Kuragehime (Princess Jellyfish) – The main character in this manga series is a jellyfish otaku who has a fear of stylish people and social interactions. The story is about two otaku characters with different interests falling in love. Wotakoi has been published originally as a web manga, and can now be found as a T.V. Wotakoi: Love is hard for an otaku – If you’re looking for a female character, this is a great place to start. He begins dating one of the women, and uses the internet to ask for dating advice.
It’s about a shy otaku who intervenes with a drunk man harassing women on the train. Although it’s a bit old, it’s one of the first times that the term otaku gained popularity outside of the subculture. If you really want to understand what otaku means in Japan, check out some manga, TV, and movies!ĭensha otoko (train man) – This story can be found as a manga, T.V. Manga, TV, and movies featuring otaku characters They wanted to differentiate themselves by spelling it differently as ヲタク. It could be that some otaku were unhappy with the negative images of the word. There are different theories as to why this one became popular. This is also katakana but uses a different letter for the o sound. The other version you’ll encounter is ヲタク. The hiragana version, おたく, is the one that was used before the word became widespread and popular. Otaku is most commonly written in katakana as オタク. There are different ways you’ll encounter the word otaku. People might just think it’s a quirky hobby.Įither way, it’s best not to call someone an otaku, unless they are proud to be one! However, it’s different if you’re a train otaku who loves taking pictures of trains and knowing all of the routes. įor example, interests relating to collecting female figurines, idols, hentai anime and manga, are probably looked down upon. The answer is that it depends on the type of otaku. In Japan, otaku seems to carry a negative connotation. You might be wondering whether otaku is an insult. For example, 鉄道 てつどうオタク(train otaku) can be shortened to 鉄 てつオタ(tetsu ota). It’s also common to find the names shortened. In general, the name of the subject or hobby comes before the word オタク (otaku). There are many other types than listed here. 歴女 れきじょ– rekijo (girls obsessed with Japanese history) 婦女子 ふじょし – fujoshi (“rotten girl” or girls interested in homosexual male relationship manga) This means that there is a huge variety ! Leinsd, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons In Japanese, otaku means someone who has an obsession with a specific hobby or subject. It just means that you enjoy manga, anime, video games, and other Japanese things. Outside of Japan, otaku is not as negative.Although this is gradually changing, it usually means that you don’t have social skills and can’t interact with the real world.
This is why it has seeped into the English vocabulary. For example, words like geek or nerd don’t really mean the same thing as otaku. In English, there are no words describing people interested in this kind of subculture. These include manga, anime, video games, and more. Otaku has gained popularity outside of Japan for someone who is interested in things that are Japanese. Hobbies can include cars, trains, history, or even movies. This does not necessarily have to do with Japanese things. It also has a connotation of lacking social skills due to their unsocial hobbies (manga, anime, games etc…). In modern day Japan, otaku, has come to mean someone obsessed with a specific subject or hobby. It is one of the reasons this word came to have a negative connotation. This image of an otaku caused widespread fear. Because of his huge collection of anime and horror videos, he became nicknamed as the “otaku murderer”.
4 letter anime otaku serial#
In 1989, the word otaku gained national attention because of a serial killer named Tsutomu Miyazaki. It also stood for someone who doesn’t go outside much and stays at home. Otaku also became popular because of its double meaning. The author of the essays started to use the word for disruptive fans of manga and anime. These essays were called おたくの 研究 けんきゅう (otaku no kenkyuu), or otaku research. This social awkwardness was brought up in 1983, in a series of essays published in a hentai lolita magazine. This is why they kept referring to each other as otaku even after getting to know each other. These fans were socially awkward and too scared to actually ask people’s names. Otaku was being used as the word for “you” among fans of anime and manga since the 1970’s. The word originally came from お 宅 たく, which means your family or household. In order to grasp the meaning in Japanese, let’s look at the word origin! 6 Manga, TV, and movies featuring otaku characters Origin of the word otaku