Akiba Lovers Gather for Akiba Daisuki! Festival 2013 [2/2]

From Jan. 12-14, 2013, the third annual Akiba Daisuki! Festival was held in Akihabara, Tokyo. One program that was not to be missed at the event was the otagei training event performed by idols.

On TokyoOtakuMode, the otaku content we publish mainly covers anime, manga, and games, and features a heavy emphasis on characters. However, the Japanese word “otaku” is a blanket term that covers a wide range of genres. One such genre includes fans who enjoy supporting their favorite idols. Otagei is a form of dance that is enthusiastically performed among otaku of the idol variety during idol concerts as a way of expressing their affection for the idol or idols on stage. Otagei is in fact characteristic of idol performances. Recently, however, due to it being a bother to regular attendees, otagei have been widely banned, with many proclaiming it to be an “unhealthy commercialization of a wholesome subculture”. It is indeed a difficult problem among the otaku community, but let’s return to the topic at hand.

Due to the current controversy surrounding otagei, recent otagei demonstrations have been few, making the otagei training event at the Akiba Daisuki! Festival a stand-out event. A wide range of idol otaku from teenagers to the elderly gathered to dance the otagei to their heart’s content. Ten idol groups performed, with some of them even dancing the otagei together with the crowd. We talked to the idol group ANNA☆S about their thoughts on the passionate dance: “It’s really exciting and cool to see everyone moving and cheering in rhythm. In the month that we have been performing, we have never seen such a scene. It was really refreshing.” They went on to say, “Even though we have never done otagei before, we want to try it out.”

Akihabara is indeed mixed with a wide range of cultures. Whether you are an otaku or not, we urge you to take a stroll through Akihabara when you visit Japan!

ANNA☆S:
http://www.k5.dion.ne.jp/~n-pro/annas_top.html (Japanese)

Retro Game Camp:
http://www.retrogamecamp.com/ (Japanese)

Nano Lab:
http://nanolab.jp/ (Japanese)