by Mitera Nikkou » Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:49 am
I can't really vote because it discriminates against people with memory problems. ;p
Well, not really. I just don't think that knowledge is all that important, in comparison to your general interest and/or enthusiasm. I mean, how much you know depends on how much you get exposed to, and how much you get exposed to can depend on what you like, how much is available in your language/country, and how much you can afford.
That being said, I can at least say what these things mean to me.
Video games are one of the most fundamental parts of my life. I've played them since I was three, on an Atari, and I haven't stopped playing video games despite my decline of interest in things in general. I've had to make a lot of sacrifices in this area, during times when we've needed money, so all that I've ever owned is not the sum of what I have today. But I find the experiences more important, anyway, so that doesn't bother me any. I've never owned a hand-held, and I doubt I ever will, although that's more because of comfort than lack of interest in the video games themselves. I just prefer consoles so I can sit with my head up and view things on a large screen. At any rate... I owe a lot to video games, and I don't know where I would be if I'd never played any. And if that sounds pathetic to you, well... Eh.
Anime came a bit later in my life, I'd say roughly sometime in my early teens. I had already watched a few anime series in my youth, but I hadn't recognized them as anime at the time. But, when I started to become a bit more aware of the world around me, anime just seemed to click, as if something that had been there all along had been activated. At first I was very enthusiastic about anime, watching whatever I could find and, in particular, Sailor Moon. I ended up spending at least two years of my life recording new episodes of Sailor Moon and DBZ for someone else, and then watch them again so I could record those on another VCR. And if that sounds pathetic to you, well... It probably is. ;/ Which is to say that I gradually needed more than just the anime style to make me interested in what I watched. Nowadays I'm very picky, even disregarding my very limited funds. In part it's also because I tend to prefer the manga over the anime, no matter which came first. And it does happen to be cheaper, so...
Which bring me to manga. I've never been into comics of any kind, but manga had hit me much like anime had done. I didn't notice manga until a year or two after I noticed anime. My sister had introduced it to me and, of all of the things she could have shown me, it had been the first Ranma 1/2 graphic novel. You can imagine that I was easily hooked. ;p And since then, whenever I can afford it, I've acquired manga that I like. Since my experience with anime had made me a bit wiser, every single manga, be it in comic or novel form, is something that I'd like to keep and read. So I still have every one that I've ever bought for the last decade (thanks in part because they don't re-sell for much; at least not as much video games and anime, anyway).
And there you have it. Quantity-wise I think I have about the same for each of them, though by far I'm sure it's a small collection. But just about all of the funds that I have leftover from paying bills and such go into new video games, anime and manga. And I have no life and stay in the house for months on end. I think that makes me an official otaku, even though that's not meant to mean a good thing. <_<; Still... If you exclude trivial knowledge, and note that these three things pretty much make up most of my life, you could say that I'd have people bowing before me. If that makes any sense. *Checks a certain poll option* Um, yeah.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned because only women can give two tits for every tat.
♥
