Single Otaku - Tell me why?

Very true I believe anybody can get into anime this otaku shy stereotype is rather inaccurate usually that has been floating around lately. Extroverts and introverts can easily get into anime including anybody else from the social niche groups we like to sort people in.

In my case its because I am the type of person that people replace after awhile. And because I live in the middle of nowhere.

My aesthetic taste in music and clothing and such would get me labeled along the lines goth/industrial-otaku which would be perfectly socially acceptable if I was 16 but I'm 37 and very few girls less than 10yrs younger are into the same stuff as me and few girls that are 10+ yrs younger would consider dating me if they know my age.

I think it really depends on a case by case basis. Personally, I'm a super bubbly and outgoing person. I have been extremely bullied in my town however, it was not due to my interests in anime. I actually have no idea what it was about, but there always seems to be a need to have one person to pick on. I was kind of fat in the past and really smart, so I suppose I was an easy target. Its funny, though, as whenever I go elsewhere, I make friends instantly and people really like me. But hey, thats small towns for you. Anyways, back to the point. I think it is made easiest by sharing my story. I got into anime at a really young age, when I was around 7 or so? By the time I was in 4th grade, I was SEVERALLY bullied. Ever since then, when I was in my town, I always felt ostracized and worthless. Then, when I was a freshman in high school, I got a full ride scholarship to go to Germany for a year. I took the opportunity and learned that people DID like me, just not in my town. I improved my self esteem and got out of a depression I had been in since 4th grade. Before my year on exchange, I was kind of a dark person because of the depression. When I got back, I was much happier person and I happened to slim down quite a bit which just continued while I was back. People's opinions do not change as I found out. I was put back into the cycle of having people hate me for no reason and say nasty things. The minute I go out of my town, this changes. Its such a drastic change that its almost entertaining to watch. I still have no idea why people here in my town dislike me so much. Well, people my age I should say. I'm an extremely nice person that everyone comes to for help (even those that are nasty to me, I just can't hold it against them). I tutor people and volunteer a ton. Its just really odd. The one thing I know is that it has NOTHING to do with my interest in anime. I have gotten many people into anime over time and found like minded individuals. I'm always told that I don't look like the "into anime" type. Anyways, I think perhaps the reason why many people into anime have been victims of bullying and everything else is that either a) they were from small towns but were interested in more than that town could offer so they started looking elsewhere and found anime (through the years I have found out that people in small towns really don't like it when a peer is more worldly than they are. They feel threatened and go on the offense as a defensive measure....) or b) they were just that odd kid out in the first place that turned to anime as a means to deal. Anywho, I'm in a very loving relationship with my boyfriend Kyong whom I actually met on this site, so people shouldn't give up all hope on the site!

@Jiko, I'm sorry you've had issues with that :/ I realize that its more difficult for guys on dating sites in general. I don't mean to sound full of myself or anything, but honestly, I had a large selection of guys to choose from that were basically jumping at me... thats how it is for a lot of girls, which can scare them off. Either way, for both guys and girls, normally you have a couple (or many) misses before you find someone to actually date. I had one on this site before I found my boyfriend

in my case... i live in the middle of no where, 3 miles from a nascar track (i hate nascar), and i am surrounded by.... i wont go as far as to say rednecks but definitely country folk that as soon as they hear i like something thats not "American" they instantly think im weird and because most of my interests are of the "foreign nature".... who cares if i watch anime,who cares about the way i dress, who cares if i drive a Toyota (i get the most crap at work when most "American made" cars are built in Mexico and "foreign cars are manufactured here)... being in the middle of no where as well makes it so i dont get out much because to get anywhere i might find people who except my "style" so to speak i hav to drive 30+ miles to get there which is expensive and time consuming..... but that was the point of joining this site, to increase the possibility of meeting people in general.... rant over thank you :)

Hi to everyone. I hope no one took much offense in what I was saying, or thinks that I came off in a derisive way. I just am curious as to the somewhat validated stereotype of antisocial otaku. When I was in high school, even though I too am from a small rural area, there were quite a few anime fans at my school. There was a sizable anime club, that when I found out about it, I was very eager to get involved. My experiences with them were what ended up solidifying the stereotype in my head. Even though we had the same common love of anime, manga, and japanese culture, I still didn't "fit in" even with the anime kids. Many were older than me, and they still came off as immature and quite the opposite of what I expected. Instead of being more worldly and intelligent, they came off as arrogant, selfish, and blamed everyone but themselves for any problems in their lives. On a personal level, I found it very frustrating to communicate with this group, and the experience actually made me distance myself from anime in general for a couple of years. When I got to college, I found myself picking up where I left off, collecting tapes and comics, and finding myself spending much of my free time surrounded by those things. I found the anime club at my college soon after, and with excitement, I was eager to get involved and "fit in" with a group in my school, which from a social perspective, felt much like high school. The people involved in the anime club possessed nearly identical personalities to the people in the anime club in my high school. Some of these people were 5-6 years older than me as well. It was very heartbreaking, because I always felt like I couldn't talk to anyone about my love of anime, and share my knowledge of series and artists, and find newer things to check out. I left that group quickly as well, and I have still never found a solid circle of anime fans to connect with. I still absolutely adore anime, manga, and japanese culture in general. And it took me a while to figure out how integral to my life this stuff was, but now I am 22 years old, and after a lifetime of being ostracized and bullied (not just for being into anime, but also for being punk rock, and for being the only non-white person in an all-white school), and made to feel stupid for the things I care about, I still love all of it. I am just still trying to understand why anime fans and otaku would be so insular and mean to someone who shares the same interests as them. I understand why anime fans feel marginalized, especially within close peer groups such as high school and college. But I feel like theres just something much deeper going on, when even a person with the same passion as them can't talk to them. This just leads me to believe that the culture itself prides itself on it's own illusion of reality, and refuses to open up to things than in fact CAN be beneficial to them, such as people reaching out as a fan or a friend. But the "us vs. them" mentality of otaku I think fuels more problems than anything else. Does anyone agree?