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宅男不應該生活在這個世界上!*
Otakus ridiculed on Taiwan TV
*Otakus don’t deserve to live in this world
The otakus in Taiwan and Hong Kong are up in arms against Jacky Wu (吳宗憲), a Taiwanese show host for exploiting otakus on his variety programme “I Guess I Guess” 《我猜我猜我猜猜猜》.
Introduction: The Characteristics of an Otaku
(fast forward to 1:49 onwards)
Otakus are known colloquially as 宅男 (zai-nan) in Taiwan. The 1 Sep episode, the “Orz Taiwan Otaku” 《Orz 台灣御宅男》 was the second special that invited Taiwanese otakus for the make-over treatment – from geek to chic [Note: The first feature was telecast on 31 Mar 07]. However, the participating otakus ended up as objects of ridicule for the media circus.
The way the otakus and the way their hobby was treated treated together with the unkind remarks riled the Chinese otakus living in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This incident is now a hot topic among the Chinese otaku blogs and forum. They are petitioning for Jacky Wu to make a public apology. Here’s the full text of the petition:
“On September 1st, 2007, the show “I guess, I guess” openly insulted anime and manga fans around the world. Rather than exploring the true nature of Anime as the show originally claimed to be, the show was focused on insulting the guest fans and harshly making them appear as outcasts and geeks. Though I am sure an English or Japanese subtitled version of that day’s broadcast will surface in youtube soon, let me summarize the number of remarks made during the show.
1. Anime fans are criminals who doesn’t deserve to live in this world.
They are dirty, unintelligent and they don’t fit in the society.
2. When the guests try to defend themselves by adding comments that
they do have social circle, have a job and girl friend. The producer simply erased those clips in order to make them stay as geekish as possible.
3. The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi(Published by Kadokawa.) was portrayed by the host of the show, Jacky Wu as a pronographic novel about high school prostitutes. As he holds up the novel of Suzumiya Haruhi and reads out loud, he made up a fake story about two high school girls abducted and sexually molested.
The show consist of Jacky Wu and the disastrous “Hei Ser Huei MeiMei”(Horrible failed copycats of Morning Musume). Jacky Wu had been known for making ignorant public opionions for years. This time he had gone too far. The concept of the shows he hosts are mainly stolen straight from Japanese media. “I guess, I guess” being one of them.
We are here demanding an open apology from the Producer, the host Jacky Wu, and the stupid be-atches who claimed anime fans are criminals who doesn’t deserve to live. In our opinion, they are the as-holes who doesn’t deserve to live in this world. Please support the Taiwanese fans. Feel free to leave your comments here! =)”
The otakus in Hong Kong and Taiwan took offence at how Jacky Wu painted a stereotyped and inaccurate image of the otakus during the introduction. He mentioned that the otakus in Taiwan displayed the following characteristics:
(1) Don’t leave their home (不出门)
(2) Love to play computer games (喜欢电动)
(3) Are unkempt, sloppy (不修边幅)
(4) Assemble their own model kit (自己组装模型)
(5) Addicted to anime and manga (沉迷动漫)
The condescending and patronising attitude of the show hosts and guests also made the otakus watching the show feel indignant. They felt that their brethren on stage had been made to look like fools, and the things they hold dear had been trampled all over.
御宅男 #1-陈祖皓 & #2-沙承垚
御宅男 #3-吴维亚
During this part of the skit, the show hosts depicted Suzumiya Haruhi novels as pornography when they read aloud from the book. Jacky Wu later admitted that he made up the pornographic text.
御宅男 #4-李国彰, #5-戴志龙
You’ll feel the pain when you see the show hosts manhandle #4’s Gunpla models.
「ショッカー改造計画」SHOCKERing transformation begins
During this segment, the otakus go through their cosmetic makeover, very much like SHOCKER’s 「ショッカー」 subjects undergoing experimentations.
This is the part that made many otakus mad.
“I feel that this kind of person shouldn’t exist in this world”
The 黑澀會美眉 was called in as the panel of judges to appraise the made over otakus. During the review of the ‘original goods’, two girls from the idol group made disparaging remakrs which otakus found offensive. One girl, Youyou (祐祐) described #1 as someone who shouldn’t have existed in this world, while another girl said that he looked like a pervert on the train.
Those statements enraged the otakus and the Net was aflame with their condemnation of the programme.
Otaku and netizens alike swarmed the CTV’s forum, demanding apologies from Jacky Wu and gang: “做個連署吧~!鄭重要求葉心如及吳宗憲及楊千霈和黑澀會公開道歉”
Blogs were ablaze:
Here’s what the (otaku) participants of the show thought of their role in the variety programme:
宅你他媽！中視「我猜」節目錄影後感 (one of the Otakus who appeared) and also 八十四章!!!對不起!各位!我把臉丟光了!! (陈祖皓 ’s blog)
The chatter on the Net prompted Jacky Wu to come forward to clarify matters. Even Youyou had written an apology on her blog (now offline) – saying that she did what she did because the script required her to say those provocative words.
“宅男不該存活” Fallout
The incident even received media coverage.
The Taiwan Media Circus
I would take what went on in the show with a large pinch of salt. For those who’re familiar with Taiwanese media – it’s a circus with no respect for decency or dignity, as long as their stunts could bring in ratings. Nothing is sacrosanct. Jacky Wu is known for his irreverent treatment of those on his show for laughs. For the otakus who decided to go onto the programme, they shouldn’t be expected to be treated with kids gloves.
This episode is probably riding on the Densha Otoko 「電車男」 craze, which was already passé in Japan by the end of 2005. Although Densha Otoko brought some cool and sexy factor to Otakus, many of ‘real’ otakus in Japan didn’t like the phenomenon because it actually denigrated their way of life. [Densha Otoko sold out - he turned his back on otaku culture so that he could win the heart of Hermes. Although, he did revert to his true self when the story ended] .Otakus in Japan didn’t like the treatment of their culture by the mainstream media. The popularity of the Densha Otoko drama and movie adaptations brought down hordes of media crew and tourists into Akihabara.
Otaku Activism
When I look back to June this year, otakus marched and liberated Akihabara during the 「6・30アキハバラ解放デモ」. It wasn’t an angry protest, but a demonstration to reassert the rights for otakus to pursue their passion, and for mainstream society and media to end their discrimination against the Otaku-kind.
Last month, the Singaporean otakus rose up against ODEX for extorting money from anime fans.
This September, “I Guess incident” is another occasion where otakus circled their wagons. The Hong Kong and Taiwanese otakus (as well as other online geeks) banded together in solidarity because their dignity came under assault.
The Geeks know that the time has come for them not to remain as push overs when they are bullied. The course of human history is now favouring those who remain on the forefront of information technology, and that’s when the Geek will inherit the Earth.
The usually passive Otakus are now a force to be reckoned with.
