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Reasonable People's First Contact With Weeb "Culture"
(hexbear.net)
The anime is Genshiken (2004), I picked it up on a whim. It's alright so far. Very "by weebs, for weebs". The manga is from 2002.
The 80s and 90s being a pass of the baton from veterans of the early days to more modern staff, which already grew up with anime, and the success of Evangelion and merchandising had some awful long-term consequences even if it was probably unavoidable under capitalism.
I've never heard of Orb but that sounds like a super interesting premise for an anime--I'l check it out!