There's one at my work. (Women "otaku" or love-sim girl gamers)

(tags otaku, yayoi, television, interview, culture, Japan, Kashimashi)

Well I don't always think about this, but I am interested in what women "otaku" "are" and are they comparable to guys like me. Whenever I'm in Nipponbashi / Den-Den Town I go to the K-Books to check out the used telephone cards and glass case rare stuff, doujinshi, CDs, posters, goods, pillows (... anyways). I always skip the second and third floors, because those are for women. OMG, 2 full floors of women's oriented ("BL"? "Boy's Life"?) doujinshi. The third floor is K-Books, but the second floor is actually a different shop, I think. Net oracle returns: Comic KingsKing, with a store in Ikebukuro (Tokyo) and of course Nanba (Osaka). I don't really check if they're full of women like this:

Thumbs up to Kotaku finding the enlighting news with the post "Japan's Female Dorks! The Actual Ones!!!", which links to the 第13独立部隊 (my trans: 13th Independant Troop) blog, which photo summarizes a television "corner" on women "otaku". This woman is saying "I [become?] pretty relaxed [playing "Boys' Life" love-sim games?] but at the same time I think to myself, 'Aren't I an idiot?'"

I can totally identify with that!

That blog shows K-Books and Otome Road (乙女ロード, in Ikebukuro not Akihabara!). There's also an economic analyst with self-evident quote: "二次元（漫画やアニメ）に恋をすると二次元は絶対裏切らないんです。だからその意味では安心感もあるし自分の生き甲斐にもしやすいと思います" (my trans. "If you fall in love with 2d stuff (manga and anime), it won't ever let you down. You can feel secure and you can easily thrive on it.")

Nod nod, I can totally identify with that!

Whenever I'm at my Kobe Animate, I can't help but notice that its more open to women's goods and the doujinshi there is for women. There's very little or no doujinshi for guys there. Which brings me to the title of this post. There was one time I saw a woman from work there. I think as soon as she realized I was from the same company she high-tailed it out of there. Heh. I'm surprised that I don't bump into more people from my work place, I practically live at Animate, ha ha.

There's stuff I don't understand about "Boys' Life" or shojo manga or other women's manga/anime genres, but that's a line I'm not going cross any time soon. I'm too busy on my side of the fence, i.e. Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl:

Ah, the controversial "girl meets girl" scene where Yasuna (♀) and Hasumu (♀) kiss in episode 5. Just be glad I didn't try that stuff with Brokeback Mountain.