Otaku: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

An otaku (おたく) (plural usually otaku, though otakus is not unknown) is a variety of geek specializing in anime and manga.

The word is borrowed into English from Japanese and is derived from the Japanese o (お)(honorific) + taku (宅)(house, home). Because it is modern term, it is usually written in katakana. It was used in the 1980s as a second person singular pronoun among hobbyist photographers. As it gained familiarity, the word was soon used by others to refer to hobbyist photographers. Since the photographers were seen as socially unskillful, reclusive, and obsessed with their hobby, otaku picked up those negative connotations and eventually was used to refer to any reclusive, obsessive hobbyist. A common stereotype is the young male otaku who lives at home without a job, has few social contacts outside of his otaku friends, and, who may be on the verge of becoming a dangerous stalker. This was further reinforced by the case of Tsutomu Miyazaki, a serial killer who raped four small children and ate parts of their bodies. He was revealed to be an otaku after his arrest in 1989.

An otaku is an obsessive fan of any one particular theme, topic, or hobby. Perhaps the most common uses are anime otaku (who sometimes enjoy many days of excessive anime watching with no rest) and manga otaku (Japanese comic books). Japanese culture has many other varieties, such as pasocon otaku (personal computer geeks), geimu otaku (playing video games) and otaku that are extreme fans of idols, heavily promoted singing girls. While these are the most common uses of otaku, the word can be applied to literally anything. Thus, you could have music otaku, martial arts otaku, cooking otaku, et cetera.

Otaku has much stronger negative connotations in Japanese than it does in English, and some American anime fans have adopted the term and use it proudly.

A loose translation of the word otaku is fanatic. So, anime otaku = Anime Fanatic.

See also: anorak.

Japanese loanwords

Otaku culture outside Japan often makes extensive use of Japanese loanwords. This can create an effect that is similar to Engrish, where the otaku will use Japanese phrases in conjunction with English. This usage is sometimes dubbed "Fanji" or "Japanglish".

Anime and manga are two English words that were once solely otaku vocabulary, but have become common English. Before the term "anime" was adopted into English, they were simply called cartoons (e.g. Speed Racer).

List of common otaku loan words:

• anime (now common English vocabulary)
• baka - "stupid"
• bishōnen/bishōjo (collectively "bishies")
• -chan - name suffix used for children or young women
• hai - "yes", I hear and understand you (doesn't always mean yes)
• hentai - perverted or pornographic. Especially used to describe pornographic genres: hentai anime, hentai manga, hentai game. Note that this differs from Japanese usage, where "hentai" (変態) refers solely to perversion, not pornography.
• kawaii - "cute". Used especially to describe bishōjo-type cuteness. This differs from Japanese: the slang word moe (萌え) is used among Japanese otaku to describe bishōjo cuteness, and kawaii (可愛い) is the generic word for cute.
• manga (now common English vocabulary)
• Nani? - "what?" especially in astonishment
• oekaki
• omake
• omoshiroi - "interesting"
• onegai - "please"
• oniisan - older brother
• otaku
• -san - General name suffix
• sensei - "teacher" or "doctor"
• shitajiki - pencil board with anime/manga art
• sugoi - expression of wonder or enthusiasm
• wai - Often used as "wai-wai", sound of excitement

• Also "glomp" (to latch onto or hug with much enthusiasm) is a word that is often used in anime fandom. (The origin of the word is said to come from the anime series Tenchi Muyo!, where the character Ryoko would at times overzealously hug main character Tenchi, and the onomatopoeia of said hug would be 'glomp'.)