Oh my days.

Okay, let’s just cut to the chase. What exactly is the Otaku: man up hashtag all about? Good question.

It’s about a few things. It’s about a flimsy, non-existent manifesto. It’s about a pointless, ill-conceived philosophy. It’s about angry, knee-jerk rational debate. But mostly it’s about BOTH shits AND giggles.

‘But wait!’ you say, ‘There’s a manifesto?’ Yes. Yes there is. A completely non-existent one:

• Real otaku men treat real women with respect. And by ‘respect’ I do not mean ‘fear’. That is not good enough. Watch all the moe and hug all the body pillows you want, but don’t hide behind them. Get out there and interact with people – both sexes – that are NOT otaku, so that when you go back to your fantasies they are just that. You’ll enjoy them even more, trust me. Perspective is amazing.
• Real otaku men do not cry like a girl if someone disagrees with them. You see, the whole point of otaku is that you are passionate about something. Passionate. Like a fucking warrior. Not a victim. You can man up and just shrug it off. Move on. Or, if you have reached the advanced stage, you can MAN THE FUCK UP and get stuck into the fight. Debate. Reason. Discuss. Don’t whine – educate.
• Real otaku men do the unexpected. Do something you don’t normally do. Get drunk. Watch a movie you wouldn’t normally watch. Smoke something you shouldn’t. Watch some TV that’s not anime. Read a book about politics. Talk to that girl.
• Real otaku men don’t give a fuck what the Otaku Elimination Game says about their blog. They also never pay any attention to retarded ‘manifestos’ on the internet.
• Real otaku men never, EVER use the excuse ‘but it’s only a cartoon’. Really. Don’t shit on the medium you are meant to be championing.

But hey – don’t listen to me. I’m just some shit-stirring, sarcastic Brit. I’m not even – by any stretch of the imagination – what you would call an otaku. What the fuck do I know about any of this stuff?

Luckily, I wasn’t the only person contributing today:

• The REAL meaning of #otakumanup: RT @wintermuted: This is perhaps controversial to some, but I love me a productive argument.
• @serial: Guys, @animealmanac couldn’t take the heat, he needs to #otakumanup
• @janaiblog: If you’re gonna criticize moe or any other large fandom, be prepared to respond to criticism. #otakumanup
• @digiwombat: PSA: @timmaughan is a fantastic cunt with a substance abuse problem. #otakumanboy
• @debaoki: being a passive whiner does not make you inexplicably irresistable to women (e.g. kimi kiss or evangelion)
• @CrusherJ: Is it to early in the course to mention that actual women can be attractive too?
• @RedConfession: Girls like geeks. Not guys who compare everything to geeky things. Show her you’ve at least heard of the real world #otakumanup
• @edsizemore: Don’t forget to have fun too. Cause it’s okay to laugh at yourself. #otakumanup
• @Sheentaku: #otakumanup Role models: Golgo 13, Lupin III, Kenshiro, Archer, Captain Kiichi Goto. You dont have to look manly to be manly.

Follow the people above. They will change – and may even save – your life.

A few days ago Scott Spaziani kindly invited me on to the first episode of his Otaku in Review podcast to discuss the best, worst and most overlooked anime shows of 2009 – something I’m really grateful to him for, not just because it was a lot of fun but because it also got me out of having to write one of those ‘review of the year’ posts. Yeah, I know. I’m a lazy bastard.

Also on the show was my good mate and occasional sparring partner Jon Ingoglia of Janaiblog and Chuck Gaffney of Chuck’s Anime Shrine. So if you want to hear what (a pretty hungover) me and the other guys picked as our high and low-lights of 2009 hit the link below. Oh, and Happy New Year.

• Listen to Otaku in Review Podcast: 2009 Year in Review

Fancy writing something for the site?

So far this has been strictly a one man show, but this January I’m off on my travels again – a couple of weeks in Thailand this time – and rather than leaving the site without content for a fortnight I thought I could get a few guest writers on-board. The brief is easy – you should have something to say about anime, manga or some other aspect of J-Culture, and at least *some* previous experience of writing online. This site gets a minimum of 30k visits a month, so it’s potentially a good way of giving your work some exposure.

Interested? Here’s what to do:

• Email me a brief overview – just a hundred words or so – on what you’d want to write about. DON’T email me the final piece yet.
• Also include a link to your blog or an example of your writing online.
• Have a look around the site, and make sure you won’t be duplicating something I’ve already done, and that it’ll be something my readers will be interested in.
• Reviews are fine, but I’d rather something like an overview of a classic show or franchise etc that you think people should know about. Or you want to explain some obscure aspect of fandom to a wider audience…whatever. Just keep it fresh and interesting.
• Article ideas must be emailed to me by no later than noon on Friday 11th December. If I like your idea I’ll get back to you ASAP and then you’ll have to get the final piece to me by Friday 8th January 2010. Accepted articles will be published later that month.

So…what you waiting for?

Last week I had the pleasure of being invited onto the Anime 3000 Panel podcast – alongside Zac Bertschy from Anime News Network and Chase Wang from anime streaming site Crunchyroll – to discuss digital distribution. It was a great chat, and a lot of fun, so many thanks to host Sean Williams for having me on. If you want to check what me and the other guys had to say – or just laugh at my hilarious British accent – then hit the link below.

• Listen to Anime 3000 Panel – S02E07 – Digital Distribution

I stumbled across a great blog today – Let’s Anime. Run by D Merrill from Ontario, it focuses on what he seems to believe is the golden age of anime, 1960 – 1990, with the aim of bringing some lesser known classics to your attention. Very worth checking out, not only for the great unknown titles you might discover, but also for Mr Merrill’s snappy writing style and to-the point opinion.

For example, check out his response in the comments on his review of The Flying Phantom Ship (1969) – a lesser known title that featured a certain Hayao Miyazaki on animation duties:

That sounds pretty great, but I’m guessing it’s an absolute pain in the ass to find a copy?

Oh no, the WONDERFUL anime industry has spent the last ten years bringing America absolute gems and respected classics of the medium, and as such has laid the groundwork for their continued success, and now everybody knows Japanese animation means well-crafted works of universal appeal.

Oh wait, no, they wasted their time bringing us garbage, and now they’re all going out of business. My bad.

Amazing. Get over there and check it out. Just remember to come back here afterward, yeah?