From Okinawa to Hokkaido, people are transfixed in front of their television screens. Japan’s greatest hero (saikō no hīrō), All Might (Ōrumaito), fights his final battle, wrenching victory from the jaws of defeat and saving the nation from evil one last time. As his opponent is carted off in handcuffs and the traumatic yet triumphant live broadcast event draws to a close, All Might turns to the camera, uttering the cryptic words:
This article aims to look at how the otaku have been defined and redefined as a new breed of nonconformist human in Japanese society; flaunters of social norms, ultraconsumerist, potentially criminal, eternally banished to the outskirts of the mainstream, only to be conveniently held up as a last bastion of hope when strategic policies for reinvigorating the Japanese economy using the global influence of the creative industries are introduced. I explore the process through which this transition happened, beginning with early newsworthy instances in which the first otaku generation caught public attention, and trace their gradual evolution into a marginalized subculture with its own environment and information networks, both virtual and geographical, such as Akihabara and Nipponbashi. Next, I plot these developments against the changing scene of the animation industry, for which Japan increasingly is depending on foreign capital and consumption, and observe the issues that have arisen through this insularization of the otaku. Finally, I look to the future and observe how, while the generationally formulated zeitgeist maintains power over such developments, the rest of the world nears the stage of completion in the process of absorbing and reproducing Japaneseinspired output.
