College kids have a knack for obscure interests and tons of free time to enjoy them. That’s where anime got its start in the Western world. These foreign language novelties had weird letters and giant eyes and gibberish sounding language (even after translated). Throughout the 1970s and 80s, fans learned Japanese and translated anime shows and movies and including their subtitles in bootleg copies to share. Even as commercially translated anime was imported, fans contributed their own translations to less popular franchises that had little hope of localization. The internet expanded these fan translations, working on not only translating untranslated films, shows, and video games, but redoing unsatisfactory translations. It’s the only way to play the whole Earthbound series with any quality.

It’s hard to summarize Neon Genesis Evangelion, and no this is not the beginning of my sixth grade book report. The manga and anime melds genres, tackling all themes from religion to sexuality to psychoanalytic theory. The popular series explores a post-apocalyptic world (shocking, anime never has one of those), where half the world’s population died, there is geopolitical and economic unrest (some nuclear bombs thrown in), and of course, giant robots. Evangelion’s mature and unique style significantly shaped later anime, even so much as changing how giant robots were designed (shows how much they use them).

There are many factions within the geek community, most viciously opposing and plot the death of other factions. Just try to get a Star Trek fan to agree with a Star Wars fan on anything. The truth is there is a hierarchy of geeks, and geeks in higher parts of that hierarchy are well in their power to look down on those lower in the hierarchy, the same way jocks and cheerleaders look down on all geeks. This list ranks the geekiest of geek hobbies in, well, order of geekiness. Enjoy one of these doesn’t make you a bad person. Just really, really geeky.

7. Star Wars geek

When it comes to sci-fi geekdom, Star Wars wins. It’s just huge, with every comic book, novel, action figure, and video game to collect, memorize, and horde. No other single franchise can match this insanity.

How to know if you are one: You have read anything Star Wars related outside of the 6 movies

Wastes money on: Anything Star Wars related outside of the 6 movies

6. Anime

Pokemon has helped turn anime into a less embarrassing hobby, as long as you are younger than 12. Once you his puberty, it’s time to hide those big-eyed cartoons and start watching South Park. But some geeks can’t break the habit. They just love the speed lines.

How to know if you are one: You understand anime

Wastes money on: Subtitle software and Japanese lessons

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The cyberpunk anime extravaganza Ghost in the Shell features all the staples of the genre, from cyberpunk designs to big robots to a convoluted storyline that makes no sense to anyone let alone the creators. But Ghost in the Shell also featured some new stuff, specifically pioneering efforts in computer animation. Ghost in the Shell devoted massive resources to using computers to improve the animation process, producing crisp and fluid action-packed reels of awesomeness.

Anime fans long knew the name of Hayao Miyazaki has pretty much a genius and all around awesome guy. A few of his movies leaked into the United States, but the flood gate (in relative terms for anime) began when Princess Mononoke came state side. The visionary, mature, animated masterpiece was already the highest grossing film in Japan and garnered rave reviews from American critics, including Roger Ebert who named it one of the best movies of the year. Miyazaki’s next film, Spirited Away, went on to win the Academy Award for animated feature further legitimizing anime for mainstream western audiences.

Dragon Ball Z had no qualms about killing off major characters.  Thanks to the robust ensemble cast, someone was always around to wish someone else back using the Dragon Balls.  But when Goku died for the first time, there was quite a shock.  More shocking though was when his friends wished him back, he had to walk all the way from heaven back to Earth.  Talk about the walk of shame.

Japanese animation always had a tiny foot hold on college clubs sharing fan-translations of the complex stories and crude animation techniques.  Akira changed the anime market in Japan and America.  Akira used more than 160,000 animation cells to created fluid motion and a meticulously detailed world.  This compared to anime’s normal practice of cutting corners like animating only mouths while keeping faces static.  Akira also recorded all its dialogue first, animating second unlike most anime, created more polished lip-synching for dialogue.

Released in 1988, Akira became a huge success in Japan and introduced anime to a wider audience in America.  The high-production values impressed animation fans around the worlds, building international popularity for Japan’s unique animation style.  The fact that Akira was an awesome story was just like the DVD extras.  And geeks love DVD extras (or Blu-Ray extras, I’m not sure yet).