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“Otaku are the biggest suckers” says Pokémon artist

Casey Baseel Jun 19, 2019
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Marvel-loving artist has harsh words for otaku, thinks other people should be saying them too.

Last month, artist Keiko Moritsugu declared that “moe has ruined anime” and asserted that Japanese animation needs to start being more like Marvel in the tone of the content it creates. But Moritsugu, whose resume includes work on both the Pokémon and Doraemon franchises, still has more to say about otaku and their mentality. Specifically, she’s not happy with the continuing otaku culture boom, and let her opinion be known through her Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/W_Fei_hung/status/1139816208310554624

“I don’t think the situation is that otaku’s hobbies have become mainstream, but that they’re no longer being warned by anyone about their harmful qualities. No one is teaching them that reading books, having barbecues, playing musical instruments, playing footsal, learning languages, or other forms of study will make their lives richer. And the reason why is because for big companies, otaku are the biggest suckers and the easiest to trick.”

While it’s not exactly clear how grilling and eating a bunch of meat is supposed to contribute to a person’s mental or physical fitness, the rest of the items on Moritsugu’s list of approved recreational activities all align with traditional pastimes of the intellectual and/or athletic members of society. In contrast, she seems to be saying that watching a bunch of anime isn’t going to make you a better person, and as such isn’t the most meaningful way to spend your time.

Of course, with more people than ever before proudly calling themselves otaku, Moritsugu’s opinion that otaku are wasting their time and dulling their minds is a divisive one, and one commenter reacted with:

“It sounds like you’re not aware of the scope of otakuism. While doing ordinary things, they thoroughly investigate the fields that intrigue them, which allows them to obtain vast, if sometimes unrequired, amounts of knowledge.

It’s not right to use such a broad brush when disparaging people.”

Moritusgu’s reply was quite a bit more concise, and also acerbic:

https://twitter.com/W_Fei_hung/status/1140963623063343104

“Okay, let me repeat this once again. ‘Don’t mistake otaku with no skills for otaku who have genius-level capabilities.”

Whether Moritsugu considers herself a genius-level otaku, a talented non-otaku, or something else is something we can’t say, but it’s pretty clear that despite working on two of the biggest anime hits of all time, she’s of the mindset that most otaku need to develop a broader set of hobbies.

Source: Twitter/@W_Fei_hung via Jin
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he owes no small part of his life today to the extra encouragement watching anime gave him to study Japanese.