Discrimination Against Otaku Culture: KenesuKurusu’s Thematic Anime-Related Discussion (T.A.R.DIS)

I was scrolling through my Facebook wall one warm evening when I came upon an update from my favorite anime store here in downtown Toronto.  I was pretty hyped to see what it was, as I thought that it was a new update on the new products that the store’ll be receiving.  Maybe they will finally have that Senjougahara figure I always wanted, or new Nendoroids, or new Figmas, or new Blu-ray/DVD box sets of awaited anime dubs from Funimation.  Maybe.

What I saw made me lose hope in the anime community for a few seconds, which is an achievement worthy of a world-record plaque.

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The post was a bunch of CCTV footage showing a bunch of shaggy-haired guys apparently running off with some stuff from the store.  It appealed to fans of the page to report of any sightings of these “punks” immediately.

Sure, a lot of people may say that it is a petty crime, maybe not as bad as stealing someone’s purse, but it got me thinking:  how would this affect the anime community?  If people saw this, what would they think of otakus?  How would this affect the community?

Ladies and gentlemen, we are otakus; we are thieves desperate for items that we deem valuable to the point of committing an act of theft just to have it; we are cunning and resourceful and greedy and we crave.  We have no thought of consequences.  We are otakus.

I was watching Heroes of Cosplay one Saturday afternoon, amazed at the cosplays people display on convention contests, when I saw a bunch of cosplayers ostracizing another group of cosplayers after their performance, just because their cosplays looked “low-quality” and “ghetto” and “sooooo 240p” to them.  A fight almost erupted, all because of people being insensitive and unappreciative of the works and efforts of others.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are otakus; we discriminate other people based on our standards on what looks good and what doesn’t.  It is obligatory for us to berate those people who we think are putting the otaku community to shame, not realizing the irony of our acts.  We are otakus.  

A friend of mine from the Philippines joined an anime club at her university.  She expected a nice atmosphere, a pleasant place where otakus like her can converse about anime at leisure, a place where she can make new friends, broaden her horizons on anime and Japanese culture, and, most of all, have fun.  What she didn’t expect were people who discriminated varying sorts of media, like The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, and Doctor Who (ahembastardsahem), claiming them to be trash and weird and uncool and pathetic, which would’ve been understandable at most…until I was told that they once ganged up on a member who liked Game of Thrones, berating her with harsh words and EXPELLING HER FROM THE CLUB.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are otakus:  our standards of what is entertainment knows no bounds.  The 3 great walls from Attack on Titan are nothing compared to the barriers of communication that we put up, barriers that prevent other people with other interests that we deem as garbage slime molds from entering.  If one manages to get into our territory, ho ho ho, they are as out as a home run ball on a Saturday Yankees game.  We are otakus.

I can go on and on about the shameful things that some otakus do that gives the community a bad rep.  At this point, we should not be surprised that there are people who cringed at the words “otaku” and “anime”.  From all the stuff that we do, from the attitude that we otakus display (may it be in real life or on the internet), it is no wonder that there are a number of anti-anime groups out there whose aim is to displace the anime community out of our society.

Figure 1:  A metaphorical representation of how discrimination feels like.

However, I must make it clear to you guys that I said “some” otakus.  Otakus, for what they may seem based on what I told you before, aren’t all that bad, in actuality.  I know quite a few awesome people who are otakus themselves.  However, the point I am trying to make is that those “bad seed” otakus are staining the anime community black with their slanderous and illogically unnecessary scandals.  If this society does evolve into a society where otakus are known to be rude oddballs, if people start avoiding otakus with the knowledge that they are a bunch of fascist jerks, if the Oxford dictionary changes the definition of “otaku” to “an individual who possesses a stereotypical viewpoint of media at the Nazi-level”, then what about the otakus who love anime as a piece of art and entertainment, has respect for other people’s POV about anime, and are accepting,  broad-minded, and logical?

They would be the innocent victims of a war that the people of the very same community that they belong to started, and they don’t deserve that.

Sadly, society is slowly reaching to that point of discrimination.  To some people, we are now known as “otakus”:  violent, sexually influenced stereotypes.  What is even more sad is that it only takes a single ink drop to stain the community’s reputation.  As more and more scandals are commited, more and more ink spills into the fandom, until eventually, ink just get slathered onto it with spaghetti sauce, cheese, and gravy splashed into the mix for good measure.

Figure 2: Metaphorical representation of how even just one bad trip can  spoil a reputation entirely

Violence is an aspect where most people, especially grown-ups, really start to ridicule anime and its fans.  A lot of anime are targeted towards children, and that is an excellent marketing strategy.  With its unique style of storytelling, children and teens alike will be exposed to a more diverse style of media, and that is excellent.  What kinda takes away the beauty of it all is the addition of violence into those shows, especially action-oriented shows such as most shonen anime (see Bleach, One Piece, and Naruto).  While the violence is merely part of the show, there is a number of people who would be horrified at the sight of long samurai swords being thrust into someone’s abdomen, or kids going into fisticuffs, or even a giant menacing demon fox.  This leads to anime being ridiculed -especially by parents- for being inappropriate for children, which is a fair point.  The unfortunate thing is that they automatically assume that any and all anime are like these shonens:  violent.  It underlies the unique factor of anime into something more mindless and beta, which is a real shame, considering how diverse anime is.

Figure 3:  With stuff like this, who wouldn’t be bothered about otakus being violent?

Fanservice, or sexual undertones, are also an issue.  Also seen in some shonen works, fanservice, along with violence, REALLY ticks the hell out of some parents, and, again, to be fair, it is rather understandable.  However, what undercuts the diversity of anime this time is the assumption that fanservice/ecchi=hentai.  To be fair, to the untrained eye of an ordinary mortal, even a little bit of ecchi will come of as lewd and give off sexual vibes, which is, again, something that shouldn’t necessarily be included in a show targeted at young teens.  The result is a “selling technique” that actually harms the industry more.  I will get into more depth on the topic of fanservice some other time.  But, the main point is that as long as there is unnecessary fanservice, non-otakus will continue to lump anime into the “this-program-contains-scenes-of-mature-sexual-subject-matter” pile.

Figure 4:  Uhm……well……..”fan”-servicce….hehehe….

Lastly, discrimination.  Now, of course, this is something that every single culture tries to avoid.  But, as I mentioned before, it only takes a little spark to  start a flame war.  It is a common law that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but a lot of people just take it too far.  Hate messages, seclusion, and the like all stem from discrimination; all are definitely unacceptable in this present day and age, and otakus should know better.  Sadly, some just couldn’t take a hint.

Being an otaku has its benefits, of course.  Contrary to what others may believe, being an otaku and having anime as a hobby can bring about positive effects on a person.  Otakus, despite having the stereotype of being shut-ins, actually gain a stronger and more positive social relation due in part to their love for anime and manga.  They are able to connect with other people who share the same interests and even the similar things connected to anime/manga, allowing them to become more open-minded and supportive individuals; a complete contrast to what society thinks we are.

We otakus also have an increased appreciation for artforms and media.  Instead of being bound to just one form of media (namely, Western-style animation), we are immersed into different art forms from the different art directors and animation companies that create anime.  Same thing with manga.  A lot of the art style that comes from animators, like Studio Ghibli, even inspire people to pursue the visual media field.  Indeed, anime art doesn’t always consist of big, shiny eyes.

 Figure 5:  An illustration of an  otaku’s “Yes-Being-An-Otaku-Has-Benefits-Too” face (NOTE:  not necessarily accurate).

Considering how Otakus are slowly being co-opted by the media and mainstream society as being “black sheep” (although a subtler term could also be used, depending on how you see the situation), one might think that anime and manga lovers should just give up the term and change to something better. It’s definitely not easy and otakus won’t stand for it, but the problem still remains: calling yourself an “otaku” and having society disdainfully think that you are a sociopathic freak just because you like anime is unfair and unjust. Generally, otakus are not psychopaths; they are just unique people who show their passion for the things that they love. It just takes a mature and accepting person to understand and accept what an otaku really is.

We are otakus.  We are not a culture of violent, crime-prone, discriminating sociopaths.  We are just misunderstood.  And if one person, just one person, would understand that fact…well…who knows?

 

As usual, leave a comment down below pertaining to your thoughts on the topic discussed or if you would like me to discuss about anything.  And, speaking of “liking”, give this T.A.R.DIS a like if you enjoyed it.  With that, until next time, this has been Kenji, thank you and I’ll see you guys in the future.

3 Comments

  1. Where I live we had an anime and game club at the local college, back when I was attending it at least. I haven’t heard that it’s changed at all from a friend of mine, and they did mostly call themselves the game club, but they were pretty balanced people. Had an arcade machine with a variety of game platforms integrated into its software, brought in their own consoles, etc. I wasn’t a regular so I couldn’t tell you about the anime side. Certainly, they were playing games most of the time, but apparently some of them were into anime and they were pretty tame individuals.

    A friend of mine has an anime club where he lives out of state. Again, I don’t know much about it, but to the best of my knowledge they mostly get together, watch stuff, and they have rules like not watching stuff that’s been licensed in America(like Psycho-Pass was by Funimation I believe), as their club is funded by the university and such viewings would be acts of copyright infringement. They’re pretty straight laced but again, rather tame.

    As for myself, I admit I never did get into Doctor Who back in the day, but I saw episodes of some of the newer series some years back and even though it wasn’t attention catching for me they were good. I like a lot of western stuff even though I’m really into Japanese animation, but in the same vein I wouldn’t say I’m restricted to being an otaku. I thought Wakfu was rather amazing, that’s a French animation. It’s just that Japanese anime catches my eye sometimes so I watch what interests me.

    Not sure why people can’t get along really in this particular area, I and others I’ve seen and spoken to don’t have that problem.

  2. I actually co-run an Anime club over in New Zealand. It’s a fairly small group, but it’s been going fairly strong for 9 years. We also discuss other things such as TV shows, movies, comics, games so we’re more or less like a social group.

    Nevertheless, asides from collecting money to pay for the place we’re using (using the leftover money to fund trips), we’ve also gone to help out in the community so that way people don’t get that generalization that’s been shown in this article.

    The anime/sci-fi community over here in New Zealand is pretty tight knit. It’s incredibly rare that people ever sort of group us with the stereotypes mentioned.

    I will however agree that forcing your interests and likes onto an individual or making them feel uncomfortable in a club or group just because they like something not relevant to your interests is not on.

  3. It’s unfair to brand anime fans as anti-social pervs who lust after cartoons. Okay that applies to me, but I am sure not everyone is like that 🙂