I’ve been watching Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (no its not Haruka above) and I think it kinda reflects a part of reality in some of us. I’m not entirely sure but I feel Japan’s fan-dom for the otaku culture is not entirely raging hot. I kinda notice that the culture isn’t readily welcomed with open arms by the locals so to speak.
When me and some of my otaku classmates were making small talk with our teacher and a bunch of school admin staff during one of our lunch breaks, they went “HUH” complete with goldfish eyes at the very point when we raved that we’re manga/anime/game/cosplay/rock otakus and are crazy abut it here. It happened a few times with other locals as well. They just gave us THE LOOK – yes the “are you crazy” look, followed by a “why” question as dessert.
Anyhow, I can sorta understand how Nogizaka Haruka in the anime feels. For those who have not watched this, its basically about a prim and proper, multi talented beaut (I sometimes wonder if such people exist) who’s a closet Otaku and her secret’s discovered by this boi whose name I can’t remember cos I don’t find him attractive at all.
I find the Comiket episode (ep 6) exceedingly engaging. I watched this episode AFTER I went to Comiket 74 and instantly regretted that I should have watched it on TV earlier. Anyway while I was breezing tru the anime, I was going “あーこれ見たことあるよ！” (Ah- Mita koto aru yo – I’ve seen this before). I find the resemblance near perfect and so decided to post about it. Its the exact same venue, feelings, scenarios (cept they censored most of the nose-bleeding stuff). I was told that photography is prohibited so I didn’t really (stealthily) take a lot of photos decided to let the anime do the talking instead. It’s very reel.. erm I mean real.
Reel life: 00:51″
– He was saying it (Summer Comiket) is like the biggest festival of some sort for Otakus.
Reel life: 00.24″-
Warning for people to go early and to catch the first train. Otherwise it’ll be kinda chaotic.
Reel life: 05:22″
Real life: 10:43
(yeah I didn’t hop onto the first train)
Reel life: 05:18″
Real life: 10:42
Reel life: 04:49″
Real life: 11:03
Reel life: 06:37″
Reel life: 06:16″
Reel life: 05:39″
Real life: 11:15
Reel life: 09:25″
Real life: 11:29
Reel life: 14:12″
Real life: 11:25
Reel life: 16:16″
Real life: 14:28
Reel life: 09:34″
Real life: 11:16
Reel life: 08:18″
Real life: 11:16
Reel life: 08:15″ / 12:48″ / 13:25″ / 14:18″
I swear I did not notice that they re-used this scene 4 times until I was entering timestamps in this post
Reel life: 17:56″ / 18:15″
At the Cosplay area – more of it here
Real life: 13:57
Reel life: 16:25″
Real life: 14:30
Reel life: 16:29″
I kinda felt like that too.
Reel life: 06:54″
This happened to me more than a dozen times within an hour.
Reel life: 17:02″
Exact replica of me face when I arrived
The anime took its toll on the life of an Otaku and their favourite hangout (Akiba – you need to die if you dunno this by now), siting a few real – reel life examples. Some scenes of Akihabara in the anime really do exist. It’s great that anime is coming more to life and becoming a part of reality and when you do visit the place you get this sense of belonging – yeah I’ve seen this place in (some anime) before then you experience some kind of euphoria and free-fall effect and then end up spending a few more thousand yen buying figures.
Deathy
Thursday, 28 August, 2008 at 21:58
Like the friend of the main (male) character said: “Don’t underestimate Summer Comiket!”
That’s one advice I’ll never forget.
melissa
Sunday, 31 August, 2008 at 21:08
i like e reel VS real life of the ねこバス停
sooo much of a similarity
cute!
toshi
Thursday, 11 September, 2008 at 18:16
Stumbled upon this site quite by chance..
Hmmm. I think I can get the feeling. I’m actually a normal salaryman with a pretty good career and a very healthy (I hope) passion for せいねんまんが (Let ya all decide which seinen I’m referring to.. (>_<;) for their stories/premises.
Takes a while for me to find a manga that I like and browsing through them can be a bit of a chore.. Telling it to my non-japanese friends and colleagues was never an issue, but occasionally blurting it out to my japanese ones tend to illicit a quirk of an eyebrow.
Still haven’t found the time to even attend a comic convention before. Maybe next time?
Ellene
Saturday, 20 September, 2008 at 11:43
Wow..nice!!!
kyon
Wednesday, 9 November, 2011 at 05:07
I have read some articles about this, not new really many people have draw many japan areas in animes.
This anime of haruka is kind boring because there’s nothing different about this or is just that i like action animes.