Roy Stafford

1. Manga and otaku subculture in Japan
Tom Vincent
F or some time in the UK, young
people have been consuming media
from Japanese subcultures. A look
at the comic shelves in Borders finds
multiple volumes of manga series: the
cute female-centred ghost school stories
of Ghost Hunt, the austere, violent
samurai epic of Lone Wolf and Cub, the
pseudo-scientific sci-fi battles of Mobile
Suit Gundam. People outside Japan
seem to find manga interesting first for
the unusual quality of the graphic art,
second for the intriguing coherence of
the culture. Across manga titles, there
are unities of graphic style, of theme, of
representation, that suggest that there
is a self-sustaining culture at work, able
to make reference to itself more than to
objective reality or to other media. To
the interested fan it’s clear that manga
is a significant cultural force in Japan, Manga on display in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, known as ‘electric town’ and the centre
of otaku culture.
with numerous committed substrata
that defy easy comprehension. To better
society. The otaku subculture at work here
understand manga and its close relative anime, it’s worth
produces manga in wilful isolation from the Japanese
considering the otaku subculture at work in producing its
mainstream, and in eking out a separate expressive
self-contained worlds.
space that is sometimes ignored, sometimes celebrated.
Otaku in Japan refers to a particular kind of obsessive:
Graphic arts are incorporated into all of public life in
one who defines themself by his or her consumption of
Japan, and although antecedents to manga have been
one or more particular media, perhaps manga, but also
traced back to various older media, the true genesis
anime (Japanese animation), tokusatsu (special effects
is in the immediate post-war years of occupation.
creatures), video games, aidoru (female pop performers),
Manga production began to grow in the late 1940s arts
figyua (scale character models) and so on. The meaning
explosion, following a long period of artistic suppression,
of otaku goes far deeper than the English equivalent
and apparently ignored by US censorship. By 2006,
‘geek’, and implies an entire and exclusive culture, with
domestic sales of manga had become worth ¥481
little mechanism to integrate properly with other societal
billion, (£2.2 billion), and accounted for around 40%
strands.
of all books sold in Japan. The penetration of manga
consumption in Japan extends to anyone born after the
The otaku subculture began with the rise of mass
war, with titles to accommodate a vast range of interests
consumerism of the 1960s, when traditional cultural
and niches. Consumption is characterised by multiple
ties to locality and family were damaged. Migration
distinct subgenres, including Jidaimono (historical), Meka
to the cities was accompanied by at least a rhetorical
(giant battling robots), Suiri (crime), Shôjo and Shônen
commitment to the new corporate Japan, and was
(respectively, for teenage girls and teenage boys), Mahô
reinforced by the new homogenous mass media of TV.
Shôjo (female-centered magic), Dojinshi (self-published
The word otaku is a kind of impersonal pronoun (one
fan-manga) Moe, (asexual fetishism of characters), Shôjo-
ai (lesbian romance) and Hentai (outlandish pornographic of many in Japanese) that literally means ‘one’s home’,
implying neither family nor even blood ties, and gained
fantasy).
currency in association with acquiring new consumer
goods. As the US realised they needed Japan as a new
Perusal of some of the narrow genres on this list suggest
stable Cold War ally, planned reforms were scaled back,
specific obsessions, apocalyptic battles take place in
and hopes for a new post-hierarchical society were
ahistorical science fiction worlds, youth is fetishised in
dashed. Japan experienced both economic growth and
a distinctive kawaii (cute) aesthetic, and self-indulgent
entrenched political stagnation. Most otaku culture
fantasies seem unconcerned with regulation by wider

2. is analogous with widespread political apathy and real world. A similarly empty stance can be found in the
extremely pervasive kawaii aesthetic, wherein young girls
disengagement in Japan, and an unwillingness or inability
to participate in rigid mainstream society. It is a retreat in particular idealise themselves as an ahistorical ‘cute’
consumer. Within otaku culture, this becomes obsession
into outsider obsessions, a self-sustaining world of furtive
cultural production. Moving through various phases of with an artifical, wilfully exaggerated female image that
derisive comment by mainstream media, otaku culture constantly teeters over into self-parody. Much of the ‘cute’
manga that ends up in UK bookstore, like the comedic
is now large and complex, and the term carries neither
farce of Love Hina, is parody of the self-acknowledged
wholly positive or negative connotations.
pathetic-ness of the socially inept otaku boy and his
By being politically silent, isolated and self-sustaining, obsessions.
otaku culture indicates some particular Japanese concerns.
Military hardware is safely fetishised in hugely popular The intense flux of Japan’s 20th century goes on, and
sf manga like Space Battleship Yamato and Mobile Suit otaku culture continues to churn out accomplished
Gundam. Space Battleship Yamato implicitly plays out an popular art on a huge scale (in Japan, everyone can draw).
alternative World War Two scenario for Japan, in which Meanwhile in recent years movements like the loose
the Yamato (the name of an actual WW2 battleship) ‘superflat’ art collective have tried to subvert conventions
through parody of both otaku obsessions and mainstream
roams the galaxies following the irradiation of the
media. Otaku culture will continue to fascinate as long as
earth by aliens. The military is a great taboo in Japan,
where large armed forces are maintained under the subcultures remain unassimilated in Japan, and outsiders
constitution-bound euphemism of ‘self-defence forces’. find freedom in operating beyond the pale.
The removal of the military to a ‘safe’ sf scenario in Space
Battleship Yamato excuses it from commenting on the (Tom Vincent lived and worked in Japan for several years)
Resource reviews
specifications. Many colleagues appear anime were essentially ‘de-odorised’
to be worried by Unit 4 of OCR’s of Japanese culture a process most
spec., which includes the possibility obvious in the Power Rangers series
of looking at globalisation. Whilst the which interpolated American-shot
trend toward global markets probably sequences into the Japanese action.
gained momentum during the 1980s, However, as Kelts shows, fans started
when Reaganite and Thatcherite discovering the originals (and here
policies led to the loosening of financial the internet is the distribution/
controls, there’s no doubt that the pirating network par excellence) and
arrival of broadband internet has made both original anime and manga has
the global market (for the ‘haves’) a experienced exponential growth in
reality. Dealing with the challenges of America.
both reading the internet and getting Kelts’ book is not a media textbook
a grasp of the macroeconomics of but a journalistic trawl through the
globalisation are amongst the biggest history and business of manga/anime.
challenges to media studies. Colleagues It is an excellent read and gives some
are right to be concerned but change, fascinating insights into the cultural
even when it’s revolutionary, is difference between Japan and the west;
what makes studying the media so for example, he interviews the creator
interesting. of Pokemon to find a corporate suit
One of the more obvious ways in and not a multi-millionaire one might
Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop which globalisation is occurring has expect as he didn’t benefit financially
Culture Has Invaded the US, Roland been the dramatic increase in the from his creation as a salaried worker.
Kelts, Palgrave Macmillan 2008, number of western fans of anime and Other cultural differences are more
£9.99 256pp, ISBN-10: 140398476X manga; particularly in the United obvious:
(Amazon announces this book as due States. In recent years Studio Ghibli’s
for release in February 2008, but has films have made an impression Cartoons are very powerful tools
an American version available at a on both arthouse audiences and because they only need minimal
lower price.) children; however, anime has been changes to make them localized.
The OCR email list has been full of shown on western television since the We’ve always had to do a little
static generated by the new A Level 1960s: remember Marine Boy? Early work to suit international tastes.

3. When the Tamogotchi [virtual] pets
died on the Japanese version of
the game, they turned into ghosts.
American kids got scared, so we
had them turning into angels. (p.
99)
Dealing with the global reach
of media texts is a crucial aspect of
contemporary media studies. An
whilst it is relatively easy to consider
Hollywood’s policy of opening
blockbuster movies worldwide, dealing
with how other cultures are ‘infiltrating’
(i.e. get beyond the trade barriers
that are informally erected to keep
foreigners out of western markets)
into our culture is harder. However,
you’re likely to have some manga/anime
experts in your class and TV series, Pop Japan Travel – the Essential
such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, are Otaku Guide, Makoto Nakajima,
easy to use in the classroom (well, one Digital Manga (US) 2007, £4.95 ISBN
or two example episodes). Series such 9781569709429
as Evangelion and Ghost in the Shell: If you enjoyed Tom Vincent’s article and
Stand Alone Complex, are particularly you have students interested in manga,
interesting in their representation of anime and otaku culture, this could be
gender (nubile male-fantasy girls v. a very useful little book allowing you to
morose and often pathetic males) and get up to speed on the basics. Ostensibly
technology (the mecha genre). Kelts’ a guide to pop culture for a tourist in
book give will the teacher a good Japan, it presents the story of a group
grounding in the background from of American fans visiting Tokyo in the
which to start teaching. form of a genuine manga story.
Nick Lacey Poking gentle fun at the ignorant
gaijin (foreigners) and their lack of
understanding, it introduces many of
the otaku traits that Tom describes. It
neatly explains how to read a manga
story (right-to-left, top to bottom)
and offers a couple of pages of travel
tips, but it is the story of the American
fans and their pursuit of the otaku
experience which makes it a snip at
£6.19 on Amazon.co.uk
Roy Stafford
These three pieces were first published in
in the picture magazine, no 58, November
2007.
Tom Vincent is now a Film Programmer at
the National Media Museum
Nick Lacey is Head of Media at Benton Park
School, Leeds