Finding Otaku Friends In Real Life

Wow I started this thread a while ago and am by no means surprised by some of the methodology my fellow otaku have come up with "simply because Ive used most of these" . And I can personal vouch that most of them work. Personally I wish the world was like a rpg and that every time you encounter a new person there stats would flash across the screen like " name: John doe lvl 29,: anime otaku, favorite video-game: Final fantasy 12, weakness: Pocky amunity yaoi harem doujin

Fabric stores are also pretty good places to meet peeps. I've found quite a few otaku actually work there (to get fabric discounts) and once there you can sometimes look at what people are buying and be like "Hmm..it's March, not Halloween..she's buying 1000 yards of shiny stretch satin. ...OTAKU!"

@SolarFlareKC- I agree with you on the newbloods (the Naruto and Bleach fans). Those shows don't capture my interest; even reading 17 volumes of Naruto didn't help. I don't know what generation I am, but I'm into '90s and 2000s anime.

I used to due the naruto head band thing before it got popular here in 03&04 no-one that wasn't hard core knew the hidden leaf or sand emblems then naruto got a U.S. release and pokemon level popularity thus becoming more of a scarlet letter to geekdom then and otaku badge of honor.

I usually become friends with people regardless. After they find out that I like anime, they usually introduce me to other friends they have that enjoy it as well or they start to get interested and give it a shot because they always see me watching it or reading manga and get hooked themselves.

When I go to school, I always have my lanyard packed with buttons and keychains of anime characters. XD I also wear some anime shirts occasionally. I also have to bring up something anime and/or Asian-related in a conversation.

I wear my kitty-eared cap, some anime shirts, I frequent a couple anime conventions, but that does little for finding LOCAL otaku around here... Even the anime club in the local college doesn't have that many members... This is just a difficult area in which to find other Otaku.

Theres next to no otaku culture here in the UK and what little exists is centred on university students, so that many clubs dont accept non students if theyd like to, as well as being biased against younger teenagers and non-drinkers. This is partly for things like insurance reasons which arent the organisers faults, and partly genuine snobbery as well