Source: @Tencent Animation World Style Feature

Introduction

There is such a joke in the market: In the minds of Chinese overseas students, who is the number one "goddess"? Answer: Lao Gan Ma, because overseas, almost all Chinese students have hot sauce with her face printed in their dormitories...... This may only be a joke after dinner, but it also shows the ecology of Chinese overseas students in a certain way - being overseas, getting rid of the lights and wines of the outside world (if any), what can really become a comfort to one's soul is often some ordinary things that are more common but easy to obtain.

In today's world, the otaku group has long been deeply involved in the Chinese young people, so as the majority of students studying in Japan in Japan, the birthplace of otaku, what is the life of the otaku in the front line of otaku? Has ACG become an important solace in their hearts, and its status is comparable to that of the "old godmother goddess"? Let's use the facts to see what the ecology of the ACG population is like among the students studying in Japan.

An ecological survey of otaku among students studying in Japan

First of all, it should be noted that the author himself is also an otaku who has the experience of staying in Japan, and has spent more than a year in the Kansai region. This article is based on the author's personal experience and the survey feedback of the housemates around me, as far as the survey sample is concerned, it basically includes the vast majority of ACG population types such as otaku otaku and rotten women, but in view of the limited time and energy, the number is very rich, but it should be basically reliable in terms of credibility.

In fact, "there are a lot of ACG people among students studying in Japan" This is not a new topic, and among the friends of all housemates, there must be some high-end (?) who study and work in the neon country. In addition to the envy and jealousy of their ability to face first-hand resources, they are also quite envious of others for the benefits of being able to buy some house goods from time to time. It's just that everyone's understanding of these exotic study tours is often based on the medium of ACG first, which is inevitably a little one-sided. So, how exactly did they "coexist" with ACG in the otaku country? That's the point of this article.

ACG's desire to study abroad

In this survey, in addition to the general confirmation of gender and the form of study abroad, the first thing I am concerned about is whether ACG's interest has an impact on the respondents' willingness to study in Japan. Almost 100% of the respondents said they had an impact (about 40% of them said they had a great impact), which reminds me of the strength of Japanese anime's diplomacy and cultural radiation. Especially in recent years, due to the extreme convenience of the Internet, it has become easier and easier to obtain all kinds of animation products, and Chinese otaku can gradually get first-hand ACG resources in the same way as Japanese otaku, or even more timely (chasing new ones, chasing comic updates, and collecting the latest outflow of OST, the same person or something, everyone understands).

But on the other hand, this kind of "informal" form of acquisition that relies on the Internet in the vast majority of the scope will eventually make people feel that something is missing, and the deeper the stay, the deeper the demand for ACG resources at the first scene "like an authentic Japanese otaku" (such as buying Jump, watching new episodes on TV, and visiting comike, etc.), especially in recent years, ACG works that have repeatedly appeared about the ecology of Ataku have gradually become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people - such as "Present Vision Research" and "Lucky Star" - It also stimulated the curiosity of the otaku about the "holy land" of animation.

If more than ten years ago, most of the students of the Celestial Empire who studied in Dongdu still had the purpose of going to advanced countries to improve themselves, in recent years, the number of young people who have strengthened their determination to study in Japan due to the influence of ACG culture has increased a lot.

From the perspective of the form of study abroad of these international students, many of them use the form of language schools → graduate schools, which is probably the most suitable form for Chinese international students: first because ACG has the idea of staying in Japan, and at the same time has a large number of ACG products, they will enter Japanese by the way, then come to Japan Tongguò Language School to consolidate their language skills after graduating from university, and finally enter graduate school, get a master's degree, and achieve their goal of visiting the Holy Land by the way. Judging from the author's own experience and the situation of the homemates around me, this is a fairly safe path, and if any of the readers want to try to study in Japan + pilgrimage in the future, it can be used as a reference.

The combination of China and Japan, the ACG participation form of international students

Now that you are already in Japan, the most important thing for the otaku studying abroad is undoubtedly their participation in ACG - how do you "stay home"? What are the similarities and differences between them and those in China?

As mentioned above, the vision of "Japanese otaku life" is one of the key factors that motivates otaku to study in Japan, but on a practical level, the otaku life of our Japanese people is not as pure as it is in an ideal state. For people who don't know much about the ecology of the house in Japan, there may be a few misunderstandings:

☆Misconception (1) Because you can easily buy magazines and manga at bookstores, you can buy physical books to read in Japan.

This may be the most common misconception, but if you think about it, you can understand the irrationality. According to the survey results, 100% of people chose the option of "reading manga online for free" for the multiple-choice question of "the main way to read manga in Japan", more than 70% chose the option of "going to a place like book-off (one of the largest chain second-hand book stores in Japan) to buy cheap second-hand manga", and only 50% of people chose to buy new magazines and single books immediately, and many of these 50% of the population said that they only occasionally bought a few books to read. It's not that the deadline doesn't fall.

In fact, this is not a strange thing, the price of a "Shonen Jump" weekly magazine in Japan is 250 yen, and the price of ordinary single comics is often not less than 400 yen, according to the current exchange rate of about 1:0.06 in Japanese compared to RMB, for international students who generally have to rely on their domestic parents or their own part-time jobs for food and clothing (a very small number of local tyrants are not included in the scope of consideration), it is still expensive to accumulate in the long run. Moreover, the "relaxed" online copyright environment in China makes the vast majority of otaku accustomed to the free reading mode of watching online, so for the vast majority of otaku in Japan, buying physical books is more often an act that needs to be carefully considered, mainly limited to their own loving works, under normal circumstances, it is still the first choice to watch free money online (not to mention that Japan's Internet speed is so fast).

☆Misunderstanding (2)The new anime is all watched on TV.。

This is a bit similar to manga, and given the high price of DVDs in Japan, people generally don't think that "if you want to watch anime, you can buy DVDs". But since everyone is in Japan.,It's very convenient to watch the current broadcast on TV.,So the new one can always be watched on TV, right? Not really.

Speaking of which, will there be any readers who suddenly realize and sigh that this is the truth! If there are readers who think like this, I must remind you that the above conclusion is only for mainstream animation in the United States, and has nothing to do with the prevalence of domestic animation animals. As a practitioner in the animation industry, the author dares to say that more than 95% of the animation companies in China will never think about whether the protagonist of the animation chooses humans or animals on the basis of artistic theory, but simply chooses from the commercial operation and promotion, and this has to start from the profit model of domestic animation.

First of all, due to the relative instability of international student accommodation and the decline in the practicality of television due to the spread of the Internet, the rate of TV ownership among Japanese students is not very high, especially among the relatively young otaku population, and the proportion of people who own a TV during their stay in Japan is less than 50% of the sample population surveyed by the author. And among these 50% of weak personnel, there are still many people who say that TV is mainly used to play console games such as PS3, or when they are lonely, they turn on the grounding and listen to people more.

Secondly, the animation broadcast time of Japanese TV is often embarrassing for international students, either it is dinner time for the whole family to watch, or it is one or two o'clock in the morning (and the favorite otaku animation is often this time!). The author is also angry), for the otaku who either work or sleep in class during the day, it is really too difficult to sit in front of the TV at a fixed time every day or simply stay up late to watch animation. This has to be put on hold before,Most of it is the rhythm of the VCR appearance,But now there is a more convenient network download,Although from time to time there will be negative news in Japan that someone has been detained for illegally uploading P2P texts,But the existing facts are difficult to change,So even in Dongying,It's not surprising that most of the otaku still watch animation online according to domestic habits。

Similarities and differences between Chinese and Japanese otaku culture

Although it cannot be said that you will become an expert when you go to Japan, but being at the forefront of ACG culture, there is no doubt that the otaku in Japan have a high say in Japanese otaku culture. So, in their eyes, what are the similarities and differences between Chinese and Japanese otaku culture?

Unlike some of the surveys mentioned above, when it comes to the topic of cultural similarities and differences, respondents' answers suddenly tend to be more diverse. After all, for the vast majority of otaku, ACG is the pursuit of life with love to experience intuitively, but it does not necessarily need to rise to the cultural level so that it is so high and low, and it is even less common to summarize it in daily life, but from some simple intuitive feelings, they can still extract some of their views on cultural differences.

First of all, nearly 40% of the respondents mentioned that "Chinese and Japanese tastes are different". However, further exchanges will reveal that this so-called "difference in taste" is actually only relative, a difference in the process rather than a decisive distinction. It just so happens that C86 has come to an end, so let's use this ACG gluttonous feast that best reflects the "desire" of otaku as an example.

Judging from the number of comike books this time,The most popular works are the long-standing monster series "Oriental Project" and the last two comike overlords "Ship Niang" series,The Japanese love for these two works Cheng dù is from the overwhelming fanart、Twitter and the massive discussion on various message boards and the overwhelming number of books can be seen。 At the same time, these two series also have quite high popularity in China, only because of the tradition of the work and the restrictions of VPN, the proportion of the fan base does not reach the height of Japan, but in terms of the popularity level itself, it is also a hot masterpiece. After arriving in Japan, due to the lack of walls and road restrictions, the taste of the Japanese otaku is actually closer and closer to the local Japanese otaku, so perhaps this conclusion should be changed to "the taste of China and Japan is basically similar, but there is only a difference in Cheng dù" to be more accurate.

Second, about 30% of the respondents mentioned that "Japanese otaku culture has no lower limit and a higher degree of freedom." Specific to the practical level,Table xiàn is the output of all kinds of high-shame doujinben and cosplay。 Specifically, the Japanese otaku carry less moral baggage, and are able to enjoy the happiness brought by ACG more purely and devotedly.

On this point, the author strongly agrees. No matter how dedicated the otaku are in otaku sanctuaries such as Akihabara in Japan, you can feel how deeply Japanese otaku are committed to their beloved things by watching the various cosplays that are not ashamed of each major exhibition. Of course, there is no shame in this point, and in recent years, domestic cosers have also had a tendency to catch up...... Regardless of whether this kind of behavior will create more "eyes in the world", it is not a pleasure to devote yourself to the career you like while you are young, right?

In addition, a small number of respondents mentioned that "the soundness of the system and the support of the government have brought about a relatively favorable development environment", which is undoubtedly very reasonable. Due to the lack of various regulations that are common in Japan, Japan's ACG culture is in a state of "free-range" most of the time, and it is relatively free to explore creativity and create individuality, which is naturally much more comfortable than the difficult pace in China. Although an overly liberal atmosphere may also bring some negative effects (such as overly vulgar pure commercial operations and follow-the-trend), it is undoubtedly more pleasant for ordinary otaku individuals who simply want to enjoy their own interests.

In those years, we lived in the works

After the macro investigation, it is natural to talk about some specific works to relax. Whether it is a hit and a drink, a thousand cups of a confidant, or a love and kill, not speculation, more than half a sentence, it depends on whether the bands between each other are compatible. After all, people's energy is limited, and they are in a foreign country, since they have chosen ACG as the main spiritual comfort, then there will be a specific focus of the work, so what is the work that makes them sprout N liters of nosebleeds in a foreign country?

Perhaps because the types of survey groups selected by the author are scattered, and the time points of studying abroad are also quite different from each other, coupled with the difference in age, gender and many other factors, the answer to the question "During your stay in Japan, the works you pay the most attention to" are more diverse than before, but after unifying all the answers, you can still find a certain regularity.

First, there is a high proportion of the latest and most popular works in Japan. Among the works fed back in the questionnaire, "Madoka Magica", "Attack on Titan", "Ship Girl" and "LoveLive" have a very high appearance rate, and the respondents who mentioned these works basically studied abroad in 2011 ("Madoka Magical Girl"), 2013 ("Attack on Titan", "Ship Girl"), 2014 ("LoveLive"), it is not difficult to see that the time period when they studied abroad happened to be the period when their favorite works became popular in Japan.

In fact, many of these otaku who stayed in Japan actually had a bit of a high-minded style before going to Japan, and they often scoffed at works that were too commercial or too much attention to them, and they had their own niche works of their own preferences. But after arriving in Japan, first, I couldn't stand the overwhelming ground publicity of popular works, and secondly, I was also influenced by my homemates, so I unconsciously went further and further down the road to the cute dolphin (a positive word, the author is too).

For this "transformation", in fact, the author empathizes. I think I didn't go to Japan to study back then.,The author is basically not looking at the waste cute animation works.,Talking about "Parasitic Beast" and "Legend of the Sword Wind" and other slightly heavy works all day long, the second middle school youth, but 08 years to Japan,Brainwashed by the full of waste cute pictures and endless cute sounds,After visiting animate a few times and going to a comike,,It also instantly completed the transformation of the second middle school youth to an ordinary cute dolphin,"XX is so cute" This kind of line that I used to feel very ashamed of can also be easily blurted out, and in return, I bought a bunch of "Lucky Star" and "K-ON" related merchandise.

Second, if you have a strong interest in some niche works before, it is very likely that you will evolve into a brain-dead fan after you go to Japan. This may seem contradictory at first glance, but it is complementary. On the one hand, due to the overwhelming publicity of popular works, it is easy to develop into a cultist who focuses on powerful works, and on the other hand, due to the reduction of the difficulty of obtaining resources related to works after going to Japan, the original love for certain relatively niche works is easy to be further activated and amplified.

Among the respondents,There is a brother who went to Japan before he was a fan of "Fantasy Water Margin" and "Bamboo Knife Girl",After arriving in Japan,When I visited a bookstore, I accidentally found a huge book of "Fantasy Water Margin",After a long and fierce ideological struggle (in fact, it only lasted less than five minutes),He resolutely took out the equivalent of half a month's living expenses"Huge money" 9000 yen to take it home, this gentleman later also bought a lot of "Bamboo Knife Girl" animation DVD, It has made a lot of contributions to Japan's ACG genuine industry, and has really achieved a singing and crying story.

At the same time, there is also a slightly biased direction of a certain investigator, this big touch has a deep interest in special subjects such as Junichi Yamakawa and Billy Harrington in China, and after arriving in Japan, he was out of control, not only bought the very small circulation of "Junichi Yamakawa Collected Works" reprint (the price is as high as 5000+ yen), but also a series of figma launched by unscrupulous merchants after Billy's visit to collect all the money, which is really a unique example of the touching (sangxinbingkuang) in the history of the otaku.

epilogue

The ACG crowd among students studying in Japan is a very unique group, on the one hand, their existence has become widely known and has become a cultural phenomenon; But on the other hand, they still know very little about the ecology of ACG, and even have a lot of prejudices and misunderstandings. As a group deeply influenced by Japan's contemporary subculture, the otaku life of the otaku in Japan is quite unique, but it is not completely different from their compatriots in Japan. The purpose of this article is to show you a little bit about the "ecology" of this group of people who are at the forefront of animation culture. In the future, if you are interested, you may be able to become one of them and have your own ACG experience in Japan (laughs).