Disney and Warner Brothers must know that their DC and Marvel superheroes are no longer attractive to the new generation. From taking my kid to recent fan conventions, I’ve noticed a majority of people are dressing up as Japanese anime characters. Gone are the days when the crowd was filled with variations of Deadpool and Harley Quinn. The Gen Z cosplayer prefers to wear elaborate costumes depicting characters from My Hero Academia, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Demon Slayer and more. “More” is the most important thing since there hundreds of anime shows and manga books for fans to delve into. Women aren’t stuck merely having to identify as the few female members of The Avengers or Justice League. Men don’t have to about building fake muscles look like a superhero. The nerd culture coming out of Japan goes from Superheroes to furry creatures to normal folks. The younger generation is getting deep into the multitude of titles and characters. Otaku No Video is about a normal college student getting sucked into the anime world and turning it into a profession during the ’80s.
Ken Kubo is a college student who splits his time between studies, the tennis team and his girlfriend. Then one night while leaving a dinner, he bumps into Tanaka, an old high school buddy. Tanaka’s with a group of friends that seem rather interesting. Later while promoting the tennis club at a campus event, he runs into Tanaka wearing a superhero suit. His club promotes Otaku life and their homemade manga books. Otaku is pretty much what we’d call “Nerds” in America in the ’80s. Ken drops by his apartment which is an Otaku paradise filled with videos, models, Mangas and painting tables. His friends are deep into the life and rarely go to their real homes. Ken gets hooked quick and ignores his tennis game. He’s up late-night delving into the treasures. He gives up on tennis since the court keeps him away from the VCR. Eventually his girlfriend notices that he’s no longer clean shaven and out of shape. He’s not even sure what to do when he graduates from college. She doesn’t get his new pursuits. Not many people in the straight world understand the new Ken which isn’t good when he and Tanaka interview for jobs. In the midst of their frustration, they duo decide to turn into professional Otaku. The second episode of this OVA (original video animation) charts their rise and major bumps in creating a massive business that appeals to other Otaku. Can they achieve their dream of becoming Otakings?
Otaku No Video really gets into what happens when you begin to delve into any geek culture. I can easily relate to this in an American way. I visited my college’s Gaming Society and felt a change in what entertained me. Very quickly I went from rolling dice on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign to collecting yellow spined DAW paperbacks at used bookstores to borrowing anime videos that featured action not suitable for an episode of Speed Racer. A slight difference was a few people I knew developed video games instead of making their own animate movies. Otaku No Video isn’t completely animated. There are live action interviews with the various type of Otaku from early ’80s and what they’ve become in 1991. Most of them aren’t quite having the most fulfilling lives. Quite a few don’t have friends since they’re so obsessed with their hobby there’s no space in their apartment for others. While there is a bit of sarcasm in these recreated interviews, there’s a slice of truth. There is a chance that the Otaku life will completely overtake you. But this is not exclusive to fans of anime and Manga. Think of that person at work who is obsessed with pro football, horror or the Real Housewives shows. You swear that is all their life revolves around and it’s probably true. There is an option to watch the film without the Live Action interviews. This is probably a good move if you don’t want to depress younger viewers of what they might end up being in the future.
Otaku No Video is gets deep into the pull that the characters from anime and Manga can have when you begin to deep dive. The subplot about figurines and models involving anime characters hit home. Over the weekend I went to the opening of a store at a nearby mall that had shelves filled with them. It’s not just the same dozen popular characters in various poses. I had to keep asking my kid what they’re from. The place was filled with teenagers checking it all out. At a booth outside the shop was a guy selling his self-published Manga like Tanaka did. We’re nearly four decades away from the era depicted in the OVA and still kids still are caught up. Otaku No Video is a movie about the past that still around us.
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The 1080p transfer brings out the details of the Otaku life. The Audio is the Japanese soundtrack in LPCM 2.0 Stereo. You’ll feel like you’re hanging in their apartment. The subtitles are in English and German.
Original 1982 Promo (1:24) gives how a chance meeting between Ken and Tanaka in the elevator changed their lives and made them Otakings! This was sold on Laserdisc.
Original 1985 Promo (1:08) alerts us that we’ll see how they became Otakings in the second installment. It seems more expensive on video cassette than laserdisc.
Blu-ray Trailer (1:31) is all about getting both episodes on one disc.
Line Art Gallery (1982) has 38 images of the gang in their early days. There’s also drawings of their hang outs.
Line Art Gallery (1985) has 39 images of what happens when they get successful and their breakthrough original character.
Color Art Gallery has 20 images of has 20 images of characters and locations with paint.
The Truth Behind Otaku no Video by Sean O’Mara is a text essay by Sean O’Mara. While the story is based on the rise of anime studio Gainax, O’Mara points out the true scenes and the embellished portions in the film. We get a short history of Gainax. They were fans who became professionals although not necessarily as depicted in the film. The Garage Kits and store were part of their past. 1982 was an important year for the company for they launched Macross on TV. Storyboard artist Shinji Higuchi on this project went on to co-direct Shin Godzilla. O’Mara does a deep enough dive for a casual fan to understand even more of the anime and what was going on in real life.
AnimEigo present Otaku No Video. Directed by Takeshi Mori. Screenplay by Toshio Okada. Starring Kōji Tsujitani, Toshiharu Sakurai, Shigeru Nakahara, Yūko Kobayashi, Kikuko Inoue and Masami Kikuchi. Running Time: 100 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: October 8, 2024.
