A recent survey conducted by the Consumer Affairs Agency reveals that one-third of individuals in their 20s confess to spending money on their beloved idols, contributing to a booming market known as "Oshikatsu" worth over 620 billion yen annually.
Oshikatsu is a type of character or idol love and hobby culture that mirror's otaku's intense love of anime and manga characters, and the collection of merchandise and acts of fandom. Oshikatsu is traditionally associated with otaku culture, but has evolved to encompass support for a variety of personalities, including pop idols and YouTubers. Oshikatsu culture centers mostly around plushies and dolls of celebrity idols and characters and associated merchandise.
Fans engage in lavish spending to show their support, such as purchasing specially designed birthday cakes or embarking on nationwide journeys to take photos with dolls, often documenting their journeys together online.
Notably, at the inaugural Budokan performance of the girl group "#Babababambi," fans eagerly attended to support their favorite idols and purchase related merchandise.
To me, that just sounds like typical idol fandom, but this evolving spin-off of otaku subculture seems to be taking a more defined identity of its own. This kind of collection and fandom is familiar to otaku collecting and character love, but seems to be applicable to a wider variety of fandom, and not strictly categorized as anime, game, or manga obsession. Is it possible that otaku fandom behaviors can spread to other media & entertainment? Or is everyone who engages in collecting merch and living a hobby life centered around their favorite media, characters, singers, actors, or series just different kinds of otaku?
The emergence of trends like "Nuikatsu," featuring plush toys specifically, was showcased at events like the "Oshikatsu Goods EXPO" held at Tokyo Big Sight. Even traditional companies like LIHITLAB. have entered the oshi merchandise market, experiencing considerable success with products like the "Oshi Activities File" designed to preserve mementos like bromides and concert tickets, generating sales of 3 billion yen within a year. Advocates of Oshikatsu aim to popularize the concept not only in Japan but globally, as highlighted by Kase Yumi, the PR representative for the Oshikatsu Goods EXPO.
Oshikatsu is a type of character or idol love and hobby culture that mirror's otaku's intense love of anime and manga characters, and the collection of merchandise and acts of fandom. Oshikatsu is traditionally associated with otaku culture, but has evolved to encompass support for a variety of personalities, including pop idols and YouTubers. Oshikatsu culture centers mostly around plushies and dolls of celebrity idols and characters and associated merchandise.
Fans engage in lavish spending to show their support, such as purchasing specially designed birthday cakes or embarking on nationwide journeys to take photos with dolls, often documenting their journeys together online.
Notably, at the inaugural Budokan performance of the girl group "#Babababambi," fans eagerly attended to support their favorite idols and purchase related merchandise.
To me, that just sounds like typical idol fandom, but this evolving spin-off of otaku subculture seems to be taking a more defined identity of its own. This kind of collection and fandom is familiar to otaku collecting and character love, but seems to be applicable to a wider variety of fandom, and not strictly categorized as anime, game, or manga obsession. Is it possible that otaku fandom behaviors can spread to other media & entertainment? Or is everyone who engages in collecting merch and living a hobby life centered around their favorite media, characters, singers, actors, or series just different kinds of otaku?
The emergence of trends like "Nuikatsu," featuring plush toys specifically, was showcased at events like the "Oshikatsu Goods EXPO" held at Tokyo Big Sight. Even traditional companies like LIHITLAB. have entered the oshi merchandise market, experiencing considerable success with products like the "Oshi Activities File" designed to preserve mementos like bromides and concert tickets, generating sales of 3 billion yen within a year. Advocates of Oshikatsu aim to popularize the concept not only in Japan but globally, as highlighted by Kase Yumi, the PR representative for the Oshikatsu Goods EXPO.
The rise of Oshikatsu culture seems to be growing while mirroring some ways of traditional otaku fandom. Collecting and travelling with plushies that represent your favorite figures in entertainment isn't too far off of the obsessive character-merch driven hobby life of otaku. Again, it begs the question of how versatile and broad can "otaku" fandom reach? Are there many kinds of otaku? Or has Oshikatsu culture defined a new breed of fandom? One where fans feel good about travelling with dolls of their favorite idols, and collecting lavish merchandise to honor and appreciate them?
Share your thoughts!
Very interesting, I didn't know about this.
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