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Otaku: Japan's Database Animals

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In the West, the Japanese term "otaku," or fan, generally pertains to those who have a major, almost obsessive, interest in Japanese anime and manga, but in Japan this is not the case. Those with interests in various hobbies such as fishing and wine collecting can also be labelled as otaku. In Otaku: Japan's Database Animals, Hiroki Azuma primarily deals with animation, comics, and games to analyse otaku through the critical lens of postmodern theory.

While some cultural critics attempt to label otaku as a Japanese cultural institution that developed from the Edo Period 1603-1867, Azuma states that the creation of otaku results directly from Japan's defeat by America in World War II and the rapid, liberal capitalist society forced upon Japan during the early post-war years. As Azuma explains, Japanese of the 1940s had the war and all that it encapsulated to act as their "modernist grand narrative"--that is, the overriding force that helped guide the Japanese through their day-to-day lives with a collective goal in mind. Similarly, those who came to maturation during the 1950s had the rebuilding of Japan to act as their modernist grand narrative. However, those who grew up during the 1960s, and especially those who grew up during the 1970s and 1980s, lacked these narratives and only had consumerism--especially after the fall of the student movement--and the worlds they could create from capitalism to fulfill their day-to-day desires.

One of the most thought provoking sections of the book concerning the postmodernist consumption of the otaku concerns the recently coined term "moe." Although the precise origins of the term are unknown, moe literally means "to bud" and represents the fetishized attributes of anime, manga, and video game characters. Think of girls wearing glasses, cat ears, French maid or schoolgirl uniforms, and other such paraphernalia. These fetishized attributes eventually become more important to the otaku than the character herself or even the story behind the anime, manga, or game in which she appeared, which results in the character becoming nothing more than her attributes, thereby making her easy to "dismember." Thus, she becomes synonymous with a number of other characters who are likewise "dismembered" and readily consumed by otaku. Azuma states that these moe traits were then embraced even more by production companies, and later works were composed of a moe database that was readily consumed by otaku. However, no matter how many moe items are consumed, only an overall sense of vacuity remains, which could lead to an overall sense of emptiness.

Otaku: Japan's Database Animals is a dense work that is heavily peppered with the philosophical and psychological ideas of Alexandre Kojeve (how 1950s America had become animalistic because all of its needs could be satiated without struggle), and Jacques Lacan (postwar cynicism and its effects on the viewpoint of European-created modernity). However, Azuma's journalistic rather than academic style makes these ideas easier to digest than they may sound. By doing so and by showing how the ideas can apply to day-to-day life, Azuma's writing might be considered to have a more practical edge to it than some of the older critics safely ensconced within their ivory towers.

Azuma arrived on the Japanese literary and critical scene with a detailed study of French philopher Jacques Derrida, and his first three books seemed focused on a highbrow culture that was not mired in the banality of mass consumption. Therefore, it came as quite a surprise when Azuma released Otaku. Azuma received much criticism for this book, and his readiness to counter these critics led to his being ostracized by a couple of high level critical journals. However, his book helped to revitalize criticism in Japan and showed how postmodern methodologies could be used to explain the mass consumption and the struggle for self creation undertaken by otaku.

One of the main drawbacks of Otaku--and Azuma readily admits this, as well--is that female otaku, especially those who consume and create yaoi (male homosexual) manga are completely absent from the book. Therefore, while the male otaku community is covered in detail, the female one--which plays a major role in consuming character goods and producing a large portion of their own fan-created goods--is left without a voice in this work.

Azuma's Otaku marks one of the first works of new Japanese criticism to be released in English. With the popularity of Japanese anime, manga, and video games growing across the world and the large number of communities consuming and producing fan-related materials, Azuma's book could act as a useful tool in understanding the growth of fandom in today's postmodern world. Hopefully the translation of this book will act as a catalyst for other works by younger Japanese cultural critics to be available for the English reading audience.

I will not attempt to describe Otaku: Database animals better than Daitokuji31 in the previous post. Azuma gives a good insight to a commonly disliked topic, otaku. He points out the issue of the schism between society and the otaku culture, and he attempts to explain it so hopefully a resolution can be made.

I just wanted to add that I found Azuma's theory amazing. It's a really good read, even if he gets a bit complex at times. It has easily become one of my favorite books. If you are studying postmodernity, metanarratives, or just Japanese culture, this book adds an amazing perspective.

I thoroughly enjoyed this candid look into the world of the Otaku. However, I would also love to see a follow up to this, seeing as how the Otaku world has really come into a new age since it was published. More and more Otaku are leaving the dark recesses of their abodes and bringing their obsessions into the light of day to share with other Otaku.

To put it simply ... I recommend the book, and would like to see more from ths author on the subject.

Although the work of French cultural critics is essential for an understanding of postmodernism their works are notorious for being impenetrable in English translations. Their ideas have been "big in Japan" for a long time, but anglophone readers have only become aware of this because of a handful of books about anime including this and "Beautiful Fighting Girl" by Saito Tamaki.

Although this book is mainly about anime and dating simulation video games, the theory behind it applies to media outside Japan such as episodic television, science fiction, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. A core idea is that consumers of this kind of fiction aren't so much consuming stories but instead consuming the systems that underpin fictional worlds. In fact, the believes that many of the anime that outsiders see as quintessentially Japanese such as Urusei Yatsura are actually more expressive of American culture than Japanese.

This is an accessible and essential book for anyone interested in anime, video games, science fiction, fantasy and role playing as well as critical theory, postmodernism and the question of "What changed in our culture after 1968?"