Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Earliest mentions of "otaku" in anime or manga?

The last couple of posts have been very text-intensive, so here's a quick question and a chance for me to post a nice image.

Does anyone reading this know the earliest usage of the term "otaku" (in the uber-fan sense) in an anime or manga? All you masters of old school anime, here's your chance to show your stuff.

The earliest usage I know of is in Volume 2 of Gainax's Aim for the Top! Gunbuster (one of my all time favorites), released on January 1st, 1989 (on VHS). Noriko is called an otaku by Kazumi in the science lessons following episode 4. You can look at the translated script here: "Top wo Nerae -- GunBuster -- Vol. 2"

Takaya Noriko from Gunbuster
Takaya Noriko from Gunbuster

If you know any earlier anime or manga mentions of "otaku" (as fans), feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. Thanks!
Posted by Lawrence Eng at 9:33 PM

6 comments:

  1. Hmm, there don't appear to be any takers...

    ReplyDelete





  2. I loved the way you discuss the topic great work thanks for the share, Let me share this, dotnet training in pune

    ReplyDelete

  3. Thank you for Sharing. We are leading erp software solution providers in chennai. For more details call +91 9677025199.
    erp in chennai | erp software providers in chennai

    ReplyDelete

  4. Nice Blog.Thank you for Sharing. We are leading erp software software solution providers in chennai. For more details call +91 9677025199. erp software in chennai | erp providers in chennai | online events registration

    ReplyDelete

  5. Even the words like appealing and captivating can't do full equity with regards to portraying this blog. watch dragon ball super

    ReplyDelete

  6. The Manga darlings are all finished so they can get it simple to get the Manga gathering structure our server.
    download one piece

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)