Recently, a fragment of Wikipedia's definition of "Otaku" became a trend on social networks in Japan, generating an intense debate among users. The excerpt highlights the evolution of the perception of otakus in Japanese society, from a negative connotation to greater acceptance today.
- "Otaku" is a term that refers to amateurs and was popularized in the Japanese subculture in the 1980s. In 1989, during the discovery of the case of kidnapping and serial murder of girls in Tokyo and Saitama, the media widely reported that the criminal Tsutomu Miyazaki He had collected numerous videotapes of anime, tokusatsu and manga magazines, relating them to crime. This led to a wave of social criticism of otakus, and, paradoxically, made the existence of otakus widely known to the general public.
- Therefore, in the beginning, the term was often used in a negative way to collectively refer to people with hobbies such as manga, anime, video games, and idols, as well as individuals who lacked social skills or were bad at interpersonal communication. The persecution of anime otakus 20 years ago was quite severe. Although they are now accepted.
Here are some comments from users on social networks who reacted to the statement that "although twenty years ago otakus were persecuted, today they are accepted in society":
- Will it be around the time of 'Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'? It was really something that was seen in secret. Even though it was at the top of Oricon's sales charts, it was totally ignored. There were no special anime programs on the variety shows."
- «Being an otaku was like being a hidden Christian, we lived in secret. Otakus nowadays think it's normal to be accepted in society, but that's a big mistake."
- «It's not a matter of being accepted or not, it's that there are practically no people in this era who haven't seen anime or manga."
- «Twenty years ago you already had some recognition, didn't you? In Miyazaki Tsutomu's time, being an anime lover made you worthy of horrible treatment. Maybe it was from 'Princess Mononoke' when it changed."
- «Our continued effort has finally made it infiltrate society at large. It's not easy to lead a crowd that doesn't know what's good or bad."
- «They used to say that 100,000 guys like Miyazaki got together at Comiket, but they didn't talk about the good guys."
- «Otakus who watched 'Samurai Champloo', 'Fafner in the Azure', 'MEZZO' were harassed and called weirdos. Those who watched 'BLEACH' or 'School Rumble' were not considered otakus."
- «Society has become a little more tolerant of diversity and they just walk past it with a forced smile when they see peculiar people."
- «Between 2000 and 2004, the number of nightly anime increased dramatically and in 2006, in the period of great prosperity, it completely changed phases."
- «It made me laugh when the anime became known even among pachinko fans and the elderly."
Source: Otakomu
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