Enchanted Subcultures I Am Not Making This Up

Japan

Why Japan?

What role does Japan play in the world of soulbonders and otakukin? Though the phenomen has now spread to encompass Western media, otakukin, as the name suggests, generally identify with Japanese fiction. The considerable minority of individuals who identify with Western media have adopted the term "fictionkin," to distinguish themselves from the dearth of Japan-identified otakukin. In addition to Greer's own Digimon identity, his site features an essay by a girl who believes herself to be Vincent from Final Fantasy VII. Posts on Livejournal's ~From_Fiction community focus almost entirely on Japanese media, with a few exceptions. Soulbonding, too, encompasses Western narratives like Harry Potter and His Dark Materials, but a quick perusal of several soulbonding communities and websites leaves one with the distinct impression that an inordinate percentage of soulbonds hail from Japanese anime, video games, or manga. The proprietor of Soul Whispers devotes an entire page to her many soulbonds, all most all of which are anime characters, from such series as Neon Genesis Evangelion (Misato Katsuragi) and Card Captor Sakura (Tomoyo Daidouji). Catherine, the keeper of Fiction Connection soulbonds characters from Final Fantasy IV. For all intents and purposes, there appears to be a surplus of soulbonds from Japanese animation. It becomes clear that Japanese media, rather than its Western equivalents, plays the most central role in both the otakukin and soulbonding subcultures. Why is this the case?

Analogies

Analogous phenomena exist with a decidedly more Western focus. In recent years, the "furry" community has drawn much attention in America. Members of this subculture (referred to colloquially as "furries" or simply "furs") identify primarily with non-human (though often anthropomorphized) animals such as wolves or cats, and often attend lavish conventions dressed as their animal of choice. "Furries" see themselves as animals trapped in human bodies, and their expressed feelings of "otherness" resemble those of otakukin. ((Abel, Jennifer. 2007 “Hell Hath No Furries” Hartford Advocate. November 1.))

Similarly, the "functional multiplicity" movement, made up of individuals who claim to be psychologically healthy, yet have loving, functional relationships with one or many "alternate personalities" within their minds, resembles the experience of soulbonding, sans the connection to anime, manga, and other fiction. Unlike otakukin and soulbonders, "furries" and "functional multiples" have few, if any, ties to mass media. "Furries" often produce their own art and animation, but rarely do they draw from preexisting, mass-marketed fiction, and very rarely are the alternate personalities claimed by "functional multiple" adherents based upon such fiction.

Why do the most deep-seated beliefs of soulbonders and otakukin relate to Japanese media, while their Western counterparts seem divorced from mass-marketed fiction? It is easy to suggest that the link between otakukin, soulbonding, and Japan has something to do with the Japanese approach to mass media and commodities in general.

Capitalism, Of Course

Anne Allison's book, Millenial Monsters, focuses on the global role of Japanese popular culture and commodities. She notes that, while some Western scholars see capitalism as disenchanting and alienating, the Japanese form of capitalism turns this view on its head. "(F)ed by folkloric and religious traditions, an animistic sensibility percolates the postmodern landscape of Japan today in ways that do not occur in the United States." From the Japanese perspective, commodities are imbued with a life all their own, and the relationship between consumer and commodity begins to resemble an interpersonal relationship. When consumers treat them as comforting companions, commodities seem imbued with the sensation of life or spirit, becoming, Allison says, "enchanted." ((Allison, Anne. 2006. Millenial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination. Los Angeles: University of California Press. 12-13))

Popular anime, manga, and video game characters, of the kind that make up both soulbonds and the otakukin identity, are perfect examples of this "enchanted commodity" phenomenon. According to Allison, the pressures of work and school leave contribute to what she calls "the unease of contemporary times" in Japan. Against this backdrop, mass-marketed characters have become a means of relieving stress and alleviating alienation. Appealing characters, according to Allison, can be "appropriated as symbols for personal, corporate, group, and national identity," and may function as jikojitsugen, vehicles of self-awareness. Consumers can relate to characters such as Pokemon and Hello Kitty as constant and unconditionally loving companions, deriving a sense of shared joy and friendship from these commodities. ((Allison 90-91)) In Japan, this alternative approach to capitalism produces mass media conducive to such a manner of relating to commodities. Japanese characters are valued for their "cuteness" and lovability. The more "enchant-able" a commodity is, the more popular it will be with the Japanese public.

There exists an obvious tension within this model of consumption. Consumers seek a unique self-definition through artifacts marketed to, purchased by, and enjoyed by millions. In his essay, "Fan Cultures Between Consumerism and Resistence," Matt Hills identifies the apparently contradictory nature of the "enchanted commodity" consumer. By seeking to be original and individualistic, the consumer expresses values that contradict the homogeneity of mass marketing. At the same time, however, mass-marketed commodities become vehicles for originality for the consumer. Hills does not attempt to resolve this tension, however. One might suggest that the paradox between consumer and marketer is somewhat constitutive of the experience of both; the consumer of "enchanted commodities" playfully engages in the struggle to transform the popular into the unique, whereas the marketer, playing opposite the consumer, must balance an appearance of uniqueness with popular appeal. ((Hills, Matt. Fan Cultures. London and New York: Routledge, 2002.))

Much of this discourse on "enchanted commodities" echoes within the soulbonding and otakukin subcultures. Soulbonders, after all, view their soulbonded characters as loving (if disembodied) friends with whom they communicate on a daily basis, and from them they derive the same pleasure and comfort that would come from a relationship with a physical human. Otakukin, rather than developing friendships with these commodities, have adopted the commodities as cohesive, stable symbols for their own identity. With Allison's concept of Japanese "enchanted commodities" in mind, it seems only natural that otakukin and soulbonders gravitate towards Japanese mass media. Though many members of both subcultures hail from America and other Western countries, it is altogether believable that they, like many 21^st century Japanese, may experience the "unease of contemporary times" and seek escape from such a feeling in an extreme appropriation of Japanese "enchanted commodities."

Meaning and Coping Mechanisms

In the mid-20^th century, long before Japanese animation and video games became popular in America, long before the Internet brought together diverse and strange subcultures, philosopher Viktor Frankl, in his seminal text Man's Search for Meaning, noted, "As each situation in life represents a challenge to man and presents a problem for him to solve, the question of the meaning of life may actually be reversed. Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asking. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible." ((Frankl, Viktor E. 2006. Man’s Search for Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.))

A survivor of the Nazi death camps, Frankl faced hardships of a gravity far greater than those experienced by most first world citizens today. His statement, however, is perhaps universally applicable, even within relatively peaceful, stable societies. The subcultures examined present possible answers to the challenge of the postmodern life. Ultimately, these answers themselves are superfluous, and their real value is derived not from any truth they may contain, but from the role in which they play in the lives of their adherents. Each person must find their own meaning in life, and this meaning is only valuable insofar as it answers for the life of the individual.