Well this is my first post on Otaku.com and you know I have been a member for a long time, and I have only ever posted one piece of Fan Art. And if it wasn't for an email reminding me that I haven't logged in for an extremely long time, I would have most likely kept on going until I was nothing but an old statistic on a server of the Otaku.com archives. But for some reason I feel compelled to write this and ask the question... Am I really an otaku?
I thought I would look up otaku in the dictionary online, and here is what I got from the urban dictionary;
“Otaku is extremely negative in meaning as it is used to refer to someone who stays at home all the time and doesn't have a life (no social life, no love life, etc)
Usually an otaku person has nothing better to do with their life so they pass the time by watching anime, playing videogames, surfing the internet (otaku is also used to refer to a nerd/hacker/programmer).
In the Western culture, people confuse otaku to be something positive like "Guru". If you think about it, it's not really good to be called a guru if it means you are a total loser who can't socialize with other people except through the Internet.”
Now this definition is pretty negative, there is no going around it, and for the seasoned otaku most should know of the negative connotation of the word itself.
But even so I can see where it is coming from. I don't now about everyone else I can only talk from my experience, but there have been times in my life where all I have done is sit in the house all day and either watched anime; do stuff on the pc or mac, (whatever is working at the time) or play computer games 80% of which are anime/manga related. And this has lasted for a considerable amount of time, I won't say how long suffice it to say at least for a few months minimum. And you know what, I won't lie for at least 80% of the time I really enjoyed it, because I had friends at the time that spend time with me during that transition.
The other 20% was really an eye opener for me, as it made me contemplate why on earth am I watching a particular anime or reading a manga when I could be doing other things, and for awhile although I love it to death still. I abandoned it and got on with something else.
Does abandoning the very thing I enjoyed just to do something different make me a weaker Otaku? I will let you decide that.
One thing I keep saying to myself, is that “If I am going to burn away, the very least I can do, is to Burn Brightly so that Everyone will see”
I now have bursts of activity and inactivity on many fronts online and off-line, and I kinda wish I where more consistent.
So as a final little question to all who read, this is, How can someone like me be an Otaku and how can I make the final transition?
“Burn Brightly so that everyone can see.”
Kai Shadowcroft
The Struggling Otaku
