Otakon

This weekend, I will be travelling to the Otaku mecca of the east coast: Otakon. What is Otakon? I hear you ask. And more importantly, what's an Otaku?

Well, the answer to the second question is: the word comes from Japan, and the japanese. It literally means: King Home (or can mean, colloquially "your" depending on how it is written). It refers to someone with an obsessive interest in something. In Japan, there are fashion otaku and baseball otaku, and most of all, anime otaku. The actual implications aren't very nice. It means someone who is always at home, with the connotations of living in mom and dad's basement because they can't afford to live anywhere else, and who spend all their available time and money on their obsession of choice. It's actually an insult. In fact, the name recieved an even worse rap when a man named Miyazaki Tsutomu went on a killing spree of young women after becoming obsessed with lolikon (Lolita-like pornography) images.

In America, however, Otaku means someone who likes and watches (and probably owns) lots of japanese animation (called Anime and pronounced anny-may) and/or japanese comics, also known as manga (pronounced mahn-gah). In America, there is no real stigma to being called or known as an Otaku. In fact, many American fans take pride in their Otaku-ness. In America, the connotation is closer to "fanboy" or "fangirl/fangal".

Otakon is the premier Japanese animation, or anime convention, on the east coast.

Otakon Website
Buy Anime DVDs
Find Out About Other Anime Conventions