Preface:
Otaku no Video is a very insightful and introspective (with a touch of mockery) movie that contains both a slightly parodical animated version of the origins of studio Gainax, and live recorded interviews conducted by Gainax of former (and current) Otaku of the time- 1991.
Very nontraditional in many ways, it's not completely anime, and not completely live action, but a blend that presents relevant cultural information regarding the Otaku. It's broken up into two parts; one, an animated movie about a guy named Ken Kubo and his stereotypical fat, geeky otaku friend Tanaka, and the second part is a series of the aforementioned interviews in segments called "Portrait of an Otaku".
The animation first:
Kubo and Tanaka were college friends; Kubo the typical Gary Stu kind of guy- tennis team, has a beautiful girlfriend, scholar, and everything seems right in his life, except he's rather bored. He meets up with Tanaka by chance in an elevator, and from that fateful reunion on is slowly drawn into the Otaku lifestyle of making fanfiction magazines, garage kits (modified figurines), and eventually full on anime and video games in an attempt to become the OTAKING- King of the Otakus!
After rising to the top, Kubo and Tanaka get screwed, and then have to decide what it was that was really important to them- the grubbing, hand to mouth lifestyle of being an artist and original creator, or selling out and making all the money. There's only one true path for the Otaking, and that's to take it beyond the stars.
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The pacing is broken up by the interviews, but the narrative is both engaging and humorous, along with providing a very loose version of how Gainax was started, and their goals of shooting for the stars, both in animation and in business practices. It's very interesting to see how Otaku no Video inspired later works, and drew from the doujinshi (amateur produced works) that put Gainax on the map. Real life science fiction conventions Daicon 3 and 4 (1981, 1983) are explored, which Gainax also produced shorts for. Other character stylings and symbols seen in later works also make appearances, like Kamina's glasses on a building, robots from Gunbuster, and more.
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Portrait of an Otaku:
Through a series of live interviews, the movie also explores the lives and disparate interests of those who call themselves Otaku. Garage Kit Otaku, Military Otaku, Anime and Manga, Fanzines, Cosplay enthusiasts, and Fan Video Otaku, and even an art thief are all shown, and asked series of questions that either mock their interests and lifestyle, or that give some insight into what it is that drives them to their obsession.
While it's believed that the people interviewed were either Gainax employees themselves (who created their studio to put a name behind their amateur original works, and thereby personifying some of these stereotypes), some of it is plainly staged. Hideaki Anno himself is shown as a Hentai-game addict, even. Typically, the faces and voices are censored, so it's still unknown who some of them are. It's interesting in that they're making fun of Otaku, and at the same time themselves, because that's how Gainax started out: geeks making their own originals to hawk at conventions.
The portrait section also provides some hilarious statistics on what Otaku are interested in, and how different groups see different themes. A foreigner was also intereviewed, and it was stated that some 50% of those surveyed come to Japan solely out of anime and manga fandom, and the other half either "like" or "are not opposed" to it. A fanzine convention survey of 100 Otaku revealed that only 15% of them had cosplayed, and an overwhelming 60% had not. Of those 15 that responded yes, the "Otaku who did cosplay tended to be repeat offenders".
Another survey included those who "talk to themselves", of which the overwhelming majority with 70% did.
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There's also a deep sociological background to Otaku culture; stemming from how a more collectivist culture like Japan operates vs an intensely individualistic one like the US. "The nail that sticks out gets hammered" they say, and to a point, it's true. In a collectivist culture, the ideal person fits in with their group, their family, their society, and don't express their individualism much when around others. In private, they can be a night and day different person.
The Otaku have long been branded as "no life losers", and in a sense shunned from their culture as they're perceived "deviant", no different from the US, really. People with anime and manga obsession, people obsessed with doomsday preparation, zombie fanatics, etc.-all these groups share a common thread in that they're on the fringe of 'normative' society. In that, they find a bond together, and create their own subculture outside of the norms.
For anyone who's interested in the Otaku culture, this half mockumentary is a great video for insight into what it was like back in the day, even if it's somewhat parodical. In all honesty, what they portray satirically here is not far from the truth, neither in 1991 nor in 2015. There are tons of people out there like the ones shown in this movie, that are obsessive enthusiasts of different fandoms, and though their interests may be broad, they're all bound by a label that sets them apart- that of the Otaku.
