Is it important for you that your girlfriend/boyfriend is an otaku too?

My family keeps telling me to look outside my interests, but I don't think they understand how much it matters to me that my partner be a fellow otaku. Otaku-dom is my life passion, not just a hobby. For one, the path my life takes will always be dependent on whether or not I can still do what I love. If I move back to Japan, I don't want to rip my partner away from their family. I want them to be just as excited as me. I'm ambitious, so I don't want anything to be a choice between what we do together. Compromises will still happen, but if our interests align, maybe they won't be unhealthy compromises for either of us. Two, I rarely ever give myself free time to hang out with friends (mainly because my non-otaku friends tend to go out drinking because we're adults now, and I don't drink), and I enjoy making my otaku interests a priority, so having that person to enjoy that time with me is a huuuuuge deal. It's essential to my personal health. And three, acceptance is important. My interests and a small part of my career path have gone in a strange, not-so-public direction over the past decade. My ex was absolutely supportive of me because she knew what kind of person I am, but now that I'm single as an adult for the first time in my life, my interests are... intimidating to outsiders. Those familiar with otaku culture will, at the very least, be more likely to look past my interests to see me for who I am. So while I agree that looking outside the geek community for love is absolutely plausible, my personal needs in a partner are met more by fellow otaku than those who are not.

Wow I'm super surprised that so many people don't mind being with someone that's not an otaku. Personally I've had 2 long relationships (7yrs and 4yrs) with girl's that really didn't like anime. They eventually would try and stop me from ever watching any anime. This caused issues and honestly if they were ok with anime then both relationships would have been much better. If she doesn't at the very least accept that anime is a part of me then I don't want her. That's just friend material :)

On the other hand it might be weird to be with someone who likes anime more than me lol but I haven't had the opportunity to try that yet.

For me is not important but it will help have something in common just hope to find someone that you can love with all your hearth :D

It would be awesome if she had the same mindset as me, but it's not super important. As long as our personalities somewhat match and we have some stuff in common that would be good enough.

I think it would be nice to have someone to be able to watch anime with. It wouldnt matter if they were an otaku because I think there's some good stories most people would like. So I guess they would have to have be somewhat open to it because I would probably be a bit offended if they didnt at least try and watch a Miyazaki movie or Death Note or something with me.

No, because I've dated a koreaboo and it wasn't fun. Not only did we share a FEW interest it was also toxic, because all he wanted to talk about was his fandom, I took my fair share of learning about his fandom, but it wasn't the same for him. He did nothing to get to know me. I think that it doesn't matter whether your significant other is an otaku or not. As long as they can appreciate and respect how passionate you are for your interest they're a good choice.

I think there should at least be some degree of interest in it for anything to work. (In my opinion) I’ve tried to date people who weren’t and it never really worked out. Anime is a HUGE part of my life and I believe it’s important to be able to share who you are with said person. As far as meeting them, this is the first time I’ve joined an anime site, so I’m hoping here. Lol