/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>19405568

The otaku phenomenon: pop culture, fandom, and religiosity in contemporary Japan (2017) by Kendra Nicole Sheehan

PDF: h ttps://ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3978&context=etd

>Objects such as autographs, figurines, music CDs, and so on become objects of veneration that allow the devotee a sort of removed proximity to their pop culture figure.
>Many otaku construct shrine-like spaces in their rooms or living space that resemble kamidana. Unlike the kamidana and shintai, the otaku leave their figurines of their anime pop culture figure on full display.
>The Japanese, however, are born Shintō, whether they identify as so or not, and live in a world where they take the kami, spirits that permeate nature, for granted. The otaku also incorporate religious elements, such as devotionlike practices of food offerings to images of their favorite pop culture figures, and pilgrimage, into their consumption of popular culture. In Japanese culture, the boundaries between the sacred and the profane are ambiguous, and the otaku highlight the blurring of those lines.
>... moe refers to the general love and devotion otaku have for their pop culture kami, which often borders on sexual dynamics. Some otaku become upset if the moe characters engage in sexual activity with a fictional male, because “once actual sex is portrayed, the fantasy is destroyed.” However, while it can be argued that moe is not meant to be sexual, that does not stop some otaku from sexualizing moe figures.