"Evil Deeds of the Akiba Nerds" "`Nice Guys', Pedos, Speed Freaks".
Taken from the neogaf.com forum.
Japan Probe on 'Fuji TV focuses on Akihabara killer’s love of anime'
Jet lagged with coffee:
The growing tension and push-and-pull between the cops, the normal people, and the otaku in Akihabara was shaping up to be a grand saga, complete with flash mobs and organized protests. But now, all of that has been preempted by some loser who just wanted to kill people.
(Here's the part where I have to cover my ass by saying that I have friends who work in the area and who visit that very spot where the shit hit quite regularly, including me. So no, it's not some abstract GTA IV sandbox where this all took place and I understand what it means when real human beings die real horribly.)
People are starting to brand me an alarmist over my reaction to all this, but do you really want to roll the dice on Akihabara being totally unaffected by a killing spree in the middle of the street?
Akiba is always changing, this time my bet is that it will change less than it changed after the "Densha Otoko" tsunami... or almost so I hope...
anyway, in the Japanese hive mind, "Resistance is futile"...
Posted by: Frankie | June 09, 2008 at 06:42 AM
Taken from 'Change Comes From Within and Other Witty Replies to the Homeless.'
Does anyone *really* know how this is going to turn out?
Posted by: Patrick Macias | June 09, 2008 at 06:45 AM
"...a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers..", a bunch of bishoujo-games and a fully charged DS should be enough to search for the "Japanese (Otaku) Dream" and find out how this is *really* going to turn out.
Posted by: Frankie | June 09, 2008 at 07:03 AM
Japan turning into a police state? Check.
Higher rates of suicide? Check.
More shocking murders to justify turning Japan into a police state? Check.
People recovering from this shock? Wait a minute...
It'll turn out like the Christian uprising of the late 1700s. Put down extremely bloodily.
Posted by: DrmChsr0 | June 09, 2008 at 07:07 AM
Japan turning into a police state? Check.
Higher rates of suicide? Check.
More shocking murders to justify turning Japan into a police state? Check.
People recovering from this shock? Wait a minute...
It'll turn out like the Christian uprising of the late 1700s. Put down extremely bloodily.
Posted by: DrmChsr0 | June 09, 2008 at 07:07 AM
I think you're exactly right to be worried, Patrick. This is bad shit going down. Given the 'flash mob' mentality going on you're going to start to see gangs of people crowding around that intersection HOPING for another incident. And with all that tension building in the collective mind, something WILL happen. And all the cops in Japan won't be able to stop it.
And since the American anime industry is now a popped bubble and all those lovely, lovely Dollars aren't floating to the land of Nihon anymore the Japanese industry will be affected (has already been IIRC) and you'll see studios and productions that were marginal shut down, out of 'deference' to these events.
and yes, it all ends with two mutant children fighting over a worm to eat, on the ashes of Tokyo....
Posted by: Steve Harrison | June 09, 2008 at 08:23 AM
I like how it's cool to run around screaming "THE INDUSTRY is dying!" but if you so much as suggest that otaku culture might be negatively impacted by a horrible spree killing in the middle of Akihabara, then you must be really out of touch, or something.
Posted by: Patrick Macias | June 09, 2008 at 09:49 AM
So I find myself wondering: if, after the cop crackdowns on street performers, tons of petty criminals targeting otaku as easy marks, and a spree killing, Akiba does fall as the otaku home...where do the otaku go next?
Is there another spot ripe for becoming the new Akiba?
Posted by: Clarissa | June 09, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Clarissa - Well if worse comes to worst, there are always the Super Platforms from the second "The Submersion of Japan" book...
Posted by: Gaijinder | June 09, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Also, interesting note:
Some idiots were waving/grinning/making stupid faces during TV coverage of the aftermath of the spree. Turns out that 2channel is pissed and is trying to find the identities of said morons.
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4836
That ought to be interesting...
Posted by: Gaijinder | June 09, 2008 at 12:53 PM
Clarissa: Nakano Broadway is a good contender for a "Neo-Akiba". There's also nerd-catering locales in other big JP cities, like Den Den Town in Osaka and Oosu Kanon in Nagoya.
Posted by: Zero-chan | June 09, 2008 at 01:05 PM
Nothing neo about good old Nakano Broadway...but space is at a premium inside.
Lots of recent activity in Kichijoji as well, via the Cross Kichijoji center (cosplay cafe, butler cafe, and idol concert event space all in one building), a brand new Tora no Ana store, and otage regularly practicing near the Sunroad shotengai...it even has the electronics thing covered with a new Yodobashi Camera superstore.
Posted by: Patrick Macias | June 09, 2008 at 01:10 PM
Nakano Broadway was the first thing that came to mind for me, but I wasn't sure if the area could support it easily. I know Ikebukuro currently seems to have the fort held down in terms of fujoshi, but I'm not sure whether it would be a candidate for otaku in general.
Kichijoji, eh? Interesting.
Thanks for the insight about Osaka, Zero-chan, other than the fact that I know a bunch of doujin events get held there I don't know much about otaku stuff there.
Posted by: Clarissa | June 09, 2008 at 01:14 PM
It would be cool if the otakization of Kichijoji's alternative culture will keep growing!
Nakano Broadway is the Madarake kingdom and Mandarake just opened an 8 floor facility in Akiba so I think the wind is still flowing to Akiba in the last couple of years.
6-8 tragedy will give a boostto the choudori sterilization (started when Donki got the AsobitCity building) with the progressive move to GFront area (look at the Game Bank "attraction store").
I love DenDen, but I feel it will never be Akiba since Osaka will never have the otaku critical mass that Tokyo owns.
Posted by: Frankie | June 09, 2008 at 09:07 PM