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.
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, and a broader use of the term "cosplay" applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Favorite sources include anime, cartoons, comic books, manga, television series, rock music performances, video games and in some cases original characters. The term is composed of the two aforementioned counterparts – costume and role play.
Otakon is an annual three-day anime convention held during July/August. From 1999 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The convention focuses on East Asian popular culture and its fandom. The name is a portmanteau derived from convention and the Japanese word otaku.
In Japanese popular culture, lolicon is a genre of fictional media which focuses on young girl characters, particularly in a sexually suggestive or erotic manner. The term, a portmanteau of the English words "Lolita" and "complex", also refers to desire and affection for such characters, and fans of such characters and works. Associated with unrealistic and stylized imagery within manga, anime, and video games, lolicon in otaku culture is generally understood as distinct from desires for realistic depictions of girls, or real girls as such, and is associated with the concept of moe, or feelings of affection and love for fictional characters as such.
Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first weekend of July, spanning the course of four days. Anime Expo is regularly hosted at the Los Angeles Convention Center but has also been held in other cities such as Anaheim, San Jose, New York, and Tokyo.
Comic Market, more commonly known as Comiket or Comike, is a semiannual doujinshi convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of doujin (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered by the volunteer-run Comic Market Preparatory Committee (ComiketPC). Inaugurated on 21 December 1975 with an estimated 700 attendees, Comiket has since grown to become the largest fan convention in the world, with an estimated turnstile attendance of 750,000 in 2019. Comiket is typically held at Tokyo Big Sight in August and December, with the two events distinguished as Summer Comic Market and Winter Comic Market, respectively.
Nico Robin, otherwise known as "Devil Child", is a fictional character in the One Piece franchise created by Eiichiro Oda. The character made her first appearance in the 114th chapter of the series, which was first published in Japan in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on November 22, 1999.
An anime and manga convention is a fan convention with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Anime conventions are commonly multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Anime conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which studios, distributors, and publishers represent their anime related releases. They also take place in multiple different countries, such as Japan, South Korea, China, India, Indonesia, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Gakuen Alice, also known as Alice Academy or Alice School, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tachibana Higuchi, serialized in the shōjo manga magazine Hana to Yume from issue 19 of 2002 to issue 14 of 2013. It was adapted into an anime series produced by Aniplex and Group TAC which originally premiered on NHK BS-2. It spanned twenty-six episodes that aired between October 30, 2004 and May 14, 2005. The anime was translated and dubbed into English by the anime television network Animax and broadcast on networks throughout Asia. At Anime Expo 2008, The Right Stuf International announced that its Nozomi Entertainment division had licensed Gakuen Alice for the North American market.
Otakuthon is Canada's largest anime convention promoting Japanese animation (anime), Japanese graphic novels (manga), related gaming and Japanese pop-culture. It is held annually for 3 days in downtown Montreal during a weekend in August. It is a non-profit, fan-run anime convention that was initiated by Concordia University's anime club, named Otaku Anime of Concordia University. The name "Otakuthon" is a portmanteau of the Japanese word "otaku" and "marathon". Otakuthon strives to be a bilingual event, having programming, the masquerade and the program book in both official languages. The first edition of Otakuthon was held in 2006 in mid-June, but later moved to early-mid August / late July from 2007 onward. The most recent edition, Otakuthon 2023, was held on August 11–13, 2023 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. As of 2023, Otakuthon surpassed Toronto's Anime North to become Canada's largest Anime convention.
Otome Road is a name given to an area of Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan that is a major shopping and cultural center for anime and manga aimed at women. The area is sometimes referred to as Fujoshi Street, referencing the name given to fans of yaoi.
The World Cosplay Summit is an annual international cosplay event, which promotes global interaction through Japanese pop culture. It developed from a cosplay exhibition held at the Aichi Expo in 2005.
Otaku no Musume-san is a manga series by Japanese author Stu-Hiro. It tells about a young 26-year-old otaku, who is suddenly visited by a young girl claiming to be his daughter. It was first serialized in Fujimi Shobo's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Dragon Age in 2006. The last chapter has been released in the 11th issue of Monthly Dragon Age on October 8, 2011.
The anime and manga fandom is a worldwide community of fans of anime and manga. Anime includes animated series, films and videos, while manga includes manga, graphic novels, drawings, and related artworks. The anime and manga fandom traces back to the 1970s and has an international reach.
Yoshihiro Yonezawa was a Japanese manga critic and author. He is also known for being Comiket's co-founder and president. He died of lung cancer at 53. He won the 2007 Seiun Award in the special category and 2010 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Special Award.
A butler café is a subcategory of cosplay restaurant that originated in Japan. In these cafés, waiters dress as butlers and serve patrons in the manner of domestic servants attending to aristocracy. Butler cafés proliferated in reaction to the popularity of maid cafés and serve as an alternative category of cosplay restaurant intended to appeal to female otaku.
AnimeJapan is a Japanese anime consumer show held annually at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center in Tokyo since in March 2014. It was created from the merger of the Tokyo International Anime Fair with the Anime Contents Expo.
A doujinshi convention is a type of event dedicated to the sale of doujinshi, or self-published books. These events are known in Japanese as doujin sokubaikai or doujinshi sokubaikai. Thousands of doujinshi conventions take place in Japan every year. Doujinshi conventions can also be found in some other countries.
My Lovesick Life as a '90s Otaku is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nico Nicholson. It was serialized in Kodansha's josei manga magazine Kiss from June 2021 to February 2023, with its chapters collected in four tankōbon volumes.
Keekihime, formerly known as Keekihime Yuumi, is an Austrian online streamer, YouTuber, singer, and cosplayer. In 2010, Keekihime began posting dance covers and live streaming on the Japanese video website Niconico. She was also a member of the Japanese girl group Tone Jewel from 2012 to 2013.
