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#Post#: 389--------------------------------------------------
Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: Lumaria Date: February 10, 2016, 5:17 am
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is otaku a good thing? Years ago if you we're called an otaku,
it wasn't a good thing. IT was connotated with the idea of you
having no life, and really have obscure mentality. IT wasmt as
equal to bronies, but it was somewhat closer to the star wars /
trekkies in the 80s. But lately, the term otaku has been not
only somewhat accepting but filled with pride (in a national
sense).
Maybe it's just me, I called myself an enthusiast for anything I
felt strongly about, but would never fully wanted to fully be
part of such community. And I think manga and anime fans are
becoming more and more elitist, more than they we're back then.
I recently saw a YouTube video on how to spot a fake otaku (by
the anime man). And this shows me how veteran anime/manga fans
from early times have devolved rather than grow up.
Now recently I just ignored otaku ideology. Not that long ago
people would be called an otaku and then they would say "Yeah, I
guess I am one" and that would deffuse the insult. But recently,
people have enforced the idea that people should take it as
prideful as can be.
What do you all think? Is otaku a term that we should hold with
pride, or should people not use it so liberally?
#Post#: 391--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: 変態 Date: February 10, 2016, 5:43 am
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Being an anime-fan isn't wrong as long as they know the
boundaries of fantasy and reality. In terms of companionship,
I'm OK as long as they're not Hyper-enthusiast/Weeaboo,
destructive/bigoted, or half-clueless.
#Post#: 392--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: Lumaria Date: February 10, 2016, 7:06 am
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[quote author=変態 link=topic=52.msg391#msg391
date=1455104631]
Being an anime-fan isn't wrong as long as they know the
boundaries of fantasy and reality. In terms of companionship,
I'm OK as long as they're not Hyper-enthusiast/Weeaboo,
destructive/bigoted, or half-clueless.
[/quote]maybe it's just me. But I think what separated one level
of random over the other was choosing to adopt the name. Back
then otaki was weeaboo.
But idk. I was in printed in my brain early on to have
composure. And lately I been seeing stuff like this.
#Post#: 417--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: Crackhead Johny Date: February 17, 2016, 4:35 pm
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[quote author=Lumaria link=topic=52.msg389#msg389
date=1455103063]
is otaku a good thing?
[/quote]
No, it is extreme fandom. Anything taken to that level extreme
is generally bad. In Japan otaku are not considered to be
mentally OK. Think of the most insane things you see from
American sports fans, those people are not OK and they are
otaku. Think of it this way, ISIS are Islam otaku. The sport
ball fan who makes plans to kidnap/kill an rival teams star
player.. yep, otaku.
If you watch Otaku No Video they show you all sorts of different
otaku in Japan. Only a portion of otaku in japan care about
anime.
Now in the US it is sometimes used by your
Japanophiles/weaboos/fried eggs as a self description to say "Am
an anime super fan" or "I like anime and am cool because I know
more about it than you, so understand that you are lower than me
on the social ladder!".
Normal anime fans do not mean "I no longer have a life, my hobby
has consumed me.".
It is very different with Japanophiles/weaboos/fried
eggs/American anime otaku/losers who are a cancer to anime
because they have made very sure no one will be able to become
a manga/anime writer in the US. They have done their best to
drive as many people from anime as they can, to keep it "theirs"
and to let anyone with a passing interest know that they are the
experts and better be listened to and worshiped. In the end many
believe that if they went to japan they would live as gods as
only the Japanese would truly understand them and their "genius"
(they do not understand that in Japan there are already out of
shape, unemployed, anime fans who live with their parents and
for whom hygiene is an alien thing).
As representatives of anime in America, American anime otaku are
awful. "Hey lets go hang out with the unemployed fat guy who
never bathes and whacks it to cartoon 12 year old girls with
penises!" is a statement that has never been uttered in
seriousness, by anyone you want to hang out with. These are the
people who make other recoil when you say "Yeah I watch anime".
If you want to say "I do nothing but worship X and the people
who create X." then you may be an actual otaku.
If you just like anime, then you are an anime fan like most
people who watch anime. Don't know the Japanese name of a movie
and you like dub? Great! Like reading manga they way you have
always read books? Cool! Going to go mountain biking while the
sun is out, rather than stay in the basement and download the
latest episode of Naruto Bleach Z? Awesome! You are just an
ordinary anime fan, not an otaku.
When your hobby becomes your identity, that is bad. Do you
really want to say "All I am is the anime I watch, I will never
be more than that!"? If you want your hobby to be your identity,
then I hear furries and bronies are both recruiting.
Now between anime fans you may be able to say "I'm an otaku" as
some form of secret handshake but hopefully you are not a real
otaku of any variety. If you want to write or draw manga the
American anime otaku is your biggest enemy.
#Post#: 423--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: Lumaria Date: February 18, 2016, 2:37 pm
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Lately this generation has been accepting labels more and more.
It annoys me how people call themselves baronies just because
they casually enjoy Brony and those who call themselves Whovians
simply because they watched an entire season of Dr. Who on and
off and read up on it in Wikipedia.
But I noticed that Otaku was one of the oldest ones. And people
on YouTube who live in Japan are starting to claim that Otaku
isn't a good thing (although there is equally a bigger fuss on
others).
#Post#: 427--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: Crackhead Johny Date: February 19, 2016, 3:14 pm
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Otaku started as a not good thing over 30 years ago in Japan
(Tsutomu Miyazaki helped make it a bad term back in 89). I'd say
it is currently at its most positive even if some people on
Youtube denigrate it. As more people misuse it, it will get more
positive as its meaning changes.
25 years ago Otaku No Video looked to obsessed fandom. As it
came out 2-3 years after the serial killings, I think it was
partially a response by the anime fans at Gainax to show that
there are many different types of otaku and few of them are
paedophile, necrophile, cannibals, like Tsutomu. Basically
Gainax may have wanted to say "We are not all like that!" and
fight to try to regain control of the term.
So when people associate otaku with people who r4pe, murder,
r4pe again, then eat 4-7 years old girls, there is nowhere else
to go but up for that term.
This is why it shows a level of ignorance when American anime
fans label themselves with the term. This becomes ironic when
they do it to show they are more knowledgeable about Japan than
dirty casuals. "We are owning the term and empowering it! We are
also available for baby sitting jobs!... why are you running
away?"
You are very correct about average people liking labels. Labels
reduce required thought to 0. On an evolutionary basis that has
probably been very useful in keeping people alive. Thought slows
you down when it is time to run away. Unfortunately in civilized
society labels are generally detrimental.
People like negative labels for things and people they do not
like and positive labels for people and things they do like. If
they can categorize someone/something with a label, they do not
need to pay attention to it or think about it, they already know
all they need to know about it.
If you point this out to them you usually get denial (I'm not
like that!) or false equivalency to scientific
categorization/labeling. "Well me saying black people are stupid
because they are black, is no different than you saying I'm
stupid because my IQ was tested at 60!".
Where it gets interesting is when people have defined their
labels though observation and other methods and then are talking
to people who use labels that may share the same title by each
person has their own definition. Coming by something through
testing and observation is not the same as coming by something
by feeling about it.
I now notice this forum strips words it doesn't like (but will
let you see them if you pay money)?... Does it do this with
people's published stories here? Knowing you work is about to
get hit with the censorship is rather disheartening.
Even funnier advertisers feel that necrophile and cannibal are
good words to their target audience but "paedophile" would
offend those good folk. I imagine they catch a ton of heat for
some of their other censored words when it comes to people
seeking support in an effort to deal with trauma.
#Post#: 430--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: Lumaria Date: February 19, 2016, 5:00 pm
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You should probably bring that up to Orchid about the words. She
might be willing to pay to remove the block of words.
But back on point. I ran into another Otaku the other day
(Valentines no less) and they were obsessed with using the words
"kawaii" and "waifu" and intentionally mispronounce English
words that Japanese do. I don't use the term weeaboo because
that was coined as a substitute to Otakus.
#Post#: 435--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: Crackhead Johny Date: February 20, 2016, 12:07 pm
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Perfectly understandable. English is a voracious language.
English loves to take other languages' words. Gaijin was picked
up long before otaku. Kawaii is popular with young fans as an
analog for cute. Waifu is popular with a broader audience as a
term for a loser's imaginary GF or wife (among said losers it
has a different creepier meaning). Wiafu pillows, etc. A young
and enthusiastic crowd will go in whole hog, especially if they
are rejected by society as a whole and now find a group that
welcomes them. Their behaviors will be determined by the group
they associate with and how strong their drive to conform is.
This is the same thing which has produced Japanophiles.
In the end popular use will decide the meaning of otaku at any
given point of time. For example: decimate no longer means kill
10%. While some will try to preserve a word's meaning the mob
will decide what its common use is. So otaku can become "anime
fan" (fan being short for fanatic), it can even come to mean
"Someone who has a like for anime". We will see. If terms like
"military otaku" "Car otaku", or "MMA otaku" start getting
thrown around then it is less likely to get used as a label only
for anime fans. On the other hand your Japanophiles may not like
this if they adopt the word as identity.
Yes, while there are Japanophiles who do not care about anime,
anime is common for the average Japanophile these days, that I
might be comfortable using it interchangeably with weaboo.
Japanophile starts as a polite version because it might not mean
weaboo, then as it gets associated more and more with weaboos
(not just people who are doing whatever is popular in Japan,
talking about bushido, eating sushi, only driving JDM cars, and
trying to date Japanese girls) its meaning changes. You can
watch this mechanism in play with any word for something that is
not considered good, just watch the current term for fat or
retarded change.
I was in elementary school when "retard" (we got told not to
call them "mentals" but instead to call them "retarded")was
changed to "special", so I was no longer "special" and became
"gifted", I saw the parent of a retarded child hear "special"
get used as an insult and demand that her child now get called
"gifted", that didn't happen. These days "retard" has become so
profane for some, that they call it the "R word". It doesn't
matter what the next preferred word is, once it means retarded a
new word will be sought. I think last year (or was it the year
before?) that they were reporting that the preferred word among
the morbidly obese was "curvy" a word once reserved for
hourglass figures.
Among American anime fans you will also see a divide. Do you
want to be associated with the fans who have no care about their
appearance or hygiene and who want to prevent all American
writers/artists from doing manga (with the exception of
themselves in many cases). Otaku often represents these people.
Trekies have seen this divide with trekkies who thought they
were cooler that the rest of the social rejects and demanded to
be called "Trekkers". Same people new label. As they were
glaringly the same people, this was tragic. Maybe the term was
coined by a cool person. If it was, it took almost 0 time for
the uncool people to adopt the label and turn it into the same
thing with an extra layer of sad.
Where a divide is working is in the anime community. If you go
to a convention you will find the "cosplayers" (usually
attractive girls/women in costume) and then you will find your
stereotypical anime fans (male, unwashed, 0 social skills, out
of shape, unemployed, etc) sometimes in costume (NEET is being
adopted as a term for some of these). Hikikomori also gets
batted around but for that to be proper you really shouldn't be
out at conventions.
This is a very interesting mix which makes one thing about the
mechanics of anime and how it attracts these very different
crowds. The boring average people are often not noticed "Oh,
him? Yeah he is just a mechanic who happens to own all of
Satoshi Kon's works.."
That said, otaku as an English term can become anything. I'm
betting it will come to represent the worst members of the
group.. because that is often how labeling works.
Can otaku be cool? Only within their own tight knit groups.
Having to give up everything else in life for obsession, tends
to prevent the experiences that make one cool. Giving up your
daily shower to fit in an extra ep of Naruto, is not the path to
coolness.
#Post#: 462--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: Levi Hahn Date: February 22, 2016, 11:14 pm
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I am american, but if someone called me an otaku, I believe my
reaction would be, "You really think so? Uh, Cool."
But I'm also someone who doesn't care about titles. I am only
one title, Levi. And if Americans are improperly using the word,
Otaku. Than what is the proper word for someone who is a fanatic
for anime?
#Post#: 479--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is it OK to be an otaku?
By: Orchid Date: February 23, 2016, 12:40 pm
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[quote author=Lumaria link=topic=52.msg430#msg430
date=1455922817]
You should probably bring that up to Orchid about the words. She
might be willing to pay to remove the block of words.
But back on point. I ran into another Otaku the other day
(Valentines no less) and they were obsessed with using the words
"kawaii" and "waifu" and intentionally mispronounce English
words that Japanese do. I don't use the term weeaboo because
that was coined as a substitute to Otakus.
[/quote] Yes I'm currently aware of the words. They we're set by
default. But it can be removed without paying anything. If you
can Pm me all the words you attempted to write and had the
annoying censor. I can take care of it.
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