[merylsilverburg]

Hello all. I just thought I'd share this little information with all you anime fans in case you didn't know.
Now, I'm sure that some of you guys have heard the term "otaku" and while it's used for other hobbies, such as automobiles, technology, etc. this term is mostly heard referring to anime. Well, if you're one day called an "anime otaku", it should make you feel insulted instead of proud. It ends up that being called that is really a negative way of saying that you're a "anime freak/monster" and it produces an extremely negative image. The reason? In Japan, around the mid-eighties there had been several murders and molestations and rapes of girls around ages 6-12. There were at least 10 missing and the body parts were cut up and some pieces were missing. This was considered pretty big news because the crime rate during that time hadn't really soared that much. One day, the police arrested this 28 year old man and went to his apartment and found it covered with anime videos. There was literally no room to walk around...the videos were piled up to the ceiling, they were in every corner. Not only that, but the apartment was unfurnished except for a fridge. When the police checked the fridge, they found the rest of the body parts of the dead girls. The neighbors of this man said that he was very quiet, lonesome, "secluded" kind of a guy. It didn't seem he was capable of such a horrific crime. The guy confessed that he raped and took pictures of the young girls and he enjoyed looking at the smooth bodies of anime women and girls and could never think about real women. Well, this crime made it in every newspaper and shocked the entire country. From then on, the term "otaku" was used to describe a person who is basically an obsessed freak. In demon books, the word was everywhere and it meant "monster".
In the US, Americans have "westernalized" the term and use it proudly, unknowing of the real meaning of the word. I'm not sure if using the word "otaku" now in Japan still has a strong meaning, but it's best not to use it at all unless you want to receive stares and be isolated.
Basically, otaku means "house", so it's a proper term to use for those people who stay in their houses and do nothing but watch and obsess over anime 24/7.
On this one site, "Chika's Otaku 101" she describes what the difference is between an otaku and an anime fan. She described it pretty well, but unfortunately the page is no longer up. She also told her story of why she hates otakus so much and one reason is because she was almost a victim to a molestation by an otaku.
I think this is pretty interesting facts to know (pretty creepy though)...it's also helpful for those who didn't know the real meaning of this term.