Big Changes

After a several month break from posting, I'm finally back! In case you don't know where I've been, I was writing my doctoral dissertation (on otaku culture in America, especially anime and manga fandom). As of 3 weeks ago, I completed all the requirements for my PhD. Some 25 years of schooling (kindergarten through grad school) are behind me at last.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the interviewees and those of you I hung out with during the course of my research. If you volunteered to be interviewed and I didn't get around to you, I'm sorry we weren't able to sit down and chat some more, but thank you nonetheless for your enthusiasm and willingness to help. Our interactions, though brief, were still important to me.

Getting my PhD feels great, but I'm excited about things coming up, as well. Many graduating PhDs scour the job market for academic jobs, and I did that a little bit, but I ultimately decided to do something a little different. Readers of lainspotting and especially Opera Otaku know that I'm a big fan of the Opera browser and the company that makes it. Starting in September, I will be working for Opera Software full time at their San Diego branch office. (Because of my very recent move from New York to California, I haven't had time to write until now.) Long time readers will remember that I wrote an article about branding and Opera back in early 2005, and I visited Opera's main headquarters in Oslo, Norway last summer. As such, I've had an informal relationship with the company for quite awhile now. With the completion of my degree, I'm happy to become a full-fledged member of the Opera team.

Utilizing my research background, a major part of my work will involve really getting to know American users of Opera: die-hard fans and casual users alike. Furthermore, I'll be talking with people who don't use the browser to determine how Opera might better serve their needs as well. Once I start my new job, I'm sure I'll be writing more (either here or elsewhere) about my experience of working at Opera, so stay tuned!

My Otaku Room

For the Weekly Anime Review episode featuring an interview with yours truly, Aaron used an image of an otaku's room. Someone asked me if the picture was of my room. It isn't. While I like figures, I don't collect a whole lot of them. I mostly collect posters, artbooks, and other rare stuff I can get ahold of related to my favorite anime.

I've posted photos of my home office / anime-haven before, but it's been awhile. The following photos are the most recent, taken about a year ago (before Rowan was born). Since then, in order to put in Rowan's crib and changing table, I have moved some things around and removed the guest bed. (Rowan still gets to enjoy the posters, though.) Except for select titles that I like to have close by, I keep my modest anime and manga collection in other rooms (such as the living room where my TV and PS2 reside). Naturally, since these photos are over a year old and I don't typically throw things away, I have more stuff now.





Update 07/10/09: I recently started a group on Flickr to highlight people's Otaku Rooms. I hope you'll check it out and share your photos!

Talking About Otaku with Weekly Anime Review

I'm too busy these days to write much here, and I expect it will be like that for the next two months, but if you'd like to literally hear me talk about otaku, I was recently interviewed by Aaron of Weekly Anime Review, an excellent podcast that I mentioned previously on lainspotting. The interview is the main feature of the latest episode, found here: Episode 33 - Otaku Studies With Lawrence Eng

I was on a cell phone, so my voice is definitely muffled, but if you turn up the volume, you should be able to hear what I'm saying. I'm much more comfortable writing out my thoughts than articulating them verbally, especially in an unscripted interview (as opposed to a formal presentation), but it was a nice change of pace (since I'm the one who usually does the interviewing) and I think it turned out pretty well. If you're visiting this site for the first time because you heard the interview, welcome! (There's a lot of material spread out all over the place, so feel free to explore.)

In case people were wondering, my conversation with Aaron was actually longer than what's presented, but he edited some stuff out to keep things on topic. For example, we spent some time talking about my lain website and how it came about. In general, Aaron did a great job of editing. The only weird bit I noticed was when I was talking about Kino's Journey, and then it abruptly jumped to me talking about otaku again, but other than that, the editing was smooth.

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
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!