The image evolution of Otaku, the way otaku are labeled through the stigma of what is their supposed stereotype, the popular description of their worse individuals behavior, and its changes over the years through its history. Its not talked about it much, because many times there are so many different ways to describe how otaku are and what otaku were, so its deemed as a topic that is disliked and to be avoided, its seen as highly controversial. It only was brought up when the image is effected from the stereotype and having people leaving the community from the reputation.
Discussions eventually were discussed from acts of consent complaints of creeper activity of stalking and predatory sexual harassment, cosplay superiority groups bullying non cosplaying otaku, and persistent loneliness and depression by being socially oblivious to people from the reading and watching lifestyle that it encourages. Only then does it spark real interest in serious discussions, which is a real sad reason to take image and stereotype into consideration. The reason being is that reputation can effect empowerment, accountability of protecting positive elements that make the culture, and is continuously built from the target audience interactions online and offline as a sort of prideful fuel. Group Gatherings are a prime place for these community driven discussions, in animanga clubs, in event coordinators for conventions, and industry people who are trying to sell their product to more potential buyers for appeal that is more human and emotional for increased otaku engagement. In discussions there are those who are fighting for a better community try to make lasting change by creatively problem solving stereotypes and adding impressive features to increase otaku reputation, those who are defending the community fight accusations of stereotypes as lies, those who opt for a way out use stereotypes as a impassable wall that should be conceited to, however stereotypes tend to be made from the worse aspects of the community that have not been properly addressed. Reputation of Otaku, it lies in the stereotypes of groups of the public who may not be directly involved in anything otaku, but it has always been an inaccurate explanation of being disconnected to its view, but usually its not impossible for a few individuals who are living the stereotype described to reinforce the bad habits to others, so by that it is something to be fought against as a misleading idea. If there is in fact a problem from the stereotype to prove that the negative comments are correct there has to be something done about it to move forward. Most otaku aren’t the stereotype, but a few do exist and are not dealt with, so the negative comments increase about these few types and then if it continues to be not dealt with, the problems attach themselves to the stereotype of the group, and then move on to effect the image of the group. Image of Otaku, the total idea from all perceptions from the inside out of the community of otaku from the past, otaku from the present, and potential otaku customers who are interested in the culture has always been on a bumpy road from its attractiveness to collectors, binge watchers and readers, along with over specialization. From general grouping of otaku to otaku hobby class specialization the variety had expanded, from watching and reading the stories inspired to create more social events and activities to encourage the making of friends, from the interest in image from the depth of its culture the otaku have imbued value into the lifestyle to expand more possibilities, and capture potential interest from the general public through its identity. Now its good to know where things were and how they got to the current state by talking about what happened before. Back in the 1980s, “Otaku” were set as loners with label itself to imply outcast and branded as socially awkward people who can’t keep a conversation flowing, apathy towards health with the belief that healthiness is impossible and too much responsibility, fashion as a way to show loyalty to favored characters that are on print tee shirts, sexual predators in their creepy approaches of real life love prospects through stalking and professing love, or a psychologically unstable criminal that goes on murder sprees as pervade by the Japanese media. But, luckily times have changed in the late 1980’s where several categories were identified as popular sub otaku types, such as: The divide between the broad term of Otaku into “Anime Otaku” & “Manga Otaku”, “Cosplay Otaku”, “Seiyu Otaku”, “Train Otaku”,”Military Otaku”,”Persocon Otaku”, “Fujoshi”, and “Eroge Otaku”. There were still preconceptions of otaku are highly passionate high spenders of useless products, desperate attention seekers in costumes, no sense of food and opts for cheap meals for the sake of spending on animanga or cosplay related merchandise, youth who are misguided to the escapist realm of animation. This again had changed with the popularity of Anime conventions in the states during the 1990’s, even though the problems at this time still exist it was in much less numbers than they once were. Many groups started having more Japanese popular culture and travel information while trying to advertise as Japanese Animation Events, Japanese Animation Clubs, and Japanese Animation Conventions in the attempts to align itself with Japanese Culture and Tourism for outside financial support. This started to mix the idea of the Traditional Otaku with Japanese Culture enthusiasts for intercultural exchange and identity. By doing this there were more terms that started that were based more on an interest of a variety of Japanese culture interests and combining it with otaku, like: “Weeabu Otaku”, “Translation Otaku”, “Gothic Lolita Otaku”, and “Visual Kei Otaku”. During the 1990s, Otaku gatherings were set wherever Animanga Conventions were set for lessened hobby judgement degradation and had minimal events and social gatherings otherwise in fear of hobby judgement degradation. Anime conventions were seen as a major events that were once a year events that would be symbolic of the otaku in the way it represents the embodiment of shared hobby of animanga with festive activities that encouraged its own type of otaku from the convention scene, such as: “Anime Music Video Otaku”, “Otaku Artist”, and “Doujinshi Otaku”. In the different rooms there are many things to appreciate, such as when the artisans craft beautiful physical works to sell, elaborate sewn and constructed cosplay decorate the halls in many shapes and sizes, and gathering of animanga groups that make up the regional community the convention is held. It draws people from far and wide with differing interest levels and commitment to the hobby with titles of: “Casual Otaku”, “Core Otaku”, and ”Hardcore Otaku”. Due to it being a major event that allows for the feeling of comradery through the atmosphere making it easy to make contacts of friends and businesses that benefit from its customers, this would be opposite of smaller social gatherings that build the relationships between its members. As animanga caught on in North America the yearly conventions were seen twice a year, then later there were enough to fill a per month basis of conventions, but the conventions were all over the country and made it a lifestyle in it self to pursue such conventions that were labeled “Otaku Nomads”. By the early 2000’s, the convention scene had more interest in voice actors in america dubbings which had an effect of making more otaku interested in english vocalists as well. Idol contests were more common of an event at conventions. One particular phenomenal event was after the Anime Expo 2004 there was increased awareness of the Idol contest with singer Stephanie Yanez who won at the time. Yanez effected the scene more than she ever knew, since competition ramped up as more stories spread across the interwebs about American Otaku who could sing. Many people were singing previously in North America, but it wasn’t until this time that the release of several more types of otaku had emerged, such as: “Seikashu Otaku” made of the word “sei” that means voice and “kashu” that means vocalist. During mid 2000’s, the scenes in both Japan and North America had further defined Otaku through events and conventions as a way to gather in groups of like minded hobbies within the Otaku community. The titles had continued to be more specific and particularly otaku during this era, with “Train Otaku” turned into “Noritetsu Otaku” who love the experience of trains and “Toritetsu Otaku” who love the trains itself, Military Otaku turned into “Gunji Otaku” with a sub group of “Gunpla Otaku”, “Game Otaku”,”Robot Otaku”, and “Persocon Otaku” had begun to split into subgroups. At the peek of the maid cafe boom in the electric towns had brought out a variety of Otaku that were not as known, but due to the popularity of Akihabara’s “Otaku Streets” and Ikebukuro’s “Otome Roads” another group of specialties were born. These otaku were the: “Butler Otaku”, ”Maid Otaku”, ”Idol Otaku”, and “Moekei Otaku”. On the other end of the spectrum, the “Persocon Otaku” that was already rooted in electric towns had split into subgroups of persocon otaku types to represent: “Technology Otaku”, “Software Otaku”, “Hardware Otaku”, and “Content Otaku”, which were called Akibakei. Later on the persocon otaku subtypes were split into the growing culture of Arcas, while having persocon otaku overlap between both arcas urban culture and otaku urban culture. In the late 2000’s, Ikebukuro had become well known from its development of maiden roads where many girls would come to the cafes and socialize with a focus on the otamanorial butlers. These gender titled otaku were “Fujoshi” who usually took an interest in anime and manga that featured Yaoi and Servicemen had used a slang term of otamanorial as a system of those who would be inside a manor. The idea of otamanorials was largely inspired from Black Butler, Butler Cafe “Swallowtail”, and a fantasy to have male otaku gain social skills with etiquette and charm. This had taken otaku to label a few types of specialties that came out at this time, such as: “Otaku House Manager” for management skills, “Otaku Maid” & ”Otaku Butlers” for otaku hospitality, “Otaku Cooks” for otaku cuisine, and “Otaku Gardeners” for ingredient sustainability. In the early 2010’s was the spawn of the Cosplay Loyal Dominators, they had set the North American otaku community in shambles through their growing disrespect to other otaku groups by verbally disrespecting them or by spreading the word about them behind their backs. Other creative mediums that had nothing to do with cosplay were talked down as lesser activities with lesser importance, and less meaning in its otaku passion for a particular series, and would place cosplay on pedestal to pose as a status of superiority. This idea was garnered after seeing the show “Heroes of Cosplay” to gain the idea of the show and twisted interpretation to the Dominators in their minds that the creative hobby of cosplay was the primary draw to conventions. This selfish inclination had led them down a path towards a goal of overturning the direction of otaku at conventions towards a sole concentration on Cosplay that sent the community in a huge dissaray. Meanwhile, as the Cosplay scene had its negative effects it also had grown with the new terms to describe long term specialists in the cosplay scene of: “Cosplay Model”, “Cosplay Super Model”, “Cosplay Cosmologist”, “Cosplay Propsmith”, “Otagrapher”, “Independent Cosplayer”, and “Cosplay Teams”. With the image of otaku continuously evolving in its socially growing state, there is not a way to foresee what will happen in the chapters that have yet to appear. There are many subgroups that are slowly making way in the scene, and maybe they too will be an an additional specialty that identifies the types of things to do in detail. Everything as the whole of otaku will be the final decider of what peoples current idea of reputation and image is of the evolving urban culture of otaku. Glossary Referance List: Otaku- Those who like reading manga and enjoying shows with their friends. There are multiple varieties of specialization of otaku based on lifestyle of hobby specialty, frequency -Anime Otaku- anime watching specialist -Anime Music Video Otaku- a video editor who makes music videos from anime. -Manga Otaku- manga watching specialist -Mangaka Illustrator- a artist who worked on doujin manga or commercial manga. -Gunji Otaku- a otaku specialized in military, weapons, model kits, and prop making. -Gunpla Otaku- a gunji otaku specialized in model kit assembly, painting, and molding. -Seiyu Otaku- a fan specializing in anime seiyu, seiyu autographs, and wotagei cheering. -Seikashu Otaku- a musician specialized in voice, voice acting, and streamcasting. -Otaku Residency- There are also several variations based on how long their community residency is with the culture. -Casual Otaku- who are like animanga tourists and are high spenders -Core Otaku- who are community residents who live the lifestyle day-to-day -Hardcore Otaku- who are passionate vocal fans of the community who are like politicians -Director Otaku- who are planners of social gatherings for community consumption. -Cosplay Otaku- cosplay costume specialty who sometimes has a multitude of sub variation specialties. -Independent Cosplayer- a performing participant in dressing up as a character -Otagrapher- a otaku specialized photographer with videography and photo fx skills. -Costagrapher- a otaku specialized in only costume photography. -Cosplay Cosmotologist - a cosplayer specialized in beauty and asia skin treatments -Cosplay Propsmith- a prop maker who specializes in power tools, assembly, materials. -Cosplay Model- creater of art through the practice of beauty and posing for photography -Cosplay Super Model- a nationally or internationally recognized top rated cosplayer -Electric Town Otaku- those who are scene as otaku who take residency by frequently hanging out at electric towns. -Persocon Otaku- a specialist of computer assembly, customizing, and programming. -Idol Otaku- a otaku of idol merchandise collecting, and meeting idols. -Maid Otaku- a otaku who seeks the maid experience -Butler Otaku- a otaku who seeks the butler experience -Cook Otaku- a specialist in otaku cuisine -Otaku Maid- a maid specialist in otaku hospitality targeting men -Otaku Butler- a butler specialist in otaku hospitality targeting women -Japanophile Otaku- a specialist of Japan and its parts: fashion, language, traditions, culture, and food, but there are a variety of sub specialists in the group as well. It is not seen as Animanga Otaku, however still falls under the lone word Otaku in western countries. -Weeabu Otaku- a newbie practitioner of interest in Japan. -Nipponobu Otaku- a core practitioner of interest in Japan. -Japanocist Otaku- a specialist of Japanese history, language, and culture. -Translation Otaku- a specialist in Japanese translation of subtitles, titles, and lyrics. -Subber Otaku- a specialist of translation for subtitling animanga before its release. -Visual Kei Otaku- a specialist in visual kei music, musicians, and fashion styles. -Mori Kei Otaku- a specialist in flowy fabric, japanese forests, and spirits. -Akiba Kei Otaku- a specialist in idols, erotic pc games, figmas, and manga -Bosozoku Otaku- a specialist in modded vehicles, greasers, and yakuza -Dekora Otaku- a fashionista of bright colors, kawaii culture, and accessories -Gyaru Otaku- a fashionista of school uniform fashion, tanning, and surf culture. -Gothic Lolita Otaku- a specialist of gothic lolita fashion styles, brands and tea. -Walolita Otaku- a fashion variation of gothic lolita that uses classic Japanese clothes. -Sweet Lolita Otaku- a fashion variation of gothic lolita to light colors, big frilly dresses -Train Otaku- a specialist of trains, model trains, station uniforms, and station navigation. -Noritetsu Otaku- a specialist in traveling by train riding. -Toritetsu Otaku- a specialist in trains, model trains, and geographic travel by trains.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
|