Summer is a beautiful time of year to stay inside so you can avoid the allergies, sunburns, and every protagonist’s mortal enemy: trucks.

Make this summer great by staying home, cranking up your A/C unit to max cool, stocking up on snacks, and enjoying the vast bounty of awesome and strange that the Internet has to offer.

Start the long adventure with One Piece

One Piece has sold over 430 million copies and has over 845 anime episodes. It’s a gargantuan epic that merges pirates, superpowers, talking fish, crazy battles, and loveable characters that have kept this series alive for years. If you haven’t watched this series, no time like summer to begin the journey. You may be able to emerge from your house by the end of the year if you’re a fast reader or give up on sleep.

Advance your Japanese skills

Imagine being able to watch anime without subtitles – you could fully appreciate all the sakuga and beautiful animation that the studios have labored over. There are of course a million more reasons to learn a new language (like it literally improves your brain, it’s useful if you visit Japan, and you could message your favorite creators on Twitter) and you’re just a few clicks away from your first lesson. There are lots of paid services for learning Japanese but some free resources to get your feet wet are Duolingo, Tofugu, Jisho, and more.

Discover doujinshi and choose your favorite ships

Doujinshi or doujin (同人誌) are self-published works like manga, books, or magazines. While the content is made by amateurs usually, the level of talent can often be pro-level! And probably the number one reason why so many people read, collect, and follow doujinshi is because these amateur authors often create alternate stories for popular ships. If you fell in love with Eren x Levi in Attack on Titan or Rem x Subaru in Re:Zero there’s a doujin for it. And yes, a large portion of doujin are 18+, yaoi or yuri, and are sold in Japan with paper over the cover because fans get dirty when they can create their fantasy ship.

Start to live your real anime life on VR chat

Do you know de wae? Because the Internet sure did when this startup launched their new service and Sanic started to take over every meme video for a few weeks. Behind the Sanic memes is a solid community of anime fans to love to take on the look of their favorite character and get into some mischief, like loli knife fights.

Play Final Fantasy games starting with the original

Like One Piece, the Final Fantasy game series keeps getting new content for a reason. The music, gameplay, worldbuilding, and heart-rending stories are legendary. You can really appreciate the series if you play through the series from the start to see the evolution in graphics and gameplay. The earlier games have been released in new formats and on new platforms, including even phones and tablets.

“Train” for the naughtiest E-Sports league

E-sports has grown to be a million dollar industry with huge cash prizes and rewards. YouPorn, the company behind the esports Team YP, has decided to put up $25,000 for Nutaku’s Eroge E-Sports Tournament. 64 players will compete playing the new game, TnT or Tits and Tanks, and have a great excuse all summer for why they’re spending all day alone in their room.

Fall into figure collecting

Say hello to your new waifu or husbando and goodbye to ever paying back your student loans! Figure collecting is addictive with new characters, poses, and outfits being released every season. GoodSmile will punish you will adorable figures you can’t resist. But on the plus side, you could take some next level figure photography with your new treasures. Good luck trying to avoid bootlegs!

Revamp your wardrobe with anime inspiration

Thanks to online shopping, you don’t have to drag yourself to the mall and fight to find parking. You can comparison shop your way to designing a million closet cosplays based on the anime you’re currently into. Polyvore used to be king for style mood boards but after it’s closure, now ShopLook and Japan’s iqon will be your go-to solution.

Refine your cooking skills by remaking food from Shokugeki no Soma

Who needs cooking schools when you have all of YouTube to teach you? Throw on some knife skill tutorials by Gordan Ramsey and learn how to love vegetables with Jaques Pepin and sooner then you’d think, you’ll be able to take on some Shokugeki no Soma dishes. Or at least make some high-level instant ramen!

Start your voice acting career by joining indie animation and games

Sure, we can’t all fly to Japan to become an anime voice actor but it’s still fun to voice some indie projects. Learning to find character voices can start with impressions and practicing from scripts of your favorite anime or games. It can be embarrassing as your voice cracks when your practice doing an anime loli voice so it’s the perfect summer activity to do in your room alone (or in your closet if worried others will hear). There are plenty of sites to find friends, feedback, or try to snag a part in a game or animation.

• Voice Acting Club
• Voice123
• Behind the Voice Actor’s Casting Call
• Reddit’s Voice Work

Find your fetish on Fakku

Fakku is a cornerstone of the hentai community and is a great place to explore your darker desires (and even hosts a few events in the outside world). It’s changed in recent years when it became a paid service but has a growing community of supportive of lewd lovers who accept you regardless of if you’re looking for yuri spider monster NTR with knee-high socks or just some plain vanilla fun that ends with cuddles.

Read the light novel of your favorite series

It’s no secret that many anime are adaptations of manga and light novels, but many fans who have fallen in love with series like No Game, No Life or Spice & Wolf don’t realize that the story continues! Light novels actually have a huge advantage over anime that will please any super fan. The novels aren’t constrained to 20+ minute time blocks on TV so they can tell the story without having to rush. They’re often rich in backstory, side characters, and allow fans to really experience the full breadth of the fantasy world. You can use the Yen Press website to find many of the popular series and where to find them.