Are you America's greatest otaku? TokyoPOP wants you

12:00 PM on 05.15.2010   |   Josh Tolentino

Look guys, I know the Japanese connotations associated with the word "otaku". They're quite negative, referring to the worst sorts of socially maladjusted nerds. No one wants to be called an otaku in Japan.

But hey, for better or worse, English-speakers have co-opted the word to identify any sort of anime/manga/Japan fan. Now otaku are a subtype of any given nerd category, like "gamers" or "trekker". It's harmless, beyond, of course, the stigma of being a nerdto begin with.

Thusly, one need not be offended when seeking to answer TokyoPOP's quest to find America's greatest otaku. If you wish to be one above all other weeaboo nerds, keep your eye on the TokyoPOP Tour, a traveling roadshow set to visit a bunch of cities and anime conventions all across the union.

The winners will be selected by another group of winners: The Otaku Six, a group of college-age chosen-ones hand-picked from hundreds of thousands of candidates worldwide.

Any Japanatorians willing to vie for the crown? Visit this site and find out how to join up.

Otherwise, check out the press release below to see which cities and conventions the tour will be passing through. The journey will begin in L.A. at Anime Expo.

The search is on for the most talented fan in the nation!

Los Angeles, CA (May 13, 2010) - This summer, TOKYOPOP will hit the road on a 12,000-mile journey to find America's Greatest Otaku, the person who best exemplifies a truly unique fervor and passion for all things influenced by Japanese pop culture. This nationwide competition will be part of the ambitious "TOKYOPOP Tour," a road show that takes a tour bus to hundreds of thousands of fans, in dozens of cities across the United States-including five fan conventions-to discover and embrace manga and anime fan culture around the nation.

The TOKYOPOP Tour kicks off in July at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, CA, and will run through Chicago Comic-Con at the end of August. The culminating event will be a multi-episode reality show
, premiering in the fall on a major online video site, which will reveal to the nation who will be crowned America's Greatest Otaku!

Stu Levy, Executive Producer of the America's Greatest Otaku reality show, as well as TOKYOPOP's founder, says, "Japanese pop culture has influenced many of us Americans in a number of ways. The goal of this show is to prove to the world that American otaku are just as talented - if not more - than their counterparts worldwide."

Joining Levy on the maiden voyage of the TOKYOPOP Tour bus will be his apprentices in the search for America's Greatest Otaku: the "Otaku Six". These six college students-an energetic and outgoing group of manga and anime devotees-were selected from nearly one hundred candidates from thirty-one states and seven countries, after a lengthy and arduous audition process. In addition to reaching out to fans nationwide and seeking out each city's Greatest Otaku, the Otaku Six will also be featured on the show itself.

Filming the day-to-day events for broadcast will be TOKYOPOP associate producer Daisuke "Dice" Kinouchi, who anticipates a thrilling ride. "I can't wait to experience the unpredictability of the road on this summer-long show. I just hope no one accidentally whacks me with a yaoi paddle while I'm lugging around my camera filming
the show."

You and your friends can enter to become America's Greatest Otaku at http://tokyopoptour.ning.com. The TOKYOPOP Tour web site has a complete list of all stops, details for how to enter the competition, application requirements, and reasons why every citizen of Pokopen isn't eligible to enter. New features, including the official America's Greatest Otaku merchandise store, will be added in the coming weeks.

Adds Levy: "We also have thousands of giveaways and prizes to hand out all over the course of the Tour-new manga, signed artwork, shirts and hats, stickers of your favorite characters such as Domo-kun, Tohru Honda, Abel Nightroad, and scores of others. I think I even saw a flag from HETALIA on our list of swag."

The TOKYOPOP Tour bus is fueling up for its first stop at Anime Expo in July, and fans can follow the daily goings-on at http://tokyopoptour.ning.com for the latest city-by-city Otaku updates, road videos and blogs, giveaways, and much more. The featured stops and dates for America's Greatest Otaku along the multi-city TOKYOPOP Tour include:

Los Angeles, CA (Anime Expo), July 3
San Francisco, CA, July 5
Salt Lake City, UT, July 8
Denver, CO, July 11
Kansas City, MO, July 13
Dallas, TX, July 15
Albuquerque, NM, July 18
Phoenix, AZ, July 20
San Diego, CA (Comic-Con), July 23
Oklahoma City, OK, July 27
Nashville, TN, July 28
Washington, DC, July 30
Baltimore, MD (Otakon), July 31
New York, NY, August 3
Philadelphia, PA, August 4
Indianapolis, IN (Gen Con), August 7
Louisville, KY, August 9
Atlanta, GA, August 11
New Orleans, LA, August 14
Chicago, IL (Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con), August 21

Stay tuned for updates and more information about the premier of the reality show this fall, when TOKYOPOP crowns America's Greatest Otaku!

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