I joined the “We’re Not Otaku Boys or Girls” group on Douban. Ugh, there’s actually a Jiongxing community, and even Jiongjiong TV…
http://orzStar.com “Jiongxing - The Most Lovable Otaku Planet in the Entire Universe”… Unbeatable! I’m not really an otaku, but I’ve got potential… I’ll go study abroad on this planet for a while first.
After reading the group’s intro posts on Douban and wandering around Jiongxing, I discovered that otaku culture is not as simple as I imagined — hating going out, loving to stay at home, using the computer and internet to reach the whole world without stepping outside, SOHO.
Based on the somewhat parodic professional explanation, the term “otaku” was originally pejorative. The word originated in Japan, that perverted country where “lust is the worst of all evils,” so you can imagine it comes packed with shocking elements —
Introduction to Otaku
The original name was the Want-to-be-Stepped-on Tribe — as the name suggests, a tribe that likes to be stepped on. They even like to scream when stepped on; the old-fashioned term for this was “queen.” Later, politicians abused the term and it went bad too, so it was changed to “freedom of speech,” fighting for the autonomy to make crappy drawings, and protesting against Taiwan’s big shots depriving them of their right to watch uncensored crappy drawings. Finally they protested that the name “Want-to-be-Stepped-on Tribe” carried sexist connotations, so it was changed to “otaku” — but that’s not much better either. Otaku are the dregs of society, the shame of humanity, potential criminals — desperate outlaws who will do anything, from upskirt photography and underwear theft to kidnapping. Otaku are caused by a computer virus spread through electronic signals; once infected, there is no cure. All otaku are driven to act by the power of moe, forming a transnational network across the globe and engaging in cross-border crimes such as child pornography, kidnapping, model-kit collecting, and premium-goods theft. In Japan, the earliest birthplace of otaku, because their burning motivation cannot support a work ethic, the country has fallen into long-term recession, and the Japanese government has established a Fetishism Eradication Organization to block the spread of the otaku virus. The otaku virus is an ancient computer virus discovered by Japanese scientist Dr. Otaku Nen beneath the Antarctic ice. It may be the main cause of the destruction of the highly advanced civilization of Atlantis mentioned in ancient texts. After discovering the virus, Dr. Otaku disappeared for unknown reasons, possibly connected to the Men in Black.
Types
Otaku King A high-ranking otaku who never leaves home, wielding a giant life-size anime/manga character body pillow (female or male) and living in an impregnable fortress materialized from delusions/lewd fantasies. The Otaku Kings of the world are linking up in a conspiracy to overthrow all nations founded on the language of God, and attempting to spread their faith through internet, TV, and manga. There was once a rumor that Tedi Bill was an Otaku King, but he solemnly denied it. The latest report from Road-Blast News Agency claims that the lust demon Kili is the real Otaku King — pending verification… Collector Maniac A faithful servant of Fetishism, one of those who abandon almost all material needs and survive on moe alone. They nearly ignore everything about reality, but will always scrape together money to buy the premium goods they love. Legend has it that on a full-moon night after eating instant noodles for over a month straight, a collector who offers up the last remaining shred of humanity in reality will become a disembodied Collector Lich. Fujoshi Conglomerate Ambitious schemers attempting to conquer the world with homosexual pornographic images, deluding themselves at every moment. Upon seeing ambiguity between people of the same sex, they immediately sort out the top and the bottom (you must determine this within one second to have any chance of promotion), and this is not limited to humans. In order to promote their cause they resort to extreme measures — a group known as the “Wolves of Tanbi,” operating in groups distinguished by flower names (such as lily, rose, etc.), specifically attacking children who are alone to strengthen their organization. The subgroup made up of women is also called “doujin women.” Stay-at-Home Deadbeats Strictly speaking, they shouldn’t count as otaku, because they are almost entirely non-aggressive — commonly known as NEETs, useless people who have passed school age but still refuse to work and just leech off their families at home. Otaku Religions Generally speaking, otaku religious preferences differ from those of ordinary people, and can be roughly divided into the following types: Zeon Founding Principle Only those who have migrated to space, the Spacenoids, represent human innovation. Toward the ghosts bound by gravity, the moderates believe in gradually enlightening them, while the radicals believe in dropping colonies to purge and accelerate evolution. They have now formed the Zeon Remnants to realize their ideals. Nazism Hitler was the last Otaku King to hold political power; only superior otaku can lead the world and eliminate the masses of ignorant fools who cannot accept the correct path. Also, Hitler had an abnormal hatred of “juice.” Indescribable Elder God Worship The great beings beyond humanity recorded in the Book of the Dead, written by the Arab madman H. P. Love Generator, whose true names cannot be pronounced by ordinary human vocal organs, and who transcend the true essence of the universe as comprehensible by human reason. Worshipping them grants powerful magic, the assistance of ubiquitous agents, and the most wonderful tentacle-wrapping violation of nude beautiful girls. Lolicon Supremacy Believes that women past their appreciation period have only the residual value of producing more lolis, and dreams of creating a perfect society where all women have the appearance of a twelve-year-old and either huge breasts or flat chests. In fact, disputes over breasts have always been a reason for their internal strife. The famous Char is a representative figure of this faction Feminization Promotion Alliance Believes that only yuri is the true path of the service genre, and that all male characters in anime and manga should be cut off and rerolled. Bubble Dog Indiscriminate Heaven-Defying Imperial Army An existence even deeper than the Feminization Promotion Alliance, rejecting physiological differences between men and women. Not only do they support pushing down young beautiful girls — as long as they’re moe enough, even shotas and Mizuho types can be pushed. Since launching the Roaming Heaven-Defying Weekly in 2006, they have swept the Chinese otaku world with lightning speed. Big Ships, Big Guns Doctrine Firepower and caliber are the only true path — a type whose life is filled with guns and military terminology. Their leader is GIRORO of Planet Keron. This Is My Path A group of people whose ultimate goal is the ultimate otaku lifestyle, who ignore others and carry out the lifestyle they want, with the potential to become Otaku Kings. Gundam Fundamentalists Researchers dedicated to researching all Gundam setting materials. They argue over the orthodoxy of materials on Gundam forums and enjoy exposing and attacking non-orthodox heretics. They are further divided into Tomino Fundamentalists and Realist Militarists. For a very long time the two factions attacked each other, but after the Pink Enchantress Cult appeared, both factions recognized its horror and decided to join forces against it — historically known as the Military–Tomino Alliance. Otaku Gatherings Normally otaku will not leave their castles with TVs and internet, but certain activities can make them suppress their inherent territoriality, such as: Doujinshi Conventions Gatherings packed with pornographic publications and outlandish costumes. You might have to line up for hours just to enter, only to sweat profusely in the crowd and fail to grab a boring pornographic doujinshi of no more than a hundred pages. Video Game Expos No need to explain this one! Mainly H-games, H-manga, and anime. With OGC on-site, everyone has a healthy LP. Megane Girl Church A religious group that holds gatherings every week. You must absolutely never take off your glasses in front of them. They are dedicated to promoting the beauty of glasses-wearing girls and to increasing women’s glasses prescription. National Dara Alliance That is, the National Doll Lovers (Doller) Alliance, abbreviated as the National Dara Alliance. This organization is also the base camp of Rozen Maiden supporters. Regular Pilgrimages to Limited-Edition Premium Goods at Boutiques Burn for the premium goods! Otaku Industries: For an otaku, no matter how much he wants to overthrow or escape the real world, he still has to raise funds to satisfy his wicked desires, so otaku often work in these industries: Education Workers Or simply, teachers. Which teaching position they take depends on their guarding range and ability, and it’s usually a choice other than a university post. Being a moral example is a good cover for hiding their abnormal desires. Perhaps their cover is too good, because the teachers usually caught preying on students are normal-minded heterosexuals. Entertainment Industry Combining interest and entertainment is a nice idea. Besides that, working in related industries can also promote their extreme devil worship. From manga artists and voice actors to anime-industry workers, this is a good choice for social parasites who like to play video games to death while claiming to be seeking inspiration. But after becoming famous, you’ll have less time to entertain yourself than to entertain others — unless you’re a serial-delinquent manga artist who married someone in the same industry and no longer has to worry about the rest of your life. Rich Family Scions The type who can coast through life without having to struggle — in other words, second-generation heirs, spendthrift brats, worthless types, a minority within a minority. Terrorists Relying on fundraising, they can get enough funds to buy several lifetimes’ worth of premium goods, then spend their downtime frantically devouring the bizarre anime and military hardware they could never normally obtain. If it weren’t for the need to periodically express their existence through actions (violating otaku territoriality) and the risk of losing their lives, this would actually suit the freeloading type of otaku quite well. If all the world’s terrorists were otaku, counter-terrorism would only need to increase investment in the anime and manga industry to paralyze terrorist organizations. Measures by Various Governments Regarding the Otaku Phenomenon: Because of the great harm caused by otaku, governments around the world have taken measures to crack down on and eliminate their spread. Japan Japan is the birthplace of otaku, the Mecca of Fetishism. But under the threat of sex crimes caused by otaku and the harm to Japanese values, the Japanese government gathered former spies and girls who had been hurt by otaku, subjected them to physical enhancement and mind control, and secretly established the Fetishism Eradication Organization under the cover of the social welfare budget. They carry out total physical and spiritual annihilation of otaku friends lurking among the populace like terrorists. On a certain small island in Japan, there exists a facility for brainwashing, torture, and forced labor to eliminate harmful otaku ideology. Taiwan A regime that has always persecuted otaku faith through various soft or coercive means. Long, long ago it wiped out up to eighty percent of local manga artists with decrees that were “guidance” in name but prohibition in reality. But ACG will not be extinguished by this; relying on smuggled resources, the manga-reading community can still find comfort, and in private settings student groups still hide large quantities of manga. In recent years, thanks to the intervention of business conglomerates, the treatment of the ACG community has improved somewhat. But to brain-dead legislators, ACG is merely a synonym for moral corruption, and they are always ready to use the media to deliver another Seven Days of Fire. Fellow enthusiasts should emulate the spirit of their predecessors and make those jerks unable to hold onto their seats.
Wikipedia Someone has said:
Otaku generally refers to people who are enthusiastic about subcultures such as anime, manga, and computer games, but it is now widely used by people from all walks of life in Japan and has trended toward neutrality, with some even proud of being otaku. For Japanese anime fans in Europe and America, the word’s positive or negative connotation varies from person to person. At present, in Japanese, the term otaku has a tendency to extend to those who are enthusiastic about mainstream cultural interests, or even those with deep expertise in professional fields.
One of the founders of GAINAX, Toshio Okada, who calls himself “Otaking” (Otaku King), defined otaku as follows: in this 21st century known as the “full-scale explosion of visual information,” a new type of human race has emerged to adapt to this world of visual information. In other words, a race whose sensitivity to visuals has evolved to an extreme. However, this is Okada’s personal interpretation beautifying otaku, not an objective definition.
As for the three things regarded as markers of otaku — anime, manga, and computer games — although they are essentially inseparable, there is no special collective term for them in Japan (their content is often referred to as “2D” (nijigen), since they are mainly 2D images. Even now, in the era of highly advanced 3D modeling technology, the representativeness of this term remains unshaken). In the Chinese-speaking world, the term “ACG” (Animation, Comic, Game), coined by the senior “AIplus” of the “Sha Hu Lu Alliance” — a manga/anime-related group founded in Taiwan long ago and still active today ([1] The group’s name comes from a transliteration of the Shuffle Alliance (シャッフル同盟, also translated as Xiaru Alliance or Shuffle Alliance) from the Japanese anime “Mobile Fighter G Gundam”) — is the most common way of referring to it, and it has continued to spread and be used to this day.
Evaluation of Otaku
Because of their excessive enthusiasm for subcultural products, they are easily regarded by the general public as a group that produces nothing. In addition, collecting certain subcultural products, such as firearms or pornographic content, may cause them to be seen as potential criminals. For example, in the famous case that once occurred in Japan — the “Tokyo/Saitama Serial Girl Kidnapping and Murder Case” (also known as the Tsutomu Miyazaki Incident, 1988–1989) — because a large quantity of pornographic anime videotapes was found in the home of the perpetrator, Tsutomu Miyazaki, the reputation of the OTAKU community was called into question by society. Moreover, because they are excessively enthusiastic about specific fields, many of them are relatively worse than ordinary people in interpersonal relationships and social skills, so Japanese society’s overall impression of this group is generally not good. This situation improved slightly after the 2004 movie Densha Otoko aired (see below). The 2004 internet story “Densha Otoko,” which caused a sensation in Japan, portrayed a typical otaku image: unconcerned with appearance, no luck with women, afraid to talk to women, good with computers, good with subcultures, and collecting all kinds of models. But being unconcerned with appearance, having no luck with women, and being afraid to talk to women are not traits that otaku necessarily possess. Many otaku also have the trait of being “hikikomori” (stay-at-home); and “hikikomori” shares certain traits similar to the above. For this part, one may refer to “hidden youth.” It must be especially noted that otaku are not equivalent to hikikomori, and there is no necessary relationship between the two. In present-day Japan, the situation in this regard has begun to change. Since Japan is a country where capitalism reigns supreme, “economic value” has become the ultimate indicator of everything. Japan’s famous socio-economic research group, the “Nomura Research Institute (野村総合研究所),” proposed the “Otaku Market Report” in 2004, stating that this market has a scale of 2.3 trillion yen, but because the original research direction was considered not broad enough, the actual market size may be even larger. In addition, at the “9th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale” (La Biennale di Venezia) hosted by Italy, the Japanese pavilion’s exhibition project was themed on moe, and some specific 2D beautiful-girl illustrations were even adopted by internationally renowned design brands, causing their value to begin to be reaffirmed by the world.
The Term “Zhainan” in Taiwan
The term “zhainan” in Taiwan already differs from the otaku as understood in Japan. Tracing the popularity of the term “zhainan” in Taiwan back to August 2005, when boards on Taiwan’s PTT (such as Hate and JapanDrama) were into watching the Japanese short drama “Densha Otoko.” Since the story is about an unkempt Japanese otaku encountering a tall beauty, Taiwanese PTT netizens began to enjoy jokingly saying on the Hate board that they stay at home all the time and are very “zhai,” or that people who are online all day are simply “zhainan.” From this period onward, the term “zhainan” began to spread wildly in Taiwan. At first, some people criticized that the “zhainan” recognized by Taiwanese differs from the Japanese otaku, sparking numerous online flame wars. But in the end, the terms “otaku” and “zhainan” in Taiwan have already come to differ from Japan. And due to Taiwan’s internet KUSO culture, anyone who often stays home and doesn’t go out, loves playing online games, has no girlfriend, dresses sloppily, or speaks slowly is considered a “zhainan.” On the show “Guess, Guess, Guess” hosted by Jacky Wu, the term “social parasite” was used to insult otaku, arousing public dissatisfaction. Starting in 2007, “zhainan” not only appeared in the subculture’s online world; many media news outlets also began using the term. For example, a news report on July 7, 2007 read, “23-year-old zhainan suffers stroke from being online,” when in fact, looking carefully at the news content, it was merely a graduate student who had to use a computer frequently, leading to illness. The CTi Variety show “Quanmin Damenguo” on July 19, 2007 used “High university admission rates, high unemployment rates after graduation, a bunch of zhainan who are lazy as hell — what will we do about our next generation?” as its main topic, and the host also made erroneous statements such as “Fujoshi means corrupt women with no future” and “Zhainan are already all connected — go find a job, would you?” — further vilifying otaku and fujoshi. This later triggered an outpouring of criticism online, and even a movement to boycott “Quanmin Damenguo” appeared. The term “zhainan” has already begun to be used widely but incorrectly. In the same year, the headline on page 3 of the United Evening News on August 2, 2007 also used “Is there a zhainan in your house?” as its title, describing zhainan as a kind of disease, over-citing scholars and experts to stigmatize zhainan, and categorizing almost all men and women who simply don’t interact with society or don’t want to talk to others as “zhainan” or “fujoshi,” considering it a disease requiring medication or psychiatric treatment. At the same time, the report interviewed too few representative zhainan, who did not represent the whole, resulting in overgeneralization and a failure to report the truth in full. Most of the content defining zhainan was determined by scholars and experts and given in interviews with reporters. Strangely enough, on certain large anime and game websites in Taiwan, as soon as “zhai” is mentioned, a whole crowd of angry internet users will explain and defend the word “zhai.”
Common Subcultures
- Manga
- Anime
- Games
- Tokusatsu
- Doujinshi
- Cosplay
- Movies
- Books
- Models
- Military
- Science
- Computers
- Occultism
- Bus fans (common in Hong Kong)
- Railway fans (common in Japan and Taiwan)
Forget it, they’re too professional — I can’t compare, I’m a good person… If “zhai” still means this in mainland China, then I’m not “zhai”…