Otaku in love

[Ghoul]

Hisao Torii, a brain smart enough to cinch the grueling, testing entrance exam into prestigious Tokyo University, may also have been smart to quickly realize he was a flop with women. He'd formed a student band with two other guys and two women not long after starting at what is regarded as Japan's top college.

We were carrying our gear over to the drummer's home and then stayed around watching TV. I could hear a noise coming from behind me, the 22-year-old student tells Spa!, adding that he looked around to see his band mates had paired off and were all kissing passionately. After a while, I could tell from the noises that things were getting more frantic, and then they were moaning. I was stuck sitting there on the freezing cold floor, shivering and pretending not to hear what was going on.

Torii quit the band the following day, developed depression and dropped out of college. He's now given up all thoughts of love. I've got this really strong feeling that only real dorks chase after the opposite sex, he tells Spa! I get furious that there're people out there who get all caught up in this sort of caper.

Though Torii may not know it, he's the type of guy who's apparently all the rage among Japanese women nowadays. Much of the media is currently smitten with the country's booming otaku culture. This has, in turn, led to widespread claims that the geeks, freaks, weirdoes and fatties who, like Torii, are collectively referred to as otaku, a group once largely shunned by women, are now being seen as the country's hottest hunks. Apparently, their appeal lies in the belief that the otaku are up for a purer form of love and are the obsessive types likely to become devoted to the one gal once they've found her. Spa!, however, finds out that the rumors of nurturing nerds isn't quite all its made out to be.

Makoto Sasahara, like Torii, is an otaku who probably prefers women not to be interested in him. He once had a girlfriend who wasn't too keen on his fascination for geek goods. Every time she came to visit him, he quickly packed up all his otaku paraphernalia. Eventually, he started choosing to meet his nerd buddies instead of her, and she responded by dumping him.

After she gave me the flick, the first thing I did was stick up my (pin-up girl) Maki Goto calendar and line up all my otaku books on some shelves. I realized then that it was impossible for me to hide the fact that I am an otaku, he tells Spa! Eventually, women will give up on their otaku boyfriends once they realize they're never going to give up their hobbies. Otaku like women, but they like their hobbies, too. Sometimes it's hard to choose between two good things.

Tatsuo Maeda, a 37-year-old, self-professed train-obsessed otaku, says he doesn't want any attention from women looking for a loyal lad. Maeda gets fiery when he talks about what he claims are Japanese society's prejudices about otaku.

Even though society may have started to recognize the position of the otaku, there're still plenty of people out there for who the word 'otaku' is a synonym for 'criminal' or 'kidnapper of little girls.' Even though there are some train freaks like me, who are satisfied just reading magazines about trains, the general image seems to be that we're all like that very small number of weird guys who spend every possible moment traveling around to different stations to take photos of the trains traveling in and out, Maeda tells Spa! As far as I'm concerned, your social skills are broadened through your hobbies. Some people may say to me that I'm obsessive because I'm a train otaku, and that I'll be obsessive when it comes to women, too. But, just as I take an interest in all sorts of trains, there's no reason why I can't take an interest in all sorts of women, too. Just because I'm an otaku doesn't mean I'm going to be less susceptible to playing around than any other guy.

[Tex Murphy]

Za trenutak sam pomislio da pišeš o našoj Kristini