CATDOLL: A new type of “otaku” appears in Japan. Are the goddesses who love dressing up and showing off also otakus?

If we talk about otaku, many people's impression of them should be "rarely go out", "spend a lot of money on anime-related products", etc. In short, they are people who don't like to go out and socialize, and only stay in their own small circle. However, with the development of the times, Japan has recently come up with a new term called "real-life otaku (リア充オタク)", which refers to otakus with a more fulfilling real life, such as those who like anime works, but are still sensitive to trends and interpersonal communication. The main representatives of such real-life otakus in Japan are some otaku masters. Nowadays, many artists and celebrities will declare themselves "otakus" in public, so what are the characteristics of "real-life otakus"? In this regard, someone on the Japanese website NICONICO has written a special article to analyze the characteristics of real-life otakus.

Recently, there has been an increasing number of women who are otakus but shine in public, including Ichikawa Sayo, who is known as the "beautiful otaku model", Nakagawa Shoko, Kuriyama Chiaki, Kato Natsuki, etc. Their characteristics are that they do not hide their interests and actively enjoy their "otaku" identity. And not only these entertainers, but also young people who call themselves otakus are increasing recently, and there are constantly otakus who are completely different from before. Their characteristics are "not buying anime-related products", "fashionable, spending money on dressing up", and "active in social activities".

Don’t buy the original work or the peripherals

With the popularization of the Internet and Internet cafes, the value of "shopping" of the younger generation is also changing. Nowadays, watching things on video websites has become a matter of course in everyone's life, including piracy. If you don't care about the picture quality, then basically most animation works can be watched for free.

In addition, the work materials and book contents have also been uploaded to the Internet. In the past, many people chose to buy their favorite works and keep them at home, but now when they want to read comics, many people think that going to a comic cafe is enough. In this way, even if they don’t buy music CDs, DVDs, or comics, they can still enjoy the fun of "staying at home".

The place to spend money is not on anime peripherals, but on fashion related

Nowadays, many otakus are fashionable women or handsome men wearing sunglasses. From this, we can feel their emphasis on fashion. On the one hand, they are otakus, and on the other hand, they have outstanding social skills and extensive connections. Therefore, in addition to otaku friends, they also have a lot of exchanges in other fields. This is the embodiment of otakus. In this regard, the author believes that the emergence of otakus may improve the fashion taste of animation: "Compared with the past, the characters in the animation will put some very realistic fashion props on their bodies, so perhaps we can feel that the fashion taste of otakus is also improving."

Active and positive

In the past, otakus would buy a lot of works to appreciate and study. In simple terms, it was to "promote consumption." However, today's young otakus are a little different. They will show themselves on video sharing websites, post "singing" and "dancing" videos, or participate in cosplay events, etc., to promote otaku culture in a way that suits them. They also upload their own music and contribute to pixiv, actively promoting themselves.

The above are the characteristics of "modern otaku". What do you think? After reading their characteristics, do you think there are many such "modern otaku" around you? In fact, it is really difficult for ordinary people to be like traditional otaku, and such living habits are really incompatible with the current society. On the other hand, this fashionable and positive "modern otaku" hobby and real life are not affected, which may be the general trend of future development. I wonder what do you think of "modern otaku" as a reader? Let's talk about it together.