Anime and Otaku [Part 2/2] | Down the Rabbit Hole

Part two of the two-part episode on anime and otaku culture. This episode shows the way that otaku culture originated and began guiding anime, as well as the strange and disturbing prevalence of hikikomori going into the 21st century.

[mintsjams]

Coming next week:

Anime and Otaku [Part 3/2] Pornography | Down the Rabbit Hole

[hopewarner]

Studio Ghibli, or, as my 57-year-old father once called it, Studio Giblet.

[commenter_HIMIK-MAN]

Today, it's kinda hard to beleve that people made AMV's unironically back at the day. It feels like a dream i saw long ago.

[royal]

The concept of the 'Weeaboo' is particulary fascinating. Media which was produced as escapism convinced westerners that it was an accurate representation of the japanese 'mainstream' and has led them to glorify a country they know almost nothing about.

[tamlumusic]

thoroughly enjoyed the two episodes. very impressive work man

[MagusBC]

Fansubs predated the internet. There were some bootleg VHS's bought through vendors with often questionable quality in translation.

[HoNdeRallMiGhtY]

Hello here! I'm a psychologist and I would like to point out that the two researchers that have been quoted in the video at 15:57 seem to be a little biased, if I may say so.

The reason it seems to be so is because of the interpretation of the results that they concluded on. Some more recent studies suggest that the main reason people become "Hikikomori" has far more to do with the insanely intense pressure the educational system puts on the youth of Japan. Not everyone is capable of adapting well to such social pressures, and even less so when said pressures are allowing for less leisure and require more work.

A shrinking social circle means less social support, as well as a figurative nose-dive in ambition and self-confidence. I do believe that the 'Hikikomori' phenomenon is entirely reversible, if only less intesive alternatives to higher education and being a 'good student' where to be implemented. Regardless, I do not believe that 'Individualism' has anything to do with this for the most part. Intense pressure in any enviroment is hard to resist and resignation is the most common, although obviously not the best, conclusion that most people arrive in.

[FiendMatadorSlayerOfNoobs]

A good example of the Western world 'Shrugging off' Japanese animation as childish is one I personally was in the middle of when I was a child.

And that was the show called Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, Alternatively known as 'SIlver Fang' which is about a pack of dogs who travel all over Japan to recruit more dogs to fight against a giant bear known as 'Akakabuto'.(Red Helmet)
The show was extremely popular in the Northern Countries, such as FInland and Norway, and that's perhaps where it's popularity was highest, if it being dubbed to Norwegian and Finnish but not English is any indicator.

That show was very, VERY violent and quite dark, and showed very macabre and graphic content, including laceration, decapitation, drowning, suicide attacks, impaling, eye-gouging, skull-crushing, clawing, biting, tearing out throats etc, all with very visible displays of blood and gore.

And know what the Northern countries said?
'We don't see any harm in showing this to our children. This is fine.'
Either Norsemen are completely insane or they are metal as fuck-probably both.

[danzk]

I really think the stigma of mental health issues in Japan should be mentioned when the topic of hikikomori is brought up.

It's not so much the parents being taken advantage of by a lazy kid. I think it's more they'll enable the child to avoid the shame of having a child with a mental health issue.

[porktrick]

Im surprised that you didn't mention Cory in the House and how influential it was to anime and animation as a whole

[torbammoyer]

If you still do these videos in 10 years, I'd be excited to see a "Virtual YouTubers - Down the Rabbit Hole".

[Eryncerise]

A little disappointed that you didn't really cover the fan club and tape trading era of western fandom beyond a couple of photos from early cons. The way you wrote the fansub segment makes it sound like fansubs were invented in or just before the internet era, rather than the truth of the practice going back to at least the early-to-mid 80's. Also surprised you didn't mention "the other Miyazaki" when you were discussing negative connotations of the word "otaku", since the murders of Tsutomu Miyazaki also contributed strongly to said negative connotations for a long time in Japan.

That said, I get that these videos are a very broad overview only and that some stuff is bound to be left out. That being considered, I think you did a great job! I'm especially glad that you made sure to continue mentioning female anime fans and otaku, as the entire history of female anime fandom (both in Japan and abroad) is super fascinating and could fill entire videos by itself. Too often I've seen people diminish the role women have played in anime fandom history, and continue to play in supporting the industry today (like, there was a great interview with Yoshiyuki Tomino where he talked about how female fans were the ones who really supported Gundam a lot in the early days and got that ball rolling, which was great to hear). So I definitely appreciated the multiple points of focus in both parts on female-targeted works and fans.

[Panteni]

Wow, a lot of the criticisms that millenials receive nowadays seem earily similar to the criticisms otaku received in the 80's in japan.

[ZRMNTR]

15:55, "We're pretty sure it's the West's fault for all the nervous people who are afraid of dying a miserable salary man, and just want to be left alone."

Japan has a problem, and it's not Hikikomori. It's so much deeper. Even their Anime tries half-heartedly to address it only for it to come full circle and back to "It's just that you aren't motivated enough to work for everyone else around you", because of course it would. The anime industry is populated by salarymen, not NEETs. They refuse to acknowledge the fact that the only way for someone to get ahead in their culture is to throw yourself head first at a company and break your back while doing it. ' Karoshii ' is an actual word for them, that roughly translates to ' Death by Work ' . the fact that it needs to be a coined term to describe a yearly phenomena for them should be enough warning, but here we are at 15:55, and their leading experts say "Nah man, fucking west telling these kids they don't have to put up with that elsewhere. Gaijin do it because it's a part of their culture, but we're *Different*." We've got problems in the west, but at least we recognize them when we see them.

[mintsjams]

Fredrik makes me "doki doki"







Plz reply senpai

[xxedgy_outsiderxx]

I hate the notion that animation seems to be known as "children's medium" its jus odd to think a style or media type can't be used with other genres

[uziman]

"Gundam may be responsible for the nerd explosion of anime"

I'm building a gundam right now and I completely agree with that statement.

[joshuafogg]

Miyazaki was so incensed over the cuts in Nausicaä, that he actually sent a katana through the mail with a single note: "No cuts."

[manofonetitle]

I remember having a discussion with a few friends about anime and one guy in particular was just ripping on anime and making fun of the style and how it caters to weirdos, and went on to say Japanese culture is just super weird and sketchy in general. Then friend number 2 just told him 'dude, they're the only nation that ever got nuked. Give them a break.' After watching the two parts of these videos, friend 2 was more on point then I thought....

[xjunkxyrdxdog]

"Reality was a mistake" - Anime