Yeah it was tough in high school, but through uni I met a lot of people with similar interests.
After uni though when you got to move away and get a job and its harder to meet people like that anymore... it can get lonely. But I still keep in contact with a lot of those friends from uni and we can talk for hours about it still.

I guess its as lonely as you want to make it. There are people out there. In my area there is an Anime club and a few manga/anime retailers on the main street so you can meet people pretty easily.

Anime is unpopular here.My classmates only play games or watch movies.I just watch anime alone.

I think it all depends on where you live. Hardly anyone in my area has heard of anime or manga, but I've had friends in other areas of the UK who live in very "anime heavy" towns.

Most of my friends are into anime, so no, not really.

With this question the time period is very important. When I first started watching anime (and was aware that it was anime) I was about..15 (back in 1997) I live in new york city, and this was in the middle of high-school. There were about a handful of people that even knew about the stuff past what they would show on Cartoon Network. (and the people that only knew about that weren't even aware that it was anime) Other than that, anime was pretty scarce, and not to mention hard to find.

(on an unrelated note, i kinda envy the people who get into anime now only cause it's so wide-spread. When i started watching it, i had to go to chinatown, and i'd have to pay 5 bucks to see about 4 episodes on vhs. There were no torrents and sites online to download it, so the people who can do that now, are lucky..)

I'd say back then 1997, it wasn't something that you had many people into, especially into the heart of the city. It was very unknown. In that aspect yes, i'll agree with you.

Though now, you can probably spit into the air, and it would land on someone who knows about anime, or is an avid watcher. Of course location plays a big part in this, but more than likely, if you live in a big city, there's groups of people who watch it and they walk around with "neon signs"(bookbags and other paraphenalia) stating that they're into it. With the state of anime the way it is now, I don't think it's that lonely. You just need to know where to look for it.

I also didnt have much friends that are fans... sometimes hard to find a topic to chat with my friends.. sobb...

Well everyone has his hobbies... Personally I don't have friends who like animes, but I don't think that it is a lonely hobby since everyone does what he likes most, it's a choice. And anyway, even if you can't talk to your friends about anime, there are a lot of other things to talk about.
Anime isn't a lonely hobby if you know where to share your passion =)

I think it's lonely because of stereotypes.. I like anime and the occasional manga, but when I goto the bookstore I see the over the top radical anime/manga fans and I'm nowhere near that. So out of fear to be judge as an anime stereotype I stay to myself in public.

Hm...not really. I learn japanese in college and almost all my classmates came there because they are anime fans. And even before I got in colllege, I can't say I felt lonely. I really love anime, and all the things that I love are practically my life. They are as important as friends are to me, so why would that make me lonely? I'm sometimes pissed when I'm really obsessed with some anime serie and I don't have anyone to talk with, but that's why I have interenet, fansites, etc :)

I wouldn't say it's lonely, but it can be if you really don't know anyone that shares your interest. Anime seems to be a very love-or-hate deal where I'm from, so all the watchers stick together!

Most or a lot of my friends from high school and at university are interested in anime (they're asian) so i guess you just have to find your niche of people who have common interests. Although I have to admit that anime isn't really something that's mainstream and widely popular.

I totally refuse that!! ,it's not a lonely habit,it's just that we can't watch it in front of people who don't understand it,imagine watching an anime in the last episode where the main character is about to tell the girl he loves her loves her and he says "dude there gonna have s** haha lol*.it's irritating that people think of anime that way.

No man watching anime is not a lonely hobby.people used to make fun of every thing.now a days if you like reading books and reading is your hobby people used to make fun of that also.if you like something then why think so much what others will say.and i have friends who like to talk about animes but every time they start to talk about animes i cut them off because some of them become spoilers and started to tell me what will gonna happen next.
In my country not many people no about anime they think that anime is just a cartoon like every other cartoon in CN.so its hard to find people here who likes anime.but im happy and i think its not a lonely hobby at all.plus im having fun watching it.its my thing i don't give a damn if its a lonely hobby or not.if its a lonely hobby then i love to be unique.

I think the problem is that most people think that all Anime/Manga are only for kids (like most western comics are).
I only know one person (as in 'real-life' friend) that is a anime fan,but it also could be that here in germany (where I live) comic -and fantasy in general- just isn't such a big part of our lives,like in japan where the kids are said to be born with a manga in hand :D

Lonely hobby? I don't think that way unless you see yourself as the misunderstood and rejected