Regrettably, I will have to make some changes to this post series.

Greetings and welcome back to Otaku Opinions. Before I begin I do have a quick announcement. I alluded it to it last time but I will be changing/scaling back the release schedule of Otaku Opinions. It has become more difficult of late to find the time to write on a consistent schedule. The demands and time spent at my place of employment have increased yet again not guaranteeing when I will have spare time for writing. I also want to do other content besides this series. So sadly this will be down to a monthly release. As you can tell I haven’t released a new post on time for a few weeks despite my best efforts to do so plus I have had a bit of a block when it comes to discussion topics. Coming up with a monthly topic will work better than a weekly one as I know of couple of these of late have been kind of dud topics. So I think monthly should work nicely for the future of this series. So you can expect the next installment in November. Thanks for your understanding.

Anyway onto the last poll topic and it’s results!

Do you embrace or hide the fact that you like anime/manga in public?

I embrace it. I don’t care that the world knows. 9 Votes

It depends on the situation. 5 Votes

I try to hide it from people. 0 Votes

So what about me? Well I have always embraced the fact that I was a geek ever since my school days. I am a terrible liar so to try to put up this false front was never going to work for me. I have the philosophy that being honest with yourself and the world is the way to go. I prefer if people are honest with me even if I don’t like what they say. I also believe that I shouldn’t have to hide that I liked comic books, prefer gaming sessions over bar crawls or watch anime. Sure this philosophy led to a lot of teasing and crap from people but if they give crap about something like that then they are not worth my time. So yeah I let my anime fandom flag fly and don’t care who knows it.

How do I do this? I listen to anime themes/soundtracks while in my car or in my office, am usually watching an anime episode on my lunch break. My coworkers certainly think I’m weird but it is what helps me get through my day. In school it was not uncommon for me during a study hall or on the bus to have a book that I was reading. I also have a bunch of figures and artwork on display at my house. While many people have a man cave with all of their sports memorabilia I have what I refer to as my “nerd cave”. Yeah it is probably overloaded with anime stuff but hey it is my space.

People’s reactions when I refuse to go to a bar.

The reason that I brought up this topic is that while it is more acceptable to be a fan of things like anime it still isn’t as acceptable as being a fan of things like sports. There are people that are accepting and others that are not. And that non acceptance can range as to how extreme it is. My home city is a massive sports time where it is almost expected to go to a bar and watch a sporting event above else. The irony is that D&D was created less than 40 miles away from my hometown and I only have to travel an hour or two to attend a con. It is certainly an interesting situation that I find myself in. I simply wanted to see how much of the community takes the same philosophy that I do. I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to pass along the message that it is ok to say I am a fan of… whatever you are a fan of. I believe that you should wear it with pride and don’t let others affect what you find to be enjoyable.

Alright now is the time for the discussion topic which I will explore next month. Isekai. The term has become a source of great discussion in the anime community. Especially since the rise of series such as Sword Art Online, the genre has exploded. Seasons without an entry in the genre are rare and this common genre has created camps either defending the genre or hating on it. There is no denying the impact that the genre has had in recent years and I want to discuss that further. For the next discussion topic, I want to know…

I’m looking forward to seeing your response and feedback for this topic. I will be posting the results in mid November so look forward to that. Any comments concerning either of topics are welcome! So please comment below or on Twitter (@railgunfan75). So until next time, this is railgunfan75 signing off! Stay safe, stay respectful, and stay geeky my friends!