Rainbowsphere

This Is Shance

Shance — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:01:59 +0000

Due to some surge of curiosity, I recently tried Making you a two-dimensional girl from the link I fished out from Sixten’s site. All you have to do is enter your name, and it generates a brief description of your 2D self, from clothes to personalities.

This is what I got:

If shance was 2D: 『Wears a China dress. Has droopy eyes. Has long, green hair. An erotic and seemingly lonely character.』

And so, it came to this…

Yes, yes, I know, she looks like a bastard child of Ledouche and C.C., but what can I do? References are cited whenever there is semblance. She smokes, she knows kung fu, she’s erotically sexy to lolicon people, and you don’t know her age. See if you can find other semblances to that, and I’ll bow down to you.

Have Art, Will Hiatus

Shance — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:23:51 +0000

Fighting the good fight.

Ah, yes. You might be wondering where the hell was I when the new season came in. I-i-i-i-i-it’s not like I wasn’t watching out for it or anything! I just did something else, that’s all! But tsundere jokes aside, yes, I was gone. Again. No excuse to give, nothing much to tell but the valid alibi. Let’s just say I’m pretty much bored wasting myself watching oldschool shows during my short trips down the Memory Lane.

So yeah, I was pretty much artfagging. I started whoring myself from requests from the wacky people from Katawa-Shoujo’s IRC channel. I joined Pixiv, even though I know my lousy, rusty moonspeak pretty much won’t get me anywhere. I even tried my luck on some social art site just for the heck of it. All of a sudden, more than a month has already passed. Time sure flies fast…

Nevertheless, this stint didn’t go without fruits of labor. I learned a lot of things I didn’t know I can do, I applied some knowledge I learned on some of the pieces I’ve done, and I’m pretty much satisfied that I took my sweet time. Being an artist is hard, but keeping the drive to continue being one is painstakingly harder.

In case you’re interested, you might want to head over to the these shamelessly plugged pages:

Deviantart: http://rainbowsphere.deviantart.com/
Pixiv: http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=609248
The Katawa-Shoujo Mishimmie: http://shimmie.katawa-shoujo.com/post/list/shance/1

And yes, the artfagging continues!

Celebrating Father’s Day With Giant Robo: The Different Faces Of The Word “Father”

Shance — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:48:41 +0000

Giant Robo has always fascinated me even after I watched it for so many times. The first viewing gave me what it had to offer at face value, and I couldn’t find fault in it. The second one was critical for me, because I got an even more powerful experience especially watching its climactic scenes. I watched it less at that point to get the plot, but as a person who began to feel for the characters on the show. The third viewing, which I did today, had a specific purpose: To do justice for all the father figures that played a great part on the show.

Please pardon the spoilers that will follow for anyone who hasn’t watched, or plans to watch, Giant Robo: The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Giant Robo

Robo was built by Kusama Daisuke, the deceased father of protagonist Kusama Daisaku. Although it was not the intended purpose, Robo embodied everything that Daisuke wasn’t able to do for Daisaku. It protected Daisaku from harm when Daisaku was being attacked by one of Big Fire’s robots. It helped Daisaku defend the Earth from the evil Big Fire organization. It even risked itself being destroyed multiple times, just for Daisaku. It was as if the robot had Daisuke’s soul, a clear reason for Robo’s “selfless love” for Daisaku.

Taisou

Though his relations with Daisaku is somewhat ambiguous, it’s certain that he cares for the boy. He phases in and out of being a father figure and a brother figure, to the point where he even gets his wife, Youshi, to care for Daisaku. Taisou does not only see the importance of being with, and protecting, Daisaku. Rather, he simply sees a boy with a tragic past. A boy whose past robbed him of his father. A boy who yearns for a father, a mentor, a family. Taisou and Youshi was fortunately there to fill in, even if they only showcased their affection to Daisaku for but a brief moment.

Oh, and he’s voiced by Emperor Wakamoto. ANYONE would want him as a father.

Franken Von Vogler

Cue in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore – “Una Furtiva Lagrima” .

I have to really hand this one to the guy: Franken Von Vogler is the ultimate father in Giant Robo. He loved his children, and he wants them to have a future ahead of them. He selflessly devoted himself into creating the future he sought, even at the expense of his colleagues, his reputation, and himself. Though it was regrettable that his actions caused his family to deteriorate, he never lacked any qualities of a father to Emmanuel, to Farmelle, and to the beautiful night he created for the world.

Our fathers have many different faces, many different ways to show affection to the people who love them. We need not count the ways (including those given in this post) to prove that they are one of the most important people in our lives. It’s only obvious that we give due credit to all the loving dads in the world.

Happy Father’s Day, daddies.

The 2D Files: Dimension 2.5

Shance — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:02:04 +0000

Okay, let’s try this again.

The details are laid out for you to understand. The post by 2DT about the differences between the second and third dimensions. The post I wrote about spatial reality and how it creates the interconnected machinations of the two realms. Ningyo’s post about the early orientation of Mr. Sphere to Flatland. With these facts in hand, it’s time to observe the culture dish that holds them together.

People, welcome to Dimension 2.5: The Internet. It’s the in-between world between the second and third dimensions. It’s the realm where there’s no such thing as Mr. Sphere or Mr. Flat, simply because you can exist as both. It’s the borderline dimension where the citizens of Flatland and Sphereland can coexist with minimal rules and restrictions. Of course, this only means that it’s the ideal place-to-be for the average Japanese Modern Visual Culture Enthusiast.

Let’s visualize again. Think of the Internet as a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). Mr. Sphere logs into the game and starts to play using his in-game character. Now, this is clearly an example of transition from 3D to 2D, with our three-dimensional Mr. Sphere becoming two-dimensional via the game. Suddenly, the game requires Mr. Sphere to acquire a certain item in order to advance to the next stage. This is now the opposite of the first transition, wherein the two-dimensional item is given importance to a being of the third dimension by registering a need to acquire the item’s three-dimensional equivalent, like in-game points that you need to buy with hard cash.

This is the same with our big, grand WWW. We log into it, and we suddenly find ourselves immersed in binary, two-dimensional information. All that media in ones and zeroes, and all we need to do is log into our two-dimensional accounts, surf, download, upload, and then keep a three-dimensional copy in the form of a DVD disc. It keeps constant transition between the second and third dimensions to the point of addiction, and it doesn’t stop there.

But before you think it’s the worse that could ever happen, think again.

When I mentioned addiction, I meant it in the most extreme kind of way. That means living in Dimension 2.5. It’s possible, right? It’s a dimension that feels right whatever dimension you hail from! Your avatar doesn’t look like a cross-section of three-dimensional self, does it? Your media isn’t as flat as a pancake anymore, right? Why leave this realm then? It not wrong to “live” in here, does it? Soul? Brains? Distance? Substance? Do we even need those? All hail the plot ideas of Ghost In The Shell and Serial Experiments Lain!

Dude, I’ll tell you one thing: If you had any thoughts regarding the contents of the above paragraph, you’re pretty much fucked. Just like the rest of us.

And yes, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

Religion and Hellsing: Catholicism and His Judas Iscariot

Shance — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:20:58 +0000

Uh-oh…

Before we start, words of warning: DO NOT TAKE THIS POST TOO SERIOUSLY. I only did this to compare and analyze the similarities of the fictional Catholic religion in Hellsing. I have no intention of bashing Catholicism in reality, but anything that needs noting, whether from fiction or reality, will simply be noted for citation and reference of the statements written herein.

Now that that one’s been done and taken away, on with the program.

Hellsing has always served us with gratuitous violence, It raised controversies even after the story has ended (the manga published its final volume in 2008). The most prominent of them are the feuds between the religious groups, especially those of the Catholic sects and the Vatican’s Iscariot Division.

Now, I trust you already know how the Catholic Church works when it comes to handling discrepancies surrounding the religion. Anything that is unusual in their eyes is seen as heresy, and they don’t shy on using very (I shall repeat to emphasize, VERY) brutal force to eliminate the eyesore that invades their religion’s personal space. Vampires, witches, heretics, grimoires and forbidden doctrines. All of them will be eradicated without remorse or pity, because they trust that their actions are justified for the sake of the Lord.

Little did they know that they’re doing the greatest mistakes that only the treacherous apostle can commit. And as if to mock their believers, the Vatican even creates a placeholder for these secrets. A division, an agency, a sect that will hold all of the religion’s “sins” in order for its representatives to keep their hands clean and pure.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

Matthew 27:3-5

To understand it clearly, let’s take a look at the biblical description for Judas Iscariot. He is the man who betrayed Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver. After condemning Christ, he killed himself (the most famous interpretation is that Judas committed suicide by hanging himself on a tree after casting away the thirty pieces of silver). Now, a lot of people think differently of Judas because of the circumstances present. Majority say the man committed the sin for his own benefit only to be killed by his guilt and his greed, which is the most obvious explanation for his story. But some also say that he is simply the man that was chosen to usher the forgiveness of man’s sins by betraying Jesus Christ and letting him die on the cross. This brings Iscariot in a new light, where he is seen as someone who brings great glory by committing the gravest of sins, and then atoning for them in Hell.

This simply explains the exuberant behavior of the Church against all that is unnatural. However, they also display this uncanny zeal towards any possible rumor or discrepancy in their religion, usually dispersing the alleged statement while silencing the person who spilled the beans. When relics and artifacts contradict to what the Catholic teachings depict, they destroy them in the hopes of covering up the evidence with their own statements and allegations with regards to the matter. Ask a normal person, and he will tell you that the Church is only protecting their personal interests. Ask an Iscariot, and he will tell you: “It’s all for the faith, so be it, fuck everything else. AMEN.“

It’s interesting enough to note that the organization primarily exists for the sake of the faith and not of the Church. They believe that by defying the Ten Commandments of God, they will usher Jesus Christ’s second coming. They don’t convert non-believers, they kill them. They don’t destroy items that are disloyal to what is written in the Catholic scriptures, they keep them and use them if necessary. This is the other side of Catholicism, away from the belief of “Faith begets Church, Church begets Faith”.This is the side of Judas Iscariot the betrayer, the kisser, the one who condemned the son of man to forgive mankind for his sins. If Judas Iscariot did actually asked for forgiveness before he killed himself, then he is only condemned for the fact that he committed suicide and not because he condemned Jesus.

I think that proves a few doctrines wrong, too. Does that make reserve me a spot in purgatory?

The 2D Files: The Case of “Simulated Depth”

Shance — Mon, 31 May 2010 12:57:33 +0000

This might get un-worksafe, so let me give you a NOT SAFE FOR WORK heads-up on this one.

As far as everyone knows, we otaku are fascinated with how the second dimension works. But what makes it more fascinating is the way its binary clockwork makes us understand that its restrictions are limited to what our 2D complex minds can think of.

To further dissect this statement, let’s use the most prominent and overused one: Genshiken‘s Madarame Thesis.

It is said that human beings are creatures that easily find semblance on even the most abstract interpretation. This brings us to the case of harboring feelings for beings that came from another plane of existence. But since said plane bears a striking semblance to our own, the case of “Mr. Sphere in Flatland” evolves from perception to manipulation, from “feeling the given depth” to “creating the depth”. And that’s more than just sexual attraction.

Let’s try to simulate: Imagine I have a stack of paper on my left hand and a pushpin on my right. Now, let’s think that a single piece of paper from that stack is the second dimension. Obviously, trying to stick a pushpin on the thin, flat paper will do nothing but pierce it. To simulate “depth”, we stack a few pieces of said paper. This gives our 2D paper a 3D-like feeling, and that means it’s possible for our little pushpin to JAM IT ALL IN.

An example of “simulated depth” (Sauce? SAUCE!)

This is one of the ways where Mr. Sphere tries to feel at home in Flatland: He simulates depth in a realm that obviously cannot have it. He tries to fabricate layers that will cope with every flat cross-section of his body, and everything is so wrong that it suddenly feels right. See that hentai sex scene that has a cross-section (simpletons call it x-ray) of where he JAMS IT IN? That’s depth. It lets you imagine what it would look like inside the girl while you’re having sex, and it’s understandable for people to feel something terribly erotic from that. Try searching FAKER’s eromanga if you want a good amount of sex-related “simulated depth” if you don’t believe me on this one.

This only shows that even though we have shortcomings for our second dimension, we can do something to compensate. Anime and manga are never shallow for this reason (mecha is the best testament for this, but of course, we have a few bashable moeblobs and then some). There is always enough generated content to satiate every craving for depth, and it never stops. From a single, thin, and flat realm, the second dimension stacks itself up, and it suddenly feels like Sphereland. Mr. Sphere is all but pleased.

Defying The Predetermined Stage: The Perilous Challenges of Unorthodox Blogging

Shance — Sun, 23 May 2010 08:37:10 +0000

Performing orchestrals with a rock-and-roll band: JAN-JAAAAAN!

Otaku blogging caters to a big audience. Bloggers have to “categorize” themselves according to what they like to write, and this generates an ample amount of audience. Some prefer blogging at intervals, providing first-hand montages and commentaries. Some start writing editorial articles after finishing relevant media. Some prefer to blog about collectibles like gunpla, figures, and the like. Some probe deep to study and question the foundations of otakudom, leaving a trail of debates and discussion in their wake. Some form teams that continously generate content for the blog, keeping it from losing activity. Some even create blogs for the purpose of scanlating or fansubbing material.

But rarely can you find someone who puts everything into a single blog. And I mean EVERYTHING.

It’s the perfect blog for the Jack Of All Trades: The Unorthodox Blog. It doesn’t follow any style, it doesn’t want to stay in one, it wants to have all the interest-relevant material to itself, and it’s not sharing. It’s like Ye Olde 150-in-1 Famicom Cartridge that lets you play all your favorite games in a single game platform. Want to show your artistic prowess? Make a drawing gallery page! Not enough? Open a special page for articles regarding a certain topic! Think you can use the blog to provide what you scanlate and fansub? Sure! Ohwait, you want to form a team to enslave yourselves by blogging endlessly, too?

There are a lot of unforeseen outcomes and consequences when it comes to unorthodox blogging. You’ll never know if you’ll get a response from the blogging world. You’ll never know if you’ll get any contentment with what you’re currently doing with your blog. You’ll never even know if JAMMING EVERYTHING IN was a good idea until you actually pull it off! However, this kind of self-prioritization keeps the fruits of your labor coming, be it bad (trolling, hacking or spamming, flaming, no hits or reaction at all) or good (continuous discussion, lots of hits, recognition from various blogs and sites, material preferences on the part of the blogger), as long as you have enough adrenaline to continue, and this ultimately brings out the best in the blog and the blogger. That’s why I adore these kinds of blogs: they are the little sites that could, but couldn’t, and it’s fine either way.

…every blog is a stage, a soapbox if you will, and we all got our own. It makes no sense to dwell on the elitist aspect of blogging (and authorship in general). Anyone can build a stage. And likewise, everyone is the audience.

- omo (5/21/2010)

Anyone can build a stage, yes. What kind of stage, that’s not for me to answer. Blogging in an unusual kind of way attracts readers, who either find it amusing or confusing. And that’s normal. You simply have a lot to offer, because your so-called soapbox also turns out to be an art gallery, or a shared platform with other bloggers, or a kind of advertisement that showcases your scanlating and fansubbing portfolio. It’s like a buffet table, where people immediately dig in on the various dishes, or get turned off because they can’t possibly handle all that food.

But let’s get off the interests of the readers and focus on something more important: the interest of the blogger. Yes, it’s your stage, your blog, your little thingamajig in the Internet. You don’t need to always serve the dish your patrons want because you also have to serve something for yourself. That’s normal, too. The thing is, we’re talking about the otaku Jack of All Trades blogging the stuff. And by stuff, that means a lot. Anything that meets the eye, showcasing of talents, opinion or say on things, shameless plugging of self and other people, and more where those came from. And to put them all together in a single point of broadcast, that’s a lot of work.

I’m not telling the blogs that trend today are generic, dull, boring, and mindless. Everyone has their own forte, we should respect that. It’s just that some of us want to find a greater purpose in blogging, which brings us to the case of the Unorthodox Blog. All those moments of constant self-questioning, all those times where you suddenly blurt out “What the hell is this blog for?”, all those needless thoughts of worry, all those moments that you feel incomplete, all those hiatuses and revivals and brainstorming, everything is for the sake of finding what’s best for the blog. Yes, the blog is simply a stage, a soapbox if we will. But what we perform in it depends on the same way it matters to you and everyone else.

I’m on a mission to find out what’s best for my blog. Hopefully, I get a good response. But that doesn’t mean I’m currently writing in an unusual way. It’s already hard thinking what you can do with an elevated stage. What more with everything else?

And yes, if you can find one of those Unorthodox Blogs out there, feel free to tell me and I’ll check them out.

The History of Touhou Memedom: It Makes Sense, Because It Doesn’t

Shance — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:04:09 +0000

Tinkering with The World’s Strongest Meme, gear by gear by gear…

As I go through my backlog of blog posts, tweets, images, and e-mails, I noticed that almost 85% of the stuff I have are Touhou-related. Well, that’s fine, really. What I further noticed is the blatant display of memes and character deviations that appeal to the typical Remilafag Reimufag Touhoufag‘s fancy.

Silence, then a surge of sudden curiosity on the matter at hand, which is what this post is all about.

The existence of Touhou memes got actual recognition when the greatest meme was made known to both the Eastern and Western Touhou fanbase: Cirno and ➈. Suddenly after that, the memes are everywhere, from a slight mention to an attribute (why Yuka Kazami is slow but powerful in PoFV), to a famously debated crossover (Flandre Scarlet‘s relation… to Ronald McDonald). This isn’t wrong, since they make the games and the characters in them more popular. But you really just have to ask yourself: Why? Why do they exist? For what purpose? For whom? Is there so much love for Touhou that it spawns images and videos and memes like there’s no tomorrow?

To understand why this happens, I gave the question some thought, and I came up with the following semantic ideas:

1. Touhou is vaguely described. The details are roughly laid out, and ZUN isn’t adding any further description to them. This opens interesting parts to fan speculation. You get a vague Chinese name for a Chinese-based character (Hong Meiling), it’s normal that people speculate because the name has another meaning in Japanese (Kurenai Misuzu). And if you can’t figure it out, of course you can just call her China and be done with it.

2. Touhou is incomplete. Only the important parts are given emphasis. Any additional detail would simply be filled in by the fans, making the story, and the game, complete. Obsessive fans would want too much needless noticing on a certain character, plot, or attribute that they bother with the littlest of stuff. So here we have a childish 495-year old loli vampire made of pure destruction. It won’t hurt if we label her as a yandere that loves her dear Oneechan to the point of blowing everything else into pieces, right? RIGHT?!

3. Touhou is vast. It spans over ten years and over ten games, not to mention crossovers with a sister STG game. Everything was simply for relevance’s sake. Story, plot, game, play, go nuts, spawn fan porncontent, rinse and repeat. And interestingly, this game plan actually works! If ZUN bothered too much over detail and characterization, Touhou would stop dead in its tracks even before it can even port itself to Windows! But do remember that this kind of format is a hit-or-miss. Sometimes you need characterization, and sometimes you need to elaborate some parts of the plot (even though there are references to Japanese folkore, that alone isn’t enough). Touhou didn’t do that, but was successful otherwise.

4. Touhou is for the fans. You don’t need to bother the one-man team about it. The fans leave him be, he creates his games, and the fans love it. And since it’s for them, it’s not a surprise that some of the stuff are done by them, whether official or non-official.

There are a lot of reasons for all this fan-fueled creative rage. We may not know why, we can try to find out why, but surely there’s enough reason. Actually, all this doesn’t need to make any sense! We are fans. Whoring ourselves to what we like is what we always do, Touhou or no. And of course, sense is out of the question.

B-Cup Sex Maniac (Late) First Impressions: Nothing Is Wrong With This Show

Shance — Fri, 14 May 2010 10:02:45 +0000

It’s Yaoi Spring Season, and even though a good show is hard to find (I am currently being convinced by a lot of people to watch Angel Beats! and Working!!!), an interesting one came to me in the form of B-Gata H Kei, a.k.a. B-Cup Sex Maniac. While some think that this show is nothing more than a perverted streak of fanservice without any notable plot aside from the main characters’ amorous advances, think again.

It’s an epic battle… in a wrong sort of way, actually…

First and foremost, this needs to get off my system: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS SHOW. Yup! You heard that right. It’s not wrong because the show abundantly drops sexual innuendos to the point of disgust. It’s not wrong because the show doesn’t have anything else to offer aside from the blatant and intentional fanservice. Anybody who says that this show is wrong in more ways than one should need to take a closer look at today’s youth. Look harder. HARDER.

Rarely do you see a show telling a no-holds-barred, dead-on story about the precocious youth, where ecchi meets slice-of-life. The fanservice is dead-on, the amorous advances are dead-on, the intended goal… well, that one’s off the mark, yes. But the rest? They’re all applicable to the liberal society Japan is living in. Some of us who can relate can only nod our heads silently in agreement while watching in anticipation.

The fact that the source material is a simple 4koma makes itawesome. The story was precise, the pacing was swift, and the sexual references, effortless.

We’ve seen similar cases in the past. Digiboy was one of the prominent people who shouted to the world that somehow, there’s nothing wrong with excessive fanservice as long as it’s slice-of-life. The amount of YECH from the story’s plot neutralizes the focal and interesting points of the show. You’re forced to simply agree with the facts about today’s youths even though you’re disagreeing on the blatant panty shots and display of lingerie. It’s plot-related, and it applies to reality since it’s slice-of-life (somehow). Denying that only means you’re accepting it. You just lost a game you haven’t even started playing.

Interestingly, the story jinxed itself by not going towards the intended goal of a virgin wanting to have a hundred fuck buddies. The goal instead collapsed itself into targeting a single person of interest. See Cherry-kun. He loves to take pictures, he’s a member of one of the school clubs, pretty much your average guy with average tastes and an average lifestyle. Now see Yamada: Aspiring sex maniac, wishes to have a hundred fuck buddies, thinking of perverted things 80% of the time, has a NAISU BODII which earns her place as the school’s idol. Everything fucked itself in the ass since episode one, but it actually turned out fine, eventually.

Cherry-kun! What does the scouter say about her ero-power level?!

Oh, but there’s one more thing I reaaaaally need to note here: For girls, getting a THOUSAND fuck buddies is as easy as A-B-C, unless they look like a hag or a jailbait loli. This process is just taking too long to happen.

And no, no sequels please, for the love of…

Alert!: Otaku In The Workplace!

Shance — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:16:27 +0000

Busy Sanae is busy, so get your eyes off that pantyshot and get on to reading.

I think I’ve explained this well enough: I am currently employed. It’s just me doing my job, taking care of stuff, doing what I need to do. Then suddenly, a colleague approaches my table, asks me to lend an ear, and whispers: “Do you have a copy of the last Initial D episode on your flash drive right now?”

*headdesk*

I now introduce to you people one of the interesting things that can happen to a working otaku: Hobby Acknowledgement. The eventful scenario where the workplace finds out you’re otaku, and suddenly starts to do something about it, either positively or negatively. Now, I’m not asking people to read this for future reference, nor should they shun their identities as otaku because of it. I’m just stating how it could happen, and what may happen afterward. It happened in a positive way for me, so you won’t hear me talking something bad about this kind of scenario.

The first contact happens when normal people (this includes those who know anything about anime, games, or manga, no matter how small) spot something that is clearly otaku on you. This doesn’t matter how discreet you are with it (if you are attempting to hide it in any way). T-shirt designs you wear, the contents of your wallet, the wallpaper on your cellphone, and even the songs you sing (especially those from oldschool titles that get shown on your local TV channel). If they notice anything about it one bit, consider your otaku personal space invaded.

But being an otaku shouldn’t be as shameful as a potential nopan shot, should it?

Now, after they find out, they’ll start to ask you a lot about your otaku way of life, usually breaking the ice with something that goes “You watch anime/read manga, right?”, or something like it. Those who are open about their hobbies will say yes, while those who aren’t will say no. Then, they would start to pepper you with references from anime or manga they know. It would then become a repeat process, as long as they see something that defines you as an otaku. No matter how rock-hard your resolve in denying, it will come for you. Think you won’t spill the beans once you get drunk in a team-building party? Think again.

Now, after the hard part of accepting that they know, comes the harder part of keeping yourself together. Eventually, you’ll have normal people asking you to let your inner self come out, again and again and again. But you’ve accepted that fact, right? Now you’ll have to accept the fact they will now ask your opinion of the latest material they’re having, or a copy of it if they don’t (guys with Intarwebs bluff their way out of this by saying they bought it off a shop or a friend). They will also pester you by asking from what anime or manga did your cellphone wallpaper come from, or what show or book will be good for their personal tastes. And yes, I need not say they’ll definitely ask for porn, did I? Oh, I think I did.

Openly talking about it with co-workers over a bottle of liquor: Not really a bad idea. You can talk about stuff, learn from each other (they learn about otakudom, you learn and understand how otakudom is perceived by normal people), reach a compromise, etc.

Now, this isn’t technically the next step. It’s rather an opportunity of “recruit” people to the cause of otakudom: You literally ask them if they want more. Wallpapers, downloadables, songs, episodes, chapters, whore yourself out. You basically become a slave to pleasing your colleagues hoping they’ll understand the passion you have, and ultimately, convert them into loving the passion the same way you love yours. They’ll ask you for more titles, they check your opinion regarding a show they’re watching, they’ll listen to what you have to say about what you both read or watched at the same time. It’s that feeling of acceptance that makes you forget that they can either accept you more, or shun you and label you simply as a nerd who doesn’t want sunlight. But hey, you can at least try, right? Good luck on that.

I’m still on my first few months at work.There’s still a lot of room for things to happen, but right now, it’s serving me my daily meal of lulz.

Not that I’m making fun of normal people…