It is the otaku’s sexuality, then, that really distinguishes them for Saito ¯. He explores it using Lacanian psychoanalysis, which may not be to everyone’s taste, but he does so without the slightest trace of moralizing judgment, which is refreshing and long overdue.
Tamaki, Saito. Beautiful Fighting Girl, University of Minnesota Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, .
Created from esu on 2017-10-20 13:58:59.
Time for my first post with direct connections to my paper.
The image of the beautiful fighting girl is prominent among anime, which is often defined as Japanese (and somewhat recently, as Japanese-style) animation. She appears in many of Studio Ghibli’s films, she is the central figure in the hit series Neon Genesis Evangelion, and according to Saito Tamaki, she is the object of desire for otaku in a way that defines what it means to be an otaku.
The term ‘otaku‘ is spelled phonetically in Japanese, but its etymology traces back to ‘otaku’ (spelled お宅), a word that refers to someone else’s house, the idea being that otaku are reluctant to leave the house. It invokes the idea of being socially awkward, as well as the obsessiveness that is often associated with people now defined by this word, ‘otaku.‘ Of the fans of anime and manga in the West, most have probably not bothered to look into the etymology of the word, but they seem to have a decent understanding of all the things that being an ‘otaku‘ entails.
Another term that popped up fairly recently is ‘weeaboo.’ Of course, all due credit to Filthy Frank for popularizing the term with these videos:
I think it’s kind of funny how people defined as weeaboos really embraced the term despite its originally derogatory intent:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/weeaboo
Both the terms ‘otaku‘ and ‘weeaboo’ have become difficult to define over the years. Even those two words are difficult to distinguish from each other. The only thing that seems to remain constant is a connection to Japanese anime and manga.