>>13 I feel like even tiktok level exposure to anime prevents hard-core animaniacs from seeming like a super distinct group to which an atrocity could be attributed. Otakudom isnt independent enough to be truely scapdgoated. By now, otaku are on the level of like horror movie fans, where like while they're a distinct sub category of people, the boundary doesn't seem like a hard or significant line to normiez. The otaku killer in Japan was different because Otaku have genuinely distinct social circles there, there are actual otaku institutions which separate otaku from the public. Those don't exist here so if some weeb killed a bunch of ppl, anime would at most be brought up in like jokes mocking him.
I feel like even tiktok level exposure to anime prevents hard-core animaniacs from seeming like a super distinct group to which an atrocity could be attributed. Otakudom isnt independent enough to be truely scapdgoated. By now, otaku are on the level of like horror movie fans, where like while they're a distinct sub category of people, the boundary doesn't seem like a hard or significant line to normiez. The otaku killer in Japan was different because Otaku have genuinely distinct social circles there, there are actual otaku institutions which separate otaku from the public. Those don't exist here so if some weeb killed a bunch of ppl, anime would at most be brought up in like jokes mocking him.