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July 11, 2005

Otaku

SFGate.com has an interesting article about Anime Expo and anime/manga fandom in general:

ASIAN POP Generation O
Meet the otaku -- a global network of anime fans and manga maniacs whose unique tastes and burgeoning consumer clout are reshaping the cultural landscape

While the rest of the nation prepared to mark the Fourth of July by consuming charred lumps of meat and blowing stuff up, a gleeful mob was descending on unsuspecting Anaheim, Calif., for a very different kind of celebration. Called AX, or simply "the Expo" by its organizers and its legion of eager attendees, it too commemorated a declaration of independence . . . in this case, from the dull shackles of reality.

Breach the glass-and-concrete bunker of the Anaheim Convention Center on Expo weekend, and you pass into a parallel dimension populated by pink-haired schoolgirls and DIY 'droids, portly alien invaders and bespectacled ninja assassins. It's a place where little things like race and gender and nationality take a backseat to more important distinctions, like whether you prefer dubs or subtitles. A world where an ordinary guy can be a hero, a king -- or hell, a magical fairy princess. [SFGate.com]

Posted by snooze at July 11, 2005 10:54 AM