nanashi

When Nakamori Akio christened the Comiket community Otaku he called them a lot of things. Not the often cited “never leaves the house” part which he retconned into the Otaku myth years after he and his column were kicked out of Manga Burikko. He mocked them for their overly use of the (somewhat effeminate) word otaku, which is one of the many ways to express “you” in Japanese and applied every nerd steretotype in the book to troll them.

But he was also concerned why the male readers of Manga Burikko didn’t like manga by female artists like Okazaki Kyōko in which these female artists depicted their adult selfs. Manga Burikko liked to call itself the Ura-Margaret (Margaret being a popular shōjo manga magazine and Ura implying it being its hidden darker cousin) and was full of works defying the usual separated publishing labels for boys and girls, instead catering to both sexes at the same time. The lolicon manga by its male writers were heavily influenced by shōjo manga whereas the contributions by the female ones tried to create a mature female comic style.

Manga Burikko’s editor Ōtsuka Eiji didn’t tolerate Nakamori alienating the magazine’s readership for long and soon canceled his column, which didn’t stop Nakamori spread his hate in other media. When the Miyazaki incident drew attention to Otaku in a major way both Nakamori and Ōtsuka were suddenly in the spotlight as experts on the matter. Ōtsuka fashioned himself a valiant defender of Otaku, but never refused to acknowledge criticism towards them. He actually elaborated on a lot of it as well. His defense partly consists of extending much of said criticism to society as a whole, a prime example of which is his interpretation of the fact that in porn manga the Otaku rarely ever depict the rapist (not entirely true today but he provides evidence for early lolicon dōjinshi). He sees their refusal to put themselves in the criminal’s shoes as an expression of the refusal to face up to their country’s history. An idea which is easily applicable outside the nerd niche as well. Rape in these manga might not refer to actual rape as much as it is an metaphor for repressed guilt.

Female comic artist Uchida Shungicu’s view on Lolita complex is much more grounded in reality as she was actually abused by her stepfather when she was 15. It’s no surprise that she isn’t particularly fond of Otaku and strongly opposed to their defenders. But even more so than Ōtsuka, the most prominent one among them, she sees the problem more on the side of the mainstream rather than the comic fan minority. It’s not uncommon for men to prefer women younger than themselves, shorter than themselves, in essence women weaker than themselves. These men revel in the role of the “criminal”. Whereas Ōtsuka fears the emasculating effect of picturing oneself as the victim, Shungicu is more concerned with the men who don’t mind being active jerks. Many of Shungicu’s manga retell the story of women triumphing over men that turn out to be losers. There’s so many facets to chauvinist stupidity, it never gets old.

For Otaku she seems to have mostly pity. From her manga Minami-kun no Koibito:

The End ▼