Anime and Manga Studies

Hello! My name is Paul Ocone, and I am a passionate fan of anime and manga. I'm no stranger to fandom, having been immersed in nerd culture for over a decade, and over that time, I have become increasingly fascinated with the inner workings of fan subcultures. My recently re-ignited love for anime and manga led me to an interest in otaku: the fans who create and consume much of these media in Japan and beyond. Otaku cultures and media can contain non-normative elements, and I am especially interested in the practice and politics of these potentially controversial topics. In my individualized degree in "Anime and Manga Studies" at UMBC, I aim to address the research question, "How are anime/manga and otaku subcultures, and especially otaku sexuality, politicized by processes of globalization?" ("Otaku sexuality" is here defined as the sexual or romantic attraction to, or orientation towards, anime/manga style characters within fan subcultures.) This question is of increasing importance as anime and manga keep gaining popularity worldwide.

Recently, my research plans have narrowed to focus on fan spaces: how otaku sexuality is expressed, negotiated, and policed in both physical spaces (fan events, neighborhoods like Akihabara) and digital spaces (forums, social media). I am interested in a hypothetical "otaku urbanism" and how it might allow for the expression of fan sexualities. I believe this might be a fruitful topic to explore for my capstone research.