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lead=yes is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, such as anime, manga, , or other highly enthusiastic hobbies. 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 Comiket. 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 (when a serial murder suspect was arrested) 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''. According to a nationwide U.S. survey conducted by [[Dentsu]] in July 2022, 34% of [[American|Americans]] [[Gen-Z]]s (around 15 million people), acknowledged themselves as anime ''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|Japanese idol]], and electronics otaku. In 2005, the economic impact of ''otaku'' was estimated to be as high as ¥2 trillion ( billion).
is derived from a Japanese term for another person's house or family ([[wiktionary:お宅|お宅]], ). The word can be used [[metaphor]]ically 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|Housewife]], 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 (in a sense of "Does your own this book?"). (2025). 9780816649747, University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816649747 Social critic Eiji Ōtsuka posits that otaku was used because it allowed people meeting for the first time, such as at a Fan 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 (where otaku is commonly used). 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 (おたく), katakana (オタク or, less frequently, ヲタク) or rarely in rōmaji, (2025). 9781472594976, Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781472594976 first appeared in public discourse in the 1980s, through the work of humorist and essayist Akio Nakamori. His 1983 series "Otaku" no Kenkyū, 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 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 lit. The Book of Otaku 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.
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 TrackOtaku 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 newsgroup 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.
Even prior to the coinage of the term, the stereotypical traits of the subculture were identified in a 1981 issue of Fan Rōdo (Fan road) 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 "in 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 (Biennale Architecture) featured 'otaku'. In 2005, the word — one of the keywords of the present volume — was chosen as one of the top ten ' 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 in the United States. In the early 2000s, the otaku community in the United States often consisted of young people and niche online groups.
Miyadai describes two big subtypes of the otaku type, a world type and a battle royale type. There is a chronological development from the world type of the late 1990s to the battle royale type of the 2000s but they also coexisted. The antagonism between the world type and the battle royale type emerged in the age in which reality and fiction are regarded as equivalent tools for self-defense. He further describes the internet society as a rhizomic structure which invalidates the distinction between "reality" and "fiction". The world type treats fiction as an equivalent of reality (real-ization of fiction), while the battle royale type treats reality as an equivalent of fiction (fictionalization of reality).
The remaining five categories include mobile device otaku, with 70,000 individuals and ¥8 billion; audio-visual equipment otaku, with 60,000 individuals and ¥12 billion; camera otaku, with 50,000 individuals and ¥18 billion; fashion otaku, with 40,000 individuals and ¥13 billion; and Railfan otaku, with 20,000 individuals and ¥4 billion. These values were partially released with a much higher estimation in 2004, but this definition focused on consumerism and not the "unique psychological characteristics" of otaku used in the 2005 study.
The NRI's 2005 study also put forth five archetypes of otaku:
The Hamagin Research Institute found that -related content was worth ¥88.8 billion ($807 million) in 2005, and one analyst estimated the market could be as much as ¥2 trillion ($18 billion). Japan-based Tokyo Otaku Mode, a place for news related to otaku, has been liked on Facebook almost 10 million times.
Other classifications of otaku interests include Vocaloid, cosplay, figures, and professional wrestling, as categorized by the Yano Research Institute, which reports and tracks market growth and trends in sectors heavily influenced by otaku consumerism. In 2012, it noted around 30% of growth in dating sim and Online game otaku, while Vocaloid, cosplay, idols and maid services grew by 10%, confirming its 2011 predictions.
Media
Otaku often participate in self-mocking through the production or interest in humor directed at their subculture. Anime and manga otaku are the subject of numerous self-critical works, such as Otaku no Video, which contains a live-interview mockumentary that pokes fun at the otaku subculture and includes Gainax's own staff as the interviewees. Other works depict otaku subculture less critically, such as Genshiken and Comic Party. A well-known light novel, which later received a manga and anime adaptation, is Welcome to the N.H.K., which focuses on otaku subcultures and highlights other social outcasts, such as and . Works that focus on otaku characters include WataMote, the story of an unattractive and unsociable otaku who exhibits delusions about her social status; and No More Heroes, a video game about an otaku assassin named Travis Touchdown and his surrealistic adventures inspired by anime and manga. Media about otaku also exist outside of Japan, such as the American documentary Otaku Unite! which focuses on the American side of the otaku culture, and the Filipino novel Otaku Girl, which tells the story of a virtual reality world where otaku can Role-playing and use the powers of their favorite anime characters.
Habits
A term used in the otaku fandom is ヲタ芸 or オタ芸, a type of cheering performed as a group. Another term is 4=literally "painful (i.e. cringeworthy) car(s)", which describes vehicles decorated with fictional characters, especially bishōjo game or eroge characters.
Classification
The Nomura Research Institute (NRI) has made two major studies into otaku, the first in 2004 and a revised study with a more specific definition in 2005. The 2005 study defines twelve major fields of otaku interests. Of these groups:
Ōkina otomodachi
大きなお友達 is a Japanese phrase that literally translates to "big friend" or "adult friend".When this phrase is actually pronounced, the colloquial form おっきなお友達 is often used. The phrase 大きいお友達 is also used with the same meaning. Japanese otaku use it to describe themselves as adult fans of an anime, a manga, or a TV show that is originally aimed at children. Dōjin Lingo (nocat=true) Retrieved on August 4, 2006. A parent who watches such a show with their children is not considered an ōkina otomodachi, nor is a parent who buys anime DVDs or manga volumes for their children; ōkina otomodachi are those who consume such content by themselves.
See also
Works cited
External links
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> "Meet the Geek Elite", Wired, July 2006
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