What is Your Obsessive Interest
Content
What is your obsessive interest? Basically, Otaku is a popular Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interest primarily focusing into the field of anime, manga and even video games. This is really those types of people who have an increase sense of obsession, love and passion about anime, manga and video games. We ought to know that the term otaku was coined from the original meaning of the Japanese word which was derived from a term meaning another’s house or another’s family which is primarily used in good grammar as a second person pronoun for that matter.
an honorificsecond-person pronoun. The modern slang form, which is distinguished from the older usage by being written only in hiragana (おたく) orkatakana (オタク or, less frequently, ヲタク), or rarely in rōmaji, appeared in the 1980s. In the anime Macross, first aired in 1982, the term was used by Lynn Minmay as an honorific term.[1][2] It appears to have been coined by the humorist and essayist Akio Nakamori in his 1983 series An Investigation of "Otaku" (『おたく』の研究 "Otaku" no Kenkyū?), printed in the lolicon magazine Manga Burikko. Animators like Haruhiko Mikimoto and Shōji Kawamori used the term among themselves as an honorific second-person pronoun since the late 1970s. [2] Another source for the term comes from the works of science fiction author Motoko Arai. In his book Wrong about Japan, Peter Careyinterviews the novelist, artist and Gundam chronicler Yuka Minakawa. She reveals that Arai used the word in her novels as a second-person pronoun, and the readers adopted the term for themselves.
[edit]In
Japan
In modern Japanese slang, the term otaku is most often equivalent to "geek".[3] However, it can relate to a fan of any particular theme, topic, hobby or any form of entertainment. [4] The former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso also claimed himself to be an otaku, using this subculture to promote Japan in foreign affairs.[5] On the matter, in recent years "idol otaku" are naming themselves simply as Wota (ヲタ?) as a way to differentiate from traditional otaku. The word was derived by dropping the last mora, leaving ota (オタ?) and then replacing o (オ?) with the identically sounding character wo(ヲ?), leaving the pronunciation unchanged.[6]
The otaku term can be applied for both males and females. Reki-jo are female otaku interested in Japanese history.
[edit]In
English
The term is a loanword from the Japanese language. In English, it is usually used to refer to an obsessive fan of anime/manga and/or Japanese culture generally, and to a lesser extent Japanese video games. It is sometimes used without the Japanese association with "geek" and "otaku" being exchangeable, indicating a person who is intelligent and obsessive about a subject, but not necessarily to the point of social ineptness.[7] The term serves as a label similar to Trekkie or fanboy. However, use of the label can be a source of contention among some anime fans, particularly those who are aware of the negative connotations the term has in Japan. Unpleasant stereotypes about otaku prevail in worldwide fan communities, and some anime fans express concern about the effect these more extreme fans can have on the reputation of their hobby (not unlike sentiments in the comic book and science fiction fandoms).[8] The term was popularized by William Gibson's 1996 novel Idoru, which has several references to otaku.
“
The otaku, the passionate obsessive, the information age's embodiment of the connoisseur, more concerned with the accumulation of data than of objects, seems a natural crossover figure in today's interface of British and Japanese cultures. I see it in the eyes of the Portobello dealers, and in the eyes of the Japanese collectors: a perfectly calm train-spotter frenzy, murderous and sublime. Understanding otaku -hood, I think, is one of the keys to understanding the culture of the web. There is something profoundly post-national about it, extra-geographic. We are all curators, in the postmodern world, whether we want to be or not. [9] — Modern boys and mobile girls, April 2001 edition of The Observer
”
[edit]Negativity
In Japan there has been some negativity towards otaku and otaku culture. Tsutomu Miyazaki became known as "The Otaku Murderer" in 1989. His bizarre murders fueled a moral panic against otaku. In 2004, 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.[10] Although Kobayashi was not an otaku, the degree of social hostility against otaku seemed to increase for a while, as suggested by increased targeting of otaku by law enforcement as possible suspects for sex crimes, and by calls from persons in local governments for stricter laws controlling the depiction of eroticism in materials which cater to some otaku (e.g. erotic manga and erotic videogames).[11] Nobuto Hosaka criticised a lot of the hype. [11]
[edit]Otakon
"Otakon" (short for "otaku convention") is a convention organized by Otakorp, Inc, a non-profit organization. Otakon is focused on anime, manga, East Asian culture, and its fandom. The second largest convention of this type in the US and the largest on the east coast, it began in State College, Pennsylvania, in 1994 and has been held in Baltimore,Maryland since 1999. Currently, the largest convention of its kind is Anime Expo which takes place in Los Angeles annually.[citation needed] Otakorp Inc. gave permission to Konami to use the name "Otacon" in any of their Metal Gear video game series.[12] "Otacon" is the codename of character Hal Emmerich, a scientist and self-professed otaku.
[edit]See
also
an honorificsecond-person pronoun. The modern slang form, which is distinguished from the older usage by being written only in hiragana (おたく) orkatakana (オタク or, less frequently, ヲタク), or rarely in rōmaji, appeared in the 1980s. In the anime Macross, first aired in 1982, the term was used by Lynn Minmay as an honorific term.[1][2] It appears to have been coined by the humorist and essayist Akio Nakamori in his 1983 series An Investigation of "Otaku" (『おたく』の研究 "Otaku" no Kenkyū?), printed in the lolicon magazine Manga Burikko. Animators like Haruhiko Mikimoto and Shōji Kawamori used the term among themselves as an honorific second-person pronoun since the late 1970s. [2] Another source for the term comes from the works of science fiction author Motoko Arai. In his book Wrong about Japan, Peter Careyinterviews the novelist, artist and Gundam chronicler Yuka Minakawa. She reveals that Arai used the word in her novels as a second-person pronoun, and the readers adopted the term for themselves.
[edit]In
Japan
In modern Japanese slang, the term otaku is most often equivalent to "geek".[3] However, it can relate to a fan of any particular theme, topic, hobby or any form of entertainment. [4] The former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso also claimed himself to be an otaku, using this subculture to promote Japan in foreign affairs.[5] On the matter, in recent years "idol otaku" are naming themselves simply as Wota (ヲタ?) as a way to differentiate from traditional otaku. The word was derived by dropping the last mora, leaving ota (オタ?) and then replacing o (オ?) with the identically sounding character wo(ヲ?), leaving the pronunciation unchanged.[6]
The otaku term can be applied for both males and females. Reki-jo are female otaku interested in Japanese history.
[edit]In
English
The term is a loanword from the Japanese language. In English, it is usually used to refer to an obsessive fan of anime/manga and/or Japanese culture generally, and to a lesser extent Japanese video games. It is sometimes used without the Japanese association with "geek" and "otaku" being exchangeable, indicating a person who is intelligent and obsessive about a subject, but not necessarily to the point of social ineptness.[7] The term serves as a label similar to Trekkie or fanboy. However, use of the label can be a source of contention among some anime fans, particularly those who are aware of the negative connotations the term has in Japan. Unpleasant stereotypes about otaku prevail in worldwide fan communities, and some anime fans express concern about the effect these more extreme fans can have on the reputation of their hobby (not unlike sentiments in the comic book and science fiction fandoms).[8] The term was popularized by William Gibson's 1996 novel Idoru, which has several references to otaku.
“
The otaku, the passionate obsessive, the information age's embodiment of the connoisseur, more concerned with the accumulation of data than of objects, seems a natural crossover figure in today's interface of British and Japanese cultures. I see it in the eyes of the Portobello dealers, and in the eyes of the Japanese collectors: a perfectly calm train-spotter frenzy, murderous and sublime. Understanding otaku -hood, I think, is one of the keys to understanding the culture of the web. There is something profoundly post-national about it, extra-geographic. We are all curators, in the postmodern world, whether we want to be or not. [9] — Modern boys and mobile girls, April 2001 edition of The Observer
”
[edit]Negativity
In Japan there has been some negativity towards otaku and otaku culture. Tsutomu Miyazaki became known as "The Otaku Murderer" in 1989. His bizarre murders fueled a moral panic against otaku. In 2004, 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.[10] Although Kobayashi was not an otaku, the degree of social hostility against otaku seemed to increase for a while, as suggested by increased targeting of otaku by law enforcement as possible suspects for sex crimes, and by calls from persons in local governments for stricter laws controlling the depiction of eroticism in materials which cater to some otaku (e.g. erotic manga and erotic videogames).[11] Nobuto Hosaka criticised a lot of the hype. [11]
[edit]Otakon
"Otakon" (short for "otaku convention") is a convention organized by Otakorp, Inc, a non-profit organization. Otakon is focused on anime, manga, East Asian culture, and its fandom. The second largest convention of this type in the US and the largest on the east coast, it began in State College, Pennsylvania, in 1994 and has been held in Baltimore,Maryland since 1999. Currently, the largest convention of its kind is Anime Expo which takes place in Los Angeles annually.[citation needed] Otakorp Inc. gave permission to Konami to use the name "Otacon" in any of their Metal Gear video game series.[12] "Otacon" is the codename of character Hal Emmerich, a scientist and self-professed otaku.
[edit]See
also
