Torchwood is an otaku

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
According to a news report sent in by Grace; during last weeks episode of "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross", John Barrowman (actor from Doctor Who and Torchwood) dubbed himself an "otaku". Given "Friday Night..." is watched by millions of British viewers, this is a brave confession indeed!
 
Paul said:
John Barrowman (actor from Doctor Who and Torchwood) dubbed himself an "otaku". Given "Friday Night..." is watched by millions of British viewers, this is a brave confession indeed!
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Are you saying that dubbing oneself an 'otaku' is something to be ashamed of? Should this man be embarrassed about saying he is an 'otaku' in front of all those viewers? o_O

I missed this episode. I hope it's repeated >.<
 
DaNiMé said:
Are you saying that dubbing oneself an 'otaku' is something to be ashamed of? Should this man be embarrassed about saying he is an 'otaku' in front of all those viewers? o_O
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To be honest... I would be.

I'd probably just say i'm a fan of Japanese TV and Cinema rather than just Otaku.
 
DaNiMé said:
Paul said:
John Barrowman (actor from Doctor Who and Torchwood) dubbed himself an "otaku". Given "Friday Night..." is watched by millions of British viewers, this is a brave confession indeed!
Click to expand...

Are you saying that dubbing oneself an 'otaku' is something to be ashamed of? Should this man be embarrassed about saying he is an 'otaku' in front of all those viewers? o_O

I missed this episode. I hope it's repeated >.<
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No, but still - its brave given otaku isn't exactly a popular archetype to associate yourself with.
 
I watched it this morning (taped), and I think Jonathan Ross referred to himself as an otaku and John Barrowman said he liked that stuff too. Not too sure, I'll try watching it again.

Haha, Ross did then say that otaku was Japanese for "nerd".
 
I'm pretty sure Barrowman refered to Ross as an Otaku (when giving Ross a little action figure of himself, which Ross criticised for having only 7 points of articulation... bet he builds Gunpla), though in doing so that implies he knows the meaning of the term and is also a geek... wonder if he's a big Yaoi fan? ^^
 
From what I remember, Barrowman was talking about something which made Johnathan say "I read comics" so Barrowman said something like "You're a otaku, right?" So Johnatan replied "Yeah it's Japanese for nerd" then Barrowman said "That's correct. I'm one too".
 
Whether he's an Otaku or just copying Ross's own terminology all I can say is WELL DONE, I love it when when little pieces of anime/manga terminology leak into mainstream television like that.
 
Thought the term Otaku meant Home Person or Inside Person as a literal translation, but has the same meaning/stigma as the English word Fanatic... Not a label I'd like to be tagged with really, but as with most borrowed word's meanings, the cultural relevance is not always taken into account and meanings change/soften :shrugs:
 
Otaku is a fairly old-fashioned and polite term meaning "your household" and became a term to label anime nerds when Gainax released their title, Otaku no Video (Home Video) about a guy who becomes obsessed with anime. Because of this content (and the title) otaku became the word for someone obsessed with anime, at first and then later those with a deep-seated obsession. At least that is how I understand it.
 
First time I heard the word Otaku was due to Gainax's 'Otaku No Video' when released by Bangor based AnimeEgo way back when...

The second time I heard the word Otaku, it was in reference to a popular Japanese author who was using the term to describe geeks/fans of Anime etc.. who would spend most of there time at home - Think this is is where I picked the meaning up from.

The third time (and the one that stuck) it was being used in relation to a Japanese serial killer who'd been caught a couple of years earlier ('89 I think), turned out he was a bit of a recluse (outcast) and was heavily into Hentai Anime' & Manga. The term Otaku got some bad press...
 
Well, a common misconception of otaku is that it is the same as hikkikamori (shut-ins) but whereas many otaku are also hikkikamori not all are and not all hikkikamori are otaku.

And AnimEigo in Bangor? Unless this is a Bangor in US then I am a little confused... They have sublicenced a few of their shows to UK companies, most recently to MVM but have never had a presence in the UK directly.
 
Ho, I'm happy to use Otaku in a sense that it means i'm a fan of Anime & Manga.

AnimEigo - yeh your right. It was the UK company Anime Projects that was based in Bangor, they lisenced some of AnimEigo's stuff for UK release (Bubblegum Crisis, Urusei Yatsura movies, Riding Bean & Otaku No Video)
 
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