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Imagine you’re a young buck at a singles’ party at a swanky Tokyo restaurant. As you regale the ladies with your testosterone-dripping tales of regular shark wrestling, frequent motorcycle racing, and occasional motor-shark racing, you mentally calculate whether or not you have enough protein powder in the kitchen cupboard to make two breakfast shakes, because you know there’s no way you’re going home alone tonight.
Unless, of course, the guy next to you starts talking about his collection of Sword Art Online Blu-rays.
The Japanese word "otaku" originally meant nothing more than just “you.” It had a bit of a wishy-washy tone to it, but for the early stage of its existence the word wasn’t anything more than a pronoun. Somewhere along the line it caught on as a way to refer to young men with an intense interest in animation, comics, video games, or any other form of technology or escapist entertainment.
In other words, it became the Japanese word for “geek.”
But much like its English equivalent, the word "otaku" went from being a cutting insult to a defiant mark of pride with people identifying themselves by it, and now carries a certain level of geek-chic.
As part of its ongoing series of surveys on love and relationships, Sankei Living Newspaper asked 94 women if they could bring themselves to be in a relationship with a guy who’s an "otaku." An overwhelming 77% said they’d have no problem doing just that.
The researchers credited this to the growing number of women who are “light otaku.” Anime, video games, and manga comics have seeped so deeply into Japanese pop culture, with top-tier musicians singing their theme songs and hit TV dramas and movies made from their stories, that it’s becoming harder and harder to find someone under the age of 30 who’s not at least a little into them.
“It’s easier for a couple to understand each other if they share a hobby, and being into the same thing makes it more fun to experience together,” explained one women who said she could see herself with a fan-boyfriend.
There is one tiny cloud obscuring this ray of hope for lonely "otaku," however. While the women surveyed said they’re fine with a guy who loves manga and computers, a number of them qualified that by saying if he looks or dresses like an "otaku," he’d better get used to spending the night with his anime huggie pillow. So "otaku" men, consider yourselves warned. You’ve got a chance with the girls at the club this weekend, so long as you leave the Naruto headband at home.
Source: Sankei Living
Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Differences Between Male and Female Otaku -- Find the Geek of Your Dreams at Otaku Marriage Hunting Masquerade Ball -- Is Incest Japan’s Latest Literary Craze?
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31 Comments
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Mocheake
All the alpha males beta watch out. Not!
Geoff Gillespie
Yeah, it's called desperation.....
kimuzukashiiiii
Im in the 22%..
Jimizo
Good for them. I'm more at home with a novel than with a gym full of rugby-type posing knuckleheads.
gaijinfo
In other news, studies indicate that 77% of females are lonely, desperate, and neurotic.
Serrano
"testosterone-dripping tales of regular shark wrestling, frequent motorcycle racing and occasional motor-shark racing"
Har!
Onniyama
Japanese women have become that desperate? Wow! Jimizo. I don`t think reading a novel qualifies as Otaku.
Triumvere
Hah. Remember that whole "jocks vs. nerds" thing back in the 80's? Nerds won.
Frungy
... no, it didn't. It maintains the original meaning and nuance, and would far better be translated as "fanatic".
What this author fails to realise is that the shark-wrestling, motor-racing "alpha male" is just as much a fanatic as the "otaku" who collects comics obsessively.
What Japanese women may have begun to realise though is that it is very difficult to share in the shark-wrestler's hobbies except as a cheerleader, while it is possible to spend a pleasant evening sitting and reading comics with her comic fan (fan being derived from a shortening of the word fanatic).
... plus the comic fan is more likely to be grateful for the attention and less likely to treat his new girlfriend like a bed warmer rather than human being.
KnowBetter
Otaku in its purest sense is a "homebody" a person who spends more time at home usually keeping themselves busy with their "hobbies". Otaku is not a fanatic by sense of the word and is truly closer to geek or nerd which I have no problem being called as I work in IT. I may not fit the IT crowd 'nerd' or 'geek' look or smell but I do consider myself a geek, a nerd, an otaku and petrol head. Otaku is more a state of being in "your own little world of hobbies" and if you luck out and find someone which you end up getting married to and share that world then all the power to you!
WhatMeWorry
It's just a numbers game. The few Alpha males pick the few Alpha females leaving the larger percentage of women to fight over the scraps.
tmarie
At the end of the day, if they expect to be able to get married, have kids and be a housewife, they HAVE to be open to the idea of dating/marrying one of these guys. As someone said, it's a numbers game. They all can't marry "rich, handsome men" - though many of my females students seem to think they can. Reality bites.
sakurala
I am happy with my otaku hubby! I much prefer him to the alpha males that tended to just use me and throw me aside when someone new or hotter came along...
kimuzukashiiiii
My hubby is very much "alpha" male - if you HAVE to put him in one of these categories - strong, athletic, former bosozoku, etc. There is nothing about him which could be described as Otaku.
However I think its kind of unfair to say either you are an otaku, or an alpha male. And thats it. There are loads of other categories men can fall into, and just because someone is an otaku, doesn't mean they will be a good husband or father. I dislike this "Jocks Vs Nerds" thing - it doesn't corrolate to the real world, or to adults.
I once had a boyfriend who could be put in the "otaku" category, but it soon fizzled out, just because he was more interested in his world of online games than he was going out, doing things, or meeting his girlfriend. This is the flip side of this coin - if the guy puts his comics and whatever first before marriage, then hes going to put them first after marriage, and kids, too. Its about individuals, and where their priorities lie.
Really Frungy? Why? I can also personally attest that the "testosterone driven" guys also can be amazing husband and fathers too.
Thunderbird2
Wow so many hating the otaku for snaring the ladies while the posers lose out... nice one ^_^ I'm in the beta category, so I'm happy about that.
commanteer
No worries. What women say they want and what they really want are not the same thing at all. They say they want an otaku, but their pheromones will make them act otherwise. That's why all these "ask women what they want" surveys are pointless.
wtfjapan
yep beta alpha males are all A OK, the more money they make the more attractive they become. LOL
wtfjapan
As a Beta male you may snare yourself a Alpha female if you make enough money, but when shes sleeping or daydreaming shell be secretly fantasizing over that Alpha male believe me. LOL
Frungy
Clearly you do not "KnowBetter". Otaku is in no way a "homebody". Many Otaku pursuits, for example photographing trains, do not involve being home at all. Fanatic is a far better translation since it indicates a hobby carried to an extreme. There are many anime or manga hobbyists who are not "otaku", since they moderate their behaviour, rather they fall into the "fan" category (i.e. half way to fanatic).
How you get "homebody" is beyond comprehension.
C Harald Hansen
Ironically, a lot of the "alpha males" are the ones that end up in dead end jobs and are often worse off in life than the geeks and nerds.
Cos
That's not what beta otakus and their golden fish eat ?
Cos
Otaku means homebody.
Cos
I thought that was how people called dudes that put bombs.
Jimizo
I'm not so sure the alpha male types finish last in Japan. I work at a quite traditional manufacturing company where the alpha males tend to do well and the otaku are left In the rank-and-file. The rugby/kendo Keio boys tend to make the best arsekissers, seem to respect hierarchies, are usually better-dressed, spend more time drinking with the boss and are generally better at getting themselves noticed than the nerds or more cerebral types.
Mike Critchley
Wow, they asked an whole 94 women!?!? Well, then this sweeping conclusion must be justified! lol
Having said that, this doesn't surprise me at all...
RzGen
Nothing wrong with people and their hobbies, its just the ones who take it too far that get all the attention..
AkariYoshida
Hmmm i adore anime's and manga's. I don't think I have the right to call myself an otaku for I know some die heart otaku's out there but I would love a guy who would share the same interest in me. I don't collect things nor do I buy the books but when I'm not working, playing sports, or at church I usually have a manga up on my phone
ChibaChick
Oddly enough, I didnt choose my potential partners based on how much protein shake they knock down OR their comic book collection. I like to have a chat, get to know someone and see what we have in common rather than what we dont, rather than labelling someone into one bucket or another.
Frungy
Simply repeating an unsupported, unsupportable, position does not make it true.
gas07lisa
Otaku literally means your home. Taku is house/ home, and O is for politeness. Otaku originally means you or your family, but it is polite and it shows distance between the speakers. If people say Otaku (as of you), sometimes it is negative because it means they are not really friends (they are being too polite to be friends.) Those who are crazy about certain things (anime, idols, etc) are sometimes unable to communicate with people outside of their circle, and they don't really make friends outside of their community. So Otaku became word for them.