is a 1991
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
OVA
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
spoofing the life and culture of
otaku
is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in ''Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorativ ...
, individuals with obsessive interests in media, particularly anime and
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
, as well as the history of
Gainax, its creators. It is noted for its mix of conventional documentary film styles (with actual film, no less), with a more traditional anime storytelling fashion. It is licensed in the United States by
AnimEigo
AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to lic ...
. The ''
DAICON III and IV Opening Animations
The ''Daicon III'' and ''IV Opening Animations'' are two 8mm film anime short films that were produced for the 1981 Daicon III and 1983 Daicon IV Nihon SF Taikai conventions. They were produced by a group of amateur animators known as Daicon ...
'' from the early eighties are also featured in this OVA.
Plot
The story begins in ''Otaku no Video 1982'', where the main character is an
everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
character, Ken Kubo, living with his girlfriend Yoshiko and as a member of his college's
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
team, until introduced by his former friend Tanaka to a club of enthusiasts: a female illustrator, an information
geek
The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In the past, it had a general ...
, a martial artist, and a weapons collector. Kubo soon joins them; and when Yoshiko abandons him, makes the wish to become the supreme enthusiast, under the name of ''Otaking''.
Kubo's quest continues in ''More Otaku no Video 1985'', set three years later, in which he creates his model kits, opens shops, and builds a factory in China. Later, he loses his fortune when one of his rivals (now married to Yoshiko) takes control of his enterprise; but Kubo and Tanaka, with hard-working artist Misuzu, gradually take over the anime industry with a 'magical girl' show, "Misty May". At the peak of their ambitions, Ken and Tanaka create Otakuland in 1999: the equivalent of
Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
for otaku (the story suggests Otakuland to be located in the same city of
Urayasu
260px, old Urayasu
is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 170,533 in 81,136 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Urayasu is best known as the home of the Tokyo ...
,
Chiba Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...
, as the original
Tokyo Disneyland
(local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to ...
.)
Many years later, Ken and Tanaka return to Otakuland in a post-apocalyptic submerged Japan and find its central structure, a giant robot, converted into a functional spaceship piloted by their old friends. Miraculously rejuvenated, they fly into space in search of "The Planet of Otaku".
''A Portrait of an Otaku''
A controversial and humorous part of ''Otaku no Video'' was the inclusion of live-action documentary excerpts, titled "A Portrait of an Otaku". In these segments, the documentary crew would interview an anonymous otaku, typically ashamed at being a fan and whose face are censored with a
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
and have their voices digitally masked. The mock documentary segments serve as a counterpoint to the anime: while the anime emphasizes the camaraderie, creativity, and dreams of mainstream acceptance of otaku, the mock interviews exaggerate its negative qualities. The subjects run the gamut of the otaku subculture: the interviews cover a
cosplay
Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...
er who now works as a computer programmer and outright denies his cosplay days, even when presented with photographic evidence, but keeps his
Char Aznable
, born and also gone by the name , is a fictional character from the ''Gundam'' franchise. He is originally one of the main antagonists in ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' working for the Principality of Zeon, named after his late father Zeon Zum Deikun, ...
helmet in his desk drawer, an
airsoft
Airsoft is a team game in which participants eliminate opposing players by tag (game), tagging them out of play with airsoft pellets, spherical plastic projectiles shot with mock air gun, air weapons(usually powered by an electronic motor) call ...
otaku, a
garage kit
A garage kit (ガレージキット) or resin kit is an assembly scale model kit most commonly cast in polyurethane resin.
They are often model figures portraying humans or other living creatures. In Japan, kits often depict anime characters, and ...
otaku, and a shut-in who video-records television programs for trade, but has not actually watched anything he's recorded. The interviews also contain fans who engage in a range of illicit or unsavory activities, such as
cel
A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th century, bu ...
thieves, a
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, fan attempting to manufacture glasses to defeat the mosaic censorship common in Japanese porn videos and who is shown
masturbating
Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinati ...
during the interview, and a computer gamer—famous Gainax member
Hideaki Anno
is a Japanese animator, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for creating the anime series ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995)''.'' His style is defined by his postmodernist approach and the extensive portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotio ...
—obsessed with a character in a
hentai
Hentai is anime and manga pornography. A loanword from Japanese, the original term ( ) does not describe a genre of media, but rather an abnormal sexual desire or act, as an abbreviation of . In addition to anime and manga, hentai works exis ...
computer game (Kimiko from ''
Gunbuster
''Gunbuster'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese OVA anime series produced by Bandai, Victor, and Gainax and released from 1988 to 1989. It was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, best known as the creator and director of ''Neon Genes ...
''—one of Anno's works—who makes a cameo in Gainax's own hentai game, ''Cybernetic High School'').
It is believed that all the subjects in the Portrait of an Otaku segments were Gainax employees or connected to Gainax at the time of filming. The first otaku interviewed bore a remarkable resemblance to
Toshio Okada
is an anime producer, author, and lecturer. He is a co-founder and former president of the production company Gainax. He is portrayed by actor Gaku Hamada in the 2014 TV Drama ''Aoi Honō'' based on the autobiographical manga by his fellow Kazuh ...
, a principal founder in Gainax, in both background and physical appearance. The
gaijin
is a Japanese word for foreigners and non-Japanese citizens in Japan, specifically being applied to foreigners of non-Japanese ethnicity and those from the Japanese diaspora who are not Japanese citizens. The word is composed of two kanji: and ...
otaku, Shon Hernandez, has been confirmed to have been Craig York, who with Shon Howell and
Lea Hernandez
Lea Hernandez (born March 11, 1964) is an American comic book and webcomic creator, known primarily for working in a manga-influenced style, and for doing lettering and touch-ups on manga imports. She is the co-creator of '' Killer Princesses'', wr ...
, whose names were borrowed for the character, were the main staff of General Products USA, an early western branch of Gainax's merchandising enterprise in the early 1990s. The interview with "Shon Hernandez" has been a point of contention with Lea Hernandez, who, in an interview with ''
PULP
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
'' magazine, noted that the interview was unscripted and that Craig York had been fairly sincere in his thoughts and had felt that Gainax insulted their American members. In the interview, the words spoken by Shon Hernandez in the background are noticeably different from what is shown on screen via subtitle (which is based on the Japanese voice-over "translation").
At
FanimeCon
FanimeCon is an annual four-day anime convention held during May at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California over Memorial Day weekend.
Programming
The convention typically offers an AMV contest, artist's alley, contests, ...
2003, Hiroshi Sato, an animator and another Gainax member, mentioned that he had been in one of the interviews in ''Otaku no Video''. In ''Otaku no Video'', the garage kit otaku was given the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
"Sato Hiroshi" for the interview.
Characters
Animated version
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:The main character.
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Live-action version ("A Portrait of an Otaku")
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;A
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Production and release
Since ''Otaku no Video'' was partially based in the personal life of the original creators of Gainax, who started their careers as otaku during the late seventies and the beginning of the eighties, many anime titles from that period are shown as footage or referenced in the OVA (in costumes, cosplay or other related material). Among them are ''
Gatchaman
is a Japanese animated franchise about a five-member superhero ninja team created by Tatsuo Yoshida and produced by Tatsunoko Productions. The original anime series, which debuted in 1972, was eponymously entitled ''Kagaku Ninja-tai Gatchaman ...
'', ''
Uchuu Senkan Yamato'', ''
Urusei Yatsura
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from September 1978 to February 1987. Its 366 individual chapters were published in 34 ''tankōbon'' volume ...
'', ''
Captain Harlock
is a fictional character and protagonist of the '' Space Pirate Captain Harlock'' manga series created by Leiji Matsumoto.
Harlock is the archetypical Romantic hero, a space pirate with an individualist philosophy of life. He is as noble as ...
'', ''
Mobile Suit Gundam
, also known as ''First Gundam'', ''Gundam 0079'' or simply ''Gundam '79'', is an anime television series, produced and animated by Nippon Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting ...
'', ''
Dirty Pair
is a series of Japanese light novels (the first one being a fix-up) written by Haruka Takachiho and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko that was later adapted into anime and manga versions. The first stories that make up the first volume ...
'', ''
Space Adventure Cobra
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Buichi Terasawa. Set in the far future, the series tells the story of Cobra, who lives an adventurous life until his enemies begin to hunt him down. Cobra surgically alters his face a ...
'', ''
Lupin the Third
, also written as ''Lupin the Third'', ''Lupin the 3rd'', or ''Lupin the IIIrd'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It follows the endeavors of master thief Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsèn ...
'', ''
Phoenix 2772
is a 1980 Japanese animated science fiction fantasy drama film directed and written by Osamu Tezuka and Taku Sugiyama. The film is based on Tezuka's manga series ''Phoenix''.
Plot
''Phoenix 2772'' is set in the distant future where the planet E ...
'', ''
Silent Möbius
is a twelve-volume manga series created by manga artist Kia Asamiya. Both anime versions have been licensed by Bandai Entertainment. It is heavily influenced by the film ''Blade Runner'' and is centered on the lives of a dedicated group o ...
'', ''
Magical Princess Minky Momo
is a Japanese magical-girl anime franchise by Ashi Productions. The original series ran between 1982 and 1983 on TV Tokyo and inspired three OVAs between 1985 and 1987. A second television series, titled , ran on NTV between 1991 and ...
'', ''
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
is an anime television series from 1982. According to story creator Shoji Kawamori, it depicts "a love triangle against the backdrop of great battles" during the first Human-alien war. It is the first part of two franchises: The ''Super D ...
'', ''
Macross: Do You Remember Love?'', ''
Genesis Climber Mospeada
(literally "Armored Genesis MOSPEADA") is an anime science fiction series created by Shinji Aramaki and Hideki Kakinuma. The 25-episode television series ran from late 1983 to early 1984 in Japan. MOSPEADA stands for Military Operation Soldi ...
'', ''
The Wings of Honneamise
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
'', ''
Top o Nerae!'' and the ''
Daicon III and IV Opening Animations
The ''Daicon III'' and ''IV Opening Animations'' are two 8mm film anime short films that were produced for the 1981 Daicon III and 1983 Daicon IV Nihon SF Taikai conventions. They were produced by a group of amateur animators known as Daicon ...
''.
The first episode of ''Otaku no Video'' had its world premiere at AnimeCon ‘91 on September 1, 1991, where it was shown on 16mm with an audience of 9 people. (Fandom Unbound, Lawrence Eng, pg 90, 2012) It was later released with English subtitles on VHS in North America on March 17, 1993, on DVD on April 2, 2002, and on Blu-ray Disc on June 24, 2016, all by
AnimEigo
AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to lic ...
.
See also
* ''
Comic Party
, sometimes abbreviated to ComiPa, is a dating sim video game by the Japanese game studio Leaf (company), Leaf. It was first released on May 28, 1999 for Windows with Hentai, adult content, but re-released with it removed for the Dreamcast, ...
''
* ''
Cosplay Complex''
*
''DAICON III'' and ''IV Opening Animations''
* ''
Genshiken
is a Japanese manga series by Shimoku Kio about a college club for ''otaku'' (extremely obsessed fans of various media) and the lifestyle its members pursue. The title is a shortening of the club's official name, , or "The Society for ...
''
References
External links
''Otaku no Video''at
Gainax
''Otaku no Video'' Liner Notesby
AnimEigo
AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to lic ...
*
*
*
Discussion of the real people in the interviews in ''Otaku no Video''by Lawrence Eng of the Cornell Japanese Animation Society
"Buried Treasure: In Praise of Nerdiness"at
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...
(review)
Anime Picks: Carl's Pick: ''Otaku no Video''by Carl Horn at j-pop.com (review)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otaku No Video
1991 anime OVAs
Anime with original screenplays
Gainax
Mockumentaries
Otaku in fiction