Otaku Series

Otaku: a person having an intense or obsessive interest, especially in the field of anime or manga.

Not me. You, maybe.

Never having sat through an episode of Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Cowboy Bebop, etc., or having read even a few pages of their kindred manga, which is generally found in the anthology magazine Shonen Jump, I can’t claim the epithet. However, my daughter, from age five or six, her friends, the students at the schools where I’ve worked, and so many other kids I’ve encountered over the years, have been obsessed with this stuff. Obsessed through childhood, into the teen years, and beyond. I’ve watched them read the books, discuss the shows, wear the t-shirts, collect the action figures, and painstakingly draw these pointy-headed heroes until mastering them. Shonen Jump has capitalized on this mania and contains pages dedicated to “fan art” in every issue. Having never been a fan, I have, though, been my daughter’s fan, and of her friends (with exceptions), and a fan of all the kids at CC Tec and Bridgeton High (more or less). This, then, dragged with abandon through the windmills of my mind, is fan art.

And for those who would accuse me of cultural appropriation, I say that there is nothing more American than Japanese cartoons. As for generational appropriation, tough.