This is my origin story of becoming an otaku, which became official on May 14, 2007. But let’s go back further than that, to 2001.
Back then, I got into Sailor Moon and Tenchi Universe, at the age of 16. But teenage years lead to rebellion, and during the next few years I’d go through an all-out reset of my life where I’d stop calling myself by my childhood name in a vain attempt to become someone I wasn’t. Anime was not just something to be ignored, it was something to be mocked.
Eventually, I went back to calling myself by my current name, but I’d still mock anime, in particular during a drive past a convention in April 2007. I saw people dressed up in costumes, and my first reaction was, “what the heck is that?” Then I looked it up online and saw what it was – something called an anime convention. I made fun of it, of course, but I was intrigued by it. I couldn’t get enough of watching primitive YouTube videos from the convention and looking at photos of these things called “cosplays.” And within a month, I went from mocker to… well, one of “them.”
I didn’t know where to start with anime, but I knew I had to give it a chance. So, I decided I’d watch anime on Monday night, May 14, on adult swim. (Note: adult swim used to give us anime FIVE nights a week, and all night long. Kids will never know how spoiled we were.) The first show on? InuYasha, for an hour. This would become my gateway anime.
In terms of what anime you should start with, InuYasha cannot possibly be topped by anything else. It is *the* gateway anime. You have nearly every anime trope and genre mixed into one show. Needless to say, I fell in love with the show within 60 minutes, especially with the Miroku-Sango couple who featured heavily in the first episode I watched – episode 161, “Miroku’s Past Mistake.” Later, I’d start staying up for Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist and Cowboy Bebop and Naruto… yeah, I was hooked.
And that’s why I choose to observe May 14 each year as InuYasha Day. Because that day in 2007 affected my life more than many others. I met so many people through anime that it was truly life-changing. Would I be where I am right now without it? Of course not. The best thing being an otaku taught me was humility. I was no better than anybody else. I am one of “them.” Instead of looking down my nose at others, as I did that April, I saw others eye-to-eye on the same level as myself. And there is no better place to see that equality than at an anime convention. Everyone’s there for different reasons, yet everyone is on the same level. It’s a remarkable realization.
Now, have my tastes changed in the last 17 years? Of course they have. Yashahime, which I liked at first and which was a sequel to my gateway anime, ended up falling short of expectations. A 2020s series named Oshi no Ko is now up there as one of my favorite shows of all time.
But one thing has remained: that feeling of humility, that I’m no better than anybody else. I don’t think I realized it at the time, but it brought on a brand-new way of thinking about my life. I was no longer at the top, or at least what I thought was the top. Instead of running the hamster wheel of trying to be above others, I became just like one of those who I made fun of. And it’s been life-changing. I may have more friends via anime than I do outside of it.
But none of it happens if I don’t get hooked on InuYasha, 17 years ago, on the night of May 14. And that’s why May 14 will forever be InuYasha Day to me.
Tommy A. Phillips 