Are you a maniac or an otaku? No, this has nothing to do with stalking or hikikomori. It has to do with levels of interest in a hobby.

I’ve been accused of being a maniac numerous times by Japanese speakers. The first time I heard the word, I thought, excuse me? It took me a second but I realized that I was not being accused of being some kind of ax-wielding killer but merely an enthusiast. Maniakku (マニアック) essentially means enthusiast, as in a sports maniac. In that case, I am undeniably a maniakku. I avidly collect movies and music, and when listing off favorite obscure movies or albums I am often laughingly called maniakku by the listener, who has not heard of any of them.

Where I draw the line, though, is being called otaku. Lately the word has become kind of cool, particularly in the West where it is equated with Japanese culture fandom, but the original meaning of the word (pertaining to fandom, not the original original meaning of “your honorable house”) contains an element of social awkwardness, of an unwillingness or inability to function normally in society. I may have spent one too many Saturday afternoons digging through dusty crates of vinyl while my less-obsessed friends went to the park or the beach, but it’s not like I prefer the company of my records.

I guess it comes down to semantics. Do you ally yourself with the current crop of otaku 2.0 who dance in the streets of Akiba and spend large portions of your paycheck on anime figurines, or do you spend large portions of your paycheck on vinyl and overseas DVDs, or re-enacting Civil War battles or playing Fantasy Football or building WWII models or… Hmm, I guess there’s not much of a difference after all.

What does everyone else think?