Nerdology 101: Nerd Culture - Level 1

Nerrrrddddsssss! I missed ya. Welcome back to Nerdology 101. If you’re new here, good. This week is for you. I’m Maria Levato. This is my website and my blog, poke around if you want to get to know me. This week, though, you can call me sensei because I’m going to teach you all about Level 1 of the Nerdom. Want to watch anime, but don’t know where to start? I got you. Want to join the raving lunatics over on BookTok, but struggling to figure out where to start? You’re in the right place. Want to start gaming but aren’t sure what games align with the things you already like? Right this way. Let’s get into some Nerdology and find you the nerdy haven you long for!

What is a “nerd”? Like, what does being a nerd truly mean?

We use the word nerd so loosely. It’s meaning has evolved a ton over time. Depending on who you’re talking to, you could get any of the following definitions:

1. A smart person,

2. A smart person, but specifically one who’s niche is in a STEM subject,

3. Someone who consumes a lot of media (any format), that doesn’t fit into the mainstream,

4. Someone who consumes specific formats of niche media,

Anyone with a niche/special interest.

My answer? All of these people are nerds. Just like any other self-identifier, the word nerd is open to interpretation and the community isn’t a monolith. Personally, I’m a nerd by all but one of these definitions. (I have all the love for you, STEM nerds. Doctors, medicine, research, I’m all for it when done ethically. It’s just not the thing that excites me). For the sake of this blog post, though, let’s focus on the niche media people since I can help you all out the most.

What is “niche media”?

Niche media is something that a majority of people probably haven’t heard of or consumed. For example, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is mainstream. They were giant, blockbuster films that most people have probably come into contact with (or at least that was the case, but post Endgame there was a pretty big dip in Marvel viewership). However, the Marvel comics are where I would say niche starts. Most people, in general, probably know they exist, but don’t read them. Yet, within the comic-reading community, most people have probably read a Marvel comic. This can apply to anything. Anime is pretty mainstream these days, but I’d still consider it niche-ish since it hasn’t become something a majority of people watch yet. Within that, though, there’s a giant difference between Naruto and One Piece, which are substantially closer to mainstream, and Kamisama Kiss, which is niche no matter how you cut it. So, as you can see, there are levels to the concept, but in general, niche media pertains to obscurity. It’s not a perfect definition, but it is one I think makes a solid benchmark definition for someone starting out.

So, where do I start?

Ah, the age old question. Most of these lists, from what I’ve seen, recommend whatever is most popular even if it isn’t aligned with your interests or if it’s just not attainable for someone who doesn’t already do this. I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going by subject matter. Under each subject, I’ll make a few nerdy recs. You can look at them all, or if there’s a subject you think you’re more likely to enjoy than others, you can just look at it. The subjects will be fantasy, romance, and action.

Fantasy

Books:

Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien (best for those who are okay taking some time to wrap their heads around the world and diving into a series. No romance or spice).

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor - Xiran Jay Zhao (best for those who want an easy, short, single book read. No romance or spice.).

Lore of the Wilds - Analeigh Sbrana (best for those who want a series, but one that’s easier to wrap your head around if you’re new to fantasy. Has romantic element, no spice).

Our Vicious Oaths - N.E./Nia Davenport *author uses both (best for fantasy w/ romance and spice).

Anime:

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Best if you’re looking for a single season, quick watch with minimal fluff).

Seven Deadly Sins (Best if you’re looking for a good balance of action, emotion, and goofiness that has multiple seasons but isn’t too long).

Bleach (Best if you’re looking for something long but also easy to watch).

Games:

Genshin Impact (Best if you’re looking for easy gameplay, open-world, great storytelling, wonderful animation).

Pokemon (Best if you’re looking for easy, digestable, turn based combat w/ open world exploration, low complexity) - Least Challenging.

D&D Online (Best if you want customizable characters and storylines in an open world setting) - Most Challenging.

Romance

Books:

The Love Con by Seressia Glass (Best for no spice & FM)

I Think They Love You by Julian Winters (Best for low spice & MM)

No Boy Summer by Amy Spalding (Best for no spice & FF)

Lights Out by Navessa Allen (Best for moderate spice, dark humor, & MF. This is also the only rec in this section with multiple books).

Anime:

My Happy Marriage (Best for convergence of romance, fantasy, and historical, ongoing, currently 2 seasons. MF).

Sasaki and Miyano (Best for BL, 1 season).

Citrus (Best for FF).

TV:

X.O. Kitty (Best for multiple seasons, romantic ups and downs, teenage loves, and discovering oneself)

Outlander (Best for long watch, multiple elements/crossover, spicy, can be graphic/violent).

Bridgerton (Best for multiple romances across multiple seasons, spicy).

Movies:

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (Best for multiple movies & follow through after the romance is made official, no spice).

After (Best for multiple movies, some spice, and high tension).

Five Feet Apart (Best for emotional damage, no spice).

Action (Not many recs here. Just some anime. Action isn’t really my area of expertise).

Record of Ragnarok (Best for back-to-back brutal battles to the death).

Naruto (Best for if you want awesome fights and you’re willing to wait for them).

Bleach *again (this show has an amazing animation style that makes it’s fights legendary, but again, you have to wait for them).

That’s about all for this week, loves! Hope this list helps you find your way into the nerdom, or if you’re already in it to discover something you haven’t already. See you back next week for another segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Diversity in the Nerdom

Hello and welcome back to Nerdology 101, the blog where, at least for this week, I say things that should be obvious because the Nazi’s among us don’t seem to get the point that they are the only ones that aren’t welcome here. This week we’re talking about diversity in the nerdy world. So, let’s dive right in.

The nerdy community wouldn’t exist without diversity. Let me say it louder for the people in the back: THE NERDY COMMUNITY WOULDN’T EXIST WITHOUT DIVERSITY.

Being a nerd is a concept that began its evolution some time between 1930 and 1980, according to Merriam-Webster. While the etymology of the word isn’t extremely clear, we do know that it has taken on a few different meanings since its creation. It’s been used to call people socially inept, intelligent, socially inept with intelligence, and more. Today, we mostly use it to describe those who are enthusiastic and knowledgable about a niche topic such as gaming, books, anime, etc. This is important to remember because the concept of nerd we know today didn’t even start to form until the 90’s. Millenials fueled and witnessed the shift ourselves when we woke up at 5AM every day to watch Inuyasha on Adult Swim and popularized series Divergent, Hunger Games, Dune, and Lord of the Rings. Thus, nerd culture is still relatively new to society.

Part of the reason nerd culture took off with such ferocity is because it reached the disinfranchised. Do you know how rare it was to see a Black person in a TV fantasy series in 2006? How about a Black person who wasn’t depicted in a racist way or who only showed up once for five seconds only to never be seen again? Bleach did it, though. Most popular is the character Yoruichi, who we all know and love, they also had quite a few others who were well written with brown skin. The same goes for Naruto—though there were flaws in the way they did it—characters like Karui and Darui are met a need American media was completely ignoring at the time. This type of representation attracted diverse communities that drove the success of anime. In these statistics released by Crunchyroll in 2024, we see that the amount of Black anime fans has been rising drastically with each generation with only 9% of Boomer anime fans being Black, 13% of Gen X, 19% of Millenials, 23% of anime watchers in Gen Z. That’s almost a quarter of anime fans in Gen Z that are Black. If you include other ethnic minority groups, 48% of anime fans in Gen Z are not White. Beyond ethnicity, over 1/3 of the total anime watching community across generations is women with the highest two generations (Millenials and Gen Z) both being over 40% and 32% of across generations identifying as LGBTQIA+ in some way. These are massive portions of anime’s fanbase. Without that diversity, the style would take massive hits likely resulting in worse animation, storytelling, etc. More than that, though, it’s insane to call yourself a nerd if you hate such a large portion of the community you’re identifying with.

Aside from anime, we also have substantial diversity in the bookish community, gaming community, and every other aspect of nerdom. Just recently, a Mixed race author who I look up to, Amber V. Nicole, topped the USA Today and NYT Bestseller lists with her new release, The Wrath of the Fallen in the Gods and Monsters series. Julian Winters made the Marie Claire “25 Best Romance Books of 2025” list with his book I Think They Love You. Tracy Deonn, Analeigh Sbrana, Harley Laroux, and the list goes on—diverse authors are thriving with the support of diverse readers. We would lose a ton of great writing without the diversity that is getting attacked by so many.

In information released by Women in Games, 53% of gamers are men and 46% are women with the remaining 1% being non-binary or putting “I prefer not to say”. 38% of gamers are an ethnicity other than white. Thus, this extends to gaming as well. Every corner of the wider nerdom is filled with diversity. So, why is it that the bigoted ideas that harm so many within the community still thrive? The only answer I can come to is silence. So many are afraid to speak up when something is wrong for fear that no one will stand with them and that they’ll only isolate themselves further. In a video posted by Tony Weaver Jr. following the death of a Black cosplayer named Ash, he calls for us not just to be more inclusive towards Black people in the nerdom, but also for us to be more exclusive towards those who making the sort of bigoted comments that led to Ash’s death to begin with. This sort of hatred has no place in our community and I agree with what Tony is saying here. We need to drive the hatred out by making it harder for it to exist in the first place. Our community will be better for it, just as it has been better for the increased diversity throughout the generations.

That’s all I have for you this week. Drop in next Friday at 3PM ET for our next segment of Nerdology 101. Until then, have a nerdy week!