Realizing that liking anime and manga alone doesn't make you an otaku is a HUGE step in the right direction which eludes far too many people. Bravo.

>Anime is easy and I've always watched it, but I've never pierced (successfully) past that layer where I could just go and download an anime after reading about it on wikipedia or MAL.
What

>"Franchises" in particular, things that aren't actually based off an anime (the other way around often) are very difficult for me to "get". Stuff like Touhou or Idolm@ster and stuff like that.
>I'm left completely lost as to how they learned these things and got into them.
If you want to get into franchises, just start with the source material. Should be pretty obvious.

>I'm left completely lost as to why every otaku seems to know everything there is to know about otaku stuff
That's because those specific otaku are otaku of that franchise. One of the first things you should('ve already) realize(d) is, that you can't get into every franchise there is. You can't read every book on the planet. There's much more stuff produced that you could ever consume. So looking at people discussing stuff and thinking about how you're missing out on shit is not the way you should go.
"Getting into" those should be also pretty natural, I mean if you really like stuff, you want to know everything about it and discuss it with other people.

>>29122
Yes, I've noticed these past few years anime and hentai has exploded and become "mainstream" in a sense. Some would argue anime has always been mainstream, but the specific flavor of anime I'm talking about isn't Naruto or Dragon Ball Z, but that flavor of little girl anime that only otaku's liked.

Now being a "weeb" is all funny and popular and you really can't go anywhere without
seeing someone with an anime girl profile pic from whatever anime is popular that week, someone quoting a meme or something stupid. Especially on 4chan and 8chan where anime has become all the rage whether ironic or not.

I've complained about it a lot on Wizardchan and stuff but I've decided that instead of of getting angry that "normies" are encroaching on something I had previously thought was a "secret club", I feel like I should personally step up my own game instead of abandoning the medium altogether.

So what's the next step? Learning japanese? Being able to navigate places like niconico and stuff would probably help a lot.

>>29124
>Learning japanese?
Always a good idea.

>>29123
>That's because those specific otaku are otaku of that franchise. One of the first things you should('ve already) realize(d) is, that you can't get into every franchise there is. You can't read every book on the planet. There's much more stuff produced that you could ever consume. So looking at people discussing stuff and thinking about how you're missing out on shit is not the way you should go.
"Getting into" those should be also pretty natural, I mean if you really like stuff, you want to know everything about it and discuss it with other people.

I had no idea. I just always assumed there was me and then there was everyone more elite than me.

I decided I'll learn Japanese. I know a little spanish and I always wanted to learn something cool and pretentious like Latin, but seeing as learning Japanese is a monumental task- if that will provide me legitimacy then so be it.

>>29120
Do you want to do any of that stuff? If not then don't. If you do but can't be bothered, then don't bother. Who cares what is "in" or unpopular. Just do whatever.

>>29125
I'd disagree with that. If you want to learn it for your own sake, that's different- it certainly has its uses (particularly if you enjoy visual novels). But learning it for the sake of "being less of a weeb/normie" is only liable to make you seem like more of one.

For anyone that's had the misfortune of being exposed to the "mainstream anime fans" lately, you'll notice that they litter their text with random romaji phrases, write their names in Kanji, and consider knowledge of the language to be a sign that makes them part of the "(not so) secret elite otaku club"- whether or not they fully grasp the language aside.

>>29126
>I had no idea. I just always assumed there was me and then there was everyone more elite than me.
That really has nothing to do with being elite, they just know about the stuff they like. A difficulty of big anonymous communities like 4chan is that you always see these people talking about all kind of stuff and you tend to think that everyone there knows a lot about almost all franchises. The truth is that they (can) dedicate themselves only to a couple and the people posting are always different.
I know the feeling of seeing someone post about an interesting franchise and wanting to learn everything about it but I've already got a few that take up most of my time because they're so huge, time consuming and still putting stuff out, so I put it in my backlog unsure if I will ever get into them.

>if that will provide me legitimacy then so be it.
It's not about legitimacy. It's about being able to understand the shit you love in the original and being able to read the huge amount of great untranslated stuff.
I think you still haven't understood. You don't learn Japanese to become a "legitimate otaku", you learn it because you are one already and there is a bunch of untranslated stuff related to the franchise you love or you've encountered/heard about a lot interesting works that are only available in Japanese.

You can't just choose to like something because it's obscure and "normies" don't know about it, that's fake. If you don't find something that interests you, motivates you or lets you feel some kind of passion or enthusiasm about it, you're better off searching somewhere else. The Japanese aren't the only ones producing entertainment media and there's also other stuff you can dedicate yourself to like collecting shit, taking photographs of trains or something.

>>29128
>But learning it for the sake of "being less of a weeb/normie" is only liable to make you seem like more of one.
I totally agree, I don't think that someone would go these lengths only to be "accepted" into a group that is looked down upon almost everyone else. I'm pretty sure that people who decide to learn it for any other reason than themselves give up pretty fast.
And I really wouldn't consider those examples you've mentioned as people seriously learning Japanese. Those are the kind that is proud of having learned the kana in "only" 2 years.

'Otaku' is pretty much the Japanese word for 'Nerd'. It's not something you try to become but are labeled for being passionate of a subject quite a bit more than other people would be.

>>29133
Too late buddy. I'm already a "otaku" in the legitimate sense i.e. social anxiety, never go outside, everything thinks I'm a drug addict/potential shooter, never even held hands with a girl, browse wizardchan etc etc

This is just the icing on the cake, don't get me wrong. I've already learned half the hiragana since I started on Monday, only practicing during my breaks at work, or when I go to take a piss I'll take 5 minutes to practice etc. I work 10 hours a day Monday-Saturday so I'll get a big chunk done on Sunday and be finished sometime next week. After that comes katakana and that shouldn't be hard because a bunch look the same.

This isn't nearly as hard as people make it out to be. Sa is the smiley face with 1 slash, Ki is the smiley face with 2 slashes, Ku is just a greater than sign, Su has a loop-de-loop

Once I can speak glorious nihongo then I'll really be able to swing my dick around these normies

>>29151
You aren't an "otaku" at all because none of those things make you an otaku. In reality, you're the only normalfag here because of your desperation to prove that you're not like them and your desperation in having something that makes you different.
Of course you browse Retardchan. You know what you are? You're a failed normalfag. You bring up that you've "never held hands with a girl" and such. You don't belong here at all. Fuck off and go back there.

The most important step in being an otaku is learning how to be alone & be yourself.

"Otaku" isn't really something you try to become, it's more of a murky swamp that you just sort of gradually sink into if you have the right type of personality. Before you know it you realize that you're in so deep you might as well get comfortable. Anyway I think I roughly understand what you're trying to ask so here is my personal experience:

Around 2003 or so I kind of got hooked watching the anime that Cartoon Network would run at night (Inuyasha, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, etc), and got interested enough in a couple of shows to start collecting them on DVD. When I started college the following year I saw a flier for a school anime club so I started going to that. Most of the people there knew a lot more about anime than I did and had been into it longer so I felt kind of out of place. However I got to be friends with some of the people in the club and I just kind of got sucked further and further into that world. In addition to the club we started going to conventions and the like, and we would frequently hang out and watch each others DVDs. I learned about 4chan from one of those guys too, and that was really the point of no return for me. Before I got into this stuff I was basically just a somewhat awkward and socially beta but still relatively normal male; I now live in a world of plastic figurines and erotic visual novels. My only close friends are the anime club friends I met in college.

Anyway, being otaku is basically like having any other interest that you're very deeply into, like being into a music genre or something. If you want to get into it just start looking into titles that sound interesting to you, learn all you can again, and go from there. One of two things will happen: either you'll find out it was just a phase, or you'll become one of us.

>>29120
Too hot to think straight. I'm a fan but not "otaku" (ie.hardcore) enough.