The birth of Weaboos and why they come to life

VermillionWorks 2016-09-17 23:22:42 UTC #5

...is a weaboo and an otaku the same thing? I'm bad with these titles. XD

Puppisama 2016-09-17 23:28:58 UTC #6

Yeah, in Japanese, Otaku means the same thing as Weaboo, poeple obssessed with Manga, Anime and Videogames. Obssessed enough to be more of an illness than a hobby. In japan, the term Otaku was and is still used sometimes, as an insult.

bakasama25 2016-09-17 23:29:29 UTC #7

I suppose weaboo IS an otaku of Japan (or the illusion of what they think Japan is)

Otaku in Japanese generally means something like a "socially retarded person obsessed with a particular hobby". These hobbies can be anime, manga, swords, trains, porn stars, and the like.

eslameldeeb 2016-09-18 00:19:26 UTC #8

It's very funny tbh, we live in a world where our souls are so weak that they can be crushed by the slightest of things, who cares about our dying world? Weaboo is the real deal, and we shall give it the top priority!
Either you worship everything Japanese or wanna turn your life into an anime episode
Do whatever brings joy to your heart and soul and don't stop it, be proud of that love and next time you hear the word "weaboo".. laugh at it and go on with your life, it's a funny word and there must be some truth in it, but meh who cares?
People will say everything anyways, and they will be creative and come up with brand new offensive words every day.. it's not gonna stop, you must be tough enough to handle this truth if you are an easily offended person

NickRowler 2016-09-18 00:41:55 UTC #9

No they are not...

Otaku (Japanese ver.): Antisocial awkward super nerd (not always anime). However you might sometimes hear nerds use it even if they are not on the the awkward level.

Otaku (Western ver): Anime nerd or someone who likes anime. Not all anime fans call themselves otakus tho.

Weaboo: A non-Japanese otaku who has gone a little overboard about their obsession. Like to use words like "bakas" and adds "desu" at the end of non-Japanese sentences. Maybe less antisocial and more loud and obnoxious. Some are even tranracial, white people who think they are actually Japanese.

lunaartemisasama 2016-09-18 01:51:33 UTC #10

I think it is just a phase maybe some people start like that, but then start to develop their thinking. I don't think they do it to feel japanese, but to connect with people who are the same as them?

There are also other people that like hindi music, and the movies, or korean ones and k pop fans are everywhere nowadays. And there are also Japanese people that love salsa, have you ever heard of La Orquesta de la Luz?, salsa caliente del Japon!

So I think, that everything is good, our world is more connected and multicultural. Everything is ok as long as you also feel proud of your own heritage.

tzuba12 2016-09-18 02:02:27 UTC #11

Otaku and weaboos are not the same thing.

Otaku means someone who is obsessed with a particular thing or hobby to the point where it effects their social lives. You can be a baseball otaku, a movie otaku, a video game otaku, etc. Westerners for some reason have tried to make this word a good thing and refer to themselves as otaku, when it really isn't a good thing at all. It means you have an unhealthy obsession.

Weaboo is something strictly made for westerners and is an insult. It was originnally "wapanese" which means "white person obsessed with Japanese culture" and its was kind of a slur. On 4chan, people started using this a lot, but then 4chan added a filter that prevented people from saying it and changed "Wapanese" to "Weaboo". Still means the same thing, but has lost its meaning now as people refer to any casual fan of anime and manga, or anyone interested in Japanese culture at all, as a weaboo. What it really means is anyone who glorifies Japanese culture, and thinks Japan is some kind of perfect fantasy land like in anime or manga. They refuse to listen to anything negative said about the country and believe anything that comes out of Japan is superior to anything made in the west.

indagold 2016-09-18 02:44:20 UTC #12

Eh it seems alot of anime fans are weird, even the ones not extreme on the spectrum. Maybe they've watched so much anime they're desensitized to it, idk. Weeaboos are probably the worse kind of nerds. They seem to think Japan is perfect and if it's culturally a-okay in anime but taboo in the rest of the world its "cultural differences" like rape, incest, pedophilia, etc. I think that probably makes the weeaboos worst than the western nerd in that aspect. Jesus christ there are so many things wrong with anime and these people think it defines japan and is just you know...normal. They idolize the damn country so much they don't know or pay attention to how messed up it is as a first world nation. They think it's going to be like the country they are from, or the magical fairytale land of anime. Ironic they are so racist wanting the asian waifu/husbando of their dreams when the country they idolize is pretty damn xenophobic.

GesuGesu 2016-09-18 03:03:12 UTC #13

I FUCKING LOVE ANIME

... and I dislike Japan. IDK their culture and people are so closed-off, and their working conditions, school system, politics are so... well.. BEHIND THE TIMES. It's probably because of proper exposure to a country's culture beyond their pop culture makes me more realistic about it? Some of the Japanese views can clearly be seen in anime, such as "every foreigner speaks English", regardless if the foreigner came from Brazil or America. Other stuff would be the expectation that office workers work unpaid overtime, or that students are expected to have club activities until 6pm on weekdays and attend school on saturdays so they're not "slacking off" on the weekends. It's hard to notice as a beginner to anime or simply if you're not aware of Japanese inner workings, but once you understand Japan's lenses, you can see they can be some of the most racist, sexist people out there.

I find weaboos cringey, if they're really the "XD KAWAIII DESU DESU" type who wear cat ears out in public, but normal sarcastic "weebs" like myself are fine.

bakasama25 2016-09-18 03:12:16 UTC #14

Weaboos, one of the craziest one I remember from 90's was this dude was who was chatting with a Japanese woman. He claimed he had a girlfriend who was part of yakuza clan. She sadly killed herself but her ghost came back had sex with him. He also tried showing naked Japanese anime girls to this Japanese woman. Not surprisingly she blocked him.

Valalaraptor 2016-09-18 03:45:05 UTC #15

You know, it's funny this came up on a webcomic forum, because the word "Weeaboo" actually originated in a webcomic by the name of Perry Bible Fellowship. It didn't gain the association with anime/Japan fanaticism until later on, though.

bakasama25 2016-09-18 03:49:03 UTC #16

Is that one where some people spank a guy for sayiing Weeaboo?

Valalaraptor 2016-09-18 04:01:47 UTC #17

Yup! Probably his most influential comic.

R.n.P 2016-09-18 05:38:40 UTC #18

Yh that is one the shittiest things I hate especially in my culture, but probably as time goes on it will die out

R.n.P 2016-09-18 05:42:14 UTC #19

Bro you did your research well

R.n.P 2016-09-18 05:55:55 UTC #20

God, that is so messed up in so many levels I can't even categorize it

punkarsenic 2016-09-18 11:18:50 UTC #21

i dont think 'occasional accidental racism' is fair... the entire act of being a weeaboo is racist. the word originated as a term for people who fetishise japanese (and generally e/se asian culture). like weeaboos are just racist, even if they dont realise it.

ikushina 2016-09-18 13:57:50 UTC #22

I guess I was previously something u would call a weeb :B

At first I was reeeally into manga and since I read lots of slice of life-ish ones I got more interested in the culture. I live in Denmark and it's a great place, but at times I really wish I could just escape from my narrowminded enviroment, and from what I read in the mangas, Japan seemed more ahead of time. Japan seemed like a wonderland to me, full of awesome videogames, comics and polite people. Aaaand there's a chance of getting success with creating comics there, compared to here in Denmark where it's barely acknowledged (I wanted to become a mangaka so badly haha)
I liked the idea of people wearing school uniforms 'cause.. well, to me it would be less stressfull picking up an outfit everyday xD And it seemed like people show way more respect to the teachers :x
In short: I fell in love with the idea of how Japan is, and my weeb-phase was the first step in how I got to learn about the Japanese culture, through comics and positive news/ads like "In Japan they have wending machines for everything!!1!"

UzukiCheverie 2016-09-18 22:48:08 UTC #23

There actually is a generally accepted difference between otakus and weaboos among the Anime/Manga community, as far as I know. Otakus tend to be a bit more tame, they have a genuine interest in anime/manga much like any other media community, they tend to cosplay or do something with their love for it, but they don't let it absolutely consume their lives and personalities. Whereas weaboos are a lot more over the top and use anime/manga as an excuse to be REALLY WEIRD and sometimes even behave inappropriately towards other people when it comes to what they love.

It's like the difference between love and obsession IMO If you sat down and talked to an otaku about their favorite anime, they'd probably be like "Yeah, Naruto's pretty good, it has its good moments and its bad, but I can appreciate it for what it is." Meanwhile weaboos are like "NARUTO X HINATA 10/10/10/10 ME_IRL IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH ME YOU'RE LITERALLY HITLER". Otakus are the community members whereas weaboos are the extremists that take it WAY too far.

How to tell if someone is a weaboo or an otaku? Are they absolutely annoying to talk to and make you want to kill yourself? Weaboo.

bakasama25 2016-09-21 19:22:57 UTC #24

Well, I've been in and out of the various fandoms for something like 20+ years, you'll learn how weird fans can get. I also learned a bit from an okaku hating Japanese woman. She also described otaku as lacking personal hygiene and have difficult time talking about anything other anime, j-pop, or Sonic.

The popular stereotype of an anime otaku is a fat dude with thick glasses, pimples, and openly shows of his otakuness by wearing a shirt with a moe character on it and bags of licensed models and toys..