Top Five Reasons To Date An Otaku Guy

A scene from the popular film “Densha Otoko” [Train Man] about an otaku in love.

Otaku, a uniquely Japanese breed of geek, are famed for being unlucky in love. But recently, a MyNavi News article tried to redress the balance by listing the reasons why otaku make good boyfriends.

The reasons listed by the article include that otaku guys can fix computers, and refer to their girlfriends as their “brides” online, generally trying to put a positive spin on a group who are often lambasted for their lack of social skills.

But 2ch netizens are not amused by the article…

From MyNavi News:

Surprising Catch!? Five Benefits Of Going Out With An Otaku Guy

Hello, I’m Pokohiro.

Otaku guys are on the rise, and getting their civil rights.
But still, when it comes to the world of dating, it’s no exaggeration to say that the wind isn’t exactly blowing in their favour. Even the popular film “Densha Otoko” couldn’t give the impression that “otakus make good boyfriends”.

But that’s exactly what I want to establish in this article! So I got 30 otaku guys in their 20s who all nominated themselves as “good boyfriend material” to help me out.

■ 1. He’ll call you “my bride”: “We netizens, we call our girlfriends our “brides”. So, if you go out with one of us, you’ll get called a “bride” in no time!” (24 year old freeta)
Now, there are some doubts as to whether this would be a benefit or not, and there would definitely be potential for strange misunderstandings……I guess you’d end up being referred to on Twitter like “My bride was ～～”.

Still, girls who want their other half to communicate their feelings of love in words would probably be happy at this, they’d feel that he was thinking especially of her.

■ 2. Your computer would get fixed for free: “This isn’t true of every single otaku out there, but if they like computers or devices, then they’d definitely get good at fixing them. So rather than the costly long process of getting them fixed at an electronics store, your otaku boyfriend will fix them for you — super fast and for free!” (28 year old fast-food worker)

That’s something to be envious of ～. Computers always tend to break down at crucial times, plus if it breaks down at night you can’t always wait until the next day.

If you boyfriend would become your repair technician, there’s nothing more promising than that!

■ 3. They won’t cheat on you in the real world: “Guys like that basically don’t have much interest in real human relationships, so they definitely won’t cheat on you! In the real world, that is. Well, that’s the reason that prior to the cheating they found it difficult to find a girlfriend in the first place”. (23 years old, mobile phone shop)

With the spread of SNS, it’s now much easier to cheat than it was before, plus it’s started to become the norm. So I think that a guy who doesn’t look like he’ll cheat on you has value just for that reason.

Yup, no mistake about that!

■ 4. They have hi-tech homes: “Their houses are amazing. They have home theatres, and you can enjoy a super high quality sound from their TVs. They’re full of devices you’ll have never seen before — it’s just like being in an electronics store. When they’re in a good mood, sometimes they might even tell you ‘You can take that home with you if you want!'” (26 years old, affiliate marketer).

You get excited when you’re visiting someone’s home! I reckon maybe that’s because they have things that you don’t have at your own place. And so, that would be something you’d enjoy at an otaku’s house.

■ 5. They’d be able to repel internet stalkers: “A while back my girlfriend got an internet stalker, but I hacked him and got rid of him for her.” (25 year old bakery worker)

Hacking is illegal, but well, I guess this is an eye for an eye, right? Doing illegal stuff is obviously wrong, but he should be able to protect you using proper legal means! These days, aside from stalking people in the real word, having someone follow you around online is also becoming a problem, so it’s really important that he’d be able to get rid of such people.

■ So, ultimately, how about it?

I’m not just saying this to defend them, but online there are a lot of people who have good hearts but are bad at talking. But to not give someone a chance just because of prejudice, couldn’t you be passing up a good chance?

(Kawakami Pokohiro/Haukore)

Comments from 2ch.net:

名無しさん:

Too disgusting LMFAO

名無しさん:

So astonished by this I can’t even speak.

名無しさん:

This article…
who is it even aimed at?
Are they making fools of women? Or are then perhaps making fools of otaku?
They’re trying to look down on either or both of them.
I felt sick when I read this.

名無しさん:

Otaku doesn’t equal someone who’s good with computers.
We have our own different fields!

名無しさん:

“A while back my girlfriend got an internet stalker, but I hacked him and got rid of him for her.” (25 year old bakery worker)
LMFAO www

名無しさん: [in response to above]

I’d like to eat the bread that dude makes.

名無しさん:

I just realised this, but is this really supposed to be what otaku themselves say wwwwww

名無しさん:

Don’t be calling guys who come out with this trivial shit ‘otaku!.
An otaku is someone who’ll give a 10,000 character explanation when only 100 characters were expected.

名無しさん:

I kind of want to cry.

名無しさん:

Thing is, the hurdles are just impossibly high with these guys w

名無しさん:

According to the contents of this article, there’d be no need to have an otaku as your boyfriend — it’d be enough to just have him as a friend.
Oh, and saying “we netizens” — what the hell kind of otaku would say that! www This is too much like something an old guy would write w

名無しさん:

This is another bird-brained article…

名無しさん:

I just don’t get the point of this article at all.