The Otaku identity is the state of perceiving oneself as a otaku person no matter their race, economic

circumstances, or educational backgrounds. When something happens locally, nationally, or globally

it tends to affects their sense of connectedness, even though many otaku have a diverse amount of

experiences. Being Otaku is more than a hobby social identity or social descriptor and is a self and

collective effort for people who enjoy animanga to self-name and self-define. Otaku was rooted in

social-belittling of the Geek Movement of the 1980's and 1990's, but the ever changing

socio-historical context in the 2000's redefined what it meant to be an Otaku in the West.

Otaku collective identity is based on consumption of shape their identity through marketing that

triggers internal and external definitions of what it means to be collectively otaku. To be a otaku

consumer is a publics perception of the culture. Models of collective identity that create a social

membership make a consumer movement (example. The Trash Taste Effect) to defy social ineptitude

and promote Japanese cultural understanding. This happens while simultaneously enacting a positive

vision of Otaku cultural distinctiveness.