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Author Galbraith, Patrick W., author.

Title Otaku and the struggle for imagination in Japan / Patrick W. Galbraith.

Publication Info. Durham : Duke University Press, 2019.
©2019

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (325 pages) : illustrations.
Gender group: gdr Men
Nationality/regional group: nat Japanese
Occupational/field of activity group: occ University and college faculty members
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary "In this ethnographic study of Otaku-- a loose category referring to intense fans of Japanese animation, games, and comics-- conducted in Akihabara, the electronics-turned-pop-culture neighborhood of Tokyo, author Patrick Galbraith traces the evolving relationships of mostly male-fans with imagined female characters. The term otaku, he argues, is frequently pathologized, to mean alienated or introverted persons - usually male - who have difficulty having real relationships and thus retreat into a world of their own imagination and control. Galbraith wonders why the form of a relationship that focuses on an animated character is more problematic than other kinds of fan attachments - crushes on pop music stars or a deep investment in Star Wars or Harry Potter. Through his engaged ethnography at the height of the interest in maid cafés and animated female characters in the early 2000s, he is able to historicize this fandom in an empathetic and detailed way, showing that what many have taken to be a single and peculiar psychological phenomenon was actually a complex, quickly evolving pop culture phenomenon. The affective relationships of the fans (seen as 3D) and the characters (2D, even when they are in three dimensions) is seen as a shifting and ordered form of closeness, a closeness between humans and animated characters. Galbraith urges us to explore rather than denigrate these relationships."-- Provided by publisher.
Contents Introduction: 'Otaku' and the struggle for imagination in Japan -- Seeking an alternative: 'Male' sh-jo fans since the 1970s -- 'Otaku' research and reality problems -- Moe: an affective response to fictional characters -- Akihabara: 'Otaku' and contested imaginaries in Japan -- Maid cafes: relations with fictional and real others in spaces between -- Eshi 100: the politics of Japanese, 'Otaku' popular culture in Akihabara and beyond.
Access Use copy Restrictions unspecified MiAaHDL
Reproduction Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified]: HathiTrust Digital Library. 2020. MiAaHDL
System Details Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
Processing Action digitized 2020. HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve MiAaHDL
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost All EBSCO eBooks
Subject Mass media and culture -- Japan.
Fans (Persons) -- Japan.
Popular culture -- Japan.
Animated films -- Japan -- History and criticism.
Japan -- Social life and customs -- 21st century.
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Manga / General
Animated films.
Fans (Persons)
Manners and customs.
Mass media and culture.
Popular culture.
Japan.
Chronological Term 2000-2099
Genre/Form Literary criticism.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Literary criticism.
Critiques littéraires.
Other Form: Print version: Galbraith, Patrick W. Otaku and the struggle for imagination in Japan. Durham : Duke University Press, 2019 9781478005094 (DLC) 2019008724
ISBN 147800701X electronic book
9781478007012 (electronic bk.)
9781478005094 hardcover alkaline paper
1478006293 hardcover alkaline paper
9781478006299 paperback alkaline paper
1478005092 paperback alkaline paper