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'''Otaku''' come in many flavors, but one thing can be said for each and every one of them. They've each staked out their own favorite thing, and they obsess over it relentlessly. Regardless of other intelligence, an ''otaku'' will have an obsessive, unhealthy, and almost
There are almost as many flavors of this type of character as there are things under the sun, but a few of the major ones are:
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{{examples}}
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* Graham Aker from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Gundam 00]]'' is a Japanese culture fanboy. A VERY [[Badass]] Japanese fanboy who manages to avoid being an [[Occidental Otaku]] if only by virtue of the fact he is totally serious about his passion and has hardly any traits of the Occidental version aside from the fanaticism.
* Aida Kensuke in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''
* Many of the characters in ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' are otaku, and indeed their otaku-ness drives a few major plot points.
* Nearly the entire casts of ''[[Otaku no Video|Otakuno Video]]'', ''[[Genshiken]]''/''[[Spotted Flower]]'', and ''[[Comic Party]]'', shows ''about'' fandom.
* Sergeant Sousuke Sagara, from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]!'', is described as a military otaku by Kaname before she finds out he's actually ''military''. Shinji Kazama is however a straight-up version of the trope, specifically a military AS fan. However, Sousuke is still a military nut even though he's actually a soldier, due to the fact he's a clueless moron about anythin NON military and thinks of everything from a soldier's POV.
* It could be argued that Daidouji Tomoyo in ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' is a cosplay otaku, though [[Fan of Underdog|she's really more of a Sakura otaku, isn't she...]]
* The "Two Guys from Tokyo" in ''[[Initial D]]'' Fourth Stage (car otaku).
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* Yoshikawa Noboru in ''[[Great Teacher Onizuka]]'' (a gaming otaku).
* Mechanic Shiba Shigeo in ''[[Patlabor]]'' (a technology otaku), and to a lesser extent, the heroine Noa Izumi (a mecha otaku). This also applies to Ohta (Gun Otaku).
* During the "dinosaur" episode of ''[[
* Hare from ''[[
* ''[[Paranoia Agent]]'' features an otaku who patronizes hookers that play to his cosplay fetish. (As in, he pays the hookers for sex, not treat them in a condescending manner.) It turns out to be a plot point later on.
* Several characters from ''[[Di Gi Charat]]'', including one who is specifically a parody of American anime otaku.
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** It's more insane than that. When she first saw a photo of one of the members (he bore a vary close resemblance to her favorite character), she instantly declared she was going to marry him and transfered to the school. Keep in mind the school is in Japan and she lived in Paris.
* ''[[Lucky Star]]'':
** Konata, another exception to the [[Cosplay Otaku Girl]] rule, who seems to be primarily a gaming otaku (specifically, [[
** Patricia Martin is a parody of the typical American weeaboo, knowing nothing about Japan and its culture besides what she learned from anime, manga and yaoi. She learned most of her Japanese from subbed anime, only listens to Japanese bands whose songs have been used as anime themes, and believes Akihabara is a more important cultural landmark than anything else in Japan. Needless to say, she's way geekier than even ''Konata''.
* Yamazaki Kaoru from ''[[Welcome to The NHK]]''. Although he comes off as slightly less severe then some of the other characters, he's treated with the same humorous objective criticism as everyone else.
* In the anime version of ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'', the serious and sensible Rina is given a rather ridiculous vice: she's a plasma TV otaku. This is used without fail to allow the writers to dangle a TV in front of her and ignore any situation where she would take the [[Idiot Ball]] from her friends and punt it somewhere else with her good sense.
* The main protagonist of ''[[Kekkaishi]]'' is a cake otaku. Another person [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this. This is made funnier when his feelings for an older childhood friend and briefly gaining a [[Stalker with a Crush]] of similar age to said childhood friend has given him a reputation for [[Likes Older Women|being fond of older women]], which other characters have also pointed out.
* Nagi from ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' is a manga otaku, and has been drawing her own ever since she was six years old. She's also a [[Gamer Chick]]. Gotta do something with all those hours inside, right?
** Wataru (a.k.a. "Waka") works as a clerk in a video store, giving him plenty of opportunities to indulge in his hobby of action [[Anime]].
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* Tama and Rin in ''[[Bamboo Blade]]'' are also toku fans, and eventually become [[Promoted Fanboy|Promoted Fangirls]] when they get a chance to go on the set of the ''Blade Braver'' movie.
* Sakura in ''[[Penguin Musume]]'', a [[Cosplay Otaku Girl]] and hardcore fan to the point of being loony.
* Fuu from ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' loves video games (specifically [[RPG
* Kujyou Himeka of ''[[Kamichama Karin]]'' is pretty much an insect otaku...
* ... which also applies to Nagisa Kurihara from ''[[Sketchbook]]''.
* ''[[Codename: Sailor V]]'' (the manga that would eventually give birth to ''[[Sailor Moon]]'') actually has a one off character called Takurou Ootaku, whose name is a pun roughly meaning "wandering otaku". He's a Game Otaku who refuses to believe a girl could be better at games than he is. He flips out at the idea of Minako even going to an arcade (which he considers a "castle for lonely boys") and accuses Minako of being a man in drag when she beats his highscore. He even demands she take off her clothes. When she tries to fight him as Sailor V he tries to look up her skirt, so she kicks him.
* ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]]: Tokyo'' has a sight gag panel in which Count D turns down a stereotypical otaku's request for a [[Catgirl]] [[Meido]].
* The titular character of ''[[Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu]]''. Being an infamous [[Ojou]], she had to hide the fact that she's also an Anime Otaku, otherwise people will look down on her... and then the male protagonist caught her red-handed and she became completely scared that he'd use that knowledge to that advantage (turns out he didn't). This is an in-anime example where people do look down on anime
* Eitarou, Professor Stein and Agaliarept in ''[[Macademi Wasshoi]]'' are all otaku in the purest sense of the word. Except they're also all powerful mages, mad scientists and hold positions of at least ''some'' power at the Magician's Academy. When magic and fandom combine, all that can be said is [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* Winry of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is an [[Artificial Limbs|automail]] engineer and a "mech otaku". Edward [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this, and is promptly accused of being an "alchemy otaku".
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* Japan from ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' is an anime and games otaku; he has stated he prefers 2D to 3D and is a direct parody to Japan's (the country) otaku culture.
* Tashigi from ''[[One Piece]]'' could be classified as a sword otaku, [[Dojikko|among]] [[Meganekko|other]] [[The Ditz|things.]]
* Chiaki from ''[[
* Hiroshi Akiba of ''[[Inubaka]]'' is stated by the manga to be a pop-idol otaku turned dog otaku. He knows more about dogs than the title character.
* Keima Katsuragi, the protagonist of ''[[The World God Only Knows]]'', is a dedicated [[Dating Sim]] otaku who gets recruited to help capture runaway spirits. He's not generally well-liked by his fellow students - which is fine with him, because he doesn't like engaging with ''them''.
** His sidekick Elsee is an otaku too, although she's rather quieter about it than Keima. Unusually for the trope, she has two specialities: [[Idol Singer]] Kanon Nakagawa... and fire trucks.
* Tenpou from ''[[Saiyuki]] Gaiden'' was described by the author once as "fundamentally an otaku"...of many things presumably, given the extent of his library (has a bit of everything, not sure on his definition of a bit) and art/sculpture/weird things from the lower world collection.
* Tsutomo Sasaki from ''[[Domu: A Child's Dream]]: A Child's Dream'' failed to get into college for three consecutive years because he spends all of his time building model airplanes.
* Walker and Erika on ''[[Durarara!!]]'' are big anime/manga otaku who don't really distinguish between fiction and reality; {{spoiler|in fact, they fit the negative stereotype that otaku are psychotic, although they're [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath|still basically "the good guys"]]}}.
* [[Cosplay Otaku Girl|Ki]][[Yaoi Fangirl|ko]] from ''[[Darker
* Megane Kakeru in [[Inazuma Eleven]]. At least he's not ''that'' bad, and [[Moment of Awesome|can be even awesome at a time]], especially when he's compared to an another soccer team made of otaku {{spoiler|who use their traits to cheat matches.}}
* ''[[Emerging]]'': Mori, the office manager for the Department of Virology in the National Institute for Infectious Diseases, is an otaku for, of all things, ''deadly viruses''. [[Interspecies Romance|Especially Ebola]].
* Most of the cast of ''[[Kuragehime]]'' are otaku of some variety (jellyfish, dolls, ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'', etc). Of particular note are Kuranosuke and Hanamori, who are more-or-less obsessed with dresses and Benzes, yet avoid most of the other negative stereotypes and are generally not lumped in with the other otaku.
* Shinichi Kudo from [[Detective Conan]] is both an [[Amateur Sleuth]] and a huge fanboy of mystery and crime novels. He's sometimes referred to as a ''suiri otaku'' aka a ''mystery otaku''. (Particularly by his [[Tsundere|"not girlfriend"]] Ran.)
* Touhou Fuhai from the ''[[Rosario
{{quote|
* ''[[Hanaukyo Maid Tai]]''. Ikuyo Suzuki, head maid of the Technology department. She writes and sells her own manga.
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'': The episode "Speak Like a Child", which is about a time-capsule videotape, features an otaku with an interest in VCRs and other obsolete video equipment.
* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' has a rather hilarious take on the otaku phenomenon, with Po as a Furious Five enthusiast. Not only does he know all the tales of their exploits, recognize each sacred or amazing artifact in the temple with ecstatic glee, and pour out gushing praise of Crane in his bedchamber to the point he hovers outside the door waiting for the master to speak again, but he confesses to them that he has all their action
* The title character in ''[[Muriel's
==
* In the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[
▲* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' has a rather hilarious take on the otaku phenomenon, with Po as a Furious Five enthusiast. Not only does he know all the tales of their exploits, recognize each sacred or amazing artifact in the temple with ecstatic glee, and pour out gushing praise of Crane in his bedchamber to the point he hovers outside the door waiting for the master to speak again, but he confesses to them that he has all their action figures--which of course are much smaller than the real thing, except Mantis who is "the same size." The fact he is chosen to learn kung fu at their side and becomes the [[Designated Hero]] is probably an example of an [[Ascended Fanboy]] as well--the artifact-examining scene certainly smacks of it.
▲* The title character in ''[[Muriel's Wedding|Muriels Wedding]]'' is a hard-core marriage [[Otaku]], who makes it a point to go to every dress boutique in Sydney with fake stories about comatose family members to score pictures of herself in various wedding dresses.
▲* In the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'', Apprentice Postman Stanley Howler is an obsessive pin collector, to the point (no pun intended) that all the other collectors in Ankh-Morpork think he's "a little weird about pins". After the main character invents postage stamps, Stanley takes up stamp collecting... with pretty much the same obsessiveness he had for pins.
* ''[[Don Quixote]]'' makes this [[Older Than Steam]]. Even before he goes crazy enough to actually try to become a knight, he's arguing with his friends over which knights are the strongest, overthinking all the technical aspects of the chivalry stories, and even being tempted to write [[Fan Fiction]] of one of his favorites. Disturbingly similar to some modern-day fandoms...
** You can see this quote in Chapter I, Part I:
{{quote|
* In ''[[World War Z]]'', there is an
** And then he gets trained by [[Zatoichi|a blind swordsman]], and gains a couple thousand more levels in badass.
* Annie Wilkes of [[Misery]] fame may be the best example of this trope, at least in the west. She's also an [[Axe Crazy]] [[Hikikomori]].
* Western (sort of) example: Hiro from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''.{{context}}▼
▲== Live Action TV ==
▲* Western (sort of) example: Hiro from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''.
* ''[[Densha Otoko]]'' centers around a group of otaku who meet over an online message board, and their attempts to get one of their number to win the heart of a lady.
* The geeks in ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]'' as well. One episode has them cosplaying for a convention as [[Star Wars|Luke Skywalker, Yoda]] and the [[Doctor Who|Fourth Doctor]].
* ''[[Kamen Rider Fourze]]'' uses the term several times, in reference to female lead Yuki Jojima (an outer space and rocketry fangirl) and [[Goth]] girl Tomoko Nozama (a fangirl of insects and the urban legend of the [[Kamen Rider (TV series)|Kamen Rider]]).
==
* [[Handsome Lech|Nikolai]] from ''[[Luminous Arc]]'' is a [[Witch Species|witch]] otaku, who is in heaven when {{spoiler|Witches start joining your group.}}
** Kaph from ''[[Luminous Arc 2]]'' is the editor of a magazine about Witches and, well, pretty much loves being in the party with all the Witches around for him to create his art and took pictures of. Hell, his class is W-Otaku!
* A sidestory from ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics A2]]'' states that Horne is an item maniac (in Japanese, in English, he's referred as an item ''aficionado'').
* An unusually [[The Woobie|sympathetic]] and well-[[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] example is Otacon from ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]''. His nickname, of course, is derived from Otakon, the Otaku Convention. The first lines he says to the main character, Snake, are a very melancholy invocation of the trope, and sets him up for some very unusual and well-played parallels between the loneliness of a reclusive soldier and the loneliness of a reclusive otaku -
{{quote|
'''Snake:''' Not me. I always work alone.
'''Otacon:''' Alone? Are you an otaku too? }}
** And again in ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'', when Snake communicates with him while fighting R.O.B.:
{{quote|
'''Snake:''' Huh. You sure know your geeky tech stuff, Otacon.
'''Otacon:''' ''(chuckles)'' Well, you know... }}
* Travis Touchdown of ''[[No More Heroes]]'' is a shameless otaku, and wears an anime t-shirt under his more traditional [[Badass]]-[[Anti-Hero]] leather outfit. He uses otaku slang terms, including [[Moe]]. Unusually, though, despite his fandom, he's [[Made of Iron|an outright bruiser]] more than capable of winning any fight he's in; and he also lacks the gentle, shy personality associated with the stereotypical otaku, instead having been inspired by the [[Jerkass|rather violent]] and [[Cluster F-Bomb|foul-mouthed]] anonymous frequenters of the [[Image Boards|anime boards on the Japanese message board Nii Channeru (2chan)]].
** Not to mention some of his unlockable outfits are [[Real Men Wear Pink|hilariously nerdy]].
** Travis is an interesting, rare breed of a [[Occidental Otaku|western otaku]] created by a Japanese <s>maniac</s> [[Suda 51|developer]]. He's surprisingly spot on.
* Flonne from ''[[Disgaea]]'' is a huge [[Toku]] and anime
** Almaz in Disgaea 3 is also an otaku, but focused completely on heroes. Mao is a closet hero otaku as well (he refuses to admit it).
* Francis from ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' is a giant chameleon who kidnaps Tippi in order to take pictures of her with his new "high-technical" camera, stockpiles video games and anime, and is overall a geek of the highest order.
* In ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior|Rockman.EXE]]'', Higure/Higsby is described as a "Battle Chip Otaku". Considering his obsession with the things, it's not hard to see why.
* In ''[[Touhou Project]]'', The shrine maiden Sanae Kochiya is a definite surprise. First off, she started as a usual danmaku fighter and ends up as an anime otaku. Therefore,[[Memetic Mutation|she's a good girl.]]
* Ashton Anchors from ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]'' is a ''barrel'' otaku. In the anime version, ''[[Star Ocean]] EX'', he is able to identify not only the year and location any barrel was made, but what it's been used for, on sight.
* 9-Volt and 18-Volt of ''[[Wario Ware]]'' are massive Nintendo fanboys.
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* The protagonist of ''[[Danball Senki]]'' needs to recruit the help of an ''organization'' of Otaku, who double as [[Hollywood Hacking|hackers]]. An [[Occidental Otaku]] and a group of [[Sentai]] heroes wannabes also appear as opponents in tournaments.
=== [[Visual Novels]] ===
▲== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* Kaine in ''[[A Profile]]'' is an anime and dating sim otaku, and quite open about it. Despite this, he's even more popular than the main character.
* Takumi Nishijō, the protagonist from ''[[Chaos;Head]]'', is a [[Hikikomori]] and a massive otaku (Dolls, Anime, and Gamer) to the point of spending all of his time in his room (a cargo container on the roof of a building) and vastly preferring the company of his anime-based dolls to any real girls; this preference exhibits itself most strongly (besides his constant exclamations to that effect) by him {{spoiler|dreaming/hallucinating about his favorite doll being real, alive and talking to him in virtually every episode (as well as being married to him, iirc)}}. Ironically enough, it turns out that {{spoiler|Takumi himself is a hallucination-made-real, answering the age-old question, "Can dreams dream?" with a very emphatic "Yes." Evidently, the trouble is getting them to ''stop''.}}
* Parodied with ''[[Teen Girl Squad]]'
==
* ''[[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki]]'', which frequently parodies anime and manga tropes had an otaku as a recurring antagonist in several holiday specials.
▲* Parodied with ''[[Teen Girl Squad]]'s'' "Japanese Culture Greg", who constantly shouts out random [[Gratuitous Japanese]] and makes [[Animesque]] faces.
▲* ''[[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki]]'', which frequently parodies anime and manga tropes had an otaku as a recurring antagonist in several holiday specials.
* Piro and Largo from ''[[Megatokyo]]'', the first a rather straight Western anime otaku, the second a videogame otaku [[Cloudcuckoolander|with a feeble grasp on reality.]]
* Phil from ''[[Yosh!]]'', to the point of being able to quote a specific ''panel'' from a given manga.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
▲== Western Animation ==
* Comic Book Guy from ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''.
** [[
* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' episode "Collect Her" features a negative example in the from of Lenny Baxter, a fan who spent much of his spare time collecting Powerpuff memorabilia. When Lenny finds out he has obtained every known piece of merchandise, he goes insane at the prospect of not being able to add more items to his collection, leading him to steal the girls' personal belongings and, eventually, kidnapping the girls themselves.
▲== Real Life ==
* Shoko Nakagawa, famous blogger, cosplayer, and TV personality in Japan. You may know her for singing the opening and insert song for ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''.
* "Seito Sakakibara" (his real identity is sealed) was a fourteen-year
* Tsutomu Miyazaki, also known as the Otaku Killer, was
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Anime Fan Speak]]
[[Category:Fandom]]
[[Category:Indexed and Nerdy]]
[[Category:Stock Japanese Characters]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Otaku]]
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