First off, before you ask what an Otaku is (And please, for those of you who do know, bare with me for a moment.) An Otaku, in the original Japanese meaning, refers to someone who is an obsessive fan of something. Someone who likes, say, cats could be a Neko-Otaku (Literally, Person who is obsessed with cats.) In the English sense, at the very least, this term has been adopted for people who obsessively love Japanese Manga and anime. (Soemtimes Gamers who are obsessed with Japanese games, such as anything Final Fantasy-like, can also be lumped in with us.) An believe me, as obscure as this may sound, Otakus are everywhere. Even in small, obscure little American State of Oklahoma where I grew up. Otaku are usually solitary creatures, preferring to be with groups of friends that range from one other person, to three at the maximum. The only time they really come together in full force is when there is an Anime Convention around, and there they gather in large crowds of Cosplayers (People who make costumes to look like their favorite anime character) spouting tales of their Fanfiction an/or spouting miss-pronounced Japanese words.
Further Reading if interested :
Otakuism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otaku
Fanfiction: Fanfiction.net
Cosplay: Cosplay.com
Now, you must be wondering who this strange woman is that is bothering to explain these things to you. My name is Scheme (Not really- that's a nickname, but it's what I prefer to go by on teh interwebs.) I am seventeen at the moment, and I live in Frankfurt, Germany. Before you ask, no, I'm not German. I'm an American, who had the luck (Or misfortune, I think sometimes) to live abroad. It's kind of a long story, but suffice to say, my step-father's job got moved over seas and we went with him. If you know anything about Frankfurt Germany, you know it's a business center. There are a lot of Banks, and even a stock market here. So, naturally, with that, comes a large International population. So, there is an International School, my school, who teach classes in English. I'm a senior here, and I will graduate in June and go back t the US for collage.
It's a lovely school, even if it's extremely hard.
What's interesting about Germany is that it ha quite a large Otaku population here. They have Dance Group, such as Suki no Senshi (Ever seen Kingdom Hearts the Musical? If not, look it up. It's very cool.) And there are various cosplay-related things going on around the city especially in the summer. I don't cosplay much any more, it's terribly expensive here, but I will when I go back to the States.
So, that's me. I'm looking forward to keeping this blog.
Anyone have an questions about Germany, or Otakus in general? If so, don't hesitate to drop me a comment. I'll definitely answer.
Scheme
