Everyone’s seen them; the greasy unkempt anime uber-fan who can tell you the secret religious meaning in an anime series. By unkempt I mean unwashed and oblivious to daily hygiene. Even Anime Central admits that rabid fans are stinky and olfactory offensive by their Got Soap? campaign. These are the folks who will watch ANYTHING anime, no matter how blatantly crappy, and then turn around and lord it over you. They wear anime fan shirts a size too small and buy all anime related products (I’m waiting for someone to buy the Hello Kitty “personal massagerâ€).
Then you have the fan girls who wet themselves every time they see a “bishi†on the TV screen. I’ve seen fan girls who openly kiss plush anime dolls and who know all the words to an opening theme, in Japanese. Some of these are the same fan girls who get all hot and heavy over yaoi.
Don’t get me wrong, I loooove anime. I’d say 65% of everything I watch is anime. I listen to OSTs, read manga and drool over good fan art. I even think there are some really hot bishis out there in Anime-land. I appreciate good cosplay and I just love doujinshi (fan manga) as long as it’s not icky yaoi. I just can’t understand those fans that let anime consume them to the point that they have no life outside of it.
There’s a word for super fans like these: otaku (pronounced oh-tah-coo). It’s a Japanese word that’s been hijacked for use by anime lovers who don’t grasp the negative connotations of the word. It literally means “your house/your homeâ€. How did it get to mean crazy, obsessed fan? Eh, time I suppose, and distance from the people who use the language on a daily basis.
In Japan, otaku is a negative word thanks in part to Tsutomu Miyazaki. He was a bad, bad man who was obsessed with hentai and lived out his dirty fantasies on little girls. So otaku came to be associated with obsession and fanatics. Who the hell would call themselves otaku after reading about that?
I mean, first off, obsession is a negative thing and fanatics have never been OK. What kind of life can you lead that has any meaning when anime is your only real focus? Being obsessed with anything is unhealthy and fanatics are just plain crazy self-centered psychos.
Secondly, why would anybody use a word, with pride, that is associated with a serial killer? I’ve seen t-shirts at Hot Topic (the Goth uniform store) that have “otaku†printed on them in both kanji and English. Why not just wear a shirt that says “Psycho Baby Humperâ€? That way you can let everyone know you have a serious social problem upfront without all the guesswork of deciphering the word otaku.
Here’s a tip for all self-styled otaku: don’t let the world know that you have no sense of proportion – you give anime fans a bad name. I realize there are otaku in other incarnations in the way of Star Wars fans, LARPs (live action role player), Star Trek fans, etc., but otaku is mainly reserved to describe excessive, creepy anime fans. Don’t ruin anime’s reputation for the rest of us; we still want people to discover the awesomeness of anime/manga without being driven away by crazy, obsessive fans.
OMG u r so kawaiii!!!
???? I know kawaii is cute in Japanese…sooooo could you clarify? I love to be complimented; in what way am I “cute� Or is it tongue in cheek?
Never used or liked the term “Otaku”.
I do admit that there are a couple of shows and mangas that I go Goo Goo Gaa Gaa over but not to a point where it rules my life.
And like they say “Too much of a good thing is bad for you.”… I’m sure that doesn’t apply to the “Otaku” in any way, shape, form, ect.
My dislike for the term spiked after I read this (http://catsonmars.com/otaku/otabout.php).
Got even worse when I sat next to an Otaku when I was in high school.
But my main point, I completely agree with you.
Otaku is a dirty word.
I used “otaku” in my anime early days, -Mitzy, back before I knew what it was. I even dressed up as one for Halloween one year (still not really knowing what an otaku was).
Ignorance is a state we all pass through on our journey in life. It’s whether or not we take up residency in said state that defines us as ignorant, willing to learn, learning, or scholar. I’d like to think I’m learning and helping people learn. Hence, the otaku article.
Secede from ignorance and be otakus no more!