Usually I try to make this blog as light-hearted as possible. But for this post I reckon I’ll digress a little and talk about the inequality being heap upon otaku. The otaku culture I’m referring to the include both Japan and Malaysia. Maybe I will sound a bit presumptuous at times, if so please forgive me.
I reckon most of you now would have heard of the Akihabara Liberation Demo. If not, you can find excellent coverage at Danny Choo. The peaceful demo was held to air the otaku grievance and to raise awareness about their cause. It is a commonly known fact that most of the general society tend to look at otaku culture with skewed view. In a sense, it is quite understandable that the general public will frown upon otaku almost single – mindedness in pursuing their hobby, be it from playing eroge, collecting figure, cosplaying etc,etc. The thing is, things turn ugly when they i.e. general public view this otaku behaviour as an aberration and treat otaku with ridicule or even contempt. It is easy to make fun of otaku difference from mainstream society. As if that is not bad enough, the public tend to view that otaku’s behaviour will lead them to commit crime. If I’m not mistaken, there was this one case where a convicted child serial killer in Japan was apprehended. In his apartment was found hentai manga and eroge and other otaku paraphernalia. Most of the hentai material found is loli in nature. The general public, in following this story begins to make the assumption otaku = potential serial killer + pervert etc, etc. This is not help by the press, whose negative reporting is adding fuel to the otaku-hating flame. And while I was browsing through Picture Perfect Paranoia when I stumble on this article.
The stuff I talk so far is mainly centred in Japan. In Malaysia things also began to look grim for otaku. I still remembered when they were crying bloody murder when a tabloid newspaper did an expose about anime being sold on the black market. The thing is they got their facts wrong and give the impression that anime = animated pron. Of course this being Malaysia, the politician got wind of this and started baying for blood and preaching their view that anime = evil + pron + decadent + it’s just nasty. This negative view of anime spilled over to otaku culture. I still remember some of the nasty stuff people say about people who cosplay, ranging from ‘what is the point they doing all of this’ to really profane stuff. And don’t get me started on what I’ve read and heard about people views on figure collecting.
I have to admit, otaku does have some peculiar hobby. Otaku might reproach me by saying this, but otaku culture is somewhat motivated by sex. Hence the tons of eroge and hentai being produce. But Otaku also thrive on other scene such as anime and manga. It’s a fact otaku culture is contributing a huge chunk of cash into the economy. So in sense otaku culture is contributing to the economy. And no, not just in Japan. And the most important thing is that the individual himself is the one who choose this lifestyle. They are not being pressured and should not be make fun of for choosing to be an otaku.
Will the grim scenario continue for Otaku? I was kinda surprise when I read the article concerning the Akihabara Liberation Demo. Maybe with this small step, bit by bit otaku culture will gain acceptance in Japan. In Malaysia, exposure is given to anime and manga through print media. Just the other day I’ve read a positive article in a trendy magazine about people cosplaying. So maybe, just maybe, otaku culture will be accepted and otaku will not have to endure any more contempt and ridicule.
On a lighter note, all hail to Haruhi - Sama second season. And though a bit late, Happy Birthday Kagami & Tsukasa XD
hi there…
well i guess that it just depends where you are, and what the government really wants to do. For me, it doesn’t happen here, well to an extent.. We have many different types of people who get their anime and manga, be it a student, or a adult working. Of course, there are age limits on the anime. Some may be NC16, while some anime may not even be brought into country. yes this may mean that anime is not accepted (as in those hentai- i dont see that here at all =S)
well, we dont really see porn anywhere in singapore. I guess it’s just to make sure that we don’t get any footage of it, and ensure that the future of the children are protected. (who would want a child exposed to p0rn?)
we dont have any article on anime, and that anime is bad.. because anime is v limited here, we hardly get that. the country just focuses mainly on current issues, like our local stars, and the foreign stars we see all the time.
well you could say that anime is like. dying here =X
Looking at our local tabloids here in Malaysia, you can’t help not crying tears of blood, ditching your iPod and instantly proceed to become an hero. I can’t believe that people would buy this pile of shallow, misinforming sensationalist bullshit. Guess as long as stupidity and ignorance prevails in our society, there’s always room for this so-called ‘journalist’ working with in the tabloid to get away with tons of Raepdollars by making something so retarded looked so smart and believable.
I had seen Harian Metro’s (IINM) article on airsoft guns, and I swear I almost turned Thing. Guns that shoots at 100km/h? Where the hell did they get that misresearched shit?
And if you think that article makes Cho Seung Hui looked less psychotic, try looking at other tabloid’s article about the so-called ‘Black Metal’ or ‘devil worshipping’ culture. These tabloid photographers tend to pop outta nowhere on underground rock concert, snap some pics of the most ‘intense’ moments in the concert before GTFO’ing. Next, they use the pics to decorate their ultra-biased and factless articles about OMFG OUR YOUTHS THINK SATAN IS KEWL! hoping it’ll sell like hotcakes. Underground rockbands should’ve filed a lawsuit and we, as being the more educated of Malaysians should encourage more of our countrymen to boycott exploitative journalism which had plagued our media for far too long.
They’re easy to spot by the way: if you saw any photographers who tend to look middle-aged and doesn’t dress in similar fashion like everyone else in the rock concert, chances are you know who these money sucking sensationalist tards are.
@Hangmen - I agree with you. Having seen the hypocrisy of the paper here, they tend to exaggerate things at time. Well, not all are bad though, thank god.
Harian Metro is trashy, tabloid journalism. They exaggerate, make up facts, and often misreport news without doing proper research. Sadly, quite a number of people actually take their so-called ‘news’ seriously.
Airsoft guns shoots at 100km/h???!?!? I never that.. Lol.. I must missed out some details somewhere..
Do you know of a site where we can check out an online version of the types of tabloids you’re talking about?
Here in the states the crazed paparazzi zombies will do anything to get a photo for a hot topic. But most of it revolves around celebrities and has nothing to do with social welfare or religion…I’d like to compare the differences.