However, having kids can affect their otaku lifestyle, they understand that.
Torah con, Japan’s premier otaku-oriented dating service, takes the otaku portion of its matchmaking system very seriously. It is a sister company of doujinshi store Toranoanaafter all, going so far as to design a diagnostic test to determine specific otaku-related interests to better match you with someone who shares your passions.
Since the ultimate goal for Tora Con users is romance, there is the opportunity to find not only a boyfriend or girlfriend, but also someone you want to settle down with and start a family of. It is the latter scenario in particular that Tora no Ana wanted to investigate a little more closely, and so it recently held a survey asking the currently childless otaku how they think their otaku activity would be affected if/when they have children.
A total of 1,741 responses were collected from Tora Con users and followers of the company’s Twitter account. The first question was “If you have children in the future, how will that affect the amount of time you spend on your hobbies?”to which the answers were:
● I spend less time on my hobbies: 82 percent
● I spend the same amount of time on it: 16 percent
● I will spend more time: 2 percent
In addition to filling your calendar, an otaku can also empty your wallet. So then the survey asked “If you have children in the future, how will that affect the amount of money you spend on your hobbies?”which elicited very similar responses.
● I spend less money on my hobbies: 84 percent
● I spend the same amount of money: 14 percent
● I spend more money: 2 percent
▼ Yes, you really want that limited edition box set, but your child needs clothes.
Overall, it seems that the survey participants realize and accept that having kids won’t give them as much time or money to spend on anime, video games, and other otaku pastimes. But even with that understanding, a large majority of the survey participants believe that even after cutting down on things a bit, they can still maintain an otaku-level connection with their hobbies. When requested “If you have children in the future, will you continue your otaku hobbies?”less than 10 percent said gaining parental status would cause them to drop their otaku version.
● Yes: 73 percent
● Not sure: 20 percent
● No: 7 percent
Of course, anime and video games remain heavily youth-oriented hobbies, and chances are that otaku’s child will also become an otaku. While about one in five respondents said they would look forward to enjoying otaku hobbies with their future children, nearly as many said they would not.
● I want to enjoy otaku hobbies with my future children: 19 percent
● I don’t want to enjoy otaku hobbies with them 18 percent
● Either way is fine: 63 percent
On the surface, 73 percent of the survey participants want to stay otaku after they have kids, but only 19 percent want to do otaku things together, seems like a surprisingly large gap. Then again, there are definitely certain otaku experiences that would be a little tricky for the whole family to share.
Source: PR Times via Yorozu News via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
Insert Image: Pakutaso
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