It doesn’t really matter. Every group has their clique when they’re growing up. However, most grow OUT of it as they age, and eventually just become a well-adjusted adult. Sure, they may still play D&D on the weekends or go to anime-cons or whatever they did with their group as a kid, but for the most part they just work a job and have a family and do stuff like regular folks.

Folks who are looked down upon always end up embracing the insult they’re given, because it’s an act of defiance. Plus, they finally come to terms with themselves…why should they feel bad for being “otaku”? That’s who they are. They embrace it. It’s their group. Folks outside looking in love to pass judgement, but everyone has a group they’re joined at the hip with … jocks, preps, whatever…they all have their annoying and redeeming qualities.

This might be a bit of a longshot, but I’m pretty sure this is strong evidence that the fans outside of Japan are fully aware of what the word “otaku” originally meant, all the while spouting it with its evolved meaning.

Originally, this term became associated with anime fans in the early 80’s and no one is really sure why. Some believe that the most likely reason is that in anime at that time, some characters were using it as a sign of respect for others, and the creators of some anime used it to show respect towards each other, and then the fans picked up on it.

For a long time, ‘otaku’ just refered to any fan of anything, not just anime and other things we now consider otaku culture.

However, in 1990, a man who killed 6 elementary school girls was arrested and after searching his home they found pornographic anime and manga. The media immediately began using the term otaku when refering to him and the term started to be associated with the socially awkward unshowered masses because of this. So, just like with video games, society was using anime and manga as a scapegoat for the problems with society.

Because of this incident, ‘otaku’ got its negative association. It has been gaining positive association, however, in recent years. Many times when I watch japanese talk shows, the speakers or guest proudly state that they are otaku, and they are definitely not socially awkward or shower impaired

So, the only reason ‘otaku’ has any negative association is because people look at it as being negative, when in fact, there really is no justifiable reason for it to be viewed that way.

lovelyduckies last blog post…Duckie is One Stylish Otaku

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VjSfnhCNm8

Myself, I just feel people are too lazy to find a word to describe themselves, because, you know, that takes actual brain cell usage, and we all know how intelligent the average anime fan is often portrayed as having in various forms of media. So they just all go around with that “Otaku” word, despite not knowing the actual meaning behind it. Amusingly, this is probably the opposite of the spectrum from the usage of words like “Nakama”, where malinformed folk go “omg liek Nakama can never be translated as Comrade/Friend/One Of Us, you should leave it as it is, it’s so much more meaningful!!11″ Precision of language becomes ignored here.

The difference, and the danger, is the negative labeling of people that leads to fear, and fear leads to the separation and isolation I was talking about. In your replies, you haven’t addressed the negative stereotypes you seem to believe in. “… You should feel great shame because you identified yourself with the lowest common denominator? Excuse me? What? Even consideirng your apparent definition of what an otaku is, I think much lower kind of bottomfeeders are murderers, drugdealers, rapists. Nothing in your own definition of otaku infers he or she is the kind of person who hurts others.

Going back to that world you’re talking about… Why do you feel a need to tell people how they should live? What words they should use. Shout from the roof tops, “I hate that people say otaku as a cool positive thing” if you want. But your argument has no effect on me.

And ditto to just about everything Kiri said. Words evolve. Time and space change things. What’s offensive yesterday will become acceptable today.

Kiris last blog post…On Learning Japanese & My Japanese Coach for DS

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@anonymous: Forgive me for being biased, but everyone is biased. Yeah, conformity is the norm in Japan and the bystander effect is all too obvious with so much diffusion of individual responsibility with regards to the social interaction you mentioned. Same thing happens here in the US and everywhere else in the world though. We as a worldwide society are gradually shutting ourselves in our own little bubbles because of all the outside noise that happens around us. This is getting totally off-topic, though if you’d like to discuss psychology and sociology, I’m up for that anytime.

Anyway, otaku is not something anyone should strive to be. Anime/manga/VN/game fans are okay. I just don’t think people should use the word otaku so loosely because it’s the easy umbrella word for all those things.