All of my friends know, and I don't hesitate to mention it when introducing myself to people. However, I don't usually bring it up again, unless they read manga too.

My friend once said, "I'm an otaku!" and people replied, "You are a taco...?"

Anyhow, I'm not embarrassed about reading manga; more that I love it so much that once it's mentioned, I talk nonstop, and I'd rather not plague people with that, so I tend not to mention it. ^^;

I am, however, very embarrassed to tell non-otaku that I like yaoi. I really don't think there would be any way that they'd understand the goodness of it. >_> Even with otaku, I sometimes don't tell anyone unless there's a fellow fujoshi around to connect with.

no way... because my friends reads manga too
and that's my hobby so why i must be embarassed about that?? my private life ^_^

I don't.
Thing is, there aren't that many people whom I consider as 'friends'.
Why would I be friends with people who don't accept me as I am, especially
with something so minor like reading manga. It's just a hobby.

Another issue is telling people I only have a shallow acquaintance with.
I don't bring it up, mostly because chances are the other person
has no idea what manga is.
If this comes up, I don't hide or deny it.


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Hrodulf and Bjornolfr, you will not be forgotten.

And if the world were black and white,
you would be my rainbow in shades of grey.

Click 'n Play!

If I had a fantasy self, it'd be a tentacle monster.

Course not, my friends has no concern about it at all. Hehe. They would actually get pissed sometimes because I was always blabbing about it. And besides it's not only me who reads manga in our class, Why should I be ashame of it, I'm not doing anything wrong. Hehe ). The fact that you're interested in manga wouldn't change, and you shouldn't be ashamed of it, your friends would definitely accept that attitude of yours if you're truly friends.

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No ONGOING-STATUSES please.

Most of my friends either read manga or watch anime.

As what NightSwan said... They don't have to bother about it.

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No ONGOING-STATUSES please.

yeah that's basically how it goes. A lot of my friends also read manga and we talk about it sometimes. it's not that big of a deal. But if you act like a sniveling otaku then people jump on you. As long as you keep it sorta low-key and don't bother anyone it's cool. Some people i know just jump out and scream it to the world but they usually get shot down.

(: I'm not embarrassed. I frequently facebooked about manga these couple of weeks due to all the drama. I'm super proud of all I do and frequently tell people how many on-going series I have.

Actually, I even feel like it's a plus. I'm short, small, and asian so the friends who don't understand it think it's "adorable." Haha, so it hasn't been a turn off for guys. They think it's super cute.

Plus, I'm an art major, so a few of them think it's "normal for artsy people." *shrug*

I feel like that's probably the view of a lot of the manga-ignorant people I know. They just think it's an interesting part of a person. They've never actually made fun or put down anyone who reads manga or watches anime. Of course, this is only from my experience.

I do know a few people who are closet otakus, though ):

Last edited by Cuiyao at 5:26 pm, Aug 1 2010

Nope.
Most of them don't know, though, because I never told them. I just never saw a reason to actively talk about my manga reading habit when it won't relate to them at all.

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Unfortunately yes. While I generally abide by the principal that a person should always be themselves, manga/anime has always been a secret hobby of mine.

I was 17 when I 'officially' delved into the manga/anime world. I don't count my pre- and early teen years when I used to watch the anime like Pokemon, Digimon etc. because that was the trend back then for all the kids my age.

At around the time before my 18th birthday for whatever reason I started watching the anime Inuyasha and from that point I started watching a plethora of different anime shows, old and new. Then I slowly transitioned to manga and at one point I was reading through mountains of manga. And it was great, I really enjoyed watching/reading a type of medium which was still relatively new to me. However my enjoyment was all in secret, I never told anyone for fear that I would be cast as someone who was weird, childish etc. It's a shame really because if I had been a bit braver I could've spread the word and encouraged others to get into manga/anime.

But alas I have but burnt out my passion for manga/anime. Now at 20 years old I only keep track of a few series (don't let my reading lists fool you). With the state of the scanlation community right now it looks my hobby will die out even faster than I expected.

How people can feel embarrassed about it, I don't know.
My friends know of my hobby and they don't have anything against it.
For people who don't get it and has a stigma of it, they're just ignorant and have missed out one of the better things in life.

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i wouldnt be embarassed but its difficult to tell ur friends about it since its pretty hard to bring it up in a conversation that isnt about manga, but i would tell them if i had the chance

My friends know already, so it's not embarrassing. I even got one of my friends into reading manga a couple of years back. Even have some friends who recommend some to me and vise versa. I don't understand how it's embarrassing.

I first read manga when I was 7 years old
Now I'm 18 years old (nearly 19) and I still read manga I don't feel embarrassed because my friends also love manga and anime.
When I was younger (around 15 years old), my mom usually told me, "Why are you always reading comics and watching cartoons? You're too old for those things." But I told her, "It's not comics or cartoons. It's manga and anime " Now, she gives up telling me that