The Social and Political Dynamics of Otaku Fan Cultures Over Time

THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DYNAMICS OF OTAKU FAN CULTURES OVER TIME
By
Institution
The Social and Political Dynamics of Otaku Fan Cultures Over Time
The Otaku subculture in Japan has undergone several social and political changes since its inception in the 1980s. The terms mainly having a negative connotation in the latter years, is now a popular name abroad in countries like USA and China. Otaku fans are the main consumers of creative art products and provide significant contributions to such a cultural genre. Understanding the political and social dynamics of this subculture is important in identifying how their influence shapes Japanese cultural heritage.
Beginning and Growth of Otaku
Otaku has undergone a series of change in representation and perception in the mass media over time. The major interests of Otaku fans are normally games, manga, internet, anime, books, computers, figurines, cosplay, computers and celebrities among others (Sone, 2014). The word Otaku is equivalent to the English words ‘nerds’ or ‘geeks’. For a long time, the media has associated the term to the male gender but the female gender has gradually and steadily creeped in to attract identification with the name. There was perception in the 1980s of male Otakus as introverts, social rejects, those who could not communicate with others, conform, and play fruitful roles at home, school and community by connecting play and consumption (Galbraith, 2010). The perception led to a public picture of the male Otaku as passive consumers, easily moved sexually and mentally by voluptuous feminine characters (Leavitt &Horbinski, 2012).
The term became popular in the 1980s after a boom in consumer base, college clubs and conventions. The growth in anime and manga industries did not conform to the societal connectivity as there was no name that these art lovers could refer to each other. Nakamori Akio popularized the word Otaku in 1983 through a Manga Burrikomagazine, describing the techno-geeks as skinny young boys and overweight girls wearing cheap clothes and bowl-shaped haircuts (Gushiken& Hirata, 2014). The term became even more popular in 1989 when Tsutomu Miyazaki was caught having killed and preserved the bo...