Thanks for sharing, and this is very interesting actually.

To be honest, I got over my fear of being open with my interests in anime somewhat recently, along with my fear being judged in general in social situations. I've developed an apathy for what people thought of me negatively. If there is someone who agreed or is interested in what I like, then that's awesome.

In J.T. Sexkik's video WAIFUSISM AND YOU - An Educational Film he says something along the lines of, "the only people who are going to judge you are other nerds".

Much like how I don't really care what other people think about me anymore, other people don't care about what you like. Nobody has the time to worry about others nor do they really gain anything out of it.

I used to bag on Sword Art Online all the time for being a terrible show, but I began to accept that it does have merit. If it makes other people happy, then awesome. I know that my favorite shows make me happy and I wouldn't want anyone to think poorly of it for being different from their own taste.

While I think that everyone should be free to like what they like, I also think that people should be open to other new things. You'll never know what you might like if you don't try it.