Otaku Unite!

Last updated

Otaku Unite!
Otakuunite.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Eric Bresler
Produced byMovies of My Dreams Productions
Edited byEric Bresler
Release date
  • 2004 (2004)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Otaku Unite! is a 2004 documentary film by Eric Bresler on American fans of Japanese culture, specifically anime and manga, known as otaku . [1]

Contents

Summary

Otaku Unite! provides a history of otaku-fandom and an introduction to anime conventions, with a focus on the fans themselves. A variety of individuals are featured throughout interviews, including anime voice actors such as Corinne Orr and Peter Fernandez, industry representatives, convention directors and a plethora of "otaku" anime fans. [2]

Production

Initially Bresler had planned to create a short, 15-minute film. Filming turned into a 3+12-year project, culminating in a near-feature-length film. Extras on the DVD come to 130 minutes. [3]

Reception

Otaku Unite! has been shown at a number of anime conventions, as well as film festivals including the 2004 Philadelphia Film Festival. Otaku Unite! has been translated into Japanese and Russian and was featured in the May 2006 issue of the Japanese lifestyle magazine Cyzo . [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anime</span> Japanese animation

Anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, anime refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, anime describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. Many works of animation with a similar style to Japanese animation are also produced outside Japan. Video games sometimes also feature themes and art styles that are sometimes labelled as anime.

<i>Neon Genesis Evangelion</i> Japanese anime television series

Neon Genesis Evangelion, also known as Evangelion or Eva, is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax, animated by Tatsunoko, and directed by Hideaki Anno. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. The story is set fifteen years after a worldwide cataclysm in the futuristic fortified city of Tokyo-3. The protagonist is Shinji Ikari, a teenage boy recruited by his father Gendo to the mysterious organization Nerv. Shinji must pilot an Evangelion, a giant biomechanical mecha, to fight beings known as Angels.

<i>Otaku</i> Someone highly interested in anime and manga

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.

<i>Azumanga Daioh</i> Manga by Kiyohiko Azuma

Azumanga Daioh is a Japanese yonkoma comedy manga series written and illustrated by Kiyohiko Azuma. It was serialized from February 1999 to May 2002 in the monthly magazine Dengeki Daioh by MediaWorks; three additional chapters were published in Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday in May 2009 to celebrate the manga's tenth anniversary. The manga was first released in English by ADV Manga, and later re-issued by Yen Press.

Lupin III, also written as Lupin the Third, Lupin the 3rd, or Lupin the IIIrd, is a Japanese media franchise created by Monkey Punch. The series follows the endeavors of master thief Lupin III, grandson of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, joined by his criminal gang. The original Lupin III manga began in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967.

<i>Perfect Blue</i> 1997 Japanese animated film by Satoshi Kon

Perfect Blue is a 1997 Japanese animated psychological thriller film directed by Satoshi Kon. It is loosely based on the novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, with a screenplay by Sadayuki Murai. Featuring the voices of Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shiho Niiyama, Masaaki Okura, Shinpachi Tsuji and Emiko Furukawa, the plot follows a member of a Japanese idol group who retires from music to pursue an acting career. As she becomes a victim of stalking by her obsessive fan, gruesome murders take place, and she begins losing her grip on reality. The film deals with the blurring of the line between fantasy and reality, a commonly found theme in Kon's other works, such as Millennium Actress (2001) and Paprika (2006).

The history of anime can be traced back to the start of the 20th century, with the earliest verifiable films dating from 1917. Before the advent of film, Japan already had a rich tradition of entertainment with colourful painted figures moving across the projection screen in utsushi-e (写し絵), a particular Japanese type of magic lantern show popular in the 19th century. Possibly inspired by European phantasmagoria shows, utsushi-e showmen used mechanical slides and developed lightweight wooden projectors (furo) that were handheld so that several performers could each control the motions of different projected figures.

<i>Comic Party</i> Japanese dating sim video game

Comic Party, sometimes abbreviated to ComiPa, is a dating sim video game by the Japanese game studio Leaf. It was first released on May 28, 1999, for Windows with adult content, but re-released with it removed for the Dreamcast, Windows, and PSP. The main focus of the game is the creation of various dōjinshi by the player's character, during which there are varied opportunities to interact with a cast of girls.

<i>Genshiken</i> Japanese manga series by Shimoku Kio

Genshiken (げんしけん) is a Japanese manga series by Shimoku Kio about a college club for otaku and their lifestyle. The title is a shortening of the club's official name, Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyūkai (現代視覚文化研究会), or "The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture". The series has also been adapted into an anime directed by Tsutomu Mizushima. The manga originally ran in Kodansha's magazine Monthly Afternoon from April 2002 to May 2006, and has been reprinted in nine bound volumes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monica Rial</span> American voice actress

Monica Jean Rial is an American voice actress and ADR script writer affiliated with Funimation/Crunchyroll, ADV Films/Sentai Filmworks and Toei Animation USA. She provides voices for English language versions of Japanese anime films and television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anime and manga convention</span> Fan convention on anime, manga and Japanese culture in general

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, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Spain and Finland.

<i>Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer</i> 1984 Japanese animated film

Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer is a 1984 Japanese animated fantasy comedy film produced by Kitty Films and distributed by Toho. It is the second film in the Urusei Yatsura film series based on the manga of the same name by Rumiko Takahashi. In the film, a group of Japanese high school students including Lum and Ataru prepare for the annual school cultural festival and begin to question the reality around them after a series of perplexing events. The film experimented with concepts such as a time loop, dreams, and simulated reality, in departure from the previous film Only You which was more faithful to Takahashi's original manga and anime series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boys' love fandom</span> Fanbase of the homoerotic fiction genre

Boys' love (BL), a genre of male-male homoerotic media originating in Japan that is created primarily by and for women, has a robust global fandom. Individuals in the BL fandom may attend conventions, maintain/post to fansites, create fanfiction/fanart, etc. In the mid-1990s, estimates of the size of the Japanese BL fandom were at 100,000 to 500,000 people. Despite increased knowledge of the genre among the general public, readership remained limited in 2008.

<i>Otaku USA</i> Magazine published by Sovereign Media

Otaku USA is a bimonthly magazine published by Sovereign Media, which covers various elements of the "otaku" lifestyle from an American perspective. The issues were accompanied by a DVD featuring three anime episodes but as of 2009 the DVD feature was dropped and the double sided poster feature of the Magazine was also dropped starting with the February 2010 issue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Macias</span> American journalist and author

Patrick Macias is an American author and co-author of several titles on pop culture fandom, specifically relating to Japanese culture and otaku culture in America. Macias is also a correspondent for NHK World Television show Tokyo Eye, and is the editor-in-chief of the otaku culture magazine Otaku USA, which debuted on June 5, 2007. In 2014, Macias became the Senior Manager of New Initiatives at Crunchyroll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anime and manga fandom</span> Fan community

The anime and manga fandom traces back to the 1970s and has an international reach. Anime includes animated series, films and videos, while manga includes manga, graphic novels, drawings, and related artworks.

<i>Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine</i> Japanese anime television series

Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is a Japanese anime television series produced by TMS Entertainment. Part of the Lupin III franchise, it is the fourth anime television adaptation of the Lupin III manga series created by Monkey Punch. Directed by Sayo Yamamoto, it aired on Nippon Television from April to June 2012. It focuses on the franchise's heroine, Fujiko Mine, as she undergoes various missions and encounters the rest of the Lupin III cast for the first time. Unlike the franchise's previous three televised anime, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is more sexually oriented in order to capture the "sensuality" present in the original manga, as well as darker and more serious. It is also the only installment in the franchise to be directed by a woman and the first in which Lupin III is not the protagonist.

Gintama: The Movie, known in Japan as Gintama: Shin'yaku Benizakura-Hen, is a 2010 Japanese animated film produced by Sunrise. The film's plot is a retelling of the story arc from Gintama in which Kotaro Katsura is attacked by a member of the army Kiheitai, and the freelancer trio Odd Jobs Gin start searching for him.

Jan Scott-Frazier was an American animator and translator who worked in various roles in the Japanese anime industry for 20 years, including producer. Frazier was one of the few foreigners to work in the Japanese anime industry. Jan Scott Frazier died on December 3rd, 2024. She was 59 years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toma Kamijo</span> Fictional character from A Certain Magical Index

Toma Kamijo is a fictional character created by Kazuma Kamachi and first illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura. He is the main protagonist of the light novel series A Certain Magical Index and a major character in its manga spin-off series A Certain Scientific Railgun.

References

  1. "ANN: Otaku Unite! Review". Anime News Network. March 2, 2004. Retrieved October 25, 2007.
  2. "Filmmaker Eric Bresler On "Otaku Unite!"". Toon Zone. March 6, 2006. Retrieved October 25, 2007.
  3. "Otaku Unite! Anime DVD Review". Anime Guides. April 2006. Retrieved October 25, 2007.
  4. "Eric Bresler Press: Cyzo Feature". EricBresler.com. 2006. Retrieved October 25, 2007.