ANIME OTAKU BOX SERIES

A final installment, however, written by an associate of Nakamori named Eji Sonta, appeared in the magazine in December 1983. Given that the column seemed to be making fun of the readers of Manga burikko, editor ЕЊtsuka Eiji canceled it (Yamanaka 2009, 25вЂ“28).

Describing such men as having a вЂњtwo-dimensional complexвЂќ ( nijigen konpurekkusu), Nakamori called them вЂњgrossвЂќ ( kimochi warui) and even вЂњfaggyвЂќ ( okama-ppoi). While Nakamori labeled everyone, from train spotters to idol chasers-men and women of all shapes and sizes with varied interests-вЂњotaku,вЂќ the primary target of his criticism was male fans of the cute girl characters appearing in manga and anime. From June to August 1983, in his вЂњвЂOtakuвЂ™ ResearchвЂќ ( вЂњOtakuвЂќ no kenkyЕ«) column, writer Nakamori Akio called out unfashionable and obsessive fans and highlighted practices such as attending fanzine conventions, costuming as characters, and lining up overnight to wait for the release of animated films.

ANIME OTAKU BOX SERIES

This comes out in a series of articles in Manga burikko, a comics magazine targeting fans of cute girl characters, which in many ways defined вЂњotakuвЂќ (see Galbraith 2015). Words such as вЂњfanвЂќ ( fan, for example fanjin, fanzine) and вЂњmaniacвЂќ ( mania, for example manga mania, manga maniac) were already in circulation, and вЂњotakuвЂќ was meant to refer to something different, strange, weird, unique, special, bad, wrong, and/or abnormal about certain fans and maniacs. The word вЂњotaku,вЂќ which means вЂњyour homeвЂќ and is used in some locales and settings as a second-person pronoun, came to be associated with the perceived excesses and perversions of fans in Japan in the early 1980s. If вЂњotakuвЂќ has become a вЂњtaken-for-granted feature of the global cultural landscapeвЂќ (Ito 2012, xxvii), then much, indeed too much, is taken for granted. Put plainly, discussions of вЂњotakuвЂќ are all too often responding to and building on media representations, discourses, and fictions. This is particularly problematic in the case of вЂњotaku,вЂќ because the media has played such an important role, perhaps the most important role, in setting the parameters of discussion (Galbraith and Lamarre 2010, 362). Further, the assumption of knowledge tends to reinforce received stereotypes and close down discussion. Be it in Japan in 2001 or the Anglophone world in 2009, Azuma is perhaps right to assume that вЂњeveryone has heard of вЂotaku,вЂ™вЂќ but this does not mean that everyone knows what the word means. Indeed, since appearing untranslated on the cover of the inaugural issue of Wired magazine in 1993, вЂњotakuвЂќ made its way into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2007. When the book was translated into English in 2009, the title was changed to Otaku, which speaks to decades of global interest in this aspect of Japan. In 2001, when cultural theorist Azuma Hiroki began his influential book about postmodernism with the sentence, вЂњI suppose everyone has heard of вЂotakuвЂ™вЂќ (2009, 3), he was acknowledging decades of discourse in Japan.

Anime otaku box