

I would like to know why people would like being called a weeb instead of an
otaku and why there is so much drama about "weeb", "weeaboo", and "otaku".


CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-24T17:02:57.210
62015
2022-02-23T17:00:33.023
2021-02-24T17:45:21.030
35679
59066
question
japanese-language anime-history
What is the difference between "weeb", "weeaboo", and "otaku"?


A weeb is just someone who likes anime or manga. Not culture, not video games,
not the language, just anime and manga. While a weeaboo is someone who is so
obsessed with Japanese culture and everything about Japan that it seems weird,
annoying and cringe.

Otaku is a Japanese term for people with consuming interests, particularly in
anime and manga.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-25T04:59:23.363
62022
2021-02-25T12:34:31.267
2021-02-25T12:34:31.267
35679
59082
62015
answer


As creator of the term weeb. Weeb means exactly the same thing as weeaboo. I
only did it to shorten the spelling. Nothing more.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-06T21:04:07.380
65868
2021-11-06T21:04:07.380
63135
62015
answer


**Otaku** was first. It was just the goofy way to call yourself an anime fan
in the west.

In Japan otaku originally had the same vibe as geek/nerd and wasn't tied to
anime at all. There was even a somewhat positive connotation to the word,
since otaku were really smart and had all the cool tech that you could have
during the 1970s/80s. Like a portable TV. The word kinda transformed into the
meaning of unhealthy obsession and then got associated with the kind of anime
fans that do have a rather unhealthy obsession with anime.

Western anime fans adopted the word for reasons lost to history. Probably
because the word popped up in anime fairly often. Even in its more traditional
meaning. For example in the 2002 anime Full Metal Panic the protagonist is
called an otaku by his peers.

**Weeaboo** came later. Around the mid 2000s. Mostly used to insult western
anime fans obsessed with the Japanese language on the Internet. Some fans
referred to themselves as otaku, but got mocked as weeaboos instead.

Eventually this got shortened to **weeb**.

In popular use weeb displaced the word otaku around the mid 2010s. Some anime
fans began to ironically/self-mockingly call themselves weebs and it
snowballed from there.

As far as I know Japan still uses otaku.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-23T17:00:33.023
66433
2022-02-23T17:00:33.023
22562
62015
answer