otaku - Kotaku

posts about #otaku more →
Look At These Otaku Rooms!
My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
Ten Ways To Spot Otaku (There You Are!!)
Otaku Cars Galore!
Would You Prefer To Be Slapped Or Game With A Girl?
Foreign Otaku Results Hit Japanese Newsstands
iDOLM@STER Toy Buying iNS@NITY
This Is An Encyclopedia of Otaku
Hey Foreigners! Tell Famitsu About Your Otaku-ness
PC Game + Webcam Makes In-Game Upskirts Now Possible
Nothing Says Cute 2D Fighter Like Maid Cafe Food
The Cruelest April Fool's Joke In Japan
This Girl Is Wearing A Famicom Bikini She Crafted Herself
Iroha In Living Color
Another Iroha Figure For The Fire
A Very Large Doll With A Very Large Sword
Adult iDOLM@STER Computer Game Copies PSP Packaging
Pay Maids To Role Play, Cosplay With You
Japanese Prime Minister In Erotic Game
Lolita Metal Gear Solid 4 Figurines

Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.

Dsmvwl Admin Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

Altima NEO
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
I wish I had that kind of money to spend on toys.
Reply

Altima NEO was starred Altima NEO was unstarred

Mad-Hobo
12/18/09

@Altima NEO: They are not TOYS, they are FIGURINES! pffft. :3
Reply

Altima NEO promoted this comment Mad-Hobo was starred Mad-Hobo was unstarred

Cpryd001
12/18/09

@Altima NEO: See, the problem is that you're a functioning human being. Go dis-own your girlfriend, sell all your cleaning supplies, and become a social outcast that lives just off of noodles. Before you know it, you'll have TONS of money to spend on all those cool things!
Reply

Altima NEO promoted this comment Cpryd001 was starred Cpryd001 was unstarred

penciledcookie
12/18/09

@Altima NEO: Me too.
God, those places are shrines.
Reply

Altima NEO promoted this comment penciledcookie was starred penciledcookie was unstarred

Altima NEO
12/18/09

@Cpryd001: B-But I dont have a girlfriend ;__;
Reply

Altima NEO was starred Altima NEO was unstarred

Cpryd001
12/19/09

@Altima NEO: You're on the right track! :)
Reply

Cpryd001 was starred Cpryd001 was unstarred

fuchikoma
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
Also, if you want to make a room look totally otaku... all you need is a single issue of Megami. That should be enough to cover the whole room with posters, lol.
Reply

fuchikoma was starred fuchikoma was unstarred

fuchikoma
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
Geeking out a room like that is a lot of fun... in high school I basically wallpapered with inserts from Shounen Ace and Newtype. It's a shame that past mid-20s or so this turns quickly into the kind of thing you get harshly judged for. For that reason I never got much into figures - just a McFarlane Vash the Stampede, a small Tifa and frog, Bandai HG Eva-04 (deceased from super-fragility), and an in-box cheap Kaiyodo Bome Oni-musume (blue) and that's accumulated over a decade or so. It's much easier to justify (or not notice) a bulging bookshelf of manga and racks of DVDs.
Reply

fuchikoma was starred fuchikoma was unstarred

MrGilder
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
This might be a good opportunity to share afew snapshots that I have of my own setup.
Reply

spannu promoted this comment MrGilder was starred MrGilder was unstarred

MrGilder
12/18/09

@MrGilder:
Reply

MrGilder was starred MrGilder was unstarred

MrGilder
12/18/09

@MrGilder:
Reply

MrGilder was starred MrGilder was unstarred

MrGilder
12/18/09

@MrGilder:
Reply

MrGilder was starred MrGilder was unstarred

MrGilder
12/18/09

@MrGilder: This is most of the "Nerd Dungeon" as most people call it. This is just a large portion of my games and DVDs. I tried to leave out pictures of all my toys. There are walls of Zoids, Gundams and Transformers.
Reply

MrGilder was starred MrGilder was unstarred

Shidori
12/18/09

@MrGilder: Very nice! i wish i had more space for my "Nerd Dungeon"
Reply

Shidori was starred Shidori was unstarred

MrGilder
12/18/09

@Shidori: Sadly . . . me too. My stuff takes up an entire floor of the house. There are action figures on top of the china cabinets in the kitchen, and Medarot models on top of the fridge.
Reply

fuchikoma promoted this comment MrGilder was starred MrGilder was unstarred

Shidori
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
my room. oops i might be otaku...:D
Reply

spannu promoted this comment Edited by Shidori at 12/18/09 8:21 AM Shidori was starred Shidori was unstarred

(Starman) NONAME
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
Now it's either this, or the Norman Rockwell portrait collection, wonder which one it's gonna be...

[gizmodo.com]
Reply

(Starman) NONAME was starred (Starman) NONAME was unstarred

Reavyn29
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
Looking at that first spread, I'm amazed at how accurate the movie Train Man was. I'm curious now to know if the guy that movie was based on actually had a big hand in helping with the look.
Reply

Reavyn29 was starred Reavyn29 was unstarred

AnnihilatorX
12/18/09

@Reavyn29:
It's well known how a typical Otaku room looks like. It's not hard to recreate either. In Akihabara figurine shops sell Anti-UV closets, shelfs, for figures to be put in. Basically you just buy loads of them, and loads of figurines. Anyone, even my mom, taksed with the task of putting all the aforemention items in a room will recreate a genuine otaku room.
Reply

AnnihilatorX was starred AnnihilatorX was unstarred

doogfood
12/18/09

@AnnihilatorX: There are various types of otaku's. As the article brings up, the definition is not limited to the stereotypical anime/comic/game hardcore enthusiasts. Trekkies are pretty much a "Star Trek otaku" and we all know that there are various types of Trekkies. Some will decorate their rooms look like the interior of starship enterprise, whereas others may value collectables and souvenirs, others will spend time learning Klingon and not waste time taking drastic measures to decorate.
Reply

doogfood was starred doogfood was unstarred

AnnihilatorX
12/18/09

@doogfood: The term 'Otaku' should only be used in strict sense in Japanese nerd community, which is more typically anime/game maniacs with robotic and character figures decorated rooms. Nerd on the otherhand is more generic and applied to western communites, e.g. Star trekkies you mentioned.
Reply

AnnihilatorX was starred AnnihilatorX was unstarred

doogfood
12/18/09

@AnnihilatorX: It's true that there are probably more anime/game otaku's in Japan; however, the use is not limited to them, the mass media in Japan stereotyped it and misrepresented the term by showing the more extreme type that you typically imagine when you hear the term being used. In reality, there are soccer otaku, martial arts otaku (kakutougi-otaku), military otaku, and the list doesn't stop. Not all of them are devoted to getting collectables, some are just information freaks who may or may not present with the "know-it-all" kind of attitude. Therefore, there really are not much differences whether it represents someone in Japan or the west.
Reply

doogfood was starred doogfood was unstarred

AnnihilatorX
12/18/09

@doogfood:

You are generalising the term 'Otaku' too much. It's not as general as the English word 'nerd' in that respect.

The Hatena entry define 'Otaku' as:

[d.hatena.ne.jp]

# 現在は、主に20代以降の、アニメ・漫画・ゲーム・アイドルなどを愛好する人(たち)のことを指す。

Nowadays, it refers to anyone whose hobby is rooted in Anime, Manga, Game and Idols.
Reply

AnnihilatorX was starred AnnihilatorX was unstarred

Cheebahawk
12/18/09

@AnnihilatorX: Otaku is the Japanese word for house, it's essentially an insult to people who are housebound and don't socialise, it's a big insult to be called an Otaku in Japan.
When I see Western kids run around going "LOL I'M SUCH AN OTAKU ^_______^" it makes me cringe so much my face hurts.
Reply

maraxusofk promoted this comment Cheebahawk was starred Cheebahawk was unstarred

maraxusofk
12/18/09

@Cheebahawk:

Those kids should go around screaming "I'm such a weaboo! Desu desu kawaii etc."
Reply

maraxusofk was starred maraxusofk was unstarred

doogfood
12/18/09

@AnnihilatorX: Thanks, I'm Japanese and I happen to know my language. The original usage of the word was to refer to another person, and/or their household/group. The meaning spread over time as a slang terminology and is no longer limited to describing people of those hobbies that you mentioned. The word is merely a slang terminology that has a broader definition than you can imagine.

Have you ever questioned who edits those hatena pages and where they get their information from? Lets take a look at something more reliable. 広辞苑 doesn't limit the use of the word to people with specific hobbies, nor does 大辞泉. 大辞林 on the other hand mentions:"俗に、特定の分野・物事を好み、関連品または関連情報の収集を積極的に行う人。狭義には、アニメーション・ビデオ-ゲーム・アイドルなどのような、やや虚構性の高い世界観を好む人をさす。"basically saying that in a general sense, people that have a taste/preference in specific genres/events and actively collects/seeks information or products related to it. In a narrow sense, it describes people that are enthusiastic such as animation, video games, idols, that have somewhat fiction like appeal.

Although the last one mentions the hobbies that you brought up (when looking at the meaning from a narrow point of view), it doesn't say that it's limited to those people.

When most people hear the word otaku, they imagine the stereotypes that the mass media have highlighted over the years. Have you seen any Japanese TV programs that have highlighted the otaku culture in the past decade? It's disgusting and discriminating. They invite a very narrow range of people and take their socially inept attitude to their advantage for a good laugh.
Reply

Edited by doogfood at 12/18/09 5:18 PM doogfood was starred doogfood was unstarred

AnnihilatorX
12/19/09

@doogfood:
I didn't mean to cause offense, of course I didn't know you are Japanese.
However I still stand that the broaden usage is outside nominal usage. So when used alone, the term is likely to be refered to the anime, manga, game group.

I'd call someone Soccer-con instead of Soccer-otaku for example. The latter has much negative ring to it, due to as you mentioned, discriminating tone popularised by mass media.
Reply

AnnihilatorX was starred AnnihilatorX was unstarred

doogfood
12/19/09

@AnnihilatorX: Don't worry no offense was taken, and I wasn't trying to be a dick or anything just in case. I just often see many people misunderstanding the terminology and often using it as a discriminatory term to describe a certain group of people, and felt the need to remove this misconception people have.

As you know, some people are idol-otaku's (well known example being a mo-ota, or morningmusume-otaku from a few years back). The Japanese mass media broadcasted these people pretty much as a freak but decided that it was normal for senior women to go crazy over Korean dramas and culture even when they were behaving no differently from other idol otaku's. There just seems to be a very biased usage of the term, which the mass media especially seems to be spreading to the public.
Reply

doogfood was starred doogfood was unstarred

TrjnRabbit
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
I have a few figurines, and a large bookcase full of DVDs, but after a certain point, I think that I would start replacing figures instead of amassing an army of them.

As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever had more than eight figures lying around.

For those playing at home I have the following:
- Buzz Lightyear (the new one that's a slightly larger remake of the original)
- Woody (same as Buzz)
- Mighty Muggs Darth Vader
- Mighty Muggs Obi-Wan Kenobi (Episode IV version)
- Luigi
- Ryu and C.Viper figures from SFIV collector's edition
- Bunny Puppy (a Beanie Kid that an ex gave me that looks like a bunny but is meant to be a puppy).

If anything else got added, something would have to go.
Reply

TrjnRabbit was starred TrjnRabbit was unstarred

TrjnRabbit
12/18/09

@TrjnRabbit: Because it's going to happen anyhow, let's compare set-ups to see if any of us come close to the stuff in this magazine:

See below

(all my consoles are downstairs, and that horribly bright picture on the TV is Stephen Fry)
Reply

Edited by TrjnRabbit at 12/18/09 7:49 AM TrjnRabbit was starred TrjnRabbit was unstarred

TrjnRabbit
12/18/09

@TrjnRabbit:
There. . . stupid img tags not working.
Reply

(Starman) Starman promoted this comment TrjnRabbit was starred TrjnRabbit was unstarred

LucasReis
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
Reminds me of...
Reply

LucasReis was starred LucasReis was unstarred

renfantasy
12/18/09

In reply to Look At These Otaku Rooms!
This needs to be a new show on HGTV. I'd watch that. :p

Or maybe even a show where they come in and Otaku up your room!
Reply

LucasReis promoted this comment renfantasy was starred renfantasy was unstarred

LucasReis
12/18/09

@renfantasy: Maybe they should do an Otaku Eye for a Regular Guy or something.
Reply

LucasReis was starred LucasReis was unstarred

Showmeyomoves!
12/18/09

@LucasReis: Otaku Eye for the Socially Active Guy?
Reply

Showmeyomoves! was starred Showmeyomoves! was unstarred

LucasReis
12/18/09

@Showmeyomoves!: HAhahahaha GREAT SHIT MAN!!
Reply

LucasReis was starred LucasReis was unstarred

Turael
12/18/09

@Showmeyomoves!: Maybe Otaku Eye for the Socially Awkward Guy. If they were socially active they probably dont' need the show. -=0
Reply

LucasReis promoted this comment Turael was starred Turael was unstarred

fuchikoma
12/18/09

@LucasReis: Pimp my Ride: Itasha edition! MUAHAHAHA...
[www.ota-suke.jp]
(somewhat NSFW banners... but clothed)
Reply

fuchikoma was starred fuchikoma was unstarred

xoda000
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
so lets see if I got this.
Aliens, like, TOTALLY crash into the white house and kill everyone. so they nab this nearby brawd and make everyone think she's the prez of, like, everything. Then she fights a moe battle with the Russian Czar, only to figure out their true enemy is the evil, Chinese shaman who can only be defeated by learning the forbidden bureaucracy techniques from the glasses wearing panda.

...so what I'm being told is this is the AAA title I've been looking forward to all year. #eroticgames
Reply

wirebrain promoted this comment xoda000 was starred xoda000 was unstarred

wirebrain
11/06/09

@xoda000: Damn straight. This is game of the year material, forget MW2 and Dragon Age.

I think the Russian Czar is just a gender-bended version of Putin, which makes it even more hilarious. #eroticgames
Reply

wirebrain was starred wirebrain was unstarred

N●Gage Croal is applying for Mann Co.
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
That was hilarious.

He doesn't even say the right name of the game (I mean, it's written in English in the video...). And is that really the prime minister of Ja--err--Nippon's office? Looks like the White House to me... And the seal in front of the podium shows part of the phrase "President of the United States of America." #eroticgames
Reply

Protector one
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
The president. Is my childhood friend.
On sale. All over the Universe.
ALcot.

I think that movie voice guy is the same as he of the ever-brilliant, "How is babby formed". #eroticgames
Reply

Protector one was starred Protector one was unstarred

GreatMario
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
Okay, I'm sold. When is this game coming out? #eroticgames
Reply

N●Gage Croal promoted this comment GreatMario was starred GreatMario was unstarred

N●Gage Croal is applying for Mann Co.
11/04/09

@GreatMario:
ALL OVER THE WORLD, AUTUMN 2009!!! #eroticgames
Reply

Placentasaurus
11/05/09

@N●Gage Croal: ALL OVER THE UNIVERSE!
Reply

N●Gage Croal promoted this comment Edited by Placentasaurus at 11/05/09 8:27 PM Placentasaurus was starred Placentasaurus was unstarred

N●Gage Croal is applying for Mann Co.
11/05/09

@Placentasaurus:
Ah, excuse my mistake. Please forgive me, rest of the universe! #eroticgames
Reply

bean
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
This plot is so ridiculous, it almost seems like parody. The fact that it's not makes it even better. #eroticgames
Reply

bean was starred bean was unstarred

leno40
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
This is an idea so obvious you just wonder why no one ever thought of it before. #eroticgames
Reply

Monolith promoted this comment leno40 was starred leno40 was unstarred

ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H.
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
I swear they were just sitting around going, "DUUUUUUUUUUDE! You know what would be totally cool? like, this chick you know becomes president, but, like, it's cuz aliens did some mind shit, and you're like whoa, hot chicks, then duuuuuuuuude, you save the world." #eroticgames
Reply

Reil: Lifehacker Ninja Stars
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
If a president got enough crap for getting head in the White House, how much would one get for GIVING it? #eroticgames
Reply

(Starman) NONAME
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
What will be YOUR girlfriend's first act as President? ;) #eroticgames
Reply

(Starman) NONAME was starred (Starman) NONAME was unstarred

Yossarian
11/04/09

In reply to My Girlfriend Is The President Erotic Game Trailer Features Amazing Voice Over
I didn't think the situation was serious until they scrolled the burning text. That always means shit just got *real*. #eroticgames
Reply

Yossarian was starred Yossarian was unstarred

Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion

SUBSCRIBE TO Kotaku

Login

Reset Password

Register

Submit Your Comment

Edit tagpage description