Essentially, as the subject implies, I am curious about the current state of Otakudom in 2026. In particular, there are three main things I find myself coming back to when I think about the Otaku identity. This may seem a little bit overexaggerated or a non-issue to some, and I am not trying to make it something bigger than it has to be, but feel it could be interesting to discuss.Mainly: 1) The current state Animanga, VNs, other cultural things, etc. being seen solely as things to consume rather than produce yourself or discuss with othersAs of late, it seems like people simply consume things to be part of the club without actually caring about the work much - it's why you see so many video essays, people not knowing how to get deeper into things without being recommended something,etc.2) How to garner a community, big or small, that values creatives in the western hemisphereObviously we would never have our own comiket, or LN / VN industry here, but more fan creations would be cool3) Where to even gather online for such thingsThe internet is only getting smaller and existing just in the small bubble of 4chan is not goodI could've expanded or tried to articulate myself more but thought I would be brief. Basically, what is the modern otaku like to you and how can it change for the better. For me, I just wonder what there is beyond pure consumption of works.
>>50536634Hard liquor.
Just to note on the third item, I think a lot of online communities are moving towards Discord. They are becoming less public-facing on the open web and much more insular.
It's dead and has been for ages. Today I came across the story of a Japanese e-celeb who, for whatever reason, had "junior idol" in his search history when he was looking at porn. The modern reiwa brats found this appalling for some reason, despite there being no real evidence that it was anything more than a single search result. When you allow normalfags into your community, all that awaits is ruin.
>>50536634I don't want to sound too contrarian but I really haven't enjoyed the direction Japanese media has taken in the last 10 years. It feels gravely inbred and soulless compared to the 70s - 10s.I keep trying to prove myself wrong, but so far I haven't succeeded. I lurk this board often enough too just on the off chance some interesting news comes out.Maybe it's because I'm middle aged though. I dunno. My tolerance for slop is really low, especially while we're in our ai bubble.
>>50536925I just think there is too much "OK" anime nowadays, i.e anime that you can't really call bad but one that you'll forget about almost immediately. It's sad to think that most of the classic anime simply wouldn't get made nowadays. Everyone's just scared to take a risk, any risk. Anything that would deviate from what everyone else's making. I like to think that the reason for this is the rise of anime streaming. You know streaming platforms don't have to make anything great, just something watchable enough so you won't cancel your subscription.
As I get older, I find a lot of the media explicitly targeting "otaku" in the Reiwa era to be a slap in the face. Actually, it's felt that way ever since Camellia and Nanahira released a track titled "Notice me, senpai".It's all so... self-referential. Which I accept has probably always been there to an extent and I just notice it more now because I'm 90 billion years old, but still. It all feels a whole lot more cynical now. Just look at the light novel industry and how many of the novels that come out are tropey isekai where the premise is a joke about how tropey isekai is. It's a massive circlejerk. It's making an ouroboros by sticking your head up your own ass. It feels like it's all starting to go this way.The Internet has been raped so hard by advertisers and payment processors that your choices for online communities are either dealing with Discord, or posting about your otaku interests on social media, which is like standing in the town centre completely naked at 4am and praying that the first person to see you decides to stop and suck your cock rather than punch you in the face and then call the police on you.I'm not sure what you mean by garnering a community that "values creatives", though. There have never been more fan creations. That's like the one upside of otaku fandoms being overrun by rocks-for-brains secondaries, you get a lot of fan works out of it. There's no issue there.
>>50536925>>50537060I agree with what the second anon said hereThere are a fair amount of anime that are pretty great, anime originals too (Apocalypse Hotel from last year comes to mind), but not enough riskThere is a lot more adherence to the Chinese and American markets which may be affecting things, but on top of this, the old guard of directors has been moving out too
I plan on being a streamer Does that help
>>50536634becoming a polymath and then using those skills to make a pretentious masterpiece like Subahibi, with assistance or skill-grinding boosted by Artificial Intelligence.something like that...
>>50536634"Otaku" culture has been dead since it became about jacking off over otaku culture and not sci-fi, fantasy, and military nerds obsessing over cartoons and video games. If you want a community, go start an online old anime watching or manga artist club.>>50536925>I really haven't enjoyed the direction Japanese media has taken in the last 10 years. It feels gravely inbred and soulless compared to the 70s - 10s.Have you watched every single thing from back then? If not then get on it. You don't have to watch modern anime. >>50537361>It's all so... self-referential. It's been that way since the turn of the millennium when shit like digi charat and excel saga and nurse witch komugi were popular. >It all feels a whole lot more cynical nowand the ones I mentioned were at best self-deprecating and at worst outright mocking otaku culture of the time. >>50537060>I just think there is too much "OK" anime nowadays, i.e anime that you can't really call bad but one that you'll forget about almost immediately. I feel this way. Most of it just isn't worth watching or memorizing. However, I mostly like space and scifi anime, and hyperviolent scenes of people exploding and faces melting so anime really doesn't appeal to me nowadays. Mainstream anime isn't all there is, just like there isn't only AAA games. Browsing stuff on youtube or wherever you can find fun animations and series to enjoy. There's also manga. Just because anime doesn't try stuff doesn't mean manga has changed any.
>>50538527I literally acknowledged that it existed back in the day as well, ya ding-dong. You just repeated something I said back to me.
>hit the gym>finish the anime backlog>learn a new skillez
>>50537060I really do think that people who say this about anime are remembering old seasons with rose tinted glasses.Let's take 2006, because it's 20 years ago and probably within a few years of when seasonal anime became popular in the west. Right now, Mushishi, Shana, F/SN, and Ergo Proxy would be on. Ignoring that 2 of those big names were shitty, what about Lemon Angel project? Kagi Hime Monogatari? Yomigaeru Sora? Kage Kara Mamoru? Nobody remembers the other 90% of the season that was crap.The one major difference between then and now is longer running shows. There were a lot more 2 cour titles.
>>50538761This.There are way too many shows nowadays that are just cut short because a longer production can’t be handledWitch From Mercury comes to mind, it really needed to have another 13 episodesThis applies to adaptations too, having to wait years between seasons just for 13 episodes (10 with the newest frieren cour)
>>50538761>Ergo ProxyDamn I remember being 16 and thinking that show was the coolest shit ever.And then I tried to rewatch it at 26 and I had to eat a huge ass reality check because man did that show not hold up at all.And now I'm 36 and have accepted that the things I liked when I was still in school should remain fond memories because it almost guaranteed won't have the magic.
>>50542255Except K-ON.
