How do you avoid becoming an otaku?

Oh that's just ridiculous...

First of all the word Otaku doesn't apply to being obsessed with anime alone... It can mean being obsessed with anything....

Just because you watch anime, doesn't mean you're obsessed... There are people out there who watch movies alot and have posters of their favorite actors and stuff all over their bedroom walls and no one labels them... This is just something the Japanese came up with... To bug those people who enjoy anime and manga... Just like how other would call and person who likes computers a 'geek'...

But still if you wanna avoid being called that... Then just quit watching anime and cartoons...

people enjoy music, movies, games and so on in their free time... and we enjoy watching anime.. It's like every other source of entertainment so why do we have to be called Otaku?

Otaku!!! *point at you*

lol jk... i guess as long as u don't go to an anime convention, join an anime club... subscribe to anime based magazine... want to have discussion on anime... seek out people who also like anime... can live without it for at least a week... then u are not an otaku...

but if answered yes to anyone of the above you are an otaku...LOL

Let's make something very clear. In my nearly 20 years of living in the West, not a single Western person I've ever encountered knows what "otaku" really means, where it came from, and how it's used.

In the US and in Europe is it hilariously misused to describe a person that has a love for manga, anime, and including everything and anything Japanese. It is used synonymously with "geek" or "nerd".. This idea the West has about "otaku" is very wrong. Otaku became a terrible insult, and no one in their right mind would ever say they are otaku. Otaku are avoided by Japanese people.

The term "taku" means house in Japanese, adding the "o" forms an honorific, but also female Japanese tend to ad the prefix "o" to nearly every noun when speaking, while men do not. The word "taku"/"otaku" is part of everyday Japanese speaking.

The first time it was ever used to describe a person negatively was in the early 1990s by the media to describe Miyazaki Tsutomu. He became known as "The Otaku Murderer" (as well as "The Little Girl Murderer", and "Dracula"), because he kept parts of his victims in his house. When officials went to his home to investigate they found over 5,000 videotapes, some containing anime, horror and slasher films, with videotapes containing footage and photos of his victims mixed in. Due to this, a fear grew among Japanese when it came to otaku, because they displayed the same obsessive collecting as Miyazaki Tsutomu.

However, even most people who are called otaku, or even claim to be otaku in the West are FAR from otaku. For all you anime lovers out there, watch READ OR DIE, the lead female character in that anime is a pretty decent example of what an otaku actually is.. An obsession so severe they often are late making bill and rental payments, often will ask shop keepers if they can pay for something when they get their next check, they rarely if ever socialize outside of work. They eat, breathe, and LIVE their obsession, buying the objects of their obsession before even buying food and will go without buying food if it means going without that certain thing they covet.

I've yet to actually meet a real otaku in the West. I have however met a lot of people that have a mild, and slightly unhealthy obsession with Japan pop-culture in general. I also find the so-called Western otaku more troublesome than a Japanese otaku. The so-called Western otaku makes it almost a mission to not only make as many Japanese "friends" as possible, they aim to also date (or even marry) a Japanese because of their silly idea of what Japanese men and women are like. It's become such an issue for me as a Japanese, that I tend to avoid anyone that has a manga or anime image as their profile picture, and even more so if they list absolutely nothing from their own culture, use a Japanese name as their own name, abuse the word "kawaii", and even though they're as far from Asian as a glass of Budweiser, they claim to be Japanese.. It's those people that scare me, and make me think "otaku".

When I see someone that just really loves anime and manga for its context, and or art, and story-line. I don't see an otaku, I just see someone that likes and appreciates something from Japanese pop-culture.

That's harsh. Tell her to not call you an otaku since you are obviously not obsessed with anime, just say you treat it like any other show you'd watch on TV

You don t, you either are or aren t. If you are overobsessed with your hobbies, work, Interests etc. then you are an Otaku..

I listen to too much AC/DC, so I guess that makes me an AC/DC Otaku.

There's nothing wrong with being an otaku. But if u don't want to be one then either don't watch anime or don't watch it as much.

well there is no big secret and from what you said you dont sound like you are obsessed with anime but i guss to answer your question just try doing differnt activitys to occupy yourself other then watching anime and when you have free time and want to watch anime then go ahead just dont watch 24/7 like some do thats being obssesd. try sports or a job or any other things you like or want to do. good luck

what's so bad about it? does she hate u because ur an otaku? that's just weird. i mean it just mean anime lovers so...

if u don't want to be called an otaku then just don't watch it at all.

Just don't obsess or anything like that. Just act like a normal fan, and don't buy anything involving anime besides teh dvds

you should just ignore it.. like you like what you like lol we all do.. its just how everyone else sees' it.... they see someone who likes anime.. (even if they aren't obsessed) and call them otaku... really just ignore it... just tell her to stop.. tell her you have a name? lol