REVIEW: "Otaku Unite!" Anime Documentary
A sense of common unity combines most anime fans. Each has felt the shame of being accused of “liking kid’s stuff”, “thinking too hard” on something silly, or being just “too weird” to deal with due to what anime is. But this adversity creates unity with other fans, as seen in the many events covered in “Otaku Unite!”
Otaku: (ooh-tah-ku) from Japanese. Lit; “My house”, used as slang. Def 1, (Japanese usage) someone who is antisocial and tied up into a particular hobby, has extremely negative connotations, Def 2, (American usage) someone who is extremely interested into anime, almost excessive, ranges from mostly positive to some negative connotations.
“Otaku Unite!” a documentary by the company “Movies of My Dreams”, covers the history of anime fandom in the United States and where it is going in the future. Far from dry or boring, the film covers fandom exuberantly, jumping from subject to subject in a natural, free flowing discussion. The first part of the film starts off strangely with a small event called “Kaiju Big Battel”, a cross breed of American wrestling and Japanese monster movie plots. This weird mix of both cultures acts as a metaphor for anime fandom in general; a devoted love for an art form that is not in your native language or culture.
A sense of common unity combines most anime fans. Each has felt the shame of being accused of “liking kid’s stuff”, “thinking too hard” on something silly, or being just “too weird” to deal with due to what anime is. But this adversity creates unity with other fans, as seen in the many events covered in “Otaku Unite!” That isolation melts most during the convention experience, when a fan goes from the minority to being surrounded by thousands with interest just like them. One interviewee commented on the stark difference of anime fandom from others in a bigger light; unlike most Sci-Fi fandom where those of different shows or movies separate into factions, regardless of what show you are into in anime there is a connection. That is not to say that there are not squabbles; the documentary covers some of the infighting and negative attitudes that fandom can breed.
“Movies of My Dreams” showed respect for the subjects they were filming and never dropped to the level of cheap exploitation. The views on anime came directly from fans themselves with no interpretation by voiceover. Everyone was shown in a fair and at the least neutral manner, but the camera didn’t blink at some of the stranger events such as male cosplayers doing female characters, or people being at their “geekiest”. What were highlighted the most were the love and the enthusiasm present in all of these activities. If someone is also a fan of anime, listening to their fellow fans comments hit right on the mark, going to the core of why anime is so important to them. Although random, there did seem to be a higher order to the documentary, going from older events to newer ones, gently wrapping up the documentary on a positive note of the future. The definition of what is an otaku is rather negative in Japan. However, its positive definitions here prompted scorn from one of the interviewees. “You can’t change a word to make it what you want” scoffed one. However, with the way English words have been accepted into the Japanese lexicon and changed to mean things not intended by their original definition that may not always be the case. “Otaku” may end up “re-imported” into the Japanese language for better. With such devotion, camaraderie and unity present in American anime fandom, maybe that can rub off on such a tarnished term and made to mean something far nobler in the future. And “Otaku Unite!” may just be the battle cry to make it happen…
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EarthsMightiestAdmin
11/17/2003
Akadot