Wedding bells rang for my friend Yoshika six months ago and last night a bunch of us got together over drinks to hear all about it -- her new life as a wife to a genuine, full-fledged ota-yome (wife of an otaku or "nerd").

The ota-yome's life of course, isn't easy -- Yoshika's take on it is: sugoku henna kotoga oi (there are many very strange things). And it should be noted that Yoshika went into this with her eyes wide open, since she herself was a puchi-otaku (petit otaku, or fledgling otaku) to begin with. She had publicly declared that she loved her i-Book more than her fiance, had watched "Eba (Evangelion)," the definitive otaku anime movie directed by otaku kingpin Hideaki Anno) three times, was a devoted fan of Studio Ghibli and had once shown up at a kasoo pati (costume party) dressed as Naushica. Still, she wasn't quite prepared for the onslaught of unfettered otaku behavior that defined the couple's newlywed life.

Her husband: a smart, gentle gijutsu-kei sarariman (corporate computer engineer) in his mid-30s, is an avid collector of figya (figures) of various animation and action heroes with a special penchant for Star Wars and Gundam. He knew seven of the great classic ani-son (animation theme songs) by heart, and liked to sing them out loud, at the top of his lungs while driving. He never failed to get up at 7:30 on Sunday mornings to watch a cult '70s anime rerun on TV and seriously considered dressing up as Kamen Raidaa (The Masked Rider) for his wedding until his mother wept and begged him not to.