Kumoricon
Convention Events and Programming => Anime, Manga, and Japanese Media and Culture => Topic started by: pinkrandomattack on March 29, 2006, 01:22:04 pm
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Miyazaki
about a year ago in my japanese class my teacher asked a question that brought up the word "otaku" from a student. she emmediately got quite flustered and insisted that this was a word that we shouldnt use and that it wasent polite and that we shouldnt want to use that word in reference to ourselves and that it was insulting. her english wasent too good and she didnt really want to talk about it, but insisted that it was something like "psyco" in english.
im still not sure about that one....
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I'm going to feel really weird saying "otaku" now.. ;-; you've dashed my hopes and dreams! :shock:
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I dont care what they say I will always be a Meganekko otaku
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o.0... Oh my god... And the odd thing is, we where just talking about the Death Penalty in my AP US Gov class a few days ago.... o.0 Creepy and weird... *shudders*
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My livejournal is 'teh_otaku'. T_T;; -siiigh- I didn't know what the hell it ment went when I made it, like a year and a half ago. I would get a new username, but I'm too lazy to add all my friends and crap over again.
I don't like the term, honestly. If I were to reffer to myself as anything, it would be a Japanese Culture fan. I like not just anime, but Tea Cerimonies and for a few minutes I really really, really wanted to be a Geisha. (Hehe... .-.;; ). I'm hoping to be a Foreign Exchange student in Japan in my Junior year. Anime dosn't control my life, but it's a part of it.
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My livejournal is 'teh_otaku'. T_T;; -siiigh- I didn't know what the hell it ment went when I made it, like a year and a half ago. I would get a new username, but I'm too lazy to add all my friends and crap over again.
I think you can buy a rename token and it'll change your name, and keep all your friends too.
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My livejournal is 'teh_otaku'. T_T;; -siiigh- I didn't know what the hell it ment went when I made it, like a year and a half ago. I would get a new username, but I'm too lazy to add all my friends and crap over again.
I think you can buy a rename token and it'll change your name, and keep all your friends too.
o rly? I think I'll have to look into that.
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so h-he could s-still be alive today? ...... *shivers*
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Yeah. U guys didn't know? Otaku is an insult in Japan. It's like saying you "have no life because your into anime too much" Not directly this but you guys get the point. But I already knew that and I still am an Otaku, insult or not. ^_^
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He probally is but the word otaku still has really nothing to do with him so I mean being a otaku is still an ok thing in my book!
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the word Otaku has the same sort of situation as the word Dork.
Otaku can mean "Another person's home", and in slang. It's a rather obsessive fan.
Dork, well. In SLANG is someone like me. Strange., silly, nerdy. But literally..Yeah.
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the word Otaku has the same sort of situation as the word Dork.
Otaku can mean "Another person's home", and in slang. It's a rather obsessive fan.
Dork, well. In SLANG is someone like me. Strange., silly, nerdy. But literally..Yeah.
Your to young for me to say what a dork is, you will just have to look in the encyclopedia
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its a part of an animal!
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the word Otaku has the same sort of situation as the word Dork.
Otaku can mean "Another person's home", and in slang. It's a rather obsessive fan.
Dork, well. In SLANG is someone like me. Strange., silly, nerdy. But literally..Yeah.
Your to young for me to say what a dork is, you will just have to look in the encyclopedia
now now now, don't make her look it up... we don't want another closed post T.T baaaaad juju
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the word Otaku has the same sort of situation as the word Dork.
Otaku can mean "Another person's home", and in slang. It's a rather obsessive fan.
Dork, well. In SLANG is someone like me. Strange., silly, nerdy. But literally..Yeah.
Your to young for me to say what a dork is, you will just have to look in the encyclopedia
now now now, don't make her look it up... we don't want another closed post T.T baaaaad juju
thats why I dident say it!
Once knew a guy who lived in a cabin in his own private valley and did some trapping. He had a colection of Dorks he gathered in the woods on the mantle. And we would stay up late at night and shoot rats in the front room.
Edit
We would shoot the rats in the kitchen from the front room
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Yes, I know what a dork is. I've known for quite some time now. I didn't say, because I didn't want to get in trouble or have the thread locked due to it.
I'm perfectly aware of what it is. And I don't think I'm too young to know.
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Bah, so paranoid! It'd most likely just get post-edited. :P Don't worry about dorks; let's just get on-topic.
Yes, the most literal meaning of the word otaku in Japanese is "doesn't get out of the house much." I would say that the closest English equivalent would be "geek," or even more likely, "nerd." The main difference is that "nerd" used to refer almost completely to computer nerds. "Otaku" is a broader term.
Unlike in English-speaking fandoms, in Japan, "otaku" refers to any and all kinds of geeks who are dedicated to a certain fan following. This includes military otaku, who mainly obsess about real weaponry and warfare. In Full Metal Panic, the characters suspect that Sousuke is a military otaku. Anime otaku don't necessarily limit themselves to Japanese animation, for that matter.
Many "normal" people have a very paranoid and negative image of "otaku," because there have been a handful of cases of stalking and serial murder which made it onto Japanese news over the years. The stigma around these is similar to the many school shootings we've had in America over the years: people want to blame the hobby rather than the person. I've found that Japanese women in particular, especially those without teenage sons, have had little exposure to hobby culture and are especially paranoid about it. Some Japanese teachers in America, however, know that they have anime to thank for the surge in interest in the Japanese language, and go along with it. At my university they even started a class based on learning Japanese through anime. ;)
Anyway, for a pretty accurate all-encompassing definition of what "otaku" means to the Japanese, watch a few episodes of Genshiken; an anime about a quintessential cross-genre college otaku club. Yes, it DID use to mean something pretty bad, but Japanese otaku are starting to say "screw you; I'm different and I'm proud." I'm not sure whether they're being inspired by American fans, or not, but Japanese subculture has strengthened itself over the years, thanks in no small part to the internet. ^_^
When I came back from Japan, I felt weird about using the term "otaku," since I'd learned the difference between their use of the word and ours. But really, it's the stigma around a word that defines what it means, NOT some dictionary somewhere. If Americans use the word to mean "anime fan," then the English definition of it will become "anime fan." Japanese has done the same to imported words from our language, such as "gothic lolita" and even "cosplay." The only time you should be careful of your use of the word "otaku" is when you are actually in Japan, or when talking to "uninitiated" Japanese locals. Otherwise, don't worry about it, okay? ^_^
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I keep forgetting what a bright well read group of yung uns we have here. Why else is there a debate about weather to call ourselves Otaka, nerd or geek (i'm all 3 at once). I had a room mate once who did not belive me when I told him what a dork was, I got out a book with a chapter on Eskamo Weapons to show him and he still did not belive me. Of course e I could also chase him away with fortune cookies because he thought they were full of demons
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@ radien
well said *wipes away tear* yes, I am proud to be otaku
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well if it means all taht well....hmm...yay ^^ i like being phycho well not phycho but crfazy is always fun ^^
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I keep forgetting what a bright well read group of yung uns we have here. Why else is there a debate about weather to call ourselves Otaka, nerd or geek (i'm all 3 at once). I had a room mate once who did not belive me when I told him what a dork was, I got out a book with a chapter on Eskamo Weapons to show him and he still did not belive me. Of course e I could also chase him away with fortune cookies because he thought they were full of demons
fyi: Eskimo is a derogitory term.
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I keep forgetting what a bright well read group of yung uns we have here. Why else is there a debate about weather to call ourselves Otaka, nerd or geek (i'm all 3 at once). I had a room mate once who did not belive me when I told him what a dork was, I got out a book with a chapter on Eskamo Weapons to show him and he still did not belive me. Of course e I could also chase him away with fortune cookies because he thought they were full of demons
fyi: Eskimo is a derogitory term.
I'll write the publishers of that book thet was printed 30 years ago and tell them
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Yay Radien! ::claps:: We had a similar discussion on the Sakura-Con Forums, only you put it much more beautifully than I could. ^^;;
(Oh yeah, and this is my first post on the Kumoricon Forums. w00t!)
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Watch the Densha Otoko television series to get a feel for what the word 'otaku' means in Japan. My Japanese teacher uses the word quite freely, but I think thats because she hates anime.
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Otaku was actually alot closer to the word "Hermit" than psycho...It just happens to be that we are psychos, so it's what it is closer to now days...Like what Raiden said. See...He knows what he's talking about. ^^...I lurb being an Anime Otaku, though...
Personally, I like psycho more than hermit. We come out of our basements more often than japanese otakus...
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this is soo funny to me. i remeber studying in japan with the tutor and telling her that to us otaku can be a complament, meaning person who stays at home watching anime (any one hear anything wrong with that?)
in my japanses class it just considerd improper grammer that might be why you teacher didnt like it
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Miyazaki
about a year ago in my japanese class my teacher asked a question that brought up the word "otaku" from a student. she emmediately got quite flustered and insisted that this was a word that we shouldnt use and that it wasent polite and that we shouldnt want to use that word in reference to ourselves and that it was insulting. her english wasent too good and she didnt really want to talk about it, but insisted that it was something like "psyco" in english.
im still not sure about that one....
you should ask your teacher about the word 'shinjinrui'. from what i've read it was used on people who share many of the same intrests as otaku but they were a lot more socialy acceptable... (kinda like weezer fans) anyways these guys and girls (oho!) were the types to head up to cons, cosplay, spend hours and their pay checks watching anime. but at the same time they had a more level head on their shoulders than otaku and probalby had a bit more fun with it all...
personaly i think most anime fans/self proclaimed otaku/pplhere fit more into the shinjinrui term than the word otaku...
only problem is otaku kinda rolls off yer tounge... shinjinrui gets caught in your throat... unless yer used to saying words like 'shinsengumi'
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Origins of words can be weird. however, it's commonly used as slang for an uber-addicted anime fan. By no means is it a flattering thing to say, it basically means you're a shut-in geek, but it doesn't make you a psycho.
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Origins of words can be weird. however, it's commonly used as slang for an uber-addicted anime fan. By no means is it a flattering thing to say, it basically means you're a shut-in geek, but it doesn't make you a psycho.
i get the feeling that otaku get a bad rap in japan, or a lot of ppl have bad experiences with otaku...
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there is another reason the terms not liked in japan, aparently a man ubducted and hurt a little girl once, and the man was an otaku so it made the word bad
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yeah i think what happend then is ppl started realizing the amounts of 'otaku' type people around them and kinda freaked out...
i mean everytime i hear about otaku theres always a stereo type attached to them... kinda like the diffrent groups here in america... just otaku are a bit easier to mess with (untill you run into one of those crazy martial arts otaku)
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Thanks for the comments, guys! It's nice to hear that I'm not completely spouting bull. ;)
sumomo san:
Thanks for the reminder! Densha Otoko is a good example of a slightly more negative image of "otaku" than Genshiken portrays. It's a bit melodramatic, but it gets the point across. I didn't think of it right away because it's not technically anime (though definitely closely related).
I didn't get far in it, though, because I personally find myself uncomfortable sitting through any show that uses extreme embarrassment of a character for comedic effect... :?
rasetsutaisho:
Very interesting. Do you know the literal translation of "shinjinrui?" I couldn't find it on WWWJDIC, but I'm wondering whether it bears any resemblance to our use of the word "enthusiast"...
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shin is represented by the kanji 'new' as in atarashii jin is person as in hito, rui is type/breed
altogether it would be something like the new breed (of otaku)