OTAKU

It wouldn't be too much to say that apart from homo sapiens, nowadays, there is a new species of mammal 'identified' as homo otaku (note that this is not a real scientific name, if you accidentally wrote this down in your Biology essay during the exam, you are taking my opinion too seriously) which is growing in population as well. Otaku (おたく) is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests particularly in (but not limited to) anime and manga. I don't know if I am a homo otaku, though I'm quite an avid reader of Naruto manga. But let's leave it there for now. Let's talk about how being an otaku affects one's life.

First of all, financially, otaku are at a disadvantage. Real fanatics are willing to 'invest' lots of their cash just to read manga (or comics) or watch anime (of course, they also buy toys, clothes and accessories which are related to their favourite cartoon). Last month during Chinese New Year, I went to Kuching for a four-day vacation. There, I had the chance of visiting a large local book store (if you care to know, it is the Popular book store in Tun Jugah). For those of you who know where Tun Jugah is but have not been there for a long while, the whole top level of the building is now the book store itself. It is quite large and one can find almost all genres of reading materials there (decent ones, of course).

In the book store, there is a corner dedicated to manga and anime (sold in DVDs). It seems that most young people are more willing to congregate at that corner than to pick up one of the thousands of books arranged on the bookshelves all around the store. I saw one young man buying five manga at once. Well, I don't know the price, but imagine if he was to do that for more than once, wouldn't it create a big pressure on his own wallet? And of course, the DVDs aren't inexpensive. None of them costs below RM 15. 

Next, otaku tend to be socially inept. That's why people sometimes use the word 'geek' to replace 'otaku'. Since otaku are so into manga and anime, they will dedicate a lot of time to read and watch them. So what happens? Less conversation with people dear to them, and certainly, relationships between them and their loved ones will get worse. Becoming socially inept will also cost one's confidence. Ponder. They talk less, so they lose the skill to communicate effectively with other people. When that happens, it often leads to other people ridiculing (or equivalent) them. Note that this will also lead to depression (which could have been avoided if the victims were to assert control on themselves from the start). So, now, we can't rule out the fact that suicide may also happen.

I watched a news report on TVBS (Taiwan) and a few documentaries in the past stating that some otaku even marry their desired characters from their favourite cartoons. Some do that by buying a life-size soft toy of the said characters, meanwhile some blow up the pictures of the characters and paste them on their house's walls. For those of you who come across the term 'otaku' (and their stories) for the first time, you might not be able to believe this, but it is true! And now, the authors of thousands of manga and anime are going to condemn me for this post. Come on, I am also one of your readers! 

Now, are you a homo otaku?