He may very well be the biggest, highest-level otaku in the Genshiken, but he’s also somehow the most stylish, most sociable, and most conventionally attractive.
When you’re flying around DCS World in the Weebjet 5000, you don’t get to take yourself seriously, no matter how much money you spent on your flight sim setup.
Obviously, otaku pursuits can be life-encompassing endeavours. The 17 Sustainable Otaku Goals serve to help otaku integrate their passion into a healthy lifestyle, thus avoiding burnout and conflicts both inside and outside the subculture.
Our incentive structures are built that way. If you’re providing a lot of value to people, you’re more likely to be rewarded. If you’re not providing value for anyone, society (and life) is likely to punish you.
If you’re passionate about something, there’s no reason to downplay that. Be who you are. Anyone who hates on that isn’t worth your time, and certainly isn’t worth hiding your passions over.
In addition to being the story of the original “Amagami Challenge”, Amagami SS is also the story of one young man’s shift from a mentality of scarcity to one of abundance.
Based on their personality, people will treat you well or treat you poorly based on signals from you. You teach people how to treat you, based on your actions and how you carry yourself.
There’s a very peculiar problem that affects nerds. Many of us are obsessed with approaching media from a critical, analytical, sometimes cynical standpoint, often to feel smarter and impress other nerds.
They build an identity around how antisocial they are, making themselves feel superior and absolving themselves of responsibility for being unable to make friends or form and maintain relationships.