Otaku Charm

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The world's only source of Otaku Charms is right here. For the proud display of your Japanese anime fandom (read: obsession), especially to wear to anime conventions and anywhere else otaku love to gather, purchase a sterling silver Otaku charm. Or buy it as a gift for the anime lovers in your life.

These charms are hand-casted exclusively for DragonWeave in sterling silver. You won't find them anywhere else! Each one comes with a ring for wearing on a chain or cord, which can also be purchased on this site. Click here for silver chains, and here for leather cords to wear with this charm.

Otaku Charm

Sterling silver silhouette style charm, 1" wide, with the Japanese katakana symbols to spell "otaku." The word "otaku" (spelled in English) is engraved on the back. This charm is hand-casted and hand painted exclusively for DragonWeave.


	$34

Click here for chains

So what is an otaku?

Otaku in Japanese translates to a combination of nerd and obsessed fan. Technically it can refer to anyone with an obsessive hobby, but is most often used by Japanese anime fans to describe themselves. In Japanese, this word is used more as an insult, but American anime fans have embraced it as their own.

Lawrence Eng has written a great series of articles on the history of the usage of the word otaku, including lists of recommended reading, available here:

Here is an article from Japan Times, on the development and growing power of the social culture of the otaku generation:

Otaku and proud of it

Here is a grammatical explanation from the Alternative sci.lang.japan FAQ:

`Otaku' is a polite word that means "you" (see also 10.1. What are the personal pronouns of Japanese?) or "your household" or "your house". `Taku' means "residence" or "home" and the o- in front of the word makes it more polite. Because of the respect implied the meaning becomes "your home". Serious `anime' (Japanese animated film) fans and computer geeks started calling each other `otaku', which is not terribly weird, since it does mean "you", but normally people would move to less formal words once they get to know each other. From this, people outside the `anime' world began to use `otaku-zoku' (roughly, "the `otaku' people" or "groups that say `otaku'"), and it has now come to mean "somebody that gets fanatical about their hobby" when used in such a context. From this usage, American anime fans have taken to using the word `otaku' to mean "`anime' fan", without, necessarily, the pejorative overtones associated with the word in Japanese.
edited from a post by David Luke.
Copyright (c) 1994-1999 Ben Bullock

For a lighter look at the otaku phenomenon, take a look at this article, on how to identify an otaku:

this is an OTAKU!

We hope you've enjoyed this collection of otaku arcana. Please buy an Otaku Charm, and show your otaku colors to the world!

Otaku Charm

Sterling silver silhouette style charm, 1" wide


	$34

Click here for chains

Also see our:

Japanese Kanji Symbol Charms

Lots more charms like the Otaku charm!

Silver Chinese Jade Pendants

Origami Animal Charms

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