The otakus are an urban tribe usually made up of young people between the ages of 13 and 25 who live certain particular hobbies with great passion. Among the most popular are anime, a style of graphic design associated with comics or comics, and manga, a type of animation made for television.
Etymologically, the word otaku means honor to one's own home, a definition that reflects the asocial behavior of young people who prefer to lock themselves in their own world rather than face the one that appears in reality.
Another positive reading of their behavior indicates that this way of being is beneficial because young people achieve maximum concentration on a hobby until they become experts. Both views worry the Japanese government in the sense of losing the intellectual and labor capacity that its current capitalist system requires.
Although previously otakus were identified as people who were always at home, did not go out, and with few social skills, today it is an accepted urban tribe and that refers especially to anime fans and close subjects.
In addition to anime and manga, 20 themes that otaku focus on have been identified; among them, video games, music groups, celebrities from television, cooking, movies, series, computers, cars and photography.
This subculture is believed to have been born in Japan, specifically in the Akihabara district, Tokyo, known for being a large e-commerce hub. Young people exchanged information about manga or anime and it became a kind of cultural exchange center.
Characteristics of otakus
Young people known as otakus spend their time in their hobby, usually at home with little contact with the real material world. They identify with characters that only exist in fiction.
They are part of a subculture in which representatives of various urban tribes coincide. Subcultures are characterized by a shared vision of the world, which in this case is a hobby.
Members interact with each other and are united by the feeling of inability to belong to the culture of their country. They are between adolescence and early youth; The need to create a world of their own that gives them autonomy and control over their lives leads them to nurture their hobby.
They do not wear a specific wardrobe, but some of them mark their clothes with figures of manga characters, and some also dye their hair in colors, although this is not such a general characteristic. They celebrate otaku day on December 15 worldwide.
They are collectors by nature, they are proud to know and have everything that exists about their hobby, and they manage to dominate a subject so deeply, even gaining the respect of society, even if they are interested in this.
They really like to draw and some of them do it professionally. A large majority are lovers of Japanese rock music, but tastes vary according to the urban tribe to which they belong. In the following video you can see several members of the otakus:
Origin
The otaku subculture was created in the 80s of the 20th century, in Japan. The rapid economic growth of the country pressured young people to be rich or at least have an important social position and thus the possibility of marriage.
Together with the economic position, the young people had to have a good physical appearance; Those who could not achieve it decided to concentrate on their hobbies, creating a kind of counterculture that included individuals who resigned themselves to being socially marginalized.
Unpopular students chose anime as a hobby. Beginning in 1988, the amateur manga movement expanded so rapidly that in 1992 the amateur manga conventions in Tokyo were attended by more than 250,000 young people.
Between 1982 and 1985 the manga magazine Burikko became famous in Japan, which contained stories and comic-like animations.
The manga movement in its origins had sexual content and this caused many sectors to associate the animation technique with an unapproved practice.
In a presentation conference for the publication, its creator Akio Nakamori popularized the term otaku by giving this name to the characters that responded to characteristics of what is known as a fan or a nerd.
With his work, anime and manga were well received and their characteristics were seen in an artistic sense.
I was in the Akihabara sector, an area of Tokyo, with a huge number of electronic stores where products related to the video game industry are distributed, where the otaku subculture began to form.
Manga fans from all over the world converge there to exchange information on techniques and new audiovisual products or the video game industry.
Types of otaku
Within the otaku subculture, there are various types according to their hobby. The main ones are Anime Otaku, anime fans and Otaku manga, who have collected almost the entire series of a specific comic.
Other otakus, mainly women, follow idols or Wotas, young women who have become famous in Japan.
It is also possible to find:
- The fujoshi, women who like sexual content in animations
- The Reki-jo, women who are interested in the history of their country
- The Akiba-kei, individuals who are fond of electronic culture
- The Pasokon Otaku, fans of computers, gēmu otaku or Otaku Gamers, fans of video games,
- The Hikkikomoris, who suffer from a kind of agoraphobia and only leave their home for what is strictly necessary.
It is important to highlight the so-called Cosplayers who are fond of imitating important characters from manga or anime series. Contests are held around the world to reward the best imitations.
Where are the otakus?
Although the Otakus are originally from Japan, this subculture has spread throughout the world. During the last decade, the number of young Latin Americans who make up the otaku subculture has grown especially in Mexico, Spain, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Colombia.
In Europe it has followers mainly in France and Spain, where world Otakus conventions have been held.
References
- Rivera, R. (2009). The otaku in transition. Journal of Kyoto Seika University, 35, 193-205.
- Niu, HJ, Chiang, YS, & Tsai, HT (2012). An exploratory study of the otaku adolescent consumer. Psychology & Marketing, 29 (10), 712-725.
- Galbraith, PW, & Lamarre, T. (2010). Otakuology: A dialogue. Mechademia, 5 (1), 360-374.
- Chang, CC (2013, October). What Otaku consumers care about: The factors influential to online purchase intention. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1558, No. 1, pp. 450-454). AIP.
- Vargas-Barraza, JA, Gaytan-Cortez, J., & Gutierrez-Zepeda, IC (2013, July). Is Marketing Influencing the Otaku Subculture? A First Step to Developing a Model. In Competition Forum (Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 228). American Society for Competitiveness.