Color me not enthused by this article:
These cartoony, sexualized characters are all part of otaku culture. Otaku is a Japanese word that has evolved from meaning “techno-geek” to describing devoted fans who pore over Japanese animation (anime), manga (graphic books), hentai (erotic comics) and other comics-derived media.
Thanks. It takes six paragraphs for the article to finally say this:
Of course, not all anime and manga is overtly sexual — a lot of it is meant for children. Even some adult anime isn’t sexualized any more than, say, Wonder Woman (who was created as a dominatrix bondage fantasy.)
And then continues on with the sexualized aspects of it. I was thinking about ordering Otaku USA, but I’m not sure about that now:
“The appeal of Japanese pop culture [to Americans] is that it is a moral-free zone,” explains Patrick Macias, editor in chief of Otaku USA, a bi-monthly magazine with a circulation of approximately 60,000. “The ideas of good/bad, right/wrong, that duality is not present.”
Thank you very much, but I like watching my anime because it’s entertaining, not because it’s a “moral-free zone.”
Basically the entire article is “look at all of these loser, lonely freaks and perverts who wack off to cartoon porn of 12 year old girls getting penetrated by octopi!” The article tries to approach the subject with moral agnosticism, but I’m not sure Mr. and Mrs. Average American are exactly impressed by reading that all these anime people enjoy watching cartoons of 5th graders getting tentacle raped.
Bleh.
Update
Apparently the author doesn’t know what he’s talking about either:
Lolicon” (or Lolicom, a combination of “Lolita” and “comic”)
Lolicon, also romanized as rorikon, is a slang portmanteau of the phrase “Lolita complex”.
Oops.
