Note: This was previously housed at Bright Hub, but has migrated here for a permanent home.
Otaku and Anime
Anime is Japanese made animation. It comes in all styles and genres, from animations for young children (think Pokémon), to stories of children trying to survive on their own in post WWII Japan (Grave of the Fireflies), a very poignant story in a fairly realistic style, meant for an adult audience.Otaku, in Japanese, is a very formal word meaning ‘you’, and is not normally used between people of the same age and status. There is also an association with the word taku, or house, in Japanese. Over the past few decades, the word has come to have other associations in Japan, some of them rather uncomplimentary. There are many otaku subcultures, ranging from those devoting themselves to anime and manga (Japanese comic books or graphic novels), radio, Pop Singers, computer games, computer programming, movies, model trains and numerous other interests.
In the United States, and in other western countries, the word otaku has come to mean a particularly devoted anime and/or manga fan. Perhaps the closest American analogy to the meaning for American anime fans is the group of Star Trek enthusiasts called Trekkies; the fans who know the plots and writers of every episode, the names of the extras, make their own Star Trek uniforms or build models of the USS Enterprise from plans drawn by other fans.
Lawrence Eng and Otaku 101
Lawrence Eng, PhD, wrote his dissertation on Otaku Culture. He gave a talk on Otaku 101 in February 2010 at Genericon XXIII, a small Anime Con held yearly at RPI in Troy, NY, where he discussed what is known about the changing meaning of otaku in Japanese culture.
In paraphrase, he said it seems to have begun when: a group of university students interested in animation in the late 1970s began to use otaku as an honorific greeting to one another. The group, many of them who went on to start Studio Gainax, a well-known Japanese animation studio, addressed each other with the formal term, although they were students of the same age. It seems to have had overtones of both detachment and recognition of expertise.
While probably first used among anime makers and fans, use of the word spread to a number of subcultures or interest groups in Japan around the early 1980s. It was generally used to indicate people who had strong interests in an area, and devoted themselves, fanatically, to learning more. In many ways they were people with strong intellectual curiosity and an interest in examining things from many different angles. He asked the audience for the meanings they associated with the word otaku. The list they came up with was that Otaku can mean enthusiast, creep, introverted and agoraphobic fanatic, geek, observer, unkempt, collector, pervert, expert, or anime fan, depending on who you ask and how people think of themselves or others.
While probably first used among anime makers and fans, use of the word spread to a number of subcultures or interest groups in Japan around the early 1980s. It was generally used to indicate people who had strong interests in an area, and devoted themselves, fanatically, to learning more. In many ways they were people with strong intellectual curiosity and an interest in examining things from many different angles. He asked the audience for the meanings they associated with the word otaku. The list they came up with was that Otaku can mean enthusiast, creep, introverted and agoraphobic fanatic, geek, observer, unkempt, collector, pervert, expert, or anime fan, depending on who you ask and how people think of themselves or others.
History of Otaku in Japan
In 1983 the media in Japan began to pay attention to the otaku subcultures, and portrayed them with varying degrees of mockery. They were often typified as antisocial, unwashed, overweight and what in the United States would be referred to as nerds or geeks. They were equated with the sort of person who lived with a huge collection of items related to their mania in their parent’s garage, unwilling to go out in the sunlight or get jobs. While there are members of most groups who fit that stereotype, most people in any group do not, and otaku groups are no different.
In Japan, in 1989, there was an incident involving a psychopath called Tsutomu Miyazaki, who kidnapped, assaulted and murdered four little girls. Investigators found his apartment filled with manga, pornography, anime and slasher movies. The media called him the Otaku Murderer, and all over Japan, the otaku subcultures, especially the anime otaku, were viewed with revulsion and panic. All otaku were tarred with the same brush, and to be called an otaku was very derogatory. Many people in the otaku subcultures no longer wanted to be identified with the word otaku.
For years, the otaku were pictured throughout Japan as, at best, the unkempt geeks the media had previously portrayed them, and at worst, as sociopaths waiting for an opportunity. Very gradually, the image began to change, and with it the stigma of being an otaku. An otaku man saved a beautiful woman from death under a train, and somewhat ineptly began to court her. Manga were written about the story, TV shows portrayed it, and movies were made. He was an endearing character to the public, not a threat. Certain industries found that self-identified otaku made very good employees in their fields, with an unusual depth of knowledge and devotion to learning more.
Otaku outside Japan
Studio Gainax made an animation, Otaku no Video, in 1991, which was a humorous look at different Otaku subcultures, which has many other types than those devoted to anime or manga. It was released in the US in 1992, and American fans learned the word otaku.
Otaku had never stopped doing what they enjoyed, and industries grew up catering to their wants. There were manga devoted to the different types, models and plastic figures made of their interests, whether Pop Idols or cyborg women or giant robots, and computer games and video games sold. Financially, the otaku were having a real impact on the economy. And the interest, especially in anime and manga, was not confined to Japan. Worldwide, there were fan who wanted to watch anime TV shows and movies, play anime related games, read manga and make costumes portraying their favorite characters. Outside of Japan, devoted fans were proud to call themselves otaku. Bookstores stocked manga and DVD of animations could be rented from video stores.
Money talks, and politicians and industry leaders who had no interest in what actually interested otaku started listening. Prominent members of the public, like former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso, identified themselves as otaku. While not everyone in Japan is comfortable with the name or the ideas of the otaku, public perception no longer saw psychopaths lurking in every otaku subculture.
Money talks, and politicians and industry leaders who had no interest in what actually interested otaku started listening. Prominent members of the public, like former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso, identified themselves as otaku. While not everyone in Japan is comfortable with the name or the ideas of the otaku, public perception no longer saw psychopaths lurking in every otaku subculture.
Otaku now
After the worldwide release of Otaku no Video in 1992, animation fans began to use the word to describe themselves. In America, Great Britain, France and Canada, anime fans were delighted to refer to themselves as otaku, although most of them know that in Japan the name may have different associations to some people.
Are you an otaku?
Sources
As well as Lawrence Eng’s talk, and my own familiarity with the word in anime fandom, information for this article was also found at:
No comments:
Post a Comment