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I agree. It was a fairly clinical approach, however in this case I think the objective viewpoint was the correct one to take. That said, most Japanese reality TV (i.e. talk shows, documentaries, etc), tend to be fairly dry. Spend an hour watching NHK and you'll know what I mean.

Not a problem. I'm always happy to help out.

As for the word "otaku", you're right. It would be interesting to see where the line got blurred. I've read that it had a lot to do with the movie "Otaku no Video" that came out a number of years ago. The movie was released in the West as well, and it took a more tongue-in-cheek approach to all things anime and manga, in particular the word otaku. A more recent movie, "Akihabara Geeks", also makes for interesting viewing, especially for those who haven't had the opportunity to visit Japan.

To be honest, there's really no book I would deem a must-read. I research my reviews before I write them, and during the course of that I use a variety of information sources. There's a lot of people who write books on anime, however the ones that deal with the socio-political impact of the medium are generally speculative or opinion based works at best. You'll also find that most of the books available are written by Westerners, many of whom really don't comprehend the impact of anime on Japanese society. I metnioned in my review of the Genshiken manga that Westerners use the word "otaku" in a manner that most Japanese would frown on, as in Japan the word is synonymous with loser, pervert, scum, etc.

There's a number of books available on the subject, but some you could start with are:

"Anime: from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle" by Susan Napier

"Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S." by Roland Kelts.

"Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon" edited by Joseph Tobin (which I have yet to read but comes highly recommended to me).

"Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics" by Frederik Schodt (fairly old, but has the advantage of being written at a time before anime had truly "made it" in the West).

Also, this site gives a list of the so called "recommended" books on the subject:

Recommended books on anime and manga

As with anything though, unless you're dealing with hard facts, then they're simply stating an opinion or perception. Just because they say something, doesn't mean you have to believe, especially if they haven't backed it up with evidence.

Hope this helps :)