Yes, there are some 18 or older in Japan that watch anime and read manga. There are Japanese "otaku" as well. In fact, my friend's father watches "Naruto Shippuden" and never misses an episode. However, people don't see one anime or manga as more adult than the other in Japan like we do in other parts of world. Just think of it like this: anime is anime and manga is manga. Also, I want to clear up this notion that anime is different than cartoons; I know you didn't bring this up I just want to clarify for others still confused. I going to explain this as a Japanese person. The world "anime" is written in Japanese using katakana. It looks like this アニメ. Also, "anime" is short for "animation." Now, katakana is the second system of writing in our country and we use it to write foreign words and sometimes to write brand names and dialect. In this case, anime comes from America.

I knew that (anime being short for animation). I'm always explaining it too. Gets annoying after a while.

my reply would have been earlier but my net stopped working.. anyway:

i think is anime becomes a large part of your life then you can class yourself as an anime otaku.

remember there are many types of otaku, i find the train ones interesting because you'll find them in japan sitting there at the end of platforms waiting for trains to come to photograph them. they have some good equipment for this job too. they take it very very seriously.

kunitokotachi - i agree with you on all fronts coming from my own experiences in Japan seeing how the anime lovers were treated by general japanese. your examples of american tv shows is a little extreme on the young side but i realise you were just making a point. i would compare it more to people getting overly excited over cartoons aimed at school children when they are beyond 18

SSJup81 yes people over 18 do watch anime, a baseball one was reasonably popular while i was there (left japan in august). but remember there is a difference between watching them and getting overly excited over them. think of it like an adult who still likes to sit down and enjoy simpsons, family guy etc... but doesn't get into conversations about the show with friends and think about them a lot.

and yes manga is read by over 18s there are even adult (xxx) ones aimed at the adult age group. again don't think of it in the overly interested category, have deep discussions with friends about it kind of way. you will find people on the train reading manga but i found the majority were reading regular books.

Yes, you are absolutely right. It gets very annoying explaining it to people who just don't get it. It also annoys me when people say Japanese cartoons are better than cartoons here in America. I happen to think cartoons like "Avatar The Last Airbender" is awesome.

Yes, I admit I did go overboard. lol.

animation is an english word with origins to latin. and animation is not an american invention so it is a little bit wrong to say the word アニメ comes from america. correctly it should be アニメ comes from the english word animation. sorry to be anal about it.

I get tired of people talking about Japanese stuff too. You know, "all anime sucks"! The main reason is because it's illogical to judge something if you've only seen like one thing.

No problem, glad to be corrected. I sometimes forget that the English language is derived from Latin, Greek, etc. Also, I'm going to start using your definition of "otaku" from now on; "People who make anime their life." This reminds me of some of the students at my university that I have observed walking around campus with a Naruto headband and other gear.

I have a Naruto headband. I bought it at an anime convention I went to last year. I bought it just to say I did. :p I've never worn it, though. I'd feel stupid doing that.

That aside, another thing that annoys me about "Japanophiles" are the ones who are convinced that everythign that comes out of Japan is to be worshipped and liked.Wow, sounds exactly like me. I can be really into a series (animated or not), but not to the point where I'm obsessive over it, even though my cousin and I might make random references to stuff like Family Guy every once in a while since we both like the series.

Sorry, didn't mean to double post.