It's kinda funny that my entire Here's an Idea! series on this blog was inspired by Idea Channel, and by some coincidence, Idea Channel covers a thesis related to one of my WILL Talks GAMES articles. The latest discussion to come from the web series revolves around Animal Crossing and its promotion of an Otaku citizenship. It was a very intriguing and new way of looking at a video game about...well, a village full of talking animals.
Otaku, for those that don't know, is a Japanese word mirroring that of a geek in English - someone who has an obsession for the novelty and branding of a product or franchise. This doesn't necessarily mean to like a series of movies or a TV show, but maybe only liking a certain character, thus triggering the need to geek out and buy all of that lovely merchandise! The discussion on Animal Crossing strips the game of its cute, whimsical mood, and theorizes the idea of a political agenda. That's just uncanny.
Anyway, it's a really interesting idea on Mike's part. Take a look below, and leave a comment in the comments section below: what do you think of Otaku citizenship? Are you an Otaku for anything? How's your playthrough of Animal Crossing: New Leaf going?
Sorry that this post is kinda filler-ish, by the way. I recently got a new job for some of that green stuff, and it's taking up a lot of my time trying to learn the ropes and get comfortable with it. I have some other posts I'll be making in the next couple weeks relating to my schoolwork from this passing year though, so look out for that!