| Hitachi is a Japanese company known for their air-conditioners, excavators and other products. Their most famous one, however, is the widely known "Magic Wand", a shoulder massage device. Now, people got creative and noticed that the magic wand could also have... other uses. Hitachi learned of this, and was now at a interesting situations: Condoning their new use would be very bad PR, but condemning would also alienate a large "secondary consumerbase". The whole system, then, works like an open secret, and everyday loads of people buy magic wands """to massage their shoulders""". This anecdote explains the whole of otaku culture. Recently I discovered the works of Karl Andersson, an academic that frequently also cites the works of Patrick W. Galbraith, another academic that studies otaku culture. Quoting Galbraith's finding, he found out that the lolicon fanbase of Minky Momo and Creamy Mami came as a massive surprise to their creators in the early 80's, but commented that in comparison, by the late 80's, the creators of Wataru and Granzort were somewhat aware of the potential fujoshi viewership and did small forms of fanservice to them. The more I thought about it, the more I found examples:
1 would give birth to Real Robot, 2 would give birth to things like Gundam Wing and Gundam 00, 3 gave birth to the Yaoi boom, 4 gave birth to otaku-oriented mahou shoujo, 5 changed the whole industry, and I don't think I need to mention 6. All examples of groups who became fans of something that wasn't primarily aimed at them, but became such a good consumerbase (Though not often a PR-friendly one) that it couldn't simply be condemned. In time, they won: They organized via doujin culture, the OVA boom of the 80's gave room to anime of whom they were the primary demographic, all those eventually came back to the industry in the form of influence or more (Remember, CLAMP started as an Yaoi doujin circle, they made a doujin where Kakyoin lays an egg, and from it comes his and Jotaro's child). The success of Evangelion essentially, in the spam of ten years, merged the OVA market into the mainstream industry and created a whole ecosystem of blatant otaku-oriented anime, of whom otaku were the primary demographic. This is what I was able to conclude, is this correct or am I tripping? |
thewiruNov 26, 2024 6:34 PM
| Frederik L. Schodt mentions examples in his book Manga! Manga! It says shounen magazines began to serialize romances in response to boys reading and enjoying shoujo romance. |
| その目だれの目？ |
| Pokemon dbz digimon beyblade naruto and dragonball all largely contributed to the rise of anime globally. Toys and merch are powerful tools to spread series names. |
 |
| Actually the Otaku, gayru, yankee, cultures were all born out of social misfits. |
| I reckon that otaku culture was born out of unfulfilled viewership, sexually and in other ways. |
*kappa* |
| I watch One Piece for the hot guys, or am I tripping? |
| Okay but how is this relevant today? Otaku culture is dead now and anime is for normies outside Japan.... |
Reply to RainyEvenings
Actually the Otaku, gayru, yankee, cultures were all born out of social misfits.
| @RainyEvenings Not mutually exclusive. |
Reply to Lentus1
Okay but how is this relevant today? Otaku culture is dead now and anime is for normies outside Japan....
| @LenRea Many gaming content creators already consider that simply the fact that someone goes out of their way to watch videos analyzing the philosophy and rationale about a game or games in general is enough to classify them as "hardcore fans", because most people simply won't go further than the very surface. I would apply a similar logic to otaku. |
Reply to thewiru
@LenRea
Many gaming content creators already consider that simply the fact that someone goes out of their way to watch videos analyzing the philosophy and rationale about a game or games in general is enough to classify them as "hardcore fans", because most people simply won't go further than the very surface.
I would apply a similar logic to otaku.
Many gaming content creators already consider that simply the fact that someone goes out of their way to watch videos analyzing the philosophy and rationale about a game or games in general is enough to classify them as "hardcore fans", because most people simply won't go further than the very surface.
I would apply a similar logic to otaku.
| @thewiru Gaming is a multi-national word. Otaku isn't. Otaku is very specific, otaku can even mean a gamer person in Japan. |
Reply to Lentus1
@thewiru Gaming is a multi-national word. Otaku isn't.
Otaku is very specific, otaku can even mean a gamer person in Japan.
Otaku is very specific, otaku can even mean a gamer person in Japan.
LenRea said: gamer person *person-of-gaming, please. ...... |
| Regarding the OVA market, he refers to “Evangelion” as an example of success, but I do not think this is an appropriate example since it is not an OVA work. If anything, the fact that this work led to an increase in the number of late-night broadcasts of anime is more often mentioned. Also, in the past, the term “otaku” used to refer to anime otaku, but nowadays the term also refers to people who are passionate about or addicted to something other than “anime”. Idol otaku, train otaku, history otaku, etc. |
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