
Look. I know I did a u-turn on gamers, but this is too much. Readers, I’d like to introduce you to the most appallingly gross creatures ever to grace the the internet: the “weeaboo,” sometimes shortened to weeb. Originally, these people were called “Wapanese,” short for wannabe Japanese. At some point in the internet’s history, a 4chan word filter rendered that as “weeaboo,” a word from the Perry Bible Fellowship comic strip. If you’ve ever seen someone respond to a tweet or a Facebook post with an obnoxious reaction image of an anime character of indeterminate age, you’ve encountered a weeaboo. You can usually find weeaboos in furious online arguments about which creepily saucer-eyed anime girl is “the best,” whether “moe,” a type of anime, is better than “space dandy,” another type of anime (they’re both terrible), and repeatedly and hilariously mispronouncing Japanese words. Until a few years ago, tentacle porn and futa hentai were the hot, weird, pervy stuff weeaboos were into, but now “lolis” — little girls — and “traps” — crossdressers who can pass — are all the rage. A weeaboo’s day is spent as follows: 1) masturbate to tentacle-themed anime pornography, 2) watch anime, 3) argue about anime on 4chan or 8chan,