Otaku
Otaku is a type of Japanese subculture of people with consuming interests, such as anime, manga, video games, computers, or any other enthusiastically pursued hobby. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in Manga Burikko.
Otaku subculture is a central theme of various anime, manga, documentaries, and academic research. The subculture began in the 1980s as changing social mentalities and the nurturing of otaku traits by Japanese schools combined with the resignation of such individuals to what was then seen as inevitably becoming social outcasts. The subculture's birth coincided with the anime boom after the release of works such as Mobile Suit Gundam, before it branched into Comic Market. The rise of the internet and media further expanded the otaku subculture, as more anime, video games, and other media catering to otaku interests were created. The definition of subsequently became more complex, and numerous classifications of otaku emerged.
may be used as a pejorative, with its negativity stemming from a stereotypical view of otaku as social outcasts and the media's reporting on Tsutomu Miyazaki, "The Otaku Murderer", in 1989. Otaku discrimination was particularly intense between 1989 and the mid-1990s. According to studies published in 2013, the term has become less negative, and an increasing number of people now identify themselves as otaku, both in Japan and elsewhere. Out of 137,734 teens surveyed in Japan in 2013, 42.2% self-identified as a type of otaku. In 2005, the Nomura Research Institute divided otaku into twelve groups and estimated the size and market impact of each of these groups. Other institutions have split it further or focused on a single otaku interest. These publications classify distinct groups including anime, manga, camera, automobile, J-idol, and electronics otaku. In 2005, the economic impact of otaku was estimated to be as high as ¥2 trillion.
Etymology
is derived from a Japanese term for another person's house or family. The word can be used metaphorically as a part of honorific speech in Japanese, as a second-person pronoun. In this usage, its literal translation is "you". It is associated with some dialects of Western Japanese and with housewives, and is less direct and more distant than intimate pronouns, such as anata, and masculine pronouns, such as kimi and omae.The origin of the pronoun's use among 1980s manga and anime fans is unclear. Science fiction fans were using otaku to address owners of books by the late 1960s. Social critic Eiji Ōtsuka posits that otaku was used because it allowed people meeting for the first time, such as at a convention, to interact from a comfortable distance. One theory posits that otaku was popularized as a pronoun by science fiction author Motoko Arai in a 1981 essay in Variety magazine, and another posits that it was popularized by fans of anime studio Gainax, some of whose founders came from Tottori Prefecture in western Japan. The pronoun was also used in the popular anime Macross, first aired in 1982, by the characters Hikaru Ichijyo and Lynn Minmay, who address each other as otaku until they get to know each other better.
The modern slang form, which is distinguished from the older usage by being written in hiragana, katakana or rarely in rōmaji, first appeared in public discourse in the 1980s, through the work of humorist and essayist Akio Nakamori. His 1983 series 'Otaku' Research, printed in the lolicon magazine Manga Burikko, applied the term as pejorative for "unpleasant" fans, attacking their supposed poor fashion sense and physical appearance in particular. Nakamori was particularly critical of "manga maniacs" drawn to cute girl characters, and explained his label otaku as the term of address used between junior high school kids at manga and anime conventions.
In 1989, the case of Tsutomu Miyazaki, "The Otaku Murderer", brought the fandom, very negatively, to national attention. Miyazaki, who randomly chose and murdered four girls, had a collection of 5,763 video tapes, some containing anime and slasher films that were found interspersed with videos and pictures of his victims. Later that year, the contemporary knowledge magazine Bessatsu Takarajima dedicated its 104th issue to the topic of otaku. It was called Otaku no Hon and delved into the subculture of otaku with 19 articles by otaku insiders, among them Akio Nakamori. This publication has been claimed by scholar Rudyard Pesimo to have popularized the term.
Usage
In modern Japanese slang, the term is mostly equivalent to "geek" or "nerd", but in a more derogatory manner than used in the West. It is also applied to any fan of any particular theme, topic, hobby or form of entertainment. According to journalist Colette Bennett, "hen these people are referred to as, they are judged for their behaviors — and people suddenly see an 'otaku' as a person unable to relate to reality." The term thus has more of a negative association in Japanese society.The word entered English as a loanword from the Japanese language. It is typically used to refer to a fan of anime and manga, but can also refer to Japanese video games or even Japanese culture in general. Platforms like and the American magazine Otaku USA popularize and cover these aspects. The usage of the word is a source of contention among some fans, owing to its negative connotations and stereotyping of the fandom. Widespread English exposure to the term came in 1988 with the release of Gunbuster, which refers to anime fans as. Gunbuster was released officially in English in March 1990. The term's usage spread throughout the Usenet group rec.arts.anime with discussions about Otaku no Videos portrayal of otaku before its 1994 English release. Positive and negative aspects, including the pejorative usage, were intermixed. The term was also popularized by William Gibson's 1996 novel Idoru, which references otaku.
Subculture
Kaichirō Morikawa identifies the subculture as distinctly Japanese, a product of the school system and society. Japanese schools have a class structure which functions as a caste system, but clubs are an exception to the social hierarchy. In these clubs, a student's interests will be recognized and nurtured, catering to the interests of otaku. Secondly, the vertical structure of Japanese society identifies the value of individuals by their success. Until the late 1980s, unathletic and unattractive males focused on academics, hoping to secure a good job and marry to raise their social standing. Those unable to succeed socially focused instead on their interests, often into adulthood, with their lifestyle centering on those interests, furthering the creation of the otaku subculture.Even prior to the coinage of the term, the stereotypical traits of the subculture were identified in a 1981 issue of Fan Rōdo about "culture clubs". These individuals were drawn to anime, a counter-culture, with the release of hard science fiction works such as Mobile Suit Gundam. These works allowed a congregation and development of obsessive interests that turned anime into a medium for unpopular students, catering to obsessed fans. After these fans discovered Comic Market, the term was used as a self-confirming and self-mocking collective identity.
The 1989 "Otaku Murderer" case gave the fandom a negative connotation from which it has not fully recovered. The perception of otaku was again damaged in late 2004 when Kaoru Kobayashi kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered a seven-year-old first-grade student. Japanese journalist Akihiro Ōtani suspected that Kobayashi's crime was committed by a member of the figure moe zoku even before his arrest. Although Kobayashi was not an otaku, the degree of social hostility against otaku increased. Otaku were seen by law enforcement as possible suspects for sex crimes, and local governments called for stricter laws controlling the depiction of eroticism in otaku materials.
Not all attention has been negative. In his book Otaku, Hiroki Azuma observed: "Between 2001 and 2007, the otaku forms and markets quite rapidly won social recognition in Japan", citing the fact that "n 2003, Hayao Miyazaki won the Academy Award for his Spirited Away; around the same time Takashi Murakami achieved recognition for otaku-like designs; in 2004, the Japanese pavilion in the 2004 International Architecture exhibition of the Venice Biennale featured 'otaku'. In 2005, the word — one of the keywords of the present volume — was chosen as one of the top ten 'buzzwords of the year'." In 2013, a Japanese study of 137,734 people found that 42.2% self-identify as a type of otaku. This study suggests that the stigma of the word has vanished, and the term has been embraced by many. Marie Kondo told ForbesWomen in 2020: "I credit being an otaku with helping me to focus deeply, which definitely contributed to my success."
In the early 1990s, the otaku subculture started to gain traction in the Western world. According to Lawrence Eng, the first anime that could have caused this to happen was Gunbuster, and the protagonist, Noriko Takaya, is teased about her otaku behavior. Through Gunbuster, Western audiences would learn about the word otaku. In the late 1990s, otaku was a popular subculture among Generation Xers in the United States. In the early 2000s, the otaku community in the United States often consisted of suburban young people and niche online groups.