A weekly look into American otaku culture

There is a great flash animation made by a fan that parodies the Azumanga Diaoh’s OP using Yotsuba characters. I’m a very big fan of both series (you can read my Yotsuba review here), so I must say I’m pretty impressed with this one. Check it out!

And while you’re at it, check out this oldie but goodie. It’s 2ch AA of the Azumanga girls set to the OP of the hentai video game Princess Bride. Of course, I like to call it ASCII-manga Daioh! Though now that I look at it, there is a brief image of Jumbo from Yotsubato.

Oh hell, why not one more bit of Osaka goodness? (^_^)

Did I mention how much I love the whole Densha Otoko thing? Since I wrote that article, a wonderful website has popped up with one person’s translation of the original 2-ch posts. Check it out here. These posts are so addicting and fun to read. You can see why it has become so popular. I highly recommend you guys check out this site. Maybe it might stir up more interest in the story stateside.

But reading these posts have taught me a lot about the Japanese internet culture, and my interest in it has grown with it. I’ve been surfing around the 2-ch and Futaba Channel boards lately. Of course, it is a bit of learning experience as I encounter Japanese words that I’m sure I’ll never find in class…

“グロ? Gee, I wonder what that is. It sounds cute.”

::clicks::

(o_O)

“AHHHHHHHH!!!!”

So yeah, I’ve also learned that the Japanese are still the biggest perverts in the world.

But back to the topic Densha, I’ve finally been able to get back to watching the TV Drama, and episode 9 is just one piece of otaku eye-candy after the other. Now, I wouldn’t really consider myself too into Japanese girls (Chinese is my thing), but they have managed to put the prettiest Japanese women into this show. This episode starts off with the female lead cosplaying in a maid costume, a little girl’s dress complete with pig-tails, and in PJ’s. It’s cute and all, and the otaku side of me really loves it. But I guess I would still like it better if it was an anime girl doing it over a real Japanese girl. That’s just a sad but true personal preference… (^^;)

But then they had to throw this bomb at me:

（　ﾟДﾟ） 。。。

::faints::

It might not have the same impact without hearing her say it, but it just tugs at your fanboy heart. I think I have a new avatar.

So in summary, I’m starting to realize just how much more otaku I get with every passing day… _|￣|○

On a pathetic note, I had a dream the other night that おくさまは女子高生 (My Wife is a High School Girl) was licensed by Geneon. I dreamt that I was surfing the internet, and while I was on ANN.com, right above their post about FUNimation licensing Moon Phase (this was the day before the Negima news), I saw a little note saying that Geneon was going to release “My Wife is a School Girl”.

My first thought was that, “Hey, they got the title wrong!” See, one of my kanji words that I had to learn for last week’s Japanese test was 女子学生 (School Girl), and while it wasn’t exactly the same as the title of the series, I still practiced for the test by writing down おくさまは女子学生 (My Wife is a School Girl). So I was thinking, “Stupid Geneon, just because I write it that way doesn’t mean that’s what the title is!”

My second thought was, “Man, first Girls Bravo, then DearS, it’s really no surprise that Geneon picks up all the ecchi series I like so much.” But then I suddenly woke up, wondering if it was just a dream or not. I had gone to bed very late that night, so maybe I had just unconsciously read that right before I went to sleep. But when I checked the ANN website, there was no license confirmation there at all.

Now people, I assure you this is the first time I’ve have had a dream about an anime series being licensed. I’m really not that big of an otaku…

But still… what does this all mean?