Otaku Culture
These works explore otaku culture or feature characters that take part in and enjoy otaku culture. However, these works may also act as a way to criticize otaku culture or may portray it in a negative light.
Manhwa Review | Love Meter 100% by Sagold
Title: Love Meter 100%
Yihan loves video games, but not just any video games. His favorite video game is Love Meter 100%, a BL game where he can romance several hot 2D men. His favorite, though, is Mikaros. His love for the fictional character doesn’t stop in the game. Yihan’s bedroom is covered in Mikaros merch, he carries around a Mikaros bag, which is full of Mikaros merch, and he wears Mikaros merch wherever he can. Mikaros is a hunk, and everything Yihan wants in a man, but the odds of finding someone precisely like his 2D love interest are slim to none until he happens upon a Mikaros lookalike on campus.
Park Há is just as hunky as Mikaros and has the same mint-colored hair. What are the odds? Yihan is ready to risk it all for a chance to meet the man of his dreams, but along the way, he hears Park Há mention that he hates otaku. Unfortunately, Yihan is the ultimate otaku. How can Yihan finally win with the heart of real-life Mikaros when Park Há is destined to hate him?
Manga Review | Love Stage!! by Eiki Eiki
Title: Love Stage!!
Izumi doesn’t fit in with his family. His mother was a model and is now a famous actress; his father was a stage actor and founded the SenaPro talent agency, and his older brother is the frontman for a famous band. It would be an understatement to say he has talent running through his veins. However, no matter how much innate talent he may have in the entertainment industry, Izumi has no interest in pursuing a career in that field. Instead, Izumi has dreams of becoming a mangaka, just like the creator of his favorite series, Lala Lulu. There’s just one problem: he’s terrible and has no idea.
That’s the least of his worries, though, as he is now faced with a new issue. His mother wants nothing more than to act alongside one of the hottest actors of the time: Ryoma Ichijo. Fortunately, the opportunity arose as she asked to reprise her role in a wedding commercial she, Izumi’s father, and Ryoma starred in a decade ago. Unfortunately for Izumi, he’ll only take the role if the original cast returns. He hopes that he’ll get to meet the little girl he worked alongside in the commercial, as he’s been in love with her since they met all those years ago. Unbeknownst to Ryoma, that little girl was none other than a cross-dressing Izumi.
After some convincing and bribery with Lala Lulu merch, Izumi agrees to take the job. How will he handle Ryoma’s advances? More importantly, though, how will Ryoma handle finding out the woman he’s held a torch for all these years is actually a man?
Manga Review | Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku by Fujita
Title: Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
Narumi and Hirotaka have been friends since childhood when they bonded over their love of nerdy hobbies. For Narumi, she loved manga and anime. For Hirotaka, his love of video games dominated everything else in his life. However, as their carefree childhood days flew by, Hirotaka soon realized that he cared for Narumi almost as much as his video games. Unfortunately, though, those idyllic days of childhood bliss faded away, and so did Narumi and Hirotaka’s friendship.
As adults, Hirotaka and Narumi end up working at the same office. While they don’t immediately kick off as friends again in adulthood, they find solace in each other’s company once they reveal that their previous obsessions have only intensified. Able to be 100% herself with Hirotaka, Narumi spends a lot of her time complaining and confiding in him, whether it be about her fujoshi-related hobbies, work concerns, or even her failing love life. Hirotaka, still infatuated with Narumi, faithfully stands by as her shoulder to cry on. One day, though, listening to another tale of woe from Narumi due to her various love interests leaving her because of her otaku hobby, Hirotaka takes the plunge. He asks Narumi:
Why doesn’t she just date him instead?
And so begins the struggle of love between a closeted fujoshi and a game-obsessed, antisocial otaku. What could go wrong?