Sunday 30 March 2003

Pic of the day: Otaku, a name given in scorn and adopted in pride. This photo from Nurse Witch Komugi shows the Japanese stereotype of an otaku: Fat, smelly, insane. The text says: "Yeah he was an otaku but he took pride in being one."

Otaku spoken here

Gomen ne! Once again I started on something grand, and did not manage to compete it. So instead you get this.

As for the strange words, "gomen ne" means sorry in Otaku. Otaku is of course the language of the Otaku, a small and scattered people living mostly on the West Coast of America. No, actually an otaku is a person who loves Japanese cartoons and comics and video games. The word "otaku" itself is Japanese, where it (when used in the third person) means a fanatic, nerd, obsessed person. In America, it is used by fans of Japanese cultural export to describe themselves, and is adopted in pride.

Otaku pick up common Japanese words and phrases from watching anime (Japanese cartoons) or reading manga (Japanese comics). Virtually all otaku will at some point start to use the words "gomen", "gomen ne" or "gomen nasai" instead of sorry or really sorry. They will also use "arigato" (or more properly arigatou) instead of "thank you". In fact, some will say "sankyo", which is the Japanese spelling of "thank you" ...

Some perfectly normal Japanese words are likely to be more used in otaku. "Kawaii" (cute) is an all-purpose positive word, while the more advanced try "kakkoii" (cool), which has a subtly different meaning in Japan and is likely to cause odd looks if you are using it about yourself. (An otaku is male unless otherwise stated. Please don't use the word "atashi" meaning "me" which you hear in all the beautiful songs, because it states fairly clearly that you are female.)

To further prove your otaku-ness, you should add the ending "-chan" to the name of all girls, and "-kun" to all boys. Adults should be addressed as "-san" unless you are even older yourself, in which case you are probably not an otaku. For good measure you may want to address people you actually respect with the title "-sama", a title that in Japan is not being used toward any entity that doesn't have the power to kill you on the spot, in public, and get away with it.

Female otaku (while they may not call themselves such) are mostly in it for the bishounen. "Shounen" (or "shonen") means boy. Pretty boys are called "bishounen", and apart from the most untouchable details of anatomy they are supposed to look more like girls than boys. It is no surprise then that these boys (at least in the mind of the fangirls) tend to engage in "shounen ai", boy love. As the fangirls egg each other on, it soon evolves into "yaoi", which is considered "hentai" (perverse). Even if it doesn't go quite that far, it could still be "ecchi", indecent. This could be enough to give you a nosebleed ... according to Japanese tradition as believed by the otaku, a virgin male will bleed from their nose if seeing nudity or other exposure. (Also seen in a female in at least one genuine Japanese anime, Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu.)

If girls don't call themselves otaku, then what? Chibi. The word simply means "small", but basically chibis are small girl-like humanoids with magic powers, or simply small cute girls. The main attribute of a chibi is genkiness. "Genki" means healthy in Japanese, and is heard in greetings similar to How Are You, in which case you are supposed to confirm that yes, you are genki. In anime you will also hear it used to mean energetic, and the truly genki chibi is supposed to jump all over the place like a manic cat on caffeine. Since small girls actually do this by default, it is not too hard to keep up with a large intake of sugar. Simply refrain from growing up.

The standard insult among otaku and chibis is "baka", meaning stupid, moron, idiot. For added effect, use with name like this: "Itland no baka!" just to show off the pointless word "no" which of course doesn't mean no, but is just a particle connecting two words. Luckily baka is a rather friendly insult – in fact, if someone calls you baka it almost certainly means they accept you as a friend.

This should cover the basics of otaku language, although there is always more, ne? ("Ne", often translated "right?" is that irritating thing otaku put at the end of their sentences, ne?)

If you think I am unduly harsh here, you may want to see what happens to the poor English language when adopted by adoring Japanese. The result is, of course, called Engrish. Have fun!