I guess it’s not much of a secret for anyone who’s read my previous posts (whether on this site or others) that I really don’t like western otaku.

I mean, in one sense, great. You’ve found a passion and it doesn’t hurt anyone, so good on you, I suppose. And I don’t have any particular social justice reason for feeling that way – the Japanese folks have helpfully put a whole lot of content out for us to consume, and while we may not often be the target audience, I can’t imagine (for the most part) they’re upset to have such a broad and passionate audience.

In another sense, well…

There’s this SNL skit from a while ago called “JPop America Fun Time Now”, where these two people who I can only classify as “super-otaku” put on a public access television show for their University celebrating all things jpop. And it’s… well… I think the professor character said it best: “If there’s a such thing as loving racism, I think you found it”. They speak absolutely no Japanese, they have no idea whatsoever about Japanese culture, they put “uru” at the end of random words for no reason, they break into song with nonsense lyrics randomly, and about the only thing that has any bearing on Japanese culture whatsoever is, well… the vaguely Japanese-like characters on the set behind them and the random “Hello Kitty”.

And the problem is, this reminds me of a lot of western otaku.

I can speak Japanese. I can’t speak it well and I’m not pretending I can, but I can speak it. Japanese people have told me, in their inimitable way of trying to not being insulting, that I’m “understandable”. Which, well… is something, I suppose, right? But I can speak it. At the Temple Mall yesterday I could read much of the characters on the boxes full of anime girl figurines wearing maid outfits.

How much do you want to bet I was only one of a handful of people there that could?

I’m not saying no one could. Clearly, I’m not saying that. But it was probably in the low single digit percentages, if that.

Anime (and manga) is a Japanese medium. It’s made by Japanese people, for a Japanese audience, in Japanese. It has Japanese sensibilities, nods to Japanese culture (if curated for a mass Japanese audience that has about as much to do with a deep dive into Japanese culture than waving a flag around has to do with the founding fathers) but that’s what it is. And most otaku don’t know, or care, about this. I admit fully that if you read some of my earlier posts, I was kind of as cringey as those otaku are… but there was a big difference, even then. I knew that. I wasn’t trying to overlay my American sensibilities on Japanese media (for the most part). I sought to engage in it on its terms, and six years later, well… I’ve kinda sorta a little bit succeeded in that endeavor.

Most western otaku don’t. Or won’t. Or don’t want to. And this is why those woke idiots have their grubby fingers into the dubs, and to a lesser degree, the subs.

I’m sorry. I just can’t respect that. I never could and I probably never will.

Now, that being said, I have been giving things a lot of thought on this blog (and others), and I’ve come to the conclusion that my critics are probably correct about one thing. I’m much better at talking about things I don’t like, than talking about things I do. And I’ve decided this is a character flaw that makes me unlikeable and makes this blog unreadable. So while the tone of these posts might not change immediately, I’m going to start thinking about how to correct that. Texihabara was a very failed attempt in the past to make something positive, so something like that is out, but I do need to come up with something.

Maybe I should start by trying to find positive aspects of western Otaku culture.

It’s hard. There aren’t many. But maybe I’m not looking in the right place.