a year and a half and will continue to do it indefinitely. The second reason is that is no longer the case, it began that way but now it’s become more “I like Japanese culture” than “I like Japanese anime”.)
Do native Japanese people walk into your room and go “sugoi!”?
(Reason why I didn’t check it: No Japanese people have been in my room, and the ones who have seen my room via webcam only went sugoi at a single poster I have that has all 2,000 Jouyo Kanji on it. It’s HUGE and Americans say the equivalent of “sugoi” when they enter my room.)
This one made me lol: