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The Otaku Section

I think the word "otaku" (in this case) is taken as just another buzzword that has infiltrated our society as a marketing gimmick. There was a time when you didn't even see the word "anime" or "manga" on store shelves and the more common term (now totally obsolete) to distinguish Japanese made entertainment from American made entertainment was "Japanimation." Personally, I think the outcry from fans to remove the word Japanimation from everyday use is far more legitimate than the criticism of the word otaku. Otaku can mean many different things to many people and remember, it's just a word, originally a Japanese word and so was "anime."

I think people exagerate the Japanese definition of Otaku or the true Japanese definition has changed as well.
I had two of my Japanese schoolfriends (here in Japan) ask me whether I was an Otaku when I recognized their cellphone ringtone as the Lucky Star OP song. These two girls are far from the more generalized geeky image Japanese anime fans are given, in fact they're probably the last people in my school who I'd expect to be Otaku (ie. they're pretty much the archetypes of the new "younger generation"). Knowing from anime forums that the Japanese definition of Otaku is more of an insult than not I denied their accusations but they laughed it off in a friendly way and told me that I was an Otaku without sounding as if they were teasing me. So now I've conlcuded that Otaku should be adopted by the wider anime community since it seems the Japanese fans have already, whether they're stereotypes or not, as these two friends of mine have proved.
To be honest, even if the truth was that Otaku was derogatory I think I would still call myself an Otaku only because "Anime Fan" sounds so much worse in my opinion. I'd like to have a general name I can label myself as an avid viewer of anime and I don't see any other option.

On the other hand, I've seen two separate documentaries on TV which followed a mentally unstable 19 year old girl around Tokyo as she added to her absolutely massive collection of anime costumes and figurines. The documentary was not exactly kind in it's portrayal of an "otaku" so I'm not sure what to think. Obviously school students wouldn't be watching the documentary so it's safe to say that different people in Japan view anime fans differently.

Otaku can mean many different things to many people and remember, it's just a word, originally a Japanese word and so was "anime."

Regarding "Japanimation" as a term, I listened to the most recent Anime Today podcast from Rightstuf, and they had John O'Donnell from CPM on there. He said that "Japanimation" was a term that came into use because nobody in the retail world knew the term "anime" or even how to pronounce it. Luckily since it's more widely known now, "Japanimation" should eventually fall out of use. Ironically it got "reverse imported" back in to Japanese, as O'Donnell explained, and as seen in episode 17 of Excel Saga.