Twitter user @t_shigeno, of the “Living in Akihabara” doujin circle, posted an infographic listing 17 “Sustainable Otaku Goals.” Over the following several days, it was translated into multiple languages and picked up by multiple media sites.
The concept is based on the United Nations’ “Sustainable Development Goals,” established in 2015 and intended to be achieved by 2030.
Obviously, otaku pursuits can be life-encompassing endeavours. We’ve discussed this many times over the years here on Iyashikei. The 17 Sustainable Otaku Goals serve to help otaku integrate their passion into a healthy lifestyle, thus avoiding burnout and conflicts both inside and outside the subculture.
1: No Health, No Life
It’s important to stay healthy, as a poor body condition fundamentally limits your ability to interact with your passion and the culture surrounding it. You can’t go to conventions or events if you’re sick all the time. Further, being sick contributes to diminished mental health. Not to mention the increased medical costs that could be spent on your passion.
2: Compatible with Social Life
Indeed, otaku have a reputation for being antisocial, but this isn’t the way is has to be, nor is it the ideal way to operate. Interacting with other people is one of the core aspects of the human condition, and it’s worth it to learn how to navigate social interaction properly in order to succeed and be able to maximize your engagement with your passion.
3: Take a Bath
Obviously. It’s fundamentally unhealthy to over-indulge in your passion to the point where you neglect to keep yourself clean.
4: Circulate the Economy
A healthy economy is crucial to the continued health of the otaku subculture. As much as fansubbers, scanlators, and the like provide a valuable service to the culture, it is necessary that a healthy market surrounds our media and culture. Subculture is a marketplace, and while groups of fans working for free has always been an element helping provide access to the stuff on the absolute fringes, the marketplace is what helps sustain and grow the subculture.
5: Support Your Oshi While You Can
Show love and support for your favorite characters, idols, and works while you’re able. It’s always a shame when an idol or an anime, manga, etc. doesn’t get the support they truly deserve until long after their time in the spotlight has passed.
6: Appropriate Contribution
While it’s important that otaku circulate the economy surrounding their culture, it’s equally important that individuals don’t feel the need to go overboard. Contribute to the cultural economy as you’re able, based on what’s appropriate to your lifestyle.
7: Enjoy and Continue
Otaku culture is meant to be enjoyed. Continue to enjoy the culture as long as it’s enjoyable for you. Continue to find other ways to enjoy it as well. If it ceases to be enjoyable, continue on to something else.
8: Good Relationship
Maintain cordial relations with others in the culture. Understand that we’re all here to appreciate the culture and even at worst, we should be able to agree to disagree.
9: I Am Me, Others Are Others
Other people’s opinions don’t need to have bearing on how you interact with the culture. If someone else dislikes a character you like, it isn’t an indictment on you as a person. And also realize that your opinions are just those: Your opinions.
10: Correct Information
Many narratives that have been carried upon the winds of anime fandom for years have turned out to be untrue. Many of those only recently. Because much of otaku subculture is based in information, it’s important that the information we do have is accurate.
When I was publishing Otaku Entrepreneur, I was put in contact with an associate at Gainax to clear a screengrab from Otaku no Video I wanted to use in the book. He initially didn’t want to approve it because he had gotten a bad impression of American authors writing about otaku culture from years of unfair, inaccurate, and biased takes.
11: Comply With The Law, Observe Manners
Keep in mind that otaku culture exists as a microcosm of the society surrounding it. Otaku will always be a bit “out there” in terms of our behaviour and preferences, but that’s no excuse to break the law or disrupt the rest of society.
12: Take Care of Belongings
Take care of your things, not just because you spent hard-earned money on them, but because they have value to you. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten them in the first place. Maintain your collection. Keep your items clean and organized. Store them responsibly. Not only does this keep the things you love in good condition, it can be good for your mental health as well.
13: Not Only Consume, But Also Provide
Pay it forward. At the lowest levels, it’s telling others about that amazing anime you just watched, or giving recommendations when people ask. At higher levels, it’s sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm with others in a way that helps enrich their interaction with the culture. That’s what I do here on Iyashikei and on Otaku Entrepreneur. At the highest levels, it’s about becoming a part of the economy , contributing to the culture by helping ensure its economic health.
14: Calm View to Self and Others
Don’t take yourself too seriously and don’t take other people too seriously, either. Even the subculture’s opinion leaders and influencers aren’t that far removed from your average knowledgeable fan when you boil it down.
15: Nurture the Next Generation
If we abandon our younger fans, we abandon our subculture. It’s necessary to actively cultivate the next generation of otaku culture. Acclimate them to our customs and ensure that they understand how the subculture got where it is. Unless the culture continues on generationally, it will die out and be replaced by something different and likely hostile to the culture it replaced.
16: Courage to Change, Courage to Rest
Don’t be afraid to let your tastes evolve. Keep an open mind. You might end up enjoy something you thought you wouldn’t. No doubt your tastes aren’t the exact same as they were years ago.
And also, don’t be afraid to take a break. If you’re not enjoying something, it’s okay to stop. You might come back to it later, or you might not. Do what’s best for you, even if it means you’re not following the trend or you’re not up on the latest anime everyone’s talking about.
17: Prepare for Unexpected
Be prepared, mentally, physically, and financially, for the unexpected events that are bound to happen in life, both inside and outside the subculture.
Unexpected expenses happen to everyone. It’s important to be financially prepared when this happens to you.
The creators of our media and culture are human. They die, sometimes unexpectedly. It’s important to be mentally prepared so their deaths don’t devastate you.
Even if it means temporarily focusing on other aspects of your life, it’s important to keep in mind to be prepared for real life in order to maximize your ability to focus on the things that you enjoy.
As we go into a new year, it’s an opportunity to re-examine some of our habits and tendencies and perhaps commit to making changes to how we do things. These Sustainable Otaku Goals provide an excellent framework for how we can maximize our ability to do the things we love by creating a lifestyle that promotes health and wellbeing, both inside and outside the subculture.