Retsgip’s Anime Blog

Darkshaunz explores the Dark world of the Hikkimori State

In a previous entry of mine entitled, “How Otaku are You?“, I briefly discussed the Hikkimori (and identified them as lvl 6 anime enthusiast). The Hikkimori State, comes with a great deal of misconceptions, stereotypes and miscommunicated concepts. It’s been on my mind a great deal, I decided to endeavour to try and be as scientific and subjective as I can be, so bear with me as I introduce Scientific fact, and anime manipulation as we journey into the psyche of the Hikkimori. Their rise and fall and a commentary as social outcasts, their ascended anime obssession and why anime companies would love for all of us to become Hikkimoris. This is not a reach out to Hikkimoris, not a professional psychological help session, but a observer view of a moderate anime fan (but hardcore eva fan for those who know me) on just why our estranged anime loving brothers and sisters came to be so. Don’t mind the pictures I will be using for this entry, I’ll try to make them as aesthetic as I can, so that some of you won’t fall asleep in the first 2 minutes.

She can take my temperature anytime.

Don’t mistake Otakus for Hikkimoris

(Note: Just assume I mean Hikkikomori when I say “Hikkimoris”, its kind of like my personal way of abbreviating it)

This is the first common misconception, more often than not, people would mistake the common otaku as a hikkimori. Lets have a brief recap on what each is, Otakus are basically the mainstay of the anime population, although most are made out of fanboy/dom, otakus are just the primary enthusiasts of the field and observe their passions with a moderate composure. Otakus may exhibit many similar traits as a Hikkimori, such as the desire to incorporate as much Japanese into their sentences desu, adopting a female anime character as their ideal wife (or waifu as its weabooly known) or even memorizing all the Naruto handseals by heart. Otakus however, retain their individuality and Im proud to say that most Otakus are actually breadwinners for their families, have part time jobs and perform well as students in their respective fields. Hikkimoris retain all the Otaku attributes with the exception of the “good” factors mentioned above. Like Obssessive Compulsive workaholics, Hikkimori are obssessed too much into their field, can’t sleep easy without a dose of anime or manga and are especially unproductive outside their anime passion, hell, they may even display inefficiency in any anime-related tasks they do.

Otakus are also very sociable creatures, and more often than not, very nice people (albeit eccentric at times). I mentioned this earlier when I did my coverage on the Perth Anime Convention, they are usually humourous, creative (cosplay takes creativity) and generally energetic people. They are also courageous and steadfast people, in fact its proven in many online communities that anime series fanboys and girls defend their favourite series/character with such zeal that whole flame wars break out in anime forums or even by neighbouring blogs. This is not a claim, but its happening somewhere in the virtual anime community, right now, in fact I happen to know that Desu > Suigintou wars are happening on at least 3 different communities (you know who you are!) right at this moment. But its okay, its interaction, its communication with a sometimes opposing or agreeable force, its stuff like this that makes our anime passion interesting. Hikkimoris, on the other hand, try and avoid social interaction if they can. To them, they don’t need real human contact, real or virtual, they just need their anime. I wish this factor was my own personal error, but its not. You know as well as I do that they would choose the anime world over the real world anyday. Even if you would choose their path, at least we realize its a mere fleeting, imaginary thought. Not to them, unfortunately.

Time to hit up the Yaoi Fansite.

Why? - The Question even I ask

There’s a reason for why people do something, how they behave, how they react and why they have daily and voluntary habits. I’ve done a course on Organizational Behaviour which extrapulated factors on why we behave we do on organizations or in the workplace. There’s factors affecting how we act, such as family, stress levels, peer groups, diet and even technology factors like the media, computers and the intarweb. However you see it, Anime is a colourful, spicy and dazzling world. It’s also a great form of escapism. For a mere 24-26 minutes of your day, you will be entertained, you will be moved and you will immerse yourself in another fantastical world that holds no peer. Woah woah, wait a minute, escapism!? so its a bit of a heavyweight term to use on what basically is Japan’s interepretation on the animation medium. Its a fair term because even Golf and Stamp Collecting can be a form of escapism. So I’d like to do a mythbuster jig right now because people just get the wrong idea of escapsim, anything which takes your mind off your supposedly “priority and vital tasks” of your working day can count as a form of escapism. Do not fall into the trap of merely relating the word “escapism” to Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs, Drugs and Smoking and Anime. Its a safe bet then, that Hikkimoris do what they do because of they require a form of escapism.

Why do they need escapism then? There’s no universal formula I can apply to derive such an answer, nor do I have the right to standardize each individual’s personal situation. Every Hikkimori has a different motive and reason for becoming a anti-socialite and entering the “I might become a 2D character if I keep obssessing” stage. There is, however, a trend we can observe in all Hikkimoris, and that is: There is massive gap in what they want in life, and what they currently have. This is no trivial, pathetic factor however, its part of the human condition. We notice thats theres a discrepancy in what we want and what we have, this creates the mazlow’s factors of “Needs” and “Wants”. For most of us, the gap or discrepancy may be small or negligible, we’re content with our cosy lives and thats that. Most Hikkimoris have a large gap, mostly because: 1) Family Problems, 2) Dissatisfaction of one’s self, 3) Discontent with the envrionment. I realize that there’s a myriad of other factors to add to that list, but those would cover the very basic motivations. I’m not saying, “lol too bad your family sux” or “so I herd you haet urself lulz!”, but Im trying to point out that, even Otakus and Casual anime viewers have experienced all three of those things I have mentioned there. Difference being, we have come to terms with all the three factors, and have adapted our minds and physical beings to somehow cope with those factors and get on with our lives. Hikkimoris choose the shortcut, and just lose themselves in anime to ignore the reality of their situations.

Its also very possible that Hikkimoris are victims of trauma or abuse. With all the normality of their lives gone, they turn to anime and try to restart their lives on another dimension of existence. I can sympathize with these facts, yes, trauma and abuse is even now a very real and serious social issue. Yes, those young men and women have the right to be happy, balanced and mentally well people and the people who have wronged them should be sent behind slammers. Its just not a matter of saying something the politically correct way, its just bare old common human rights sense. Using anime as a medium to resolve these issues won’t assist them in their current situations, and they eventually form part of the Hikkimori State. In fact, the individuals who revert to Hikkimori-esque lifestyle will more often than not, find that their life has degenerated even further. Ah, so it seems that the basic assumption that Hikkimoris are a byproduct of social dissent is a correct one. Ever since the beginning of our time as a race, we have always been trying to discover more and more about how and why we do what we do. We even dig up and excavate ancient sites to study how we once lived. A most interesting fact is that most civilizations fall not from enemy attack, but by discontent from within. Ironically, much like Hikkimoris destroy themselves through constantly fighting with the very essence that makes them who they are.

Unhappy in Life? Get a Bunnygirl!

Most Hikkimoris are Guys

Cmon guys! whats happening here? Michael Moore already gave our sex a bashing in his book, “Stupid White Men” when he pointed out that a man is more likely to declare war on another nation than a woman (its part of our adversarial nature, more on that a bit later). Now this is not just another proclamation, but take a look at most of the anime titles on offer, its very much highly geared to the male market. If you want penultimate proof, just look at Megami Visual Magazine, seriously its the most delicious magazi-I better stop drooling now before my keyboard malfunctions. If you ignore the mainstream anime market, just look at the Hentai anime market, I swear the titles catered for Yaoi fangirls are outnumbered at least 50 titles to one, by those engineered for the visual euphoria of the male market, wait…just look at the fact that there is a whole Separate market for Hentai (not counting eroge, rofl). So could this male-orientated audience base be part of the Hikkimori issue? Of course, put up your hands if you, like many observers in the anime trend, have realized that lolis are looking sexier than ever, and that anime male leads seem to be surrounded by more and more (and more!) delicious female characters. Hey, we are healthy young men, so its okay if those things start our engines, however, thse harmless and cheeky things are also another factor why there are more Hikkimori guys, than gals (by the way ladies, this is one thing you don’t want to best us at).

There’s also another reason, this one is related to Mother Nature, and the evolution of mankind as a species. Men are natural hunters, before we hit the Homo Sapiens stage, we have aways been the sex to do the hunting for the family groups. Women on the other hand, were in charge of looking out and caring for the next generation, this is back when we were living in caves and riding dinosaurs (Im pretty sure we rode dinosaurs and ate rocks). This affected the eyesight and focus abilities of both sexes. Women were gifted by the ability to scan the environment and detect threats much quicker than men, which is why women totally kick our ass at window shopping even today (not that I would ever compete with a lady when it comes to shopping, that would be fucking stupid). Men on the other hand, can’t scan as effectively, but we have a superb focusing ability, which explains why most army sharpshooters, are in fact men. The moment we detect a target, we home in, and really focus on it so we can throw a spear at the mammoth or giant rat (whatever crazy animal there was hundreds of thousands of years ago). This natural tendency to focus is a scientific curiosity to the fact that guys are more likely to become Hikkimoris than girls. A male otaku spots an anime or animes that he likes, focuses on it, but instead of eliminating the target, they end up over-focusing on the anime. This higher probrability to obssess over something and not be able to shake off the feeling is very much part of our natural being. So for this little tidbit, we can shove it back to Mother Nature.

So you dont buy the mother nature and the fact that anime is mostly geared towards guys, then there’s another factor why most Hikkimoris are guys. Men in general are very adversarial beings, and also solitary creatures, most of of the time. If you turn on the discovery channel, you will see two lions killing each other to see which guy gets the girl. You laugh at those giant kitties because it seems so retarded, tearing each other to bits for mating rights with the lady. Then you realize, we do the exact same thing, but on a more destructive scale. Instead of clawing each other, we send missiles and deploy tanks. Instead of fighting over the lady, we fight over resources and territory. What does this have to do with Hikkimoris? Most Hikkimories are part of online communities, anime communities, which are populated mostly by other guys passionate about anime. Hence, we have a situation where there are many guys, with many different anime opinions in one place, what happens? War on a virtual scale. Hikkimoris are forced to flame and defend from being flamed, they are forced to spend more and more time reviewing their stance on whatever character or series they like in order to push back the opposition. This adversarial nature magnifies the situation, and Hikkimori guys are caught in the spiral of endless discontent and disagreement with other Otakus and Hikkimoris, the rejection of different ideals is set on a tragic infinite loop. This isolates Hikkimoris from the rest of us, worst still, men are more accustomed to be lone wolves than women. It’s almost like a sad jigsaw with all the pieces fitting in against Hikkimori guys.

Lets blame God for giving guys super Focus powers.

The Hikkimori Conspiracy

Can you hear the laying of bricks? im not taking about the typical asphalt mix, but the roads are being paved by anime companies to ensure the increase the probrability that you or me are more likely to transform into Hikkimoris. The hand that is feeding us, is not only just feeding us delicious anime, but they are trying to fatten us up. However you look at it, the penetration is global, there’s anime everywhere. Even the former Soviet Russia has Russian subs for anime, America has embraced it, and even South America has a strong anime community. Personally, I think it’s fantastic that more and more people around the globe can enjoy our favourite pastime. Then again, is this a classic case of McDonalds and Ethics 101? Anime companies probrably know as well as McDonalds that their products are part of social ills. DIfference is, McDonalds has been sued, Anime companies, not so. McDonalds have initiated anti-obesity campaigns to repair their public relations, but Anime companies have had no need to do such a thing. This is good, as it means that anime companies can concentrate on pumping out even more great quality anime (like Musashi Gundoh) for us to enjoy without having to worry about lawsuits. However, it would undoubtedly be better for anime companies if we were all Hikkimoris, its a massive profit thing. When it comes to the roots of it, they are businesses.

I’ll admit to sensationalizing it by calling it a “Conspiracy”, but I guess I was just trying to relate to the fact that the Hikkimori issue is a direct result of intensive anime marketing and constant penetration of anime aspects in youth protoculture. I understand that for everything, some groups of people will always take it too far like morons and spell a bad name for the rest of us. For example, there will always be overly obese individuals consuming McDonalds, and Hikkimoris who just have to take things to an unprecedented level of indulgence. However, I think there’s a lot of excuses I could come up for Hikkimoris being what they are as a result of anime companies. This would be inane, as Hikkimoris are in fact avoiding their crucial obligations, shifting the blame towards mother nature is one thing, but forcing the hand of corporate responsibility in absence of personal responsibility is just purely unacceptable. How about this for an idea then? Anime companies band together and have like a anime-themed walkathon or physical-activity competition. This would encourage all the Hikkimoris from out of the woodwork and into the social bandwagon for a day of fun and run. Promoting the goodness of anime, coupled with promoting a healthy lifestyle. I think its a simple, yet effective way to be part of the Hikkimori solution. Conspiracies are one thing, but finding methods to counter the myths building the conspiracies is way more practical, effective and less esoteric.

If just for hyptothetical thought, we look at the current anime world, things are geared and the minds behind anime companies are slowly realizing that anime has already become a global phenomenon. It started innocently with Pokemon and Dragonballz, and despite these animes’ respective shortcomings, they are the titles responsible for the “Punch” into the western market. To view it strategically, Pokemon copped a lot of flak from media for its targeting of young kids, so they were like the allies on Omaha Beach, getting hit left, right and centre by the Nazi Media. Once the beach-head was established however, it was history from that point on, with titles like Evangelion, Full Metal Alchemist, Naruto and Bleach all making excellent headway into the western demographics. It would seem that the Hikkimori has been created as a result of Scientific coincidence and commerical science. Wait a minute, even after I have outlined all of these factors, who is to blame for the weight of the current situation? Anime companies for their cunning and ruthless market penetration or Hikkimoris lacking personal responsbility? That is up to you to decide, as most conspiracies go, the good guys and bad guys are hard to tell apart. For this I will resort to the age old cliche’, there is no black and white, only shades of grey. Teh weight of corporate responsibility is somewhat hard to measure and we are living a strange and fanciful age where we, as citizens of the world have begun to blur our own sense of responsibility, and Hikkimoris may have wrongly pushed the their wrongdoings unto anime companies which have always catered to a very moderate anime-otaku community in the mid-90s.

Suddenly, Kittens.

I spot with my little eye, something that starts with “H”.

Do you think you are a Hikkimori? If you can confidently answer “Hell No” to this question, then you are mostly a casual anime watcher, the common fanboy or a regular Otaku. If you are unsure, then you probrably realize that you have a large discrepancy between what you want in life, and what you currently have, in addition to this realization, you have been using anime as an excuse to evade the reality of your situation. Then on the other hand, if you know you are a Hikkimori and you’re currently scoffing at this article, declaring that its none of my business, then you’re probrably right. Hikkimoris who are reading, scoff and deny all you want, because in the end, the people that know about a Hikkimori’s shortcomings and tragedies best, are none other than yourselves. What I am most interested in, even with all this discussion, is to hear from somebody who was one a Hikkimori, to somehow share the reasons and motivations behind just what lead them to living the estranged Otaku life. I figured, when it came to a topic such as this one, I would be doing the severity of some of the Hikkimori individuals’ situations injustice if I pulled punches in my overview. Though relating back to data is a reliable stance, the best source of information is always via field-research…difficult considering the people you are studying are social recluses.

Alright, when I say, “Hiikimori’s Appearance”, what are the first things to pop into your mind? In asking this question, the typical response I get from people are usually the following things: Really messy hair, smells bad, fat (sometimes obese), wears glasses, unshaved and looks like they just gave birth to an elephant (last point *may* be exaggerated). Its time to do an Animeblogger-esque mythbusters again, its inconvenient to transplant the typical “nerd” traits over to animedom, but these are Hikkimoris, in Japan, they eat ramen or supermarket sushi (low effort, no preparation needed, and its instant). These foods are relatively low in fat, especially sushi, so typical Hikkimoris are actually medium to skinny builds, as opposed to Fat overlords many people make them out to be. Also, Hikkimoris are actually extremely self-conscious people, they will bathe and cleanse themselves are regularly as normal people, and sometimes they will do it too much (see Obssessive Compulsive disorders). The reason is not actually hygiene related but its related to the fact that most of them actually would feel guilty if they dirtied their anime merchandise with their filth. You’ll also find that Hikkimoris actually try their best to look after their eyesight, the reason is simple; poor eyesight or no eyesight, and their anime fantasy is shattered.

Some of you are wondering, “What if, by some chance I happen to meet a Hikkimori?”. The best advice is; Eliminate them with extreme prejudice, and steal their anime loots for yourself. Nah, just kidding (I hope I didnt accidentally send some readers into a killing spree), Hikkimori are still people, so just be nice to them. You can be part of the solution by being nice, give them an indicator real people have the capacity to be really caring and bright beings, that reality isn’t as shit as most of them make them out to be. All in all, that’s all we can do, because believe me, I am sure their former friends and comrades have tried to help them out of their current situation, but they refused to budge. I guess that also forms part of the Hikkimori tragedy, they had people who tried to help them at one point (asking them to go out etc, but only to be hastily turned down for anime). Now, its all up to them to break the cycle.

Typical Hikkimori?

Moderation - Its being promoted all around us.

We tend to take the basic things for granted sometimes, especially when it comes to our anime enthusiasm. In life, both virtual and actual, Balance is everything. We see the promotion of Balance and Moderation in anime all the time. Characters who show some selfishness, yet are actually selfless in their actions, are almost rewarded in some way during the course of the anime. On the other side of the spectrum, the characters who obssess and dwell on dark aspects of life such as wrath and revenge, almost always have the most gruesome, tragic and unfulfilling deaths. Isn’t it eerie folks? Everytime we watch anime, more often than not, there’s a “feel good” message that it is sending viewers. Yet even when some individuals are bombarded with these positive and supposedly self-improving messages, they become so caught up in the moment, the effect of the messages actually polarizes the said individuals into Hikkimoris. I guess the message here, take the messages and emotions eminating from the anime at face value, and only engage in deep interpretation when you know the anime is trying to be artistically abstract (such as Serial Experiments Lain).

I mentioned in the above that moderation and balance is even promoted in our virtual lives. If you play or have played an MMORPG, to excel at the game, your character or avatar must have a right balance of stats in order to maximise optimum damage or spell capabilities. There are blogs out there which blog specifically on online games and the events that transpire within them, and they certainly can provide you with more information if you are curious. What exactly do I mean by moderation though? I’ve used the term sparingly, so I guess I should explain to you good folks on the term. Ignoring a dictionary definition, it basically means, “Don’t be a Jackass, and overdo it”. There’s a trigger inside us which tells us that we’ve overdone something. For example, when you eat a lot of chocolate at one go, you pause for a moment and you think in a split second, “this feels a bit wrong”. That’s a chemical - physiological reaction happening within you to alert you of your sudden increase in sugar intake, kind of like a body alarm system. The same pangs are felt with anime, except the indicators are felt mentally. The cause and effect system is a naive way of looking at this, you know as well as I do, as we all feel that split second pause where we KNOW, just know that we have overdone something, regardless of whether or not it has to do with chocolate or anything. However, Hikkimoris have miraculously learned to turn off this switch, or they are simply lingering on the feeling.

As for me, I have a great faith in my fellow anime fans, otakus, fanboys and girls and the anime blogging community. I know 99% of you folks do the right thing by the anime passion. You may launch flame missiles in defence of your beloved series, you may be the most critical bunch sometimes, you may be bravest cosplayers out there. Regardless of all those factors, at least you know where to draw the line. To draw the line of knowing one’s limits, boundaries and enjoyment, and realizing that, our anime passion is an admirable thing but there are just chores and shit that we have to do. Together, we will continue to enjoy the fruits that the anime companies have harvested for us, we will laugh, we will cry and we will be moved by a tour de force of emotions, all the while knowing that the shadow of reality will always be there to reclaim us when our magical half an hour is up. The moderate anime fan experiences the ups and downs of bittersweet aftertastes, but at least we are still functioning and contributing members to society. Let’s just pray to Haruhi tonight so that our estranged Hikkimori brethren will snap out of their seemingly damned and unwaking illusion.

In anime, the girls are hot, and the guns are fucking HUEG.

That’s all there is, there isn’t anymore

Phew! what a mouthful indeed. Its another one of those extended entries. Albeit this one isn’t as large as my previous Eva commentary, I think you folks deserve a commendation pat on the back for surviving yet another Darkshaunz rant. As anime enthusiasts, we have come such a long way, I don’t think there was ever need to do such a commentary on a topic such as this one until the 21st century. I’ve always questioned myself as to why people love overindulging themselves, anime-wise and otherwise. Some analaysts link it back to ancient culture where Lords would be slothful and gluttinous, some think that its a result of the government promoting a capitalistic government amongst modern society. However you look at it, the anime world is alread living footprints in the field of art, media science and entertainment. The future only brings more anime opportunities and events. Otakus of the future will be there to welcome the new creations with open arms. Hikkimoris will continue to do what they do, and we can only hope that one day those individuals will rejoin us as normal otakus once again. I’ll leave it to you guys to stop someone you know from getting to that stage. Always remember, otakus may become part of the problem, but they can also be part of the solution.

Cheers and a good evening,

Darkshaunz