What exactly is the difference between “otaku” and “wotaku”?
I suddenly wondered, “What’s the difference between ‘otaku’ and ‘wotaku’?” Do you know? This time, I’d like to think about the difference between these two.
What is an otaku?
First, I think everyone already knows about otaku, but here’s a quick review.
Otaku (also spelled otaku or wotaku) is a term that originated in Japan in the 1970s and refers to enthusiasts of popular culture.
A term that originated in a mocking sense, derived from the fact that some enthusiasts—particularly of highly taste-driven hobbies and toys such as manga, anime, idols, science fiction, tokusatsu, actresses, personal computers, computer games, quizzes, models, railways, and martial arts—used to address each other with the second-person honorific “otaku” (“your home”).
That is what I have been informed.
I think there are many people who know this meaning.
These days, it seems this Japanese word/expression has crossed the sea and reached overseas.
thisotakuIt all began when Akio Nakamori, in the adult manga magazine Manga Burikko that existed in the 1980s,“A Study of ‘Otaku’”It is said to have begun when it was featured in a column.
It started when someone remarked, “Don’t you think addressing your friends with ‘otakura, saa’ is gross?” and then said, “I’ll name them otaku,” using it as a derogatory noun.
So this is why they’re considered otaku, isn’t it?
Here is a partial quotation from 'A Study of Otaku.'
You see people like that not just among manga fans or at Comiket.
People who line up and wait the day before an anime movie’s release,
The kind of guy who almost gets run over on the tracks trying to capture the Blue Train with his prized camera.
Like the guy whose bookshelf is lined perfectly with back issues of SF Magazine and Hayakawa’s gold- and silver-spined SF series,
A science-nerd boy with thick, bottle-bottom glasses loitering at the microcomputer shop,
The guy who goes to an idol celebrity’s autograph session early in the morning to secure a spot,
Me, the timid boy who goes to a famous prep school and, if I get too caught up in studying, just turns into a sardine-eyed fool.
Like, the kind of guy who gets a bit loud when you bring up audio stuff.
So people like that are usually called, you know, nerds or hardcore fans,
They keep calling me something like a gloomy loner type or whatever, but it just doesn’t sit right with me.
I can’t help thinking that we still haven’t established an accurate name to unify people like this—or the phenomenon as a whole.
So, well, for a few reasons, we decided to name them 'otaku' and to pass that name on from then on.
Otaku Studies (1): The City Is Full of Otaku — Akio Nakamori
This was the beginning of the otaku.
The existence known as 'otaku' has been given a name.
The word “otaku” would go on to spread nationwide after this series ended.
ライブ中 柵登ってるヲタク pic.twitter.com/uOXT78HOET
— Perorin-sensei (Rin Kaname) (@peroperorinko01)September 6, 2015
By now, it’s used as a general term for anyone who’s passionately into something, isn’t it?
Nothing,SubcultureIt's not like I only use it with people I like.
For example, geography nerds or history nerds.
Girls who like Johnny’s idols are called “Jani-ota,” but unlike the stereotypical image of an otaku that many people imagine, these Jani-ota are cute girls.
You can see that it has been widely generalized.
The difference between otaku and wotaku
https://www.instagram.com/p/5ENjfOtEBx/?hl=ja&taken-by=sioringogo
Now, let’s look into the main topic: the difference between otaku and wotaku.
When you look at Twitter and other social media, you see people who use both オ and ヲ, right?
When I looked into it, I found various opinions about this difference.
Theory 1: The otaku who differentiated themselves from other otaku
Because many people in society had a negative image of otaku, there’s a theory that we used the term 'wotaku' to imply, “We’re not just otaku—we’re an even deeper breed.”
This is what Shokotan was talking about in the early 2000s.
At that time as well, they said that some slightly older people used the term 'wotaku,' and that recently 'otaku' has started being used again.
So, is it that the usage goes in the order of otaku → wotaku → otaku?
Thesis 2: Akihabara-type otaku who are mindful of distinguishing themselves from the subculture scene
There’s a theory that, because the term “otaku” became widely accepted in general usage, the original Akihabara-type fans began to be distinguished by calling them “wota.”
It means that people started using the term 'wota' to distinguish those who like the so-called 'moe' genre in Akihabara from people who like other subcultures.
Section 3. “Otaku” as Internet slang
The theory that when writing on internet forums, the 'o' changed into 'wo'.
It’s the same principle as when people used to write 'laugh' as 'straw' and 'middle-schooler' as 'kitchen.'
In conclusion
Personally, I feel like the difference between “ota” and “wota” is just a matter of trend.
It feels like it's up to individual freedom again.
My sense is that it depends on the community.
By 'this community,' I mean the group of fans of my favorite idol group.
It’s like this: people who like this idol use the term “otaku,” while fans of other idols use “wotaku.”