Comments on: “Disturbed comic fan” stabbing rampage

by: Borenilswrore

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:42:40 +0000

Good day! side effects from fosamax medication

by: Xenos

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:46:46 +0000

Wow. I didn’t hear this connection until now. My friends and I heard from our friend living in Tokyo that day, so we didn’t worry. He was one of my friends I visited and went to Akihabara with when I went for a few weeks last year.

By the way, there is still some of old ‘Electric Town’ tucked away among the otaku niche shops of various interests. It was interesting to see the old interest among the newer crowd.

I found this link to a Fuji TV video with some translation about this issue. Somewhat disturbing, both for showing sidewalk blood stains and the exploitive feel of the music and such. And I thought Fox News was bad.
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4835

Well, it sounds like Otaku Columbine time, where the media blames the subculture the killer was over his head in instead of the killer’s personal problems. And here I thought mainstream Japanese media were starting to show the Akiba subculture in a good light (and make money off of it) with TV shows like that Densha Otoko. Actually, I do agree the ‘2-D complex’ is a real issue among the subculture, but I don’t think this incident is directly caused by the subculture. It’s one person who was mentally ill. I’m sick of various media being blamed, often by the news media, for people who are simply not well.

by: Richard Starkings

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:42:52 +0000

People love their labels. I heard about this first when I was in the computer store in Santa Monica yesterday — a japanese lady was telling the guys in the service window that an “anime freak” had stabbed seven people in Tokyo.

I kept my peace.

Rich!

by: Kwesi K.

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:31:31 +0000

Akihabara has evolved to become a general pop culture hub for the city. The electronics are there but so are comics, toys, video games, animation and AV idols of various stripes.

by: Thoapsl

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:52:18 +0000

Leaving aside the tragedy itself - isn’t it basically inaccurate to describe Akihabara as the “comic book subculture hub” of Tokyo? Isn’t Akihabara far, far more famous for being “Electric Town”, the hub of electronic goods and all sorts of consumer electronics? And comic books are everywhere in urban Tokyo, anyway – aren’t they basically hubless? That was the impression I got when I was there, anyway…

by: Mike Joffe

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:23:40 +0000

I should add that the marvel comics idea was the schools. The backlash is only against native, Japanese comics. Foreign comics seem to get a free pass.

by: Mike Joffe

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:22:12 +0000

I teach English in a Japanese school and this is a big deal here. I am teaching a combination drawing/english class this summer, and originally it was going to include mini lessons showing kids how to draw their favorite anime characters. But today they asked that I downplay the anime aspect, as it would be inappropriate in light of the murder and the current attitude towards otaku. Instead I’m going to be teaching them to draw marvel comics characters. Japan REALLY reacts to otaku crimes. I don’t need to tell anyone here that the word otaku first became derogatory after a hugely publicized murder. It may not seem a big deal in the news, but here on the ground its the major aspect of the story.

by: Henessey Williams

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:03:09 +0000

The backlash against all comicbooks will now begin.

by: Susie

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:48:18 +0000

Some blogger reactions can be found here: http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4829.
Actually there are several posts about it on JapanProbe.

by: Bill Cunningham

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:31:16 +0000

“the hub of Tokyo’s comic-book subculture.”

Is there any comic book subculture HUB in any major city in N. America?

Okay - San Diego in July - sure…

by: MarcusLusk

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:13:36 +0000

First I’ve heard of the comicbook connection, too.

by: Mark Coale

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:57:31 +0000

yeah, most of the stories I’ve read today have stressed the fanboy nature of the victims, but not the killer.

by: HABE

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:40:19 +0000

Out of the dozens of times I’ve heard this story so far, this is the first one that mentioned he was a comic-book fan. Might want to x-no-archive this post so the hook doesn’t catch on.