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「おしまいです…」 (Oshimai Desu…)
“It’s Over…”
Episode at a Glance:
Unable to decipher Haruka’s map, Yuuto gets lost on his way to her place, where they had planned to study for exams together. After receiving a real map from a young girl though, he eventually finds his way and is taken through Haruka’s huge estate by the head maid, Sakurazaka Hazuki. In Haruka’s room, Yuuto is surprised to see nothing anime around, so Haruka explains that her hobby is a secret from her family as well. While studying together, Haruka mentions that her family isn’t home today, which causes Yuuto to become easily distracted and almost capitalize on an opportunity. However, another maid, Nanashiro Nanami, and the young girl from earlier crash in, the latter of which turns out to be Haruka’s younger sister, Mika. Wanting a word with Yuuto, Mika drags him aside, confirms that he knows about her sister’s secret, and asks him to not abandon her because of it. Realizing that Mika, Hazuki, and Nanami already know as well, Yuuto simply says that Haruka’s his friend and that he would never do such a thing, much to Mika’s relief.
After finishing their exams, Haruka invites Yuuto to a summer comiket, which he agrees to go to despite not really knowing what it is. Another student then accidently runs into Haruka, knocking her over and revealing a comiket catalog from her bag. Hearing all the instant negative commotion directed towards Haruka, Yuuto lies to everyone by saying that the catalog is actually his. While the other students believe him, Haruka runs off in tears and doesn’t show up to school for the next few days. During her abscene, Yuuto receives a bunch of hate mail in his shoe box, plus the harassment of Ogasawara Takashi. This treatment makes Yuuto question what’s so bad about an Akibakei, and he later visits Haruka’s place to see how she’s doing. There, he’s greeted by Mika, who explains how Haruka’s secret was exposed in middle school and forced her to transfer. Outside Haruka’s room, Mika tricks her into coming out with a bit of jealousy, so Yuuto explains that her secret is safe. However, Haruka’s more concerned about having him losing all his friends like she once did. Yuuto claims that those aren’t real friends then, and says at the very least, she’ll always have him as one. Relieved that she won’t be alone, Haruka asks Yuuto to always be by her side.
On their way to school the next day, the two of them bump into Takashi, who tells Haruka that it would be better to hang out with him than a disgusting otaku like Yuuto. Infuriated, Haruka tosses Takashi aside and tells him not to bad mouth Yuuto. She also explains that the comiket catalog was actually hers, so if he has anything to say about it, to say it to her. With a smile on her face, she then turns to Yuuto and suggests that they get going.
Next Episode:
「変じゃないでしょうか…？」 (Hen Janai Deshou ka?)
“It’s Not Weird Is It…?”
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Impressions:
This episode portrayed the otaku image in a pretty horrible light, where one’s life literally gets destroyed if you’re discovered to be one, but rest assured this isn’t quite like how things are in Japan nowadays. While it’s probably not seen as a “cool” hobby, it’s hardly looked down upon nowadays (as people could really care less outside of online message boards), so unless you take it to an excessive level of fandom and actually look stereotypically “geeky”, you should be alright. It’s not quite what your tastes are, but more of how you dress and act, so I found it a bit extreme for a school idol to be instantly looked down upon if people found out that she likes anime. I understand the comedic factor in all this, but they conveyed everything in a fairly serious tone, which makes me wonder how some actual hardcore otakus take it. i.e. Do they see it as an obvious outcome or an overexaggeration? (If you happen to be a self-proclaimed hardcore otaku, I’d love to hear what you think.)
While I can’t speak for any of the readers here, I personally don’t see myself as a hardcore otaku by any means (despite blogging anime), and you’d probably be hard-pressed to even know I watched anime in real life if I never brought it up. I bet some people would beg to differ though, as this writer position probably bumped me up a few notches on the otaku scale (*cries*), but I’m all for going against the normal stereotypes. In short though, I enjoy anime. It’s a hobby dating well back before anime was even popular outside of Japan, and I don’t hide the fact that I watch it (or blog it) because I don’t see the need to. I don’t “live” anime though, nor do I take part in the online anime community outside of RC, so my level of fandom ends there. (Hmm, my impressions are starting to sound like a mini editorial and a defense of my image (which wasn’t intended), so I’ll leave the article about “the current state of the otaku image” to Natrone should he feel like talking about it.)
As for the episode itself, there was an air of humour all around, mainly from the introduction of Haruka’s younger sister, Mika, plus their two maids, Sakurazaka Hadzuki and Nanashiro Nanami. The maids are played by Shimizu Kaori (Takano Akira in School Rumble) and Ueda Kana (Tousaka Rin in Fate/stay night) respectively, and the latter of the two is reminiscent of the clumsy, blue-haired maid, Mieno Hatsumi, from Suteki Tantei Labyrinth in appearance, but not behavior. (Both are voiced by Ueda Kana.)
As for Yuuto, he sure has a knack for saying and doing the right things at the right moments, seeing as he let himself be labeled an otaku to protect Haruka’s secret. Because of this, he’s become increasingly more amiable in my eyes, but I can’t help but feel that the show is becoming more about romance than comedy at this point. I originally thought this series was going to be centered around the comedy more, but I should probably throw that expectation out the window now and just take the series for what it is. I think the last show I watched that could be classified as romance was true tears, so I’ve been looking for a show to fill that genre’s void. As things stand now, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu might just deliver in that department.
P.S. The opening and ending singles were recently released, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet.
Cast:
– Nogizaka Haruka (乃木坂 春香) / Noto Mamiko (能登 麻美子)
– Ayase Yuuto (綾瀬 裕人) / Hatano Wataru (羽多野 渉)
– Nogizaka Mika (乃木坂 美夏) / Gotou Mai (後藤 麻衣)
– Sakurazaka Hadzuki (桜坂 葉月) / Shimizu Kaori (清水 香里)
– Nanashiro Nanami (七城 那波) / Ueda Kana (植田 佳奈)
– Kamishiro Yukari (上代 由香里) / Matsuki Miyu (松来 未祐)
– Ogasawara Takashi (小笠 原孝) / Majima Junji (間島 淳司)
– Male student A (男子生徒A) / Oda Hisafumi (小田 久史)
– Male student B (男子生徒B) / Maeno Tomoaki (前野 智昭)
– Female student A (女子生徒A) / Asakura Azumi (浅倉 杏美)
– Female student B (女子生徒B) / Ootake Miyu (大竹 みゆ)
Is this Hayate no Gotoku?
i read in another review that haruka finally admitted to owning the magazine. i can hardly imagine what her “fanclub” is going to think of her in the next episode and beyond. their main goal was to impress haruka while shunning anything “unholy” (like otakuism in this case); let’s see what happens when the reality they don’t want to face becomes the reality they have to face.
not bad
I admire Yuuto’s self sacrifice. Although I have no problem admitting I’m an otaku (not hardcore).
“but rest assured this isn’t quite like how things are in Japan nowadays.”
So it mean it was like that in the past, also I think you are slightly off about what Otaku means in Japan that is beyond simply “watching anime” … I do not like using wikipedia but its entry says:
“In general colloquial usage however, most Japanese would consider it undesirable to be described in a serious fashion as “otaku”; many even consider it to be a genuine insult.”
In fact even Genshiken shown that being a Otaku was not exactly a good thing (Saki wanted to get Makoto out of the club and Ogiue had serious issues because of her “Boys Love hobby”).
Considering this is a adaptation of a light novel series I supposed (if the adaptation is true to the source material) the author wanted to show the dual edge of being Otaku, even if it was some years ago.
Its funny but I recall what being a “Gamer” used to be before the Xbox generation …
maybe the writers had these kind of experiences before and they wanted to convey them.
Why is it that Haruka and Yuuto are treated so horribly for liking anime while that Nobunaga guy seems to get away with it? Everyone just seems cool with it. Or is he actually tormented too but puts up a happy front to everyone?
Was there something about it in the novels? I’ve only been watching the anime so far.
Drakron:
From my understanding, the thought of an otaku doesn’t really have any good connotations associated it with, but nowadays, having an interest in anime doesn’t instantly classify you as an otaku. That’s pretty much the point I was trying to convey. If you were someone like Haruka, I highly doubt anyone would label you as an otaku simply because you liked watching an anime. It’d be more like, “Oh, so you like to watch _anime title_. Cool.”
“Otaku” usually indicates more of an obsessive hobby towards anime, which often shows in terms of personal hygiene and appearance in general. (i.e. you eat, sleep, and breathe anime.) If you stop by bookstores in Japan, you’ll see older people (salary men), high school girls, and high school guys browsing the manga section, and none of them really have an image you can classify as an “otaku”.
Finally, I agree with your comment on the term “gamer” as it used to be associated with “geeks”. However, now that everyone plays games, they’re just a “normal” hobby and playing them doesn’t necessarily make you a “gamer”. This is basically the way anime is seen in the eyes of a lot of people now.
I never read the novels, I assume it was … in fact we could see this coming since episode 1.
Nobunaga seems to been a Otaku for a long while, its likely he was labeled but you forget people form groups … Nobunaga likely hangs out with his Otaku friends as Yuuto taken that because he was not a “Otaku” and so was not part of the “Otaku group”.
I have no problem admitting I’m a HUGE anime fan…of course, I counter this fact by being a HUGE sports fan and a professional mechanic (both very good manly traits) ^_^. Though, I’ll never admit to anyone that I still sleep with several stuff animals. Something that my girlfriend believe is related to some sort of repress childhood feelings of abandonment.
On the whole though, I love the fact that Haruka just shoulder tossed that jerk fifteen back. Her cuteness factor just plunked to five from seven, but her hotness fact has jump to a strong eight out of ten. I love a broad that can kick my ass if I call her a broad.
Monketh:
Now that you mention it, the other students did bring up Nobunaga in a negative tone when they thought Yuuto was an otaku, so he probably gets similar “looks”. However, he simply doesn’t care what other people think I guess, which is the way to go in my opinion.
As for Yuuto, I think the death threats were just because people are jealous that he’s with the school idol all the time, and are lashing out at him now because they have an opportunity to do so.
Remy: I lol’d reading that. XD
divine:
There is maniakku that have a lesser connotation, also you do raise a goof point about manga but anime is not as mainstream as manga in Japan (at least according to the wiki entry) and take a look at what dropped out … Comic Market Catalog … you must know its the Comiket Catalog.
So who goes to Comiket?
Drakron:
Hmm, I hate crowds, especially crowds full of people with backpacks and sweaty body odor, but I’d consider going to one just to check it out. =)
Joking aside, I agree that going to a comic festival brings you closer to the otaku image, but if you don’t cosplay or sing/dance around in a giddy manner, it may not be enough to make people think you’re one.
So Haruka still able hides her secret thanks to Yutoo?
It is not like I dislike Haruka or something but I just want to see how those students and those annoy so called imperial guards feel? I mean they used to look down on Otaku for balalal. But Haruka is far above them in most academic and sport subject. If Otaku is loser then what are they? But I bet they never ask themselves that question though. :<
Well she still had the guide, I did not notice before but she was carrying the Comiket 2008 guide.
That was what tiggered the Otaku comments, if it was … say, Ribbon I do not think it would attract much attention but the Comiket Guide? and looking at the dates on the cover it should take place during summer break.
Haruka amazingly cute!(& hot) 😀
Mysterious said: “I mean they used to look down on Otaku for balalal. But Haruka is far above them in most academic and sport subject. If Otaku is loser then what are they?”
If I was expecting some sort of realistic student body reaction, Haruka’s status at the top of the food chain, so-to-speak, should lend her some/a lot of immunity to criticism normally leveled against her peers. Divine’s point before was that how you speak and act carries a whole lot more weight in people’s perceptions of you than what you do with your personal time. That is, if I were expecting a normal, realistic reaction from this show. I haven’t read the manga, but I’m suspecting the author is going for an extreme reaction where people-find-out-and-instantly-reject-her-because-they-are-judgmental-and-shallow/she-realizes-who-her-true-friends-are bit.
I don’t think Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is the type of series to do this, but I feel there is a huge difference of general perception between a female otaku and their male counterparts. Where males are juvenile, smelly, and prone to less-than-wholesome purchases, the female otaku enjoys a greater degree of attractiveness, sociability, and overall acceptance. If I’m completely wrong on this, please say so, but these are my conclusions from observations.
@divine
someone that simply love/like to watch anime wont be/most unlikely to be labeled as otaku.
but when u take it to hardcore level(i think that how you phrase it) such as waiting in line for hours just to buy new adult games or new figure, then you will most likely to be called an otaku.
Ehhh. Before this series aired I thought it sounded interesting, and could be good. So far I’ve watched the first two episodes, and while I can tolerate the intermediate levels of ecchiness (the only reason I mention that at all is because that was one of the specific reasons someone I know told me why they weren’t watching the series, with regard to the first episode), I’m not particularly thrilled with the excessive cuteness and fantasy-inspired stuff (Gil’s comment surely refers to material that fits both of those) that seems cheesy to me. We’ll see if it improves in that respect.
do you think if other people knew haruka’s secret then the “special relationship” of yuuto and her will vanish?
“If I’m completely wrong on this, please say so”
You are … female Otaku even have their own “sub name”, fujoshi that means “rotten girl” due to the connection of then usually being “yaoi fangirls”.
Another thing you are wrong is Haruka having friends … she have a fanclub but the only friend she have so far is Yuuto, also when people say she is “at the top of the chain” you forget a simple fact, in a wolfpack the alpha male is also at the top of the chain but he is challenged by younger wolves that want his place, she is the “school idol” but that does not mean she is the “school queen”, her status exists ONLY because of her image … she would have a easier life if she was not the center of attention.
I think the anime kind of exaggerate the whole reaction. I understand how some people might freak out a little around a totally hardcore Otaku (the one that literally sacrifice his/her life for the love of anime… I met someone like that before and he was quite creepy. However, I doubt people would feel the need to send him hate letters) but why would they give a hell if the school idol likes to watch anime and read manga?
I used be get criticized a bit by some assholes that “OMG?! You go to anime convention?! Don’t you get creep out by those weird people in weird costume?” but they don’t give a damn much after that. It isn’t like I am using their money to buy anime and manga anyway.
the high hopes i had for this series is slowly fading… but on another note, i don’t know how u would classify an otaku,Im a 20 year old male, working/school. Do i watch alot of anime? Yes. Have i seen over a hundred plus series? Yes. have i ever been to a convention? No. Do i ever plan to go to one/or even care about the event whatsoever? No. have i ever dedicated full weeks at a time to catch up on a show (naruto/bleach/hitman reborn/etc? Yes. so what does that say about me? And from the way that manga and anime dvds are distributed in japan, i thought watching and reading it was the norm. am i missing something?
Not a hardcore otaku, but if we assume Lucky Star is as close as an anime can get to reality, then the otaku society is definately not looked down upon so easily. Konata’s doing fine, so I have confidence that otakus of reality are doing great.
I mean, think about it. There’s probably an anime for every preference, right? By now at least. Maybe you don’t like romantic comedies set in a high school, and prefer a good episode of Death Note. It doesn’t matter, you’re still watching an anime, correct? Might not be the best example, but that’s the best I can come up with after having my brain exaust itself for the past two hours.
I also agree with Kadian. As the top student of the school, as the idol of the students, as the eyecatch for testosterone, it’s insane to think that the other students wouldn’t simply dismiss it as a small flaw, rather than suddenly spin around and harass her after all those days of almost worshipping her. She had a whole group of bodyguards protecting her from someone who’s just chasing her, and all of a sudden they reject her once they discover that one single anime magazine that fell out of her bag. I’m not sure I agree with Kadian’s idea of Haruka’s immunity to the other students, but I do think her high status should at least prevent the other students from becoming total dickwads.
I don’t consider myself an otaku (I do have this desire to become one, as stereotypically their rooms are filled with kickass stuff, and it wouldn’t hurt to have that fantasy come true), but I do think the idea that the love for the culture must be kept as a governmental-level secret or face mass amounts of insults is just tall talk. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy this anime (I like it a lot, really), but the whole plot concept just isn’t realistic.
@Id
In the setting of this series, all the people at their school was labeling anyone who owned an “innocent smile” magazine an otaku; so you don’t really have to be at a hardcore level for someone to label you one if you went to this school…then again this anime’s exaggerating things a bit.
Anyway, I find it hilarious that this guy
https://randomc.net/image/Nogizaka%20Haruka%20no%20Himitsu/Nogizaka%20Haruka%20no%20Himitsu%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
was calling Yuuto a disgusting otaku just because of that magazine. If someone called me disgusting and that my life is already over etc etc etc just because I have an issue of newtype on me and have my 1st and 2nd ringtone on my cellphone set to World End and O2, I’d do a lot worst than just flipping him on his back.
On another matter:
https://randomc.net/image/Nogizaka%20Haruka%20no%20Himitsu/Nogizaka%20Haruka%20no%20Himitsu%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
I dont beleive that i have ever seen a maid with a chainsaw before. I do watch black lagoon and it has a kickass maid, but she uses fists and gun in umbrella diguise. So another good point for this anime. 🙂
@mysterious
reminds me more of sakuya izayoi
@Dmo
I was only replying to how divine impression on the otaku related things, i know how it is in the anime :p
in japanese community (if my memory serve me correctly) theres no such thing as hardcore otaku as otaku is the hardcore level.this is unlike in america or europe where you can actually proud calling yourself an otaku as an otaku in japanese is degenerative(sorry i forgot the correct term/spelling ^^;) term.
Drakron said: “You are … female Otaku even have their own ‘sub name’, fujoshi that means ‘rotten girl’ due to the connection of then usually being ‘yaoi fangirls’.”
I know this, and despite some female otaku are called fujoshi, the question is if they are treated/viewed differently than your average male otaku just because they are girls. In my experience they are (Example: my sister’s social status vs average Joe Otaku), but maybe it’s different in Japan, or my personal experience is exceptional. Drakon, I’d wish you’d use some examples for your opinion because mere terminology and labels don’t show much evidence either way (see how differently people react to the word ‘otaku’).
Drakron also said: “Another thing you are wrong is Haruka having friends… she have a fanclub but the only friend she have so far is Yuuto”
I never said she had a lot of friends and I agree her only true friend right now is Yuuto. I was just saying, the type of story that will unfold will probably involve her reveal, and sudden loss of her fanclub. I was commenting that this social 180 wouldn’t be very realistic. Maybe it was my fault for poorly communicating this idea.
One more Drakron quote: “when people say she is ‘at the top of the chain’ you forget a simple fact, in a wolfpack the alpha male is also at the top of the chain but he is challenged by younger wolves that want his place”
I don’t really get what you’re trying to say with the wolf-pack analogy, or perhaps we just have vastly divergent opinions about interactions in the social arena. My experience has been that if people like you, they will want to continue liking you despite a perceived flaw such as nerdism. Unless you eat babies in your spare time, if your behavior doesn’t change around people, they will overlook it. Otakuing isn’t Necromancy, but this anime treats it like so.
Drakron’s POV comes off more as ‘survival of the fittest’, which I don’t think applies in this situation very well because the others began following her of their own volition; she didn’t dethrone the previous idol in a deathmatch cage battle. Therefore, the way she acts, looks, and academically performs, each features of her character, are the things they are attracted too. Being otaku doesn’t suddenly make her ugly, dumb, and unsociable (again, the anime seems to suggest this notion). Also, I see a lack of prominent rivals coming up to challenge her for ‘Alpha male’ status. That one guy who called her disgusting is just a jackass, and we all see him as one.
Chicle said: “I’m not sure I agree with Kadian’s idea of Haruka’s immunity to the other students, but I do think her high status should at least prevent the other students from becoming total dickwads.”
Ah, that’s more what I meant. Again, probably poor vocabulary choice on my part. What I mean to say is that other people would tend to overlook Haruka’s faults if she continued to act like the Haruka they know. She obviously never let otakuism influence her school life, and more people are going to react like Yuuto than not. Like I said before, the social 180 the series is implying that would happen just seems farfetched, to me and a lot of others.
Well, I want to say something before I go out for some business.
I guess everyone has its own opinion about how to enjoy and express the things they like the most; of course being an otaku is included. As for me, I’m not ashamed of say that I love anime and manga, gladly here in my country the people’s ignorance labeled it “as something just the little kids would enjoy”, but they don’t see beyond that. I’m really fortunate to have good friends that share the same feelings, even my mother supports me (because she finds it adorable) and my sister was a fan back then; that’s why I can stood firm in my beliefs. Live your life the way you want.
As for this episode, I liked how Yuuto stood for Haruka’s sake and even begun to wonder why the people would hate an Akiba-kei, as each person is unique and has the right to like what they want to. I was hoping for the romance level to be reached, I’m glad we’re almost there.
From what I know about human nature is that human being will choose to believe what they THINK they had seen or heard. THEN, with a person who first voice out his/her opinion will be the catalyst. Thus, this will drive the (mindless) crowd to a single direction.
Normally, most of the people will just keep quiet when they see an abnormal action. If a person who is extreme to that action is around, he will start to condemn the action. In turn, this might lead the surrounding people saying something like: – “yes.yes… correct.correct… ” (mob factor). However, there are some ways to evade this problem;
As for Nobunaga (Yuuto’s otaku friend), he has the ability to gather and manipulate info. He sparks fear to most of the student. Apart from school, he was being addressed as the “Emperor” or “President”. There is NOT MUCH info about him were being revealed from the light novel. => I’m guessing that he is someone how hold a certain level of power; Would anybody challenge a CEO of a big listed company? Never die before…
As for the chainsaw maid, she appeared in the back cover page of the innocent smile in episode 01. That picture also appear in the vol. 2 of its light novel.
Although I don’t watch this show, I know how Haruka feels. I don’t want some people to know that I like anime. I did once, but they keep saying Japanese words wrong and they make fun of me about it. I now will only associate with those who like anime or those who are autistic like me.
Tylon is right, when in a group people tend to follow the group opinion just to be part of the group.
Humans are social creatures, some might disagree with the “survival of the fittest” but human history have proven socially we are like that … we started wars over religion, we continue to ostracize people by their sexual preference … its how we are.
Since I am not Japanese I cannot say how Japanese society is but if you are taking Anime and Manga as a exact mirror of Japanese society its as wrong as taking OC or CIS as mirrors of American Society … taking Lucky Star as mirror of how Japanese society is the same as taking Calvin and Hobbes as mirror of American society (since both are comic strips).
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is not a mirror of Japanese society, I do not think its intended to be but its efforts of showing how Otaku are/were viewed is likely more objective that other series.
“As for Yuuto, he sure has a knack for saying and doing the right things at the right moments, seeing as he let himself be labeled an otaku to protect Haruka’s secret. Because of this, he’s become increasingly more amiable in my eyes…”
Definitely agreed.
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“…I found it a bit extreme for a school idol to be instantly looked down upon if people found out that she likes anime…”
I live in Canada, not Japan, so I don’t know about this exact situation, but I do recall there was one relatively popular girl in my class who brought manga to school one day in 7th or 8th grade, and about half of the class teased her about it. (It wasn’t outright shunning per se, but still…)
=====
Quick note:
“…their two maids, Sakurazaka Hadzuki and Nanashiro Nanami.”
The link “Nanashiro Nanami” points to https://randomc.net/image/Nogizaka%20Haruka%20no%20Himitsu/Nogizaka%20Haruka%20no%20Himitsu%20-%2003%20-%2010.jpg which is the thumbnail as opposed to the large-sized image.
Great summary, Divine! 😀
cbhl:
Fixed. Thanks for the heads-up.
I live in Canada as well (yes, I’m not American) and recall some other people bringing manga in during high school, but I don’t think they were teased about it. (Either that, or I simply wasn’t aware of it.) I get the feeling that people who teased this girl were probably jealous of the fact that she was popular though (assuming they weren’t her friends of course).
The OP/ED of this anime is available here at –> http://jpzrecords.blogspot.com/
As a staff of JPz Records, we are proud to support this anime!
So, check it out!
credits to the creator for making such a fine series~its refrshing in its own sense to me.
i just watched episode 1 and 2 today. I know i’m way behind this, i ahve recently been more into games than animes but this is still one good series to follow~ Unique in its own way…
i personally don’t feel that there is a little conenction to Hayate no Gotoku, i wonder why u guys keep saying that.
Unfortunately, in America, this occurrence would lead to the person being ostracized to some extent when I was in high school. I don’t know if attitudes have changed much. I have no memory of people bringing manga to school, but nobody liked the kid who brought hentai tapes into the cafeteria.
Here in Poland if someone liked to watch anime or read manga he/she was instantly destroyed by so called “normal” people. You could read in newspapers that this kid or that one killed himself coz he was reading mangas and couldn’t stand real life…it was absurd tbh. Now its way better even for hardcore fans, I myself have never experienced any hate or whatever else just coz i watched anime/read manga. I watched more than 100 series up till now but I wouldn’t call my self an otaku, I don’t really go to anime convetions (would like to tho, but I wouldn’t really cosplay). What I am curious about is if people i know will start calling otaku or weird when I finally start my japanese classes this october…
Anyway as for the series, I will keep watching it and see how it will develop; right now I hope this series will go for romance rather than comedy, since up till now there was to much comedy shows airing imo 🙂
@Drakron
“…taking Lucky Star as mirror of how Japanese society is the same as taking Calvin and Hobbes as mirror of American society (since both are comic strips).”
Actually, Calvin and Hobbes isn’t that bad of a view on the world. It’s besides my point, though. Considering both could be considered possible reality (Lucky Star is a slice-of-life 4koma, so you could trust it to be closer than a harem anime, while Calvin and Hobbes has some small connections to Watterson’s childhood days), you can see how the author of the Nogizaka manga’s plotline can easily be considered farfetched.
We all understand it’s all to create a plot, and we can’t deny that. But that still doesn’t stray from the fact that humans are not that cruel-hearted. That’s like saying 4chan is the best represenative of the world.
Ok, that’s probably a bit much, but you guys get the idea. I hope.
@Quevwwwine
“…kid who brought hentai tapes…”
what the fuck
@Chicle
I said the same thing.
Mysterious said: “I mean they used to look down on Otaku for balalal. But Haruka is far above them in most academic and sport subject. If Otaku is loser then what are they?” <– Maybe because it was based on the novel storyline and Otaku was considered a loser at the time of writing?
IIRC there were some cases of blantant Otaku hate by the media after some killing cases where the killer was said to be an otaku or such years ago
That dude just did not seem very happy about girls just falling into him left and right.
Well I don’t consider myself insane (I don’t go around wearing a Naruto Headband 24/7), and people that like irk me due to those weeaboos staining the overall Otaku rep. I’ve been called a “100% Japanophile); but I keep it to myself usually but not afraid to say open a gundam manga in public. But ultimately I’ve accepted the fact that normal society will never like me… and I return the sentiment at least two fold.
I don’t get the fact that I don’t think anything that bad would happen to a pretty popular girl if she was outed as an Otaku. If anything it’d increase her appeal to some. Though pretty Otaku girls are said to be a rarity. Still the sheer rarity makes pretty Otaku girls a high commodity (to the point of where one could raise an army of male Otaku who would follow orders with zeal.)
(Then again It could be a case of someone jealous wanting her spot and doing anything to get it… women/girls can be terribly ruthless like that. Haruka might have suffered that. Also worship can be pretty shallow and such, since it seems to be an idealized image, and the petty heterogeneous manner that people in japan are, may result in such a outlash)
Since I think the main reason Otaku aren’t liked is this: They don’t exactly go about fitting in like a good cog in the massive japanese business machine. They stand out being individual, etc. This seems true in many places, but especially japan. (It’s also a sign of how corrupt soceity is becoming)
Still Yuuno unlike some male leads… knows the right thing to say. Seeing a male lead with brains is always a welcome thing. I’d call him a true friend, sticking up for her after learning her secret. (And that in turn seems to have an effect on her, making her less ashamed of it)
after watching the episode 3, props for yuuto for sticking up for haruka and saying the right words at the right time and props for haruka for throwing that stupid and annoying takashi.
i read somewhere that being an Otaku in the past was just asking for trouble, society in general looked down on them. true that it has chenged, but there is still some people who think of them as dangerous outsiders, mostly the media. The same way that the media accuses video gamers of being violent sadists/rapists and murderers, even Fox goes so far of saying that gamers will kill their parents on their sleep…
people are always judgemental about other people’s hobbies, specially if they find them to be weird… like star trek fans, star wars fans, comic or manga fans, etc… there is always some group of people who either resent/fear or misunderstand them because they find them to be odd or childish. I remember a priest made a bonfire of pockemons and called them the devils toys years ago… though he did also burned shakespear’s plays and called him a heathen. So no, i dont find they idea weird, society is made out of fearmongers and intolerant idiots.
lol no pantsu pics? trying to be a decent boy are we? 😛
In short term, there are people who have not respected other/minor’s individual and only think that theirs are standard and righteous things.