Quote:
Originally Posted by NanteNa
And I'd agree to that last statement. Otaku was NEVER a positive term - just like weaboo and Japanophile never was. It's usually a term to describe people with an actual obsession concerning Japan. Be it manga, anime or jrock - generally these people get a little carried away... and they tend to get scary as hell. >_<
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Things may be changing. I know one Japanese guy who at one point said quite plainly he likes to think of himself as "a member of the Otaku nation". (This is someone I know in person, not over an Internet forum.) Of course, he said this in English during an anime club meeting, so he probably felt pretty comfortable saying so in that context. I've also seen the seiyuu/singer
Haruko Momoi happily calling herself an otaku and encouraging her fans to claim the word for themselves, though I will admit she's kind of a special case.
It's like the use of the word "geek" in English. When I was a kid, that word was purely negative, and there's no way in hell you would call yourself that. But these days there are lots of people who self-identify as "geeks".
Wil Wheaton (best known among the general public for playing Wesley Crusher on
Star Trek: The Next Generation) titled one of his early autobiographical books
Just a Geek, and there is even an online store "
ThinkGeek" specializing in "geek-oriented" merchandise.
It's probably still wise not to call someone else an otaku unless you know they'd be OK with it, though.