I want to know what Japanese people think of the growing population of western otaku. Also, if any Japanese Otaku want to know how western otaku act, feel free to ask.
2 ：
we think they act stupid
3 ：
You shouldn't act like that in public.
4 ：
do you like flat chest?
5 ：
>>1 Do foreign people play the X-rated video game?
6 ：
I love flat chest.
7 ：
I haven't had a date in my entire life. So, I probably wouldn't care about chest size.
>>4 There is a large English speaking roricon/lolicon/flat-chest community. >>5 A lot of the dedicated western otaku enjoy playing games like clannad, muv-luv, kanon, and other popular x-rated or x-rated version games.
15 ：
>>5 Usually, the visual novels that are officially translated aren't very good. However, there are many fans for certain games not released outside Japan. Some people even provide patches to change the text to English. You buy the game, then apply the patch.
>>16 >what is this "buy"? "Buy" involves one person exchanging monetary currency in exchange for another's goods.
23 ：
>>22 the poster was obviously making a joke about downloading software instead of purchasing.
24 ：
I'm a westerner who buys occasionally to support the creators. But when the games aren't available located locally and you have to pay high shipping expenses on top of everything else, it really discourages you. After all, you're not even getting a translation, but relying on a crack/manipulation of the original software for it to be in English. So I only buy occasionally from the creators I think deserve it. I usually buy the cheaper games, like Touhou is quite affordable.
25 ：
>>1 There is no such thing as western otaku. Only weeaboo. Some more extreme than others.
26 ：
Yeah same here. For instance, I fucking love eroge games, but few are in English. I buy them when I can, most of them are pretty much gone besides torrents though. Not to mention all the money I' m saving... Translate more shit if you want us to start buying it. If I could walk into a store and see some good h-games I'd buy those over shit like Halo any day.
27 ：
>>25 This is mostly true. But I'm willing to bet there are a few thousand otaku at least out there.
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>>26 No, no, no That traditional business model is all wrong and way too expensive. There's no way I'm willing to pay money to support a third-party translation/localisation/censorship industry. Look what happened to the anime localisation industry. Those companies are the first major casualties of modern file-sharing. I want the Circles/Developers to sell their works straight from their site. They don't have to waste resources on packaging/distribution, and they might even make use of fan-translations where available. It would be much easier to pay for software and music if I didn't have to go to the trouble of buying a plastic disc from overseas, but could pay instantly for the information on it via paypal. As it is, any of their works will find its way on the internet within a few hours of its physical release at Comiket/Reitaisai/whatever. If the first place a particular doujin is available on the web is on the creator's website for a paid download, it makes torrents seem somewhat silly and more abusive. Obviously most smart people will first torrent it, then pay for it if they like it/are proper citizens. So obviously file-sharing will always have a place on the net. But if I wanted to support a given music/comic group, something like a paid download (or even a paypal donation link; it comes to the same thing) would be far more effective.
29 ：
I buy figurines. will that help the industry?
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What is the ANIME which foreigners like?
31 ：
>>30 Dragonball, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh have had the most widespread popularity in the west in the past. Besides that the most popular series include Eva, Cowboy Bebop, Hellsing, Gundam WING, and Speed Racer (MachGoGoGo!)
32 ：
>31 In other words, we only like the shitty animu.
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>>31 you forgot Ghost in The Shell, Naruto, One Piece, Death Note, Code Geass, that sort of thing. I don't actually think Gundam is all that popular.
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>>31 Fuck you and learn to quote properly. I don't like most of those, I'm just naming the ones that are, without argument, the most popular Also this is probably the most accurate portrayal of western otaku I can find. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm477651 As compared to Genshiken: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm1940399
35 ：
>>33 I didn't, its just that those shows aren't nearly as popular as the ones I listed, with the exception of maybe Naruto. I mean, Code Geass? Seriously? That only is getting half the ratings GiTS did, and GiTS itself got shit ratings. He isn't asking "what are your favorites?", he is asking "which are most popular?". That doesn't include hailed-yet-marginally-popular series.
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What the hell is "otaku" exactly? Because I'm pretty sure we can't really call westerners with that word. Any Japanese native fluent enough in English to explain the meaning of "otaku" in English terms? What does it translate to? "Geek"? "Social reject"? I'm sure it's not "retarded fanboy of all things Japanese, preferably two-dimensional".
37 ：
>>36 An otaku is an extreme hobbyist. It doesn't just refer to anime maniacs.
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>>30 Most anime is fan-subtitled within days of release, so the foreign market is exposed to new anime constantly. In terms of popularity, big name shows like Haruhi, Lucky Star, Kaiji, and Code Geass are big in the western world.
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>>36 I'm pretty sure every westerner who calls himself "otaku" fits the descriptions you have put forth.
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>>35 But the popular shows aren't usually favored by "otaku". The most popular shows will always be the mainstream, mass-produced shounen stuff. Right beneath that category are the slightly less big, shounen/shoujo/seinen type shows, like Death Note and Code Geass, usually aimed at the teens/high-schoolers that get popular in the West among the "anime fanbase". The real otaku watch the smaller but still lucrative seinen we all know and love. Your average American "Anime fan" might have watched a few of the more popular ones within this category, but mostly will stay out of it or just alongside it, with popular shows like KyoAni adaptations of Clannad... Higurashi... stuff like that. You'll be hard pressed to find any of these guys that played the original games the shows are based off of though, or even know the games exist. They make me sick with their ignorance, but that's life. A big difference too is a lot of the Western fanbase is female, and significantly younger than Japanese Otaku. This is would probably explain a preference for Shounen stuff, since girls usually prefer that sort of thing.
41 ：
hello are >>1 foreigner? I'm Jpn who am able to speak English and have american girlfriend. you know,there are some people who use dirty or barbarous words,but don't mind.
>>36 "Geek" would be the closest. Someone who has an unhealthy obsession. The word has a negative connotation. Anyone who willingly calls themself "otaku" and is not japanese is a wapanese faggot.
45 ：
>>44 I'd assume that the Japanese otakus don't call themselves that either.
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>>45 Otaku always reminded me more of neckbeard than geek. It's not something anyone actually calls themselves, but it's tossed around a lot for ironic insult purposes.
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>>41 >>1 here, yes I am a American living in a state called North Carolina. Most of the people using foul language are western posters anyway, so don't worry about it.
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>>47 >Most of the people using foul language are western posters anyway, so don't worry about it. "Foul language" is an irrational concept. Words can't be "bad", only people can. If you can't take a "bad" word, then that says more about you than the one who is using it.
>>48 Is that what they're teaching in high school these days? Keep your half-baked postmodernism in /r9k/ where it can be appreciated by other pubescent pedants like yourself.
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>>50 Whatever, Christfag. Isn't it Saturday? Why are you not in church molesting children?
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>>47 2ch and 2chan are full of foul language, it's just not the kind of foul language you can understand.
>>53 Oh my, "shit"!? Isn't that "BAD LANGUAGE"!? You should feel like a BAD PERSON for using BAD WORDS!
55 ：
Speaking of shit, this topic very quickly went to it.
56 ：
hey god, hentai people are over here.
57 ：
HGHPAOH!!!
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Do Japanese otaku hate themselves as much as Western otaku do?
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>>58 no they dont they have pride as otaku but when they talk with person who is not otaku, they get nervous. because usually there looks are not good, and it is an inferiority complex for them. they do not think that their hobby is shame. thay think looks and figure are there only shame. but they are usually stupid or idiot, so actualy they should be shame on there mind.
60 ：
You are aware that no one is condemning cussing right? Only your unlimited juvenile stupidity. Once your age past the age of 15 you will realize that "foul language" is not a concept, it is merely a phrase. A noun.
>>60 "Foul language" is not a concept? lolwut Go die in a fire, useless imbecile.
63 ：
>>62 Jesus, you really are in high school. I can't possibly hate your posting anymore than I do now. Go back and read a little bit, and you'll see that no one you're attempting to argue with gives a fuck about foul language, just your horrible posting
I wonder if any Japanese people are still here? Probably, they've fled in response to the spam. I wouldn't blame them.
67 ：
>>66 Apparently they don't know how to take it easy.
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dont you realize me?
69 ：
>>67 ...aren't Yukkuris pretty much universally hated, though? They're greedy, steal others' possessions, and try to kick people out of their own homes. ...huh. In before obvious joke.
70 ：
>>39 Yes, but you miss the point, which is, they're still a minority among the entirety people that would be called "otaku" by Japanese standards.
71 ：
hi western otakus. what made you otaku? people in your country despise anime-otaku?
72 ：
>>71 The majority of us grew up playing NES (Famicom) and watching Speed Racer (Mach Go Go Go!), Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Akira, Macross, Pokemon, and stuff like that in the 80s and 90s. This sort of thing was dubbed in English and heavily censored or rewritten but we enjoyed it anyway as children.
73 ：
I am No. 72 >>71 Those of us that haven't learned how to hide our hobbies usually end up being mercilessly bullied and discriminated against. On 4chan the slang term for this is "hiding your power levels", but in Japanese this would becalled "honne" and "tatemae" Scholars and academics writing on this subject talk about honne, tatemae, hikikomori, and such things as if these concepts were unique to Japanese culture. I very strongly disagree.
74 ：
>>73 it must suck where you live. i've never had to hide the fact that i enjoy unhealthy amounts of video games and anime. just hang out with others who have the same interest.
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>>72 Thank you for answering my question. I used to play famicon and watch dragon ball and sailor moon, too. I think people who dont hide their power levels are really cool. Because they are the real OTAKU!
76 ：
>>74 Your internet buddies don't count. Try getting a respectable job with an easily googleable history of fansub authorship or anime forum posts attached to your name. Try dating outside of your race. If you can read Japanese at all, and you aren't asian, pay close attention to outsiders when you're nose-deep in anything with "Chinese" (any asian language) script on it. We, as supposed freedom-loving Americans, are far more image-conscious than we would ever admit.
77 ：
>>75 Hiding power levels isn't just necessary to avoid bullying. In America (at least), there are a lot of annoying anime fans who are not true otaku, and one must hide their power level to avoid contact with them.
I think being a fan of anime is a little more acceptable in America then it is in Japan. I mean, if you say that you are a fan of anime in America, average people will just assume "Oh, he's just college student majoring in computer science, no doubt". Whereas saying that you are a fan of anime in Japan, people will compare you to those one or two otaku serial killers.
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>>79 Saying that you are a fan of anime in the US, people will think you're a deranged cosplaying pedophile out to fuck their children.
81 ：
I should clarify that by no means watching anime or playing videogames is by no means the basis of our identity. I don't define myself as an otaku. However, good luck communicating this to the sort of image-conscious gossipy busybodies that you go to college or work with. Adolescence may as well end at 30 nowadays.
82 ：
>>80 No, normal people in the United States have no idea what anime is and don't care to learn. If you force an American to listen to bullshit about how anime isn't "cartoons" and can be "mature," they'll roll their eyes and assume you're some kind of incompetent, nerdy virgin.
83 ：
>No, normal people in the United States have no idea what anime is and don't care to learn. This is no longer true. Everyone and their dog knows what cartoon network and "dragon balls" is, at least by name. Even if they don't care to learn it's entered the public lexicon, either as "anime" or "Japanimation"
84 ：
>>83 Ok, what I meant was that they absolutely don't care about it. Also, I'm not talking about teenagers, I'm talking about people in their twenties or beyond. Teenagers might know a little more about anime or whatever, but I don't think there's been any real change in its reputation. Kids might be earnestly interested in high school, but they'll snap out of it once they get to college and lose their affected "outsider" facades.
85 ：
>>84 I'm talking about people in their twenties or beyond. The people who I live and work with every single day of my life still think like this in their 20s and beyond. College and dorm life may as well be 13th grade boarding school. That's what I meant when I said "Adolescence may as well end at 30 nowadays" Maybe things are different where ever you live.
86 ：
>>85 Yeah, maybe you're right. I am talking as a person who is vaguely interested in Japan but has no interest in anime whatsoever. We're really talking about different degrees of the same response. My peers are definitely adolescent; I live in fucking Williamsburg, Brooklyn. :/ Then again... narcissism of small differences and all.
>>83 Nobody remembers the term "Japanimation" except for anime nerds. And the majority of people in america aren't aware of japanese carttons being referred to as anime. Pokemon, yes, but that's about it. Everyone in high school or college can define "anime" though. Either way, go outside.
92 ：
Either way, take it easy.
93 ：
You must never show your true nature. "'Death Note'? What's that? "Oh, I see. It's one of those Japanese comic books." The facade must not be broken.
94 ：
>>93 It's more like: "Hey can you actually read that" (referring to a 2ch thread) "Sorta" "Whatever you say man" *walks away, makes ching chong noises, grins like retard*
95 ：
>>94 I hate when people do that. It makes me so angry. Whenever says "Sure" and rolls their eyes in disbelief. I try as hard as I can to not grit my teeth or show any anger. This of course is no longer a problem because I don't have to deal with people any more.
