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Otaku
Its original usage is as a slightly honorific word used to address someone with whom one is not very familiar. In the early 1980s, the custom among anime and science fiction buffs of calling each other “otaku,” morphed into a term referring to passionate fans of anime, live-action “special effects” TV dramas, manga, and/or computer games. Ever since this term was appropriated for this usage, there has been a biased perception of
otaku as being introverted, gloomy, lacking in sociability, and exhibiting poor taste in clothes. Today, however, anime and manga have become firmly established as widely popular genres especially among youth, and it is difficult to come up with a typical
otaku image. Many of the Japanese anime and manga creators whose works are widely known around the world today are so-called
otaku.
Otaku who flock to Akihabara in search of electronic parts, computer parts, anime and manga fanzines, game software, and
aidoru (“idol”) photo collections are known as “Akiba-kei (Akihabara-type
otaku).”
Reference
http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/content/japaneseculture/30akiba.htm
