I don’t know if anybody outside of St. Louis knows, but we’ve had a metro-wide blackout since 7:14pm Wednesday night. Our place just got electricity back at 12:30pm today. So, for two nights it’s been hot, miserable, and utterly boring.
Dave and I got to talking one of those nights about anime and what our opinions were on some, strong issues. I can’t figure out how it got started, but we had an extremely heated debate – excuse the pun – about the word “otakuâ€. I was arguing that it’s a vile word and how I couldn’t believe how Western anime fans wear the word like a badge of pride. David was arguing that since it’s been “Americanizedâ€, it doesn’t carry the same connotations as it does in Japan.
OK – it’s true a healthy portion of anime fans love Japanese culture and try to emulate what they see in anime, down to trying to learn the language. That’s all well and good, but how can anyone who loves anime so much not know what an otaku really is? I’ve tried to enlighten fans before with my post Otaku is a Dirty Word, but I feel that I must once again try and reach out to fans that either don’t know or don’t care.
Otaku is a word that you don’t use in polite Japanese company, or at least the polite Japanese company I keep. I’ve brought up the word to Japanese friends and the way it’s used in America. I tell them it means “crazy-ass obsessed anime fan”. Apparently it means the same thing in Japan, but it’s a bad, bad way to label someone. It’d be like calling someone a mother-f’er .
I’ve said before that there was an evil, foul man who raped and murdered children after being inspired to do it by reading hentai and bondage manga. He was labeled an otaku, and the Japanese haven’t completely forgotten the association of that word with that man.
So, saying “I’m an otaku” is sorta like saying, “I’m either clueless or insensitive to your culture.”
Think of it this way: Some cute/sexy Japanese anime fan comes to America and is clueless to our culture. She goes to an anime convention and cosplays as something absolutely adorable. As she’s getting her picture taken, she flashes a smile, holds up the peace sign, and declares “I’m proud to be a Ted Bundy!”
Utter silence will follow that statement as any one who knows who Ted Bundy is (and I’m pretty sure most people do) will be totally offended. Do people actually know what they’re saying when they say “otakus rule”? Do they care? Will they change their self-labeling ways and just go with “extreme anime fanâ€? Are you proud to be an otaku?
Whether otaku means something good or bad has become irrevelent. Now it is simply an identifier by both the fans and the media. Some realize it means something bad but otaku has lost all actual meaning beyond group of anime fans. and yes I like being an otaku and know perfectly well what it means for awhile.
Who’s Ted bundy? Never heard of him until just then
Yerr .. otaku is our way of life .. just like Haruhism
Glad your power is back on. I don’t know why someone would want to associate themselves with a serial killer but at the same time I understand that this word has become a convienient way for people to label themselves and it has changed it’s meaning over time here in America.
This sounds like the argument that Ed and I have about “emo.” He says, “but all music is emotional” and I say that I agree but the term “emo” no longer means emotional, emotive, or whatever even though that is where it originated. It has evolved as a word and has become a convenient way of labeling something.
My friend was telling me last night what otaku as a word and term actually means…”otaku” means two things in the Japanese language. 1.) it’s a very polite form of “you” 2.) it means “your house/ your things”
Ok, fair enough, so how does that apply to anime fans? First off, an otaku in Japan can be anyone crazy about anything. You can be a watch otaku, a rock otaku, a money otaku, whatever.
Secondly, otakus don’t give a rat’s ass about other people. The only thing they care about is what other people have that they want. Say I have anime and manga and an otaku wants my anime and manga. He’ll bargain with me to get my anime and manga but he sees me as a non-entity, as a thing in the way of his anime. I’m not a person to the otaku, just an obstacle. Make sense? So otaku’s are only interested in “your things” (meaning #2). That’s why most otaku are stereotyped as antisocial and clueless.
In Japan- birthplace of anime- the word itself is not bad, nor is it’s use in labelling someone who’s really into something. It’s ONLY considered negative in context with anime. Period. So to me it’s ironic when fans of anime who loovvvvee anime to the point of labelling themselves, call themslves something most people wouldn’t dream of.
Waterfall, I’m sorry you’ve never heard of one the most notorious serial killers that America’s ever been afflicted with. Honestly.
Ted Bundy is considered the archetype of serial killers. I’ve been warned countless times about who and what to avoid when I’m by myself at night or even during the day-thanks to how Ted Bundy caught and killed his victims. He helped shape American women’s paranoia of the single white male.
Alafista, If you like the lifestyle of a crazy anime, meh, OK. It’s not my thing but variety is the habanero of life. I personally get all otakued out about rocks and can’t shut the hell up when I talk to people about them. I don’t call myself an obsessed mineral-humper though. I just am. Just be a crazy anime fan, no names or strings attatched.
And to anyone who has no clue what Haruhi-ism is, here’s a link http://etherchan.org/wiki/index.php/Haruhiism
about Otaku, how’s this video?
in the final part, men shout ‘Moe’ or something.
is it otaku? u think so? i never met any otaku people.
anyway, this is also stupid and crazy, i guess.
is it japanese comedy? Or any TV program?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzwjTDmU6-k
I think that it’s probably a video made by a fan of Japanese culture, -Stranger. When the men were shouting “moe” at the end , they were referring to the maids at the maid cafe. Moe is a sort of generalized female stereotype in anime. Maids are moe, but then so are chicks with glasses, lolis, or any female character that is generally over cute, “helpless”, or subservient. I loathe moe in large doses but I don’t mind a hint here in there in anime as long as the story isn’t being fueled by it. Mind you that when I say hint I mean barely noticeable.