Nisijou Takumi the wheel-chair ridden VS Nisijou Takumi the deep otaku, which one is the real representation of the general otaku population?
Which one is better?
Neither. They’re just two faces of the same group of people.
Nisijou Takumi the wheel-chair-ridden, or “shogun”, probably loaths himself, that’s why he created the other one. But the other one isn’t a great person either. I don’t know what the game’s explanation is, but I know this: for an otaku audience, the “healthy” Taku serves two purposes:
1. He’s something that the audience can identify. He sits in his base (cage), surfs the net all day and keeps seira-tan figurines; he’s terrible with people and he feels like he was created into the world to be lonely and rejected; also see Shinji in Eva.
2. He serves as a pet on the back of the audience, especially when he decides to save Rimi. Even though he’s been acting like a Shinji, he gathers courage and finally pulls out of the sword of the stone and stops being the reluctant hero. He’s like what Otaku wish to be – someone who likes Otaku things and cowers most of the time and yet, when it’s time, he’ll stand up and fight – see Densha Otoko Test performed in Akiba on Youtube.
Shogun also serves two purposes for the intended audience:
1. He serves as a reminder that there are worse conditions than being an otaku. I mean, hey, at least the healthy Taku gets out sometimes, goes to school, and have Rimi who practically upholds him (does this really happens in real life or I’ve just been unlucky not meeting it), oh, not to mention he’s to meet all these girls in the outside world and becomes the savior. But look at Shogun, he can only gives hints and messages and he’s either in bed or in a wheelchair – not to mention he looks like he’s 90 years old!
2. He’s a warning and the physical representation of most otaku’s inner character – shrivel, shrunken and weak. He’s the real Takumi; he can’t go anywhere and he has to use the power of delusion (not imagination, delusion) to create someone who’s not even popular, hot/cool, athletic and the like. If he had an ounce of healthy character and self-respect left, he’d create a young god. However, as an Otaku, I see the parallel of his physical body to the inner characters of a lot of otaku – inward pulling, outside rejecting, stays in a safe shell, social skills shrunken. I mean, Shogun only had two girls – his sis and RImi – as friends! But in real life (yeah, I definitely never had the luck to be cared like that), he’d be alone and dying in the ward.
As for the rest of the story; it’s the end game and Taku finally gets the courage to fight, even if he’s really only care about saving the princess and notice this, he cares to fight only because someone loves him first.
As someone who’s trying to recover from otakuism, I heartily recommend anyone who’s like that to go out and reach first; maybe someone will take your hand after 1000 demons reject it!
Hey, I never said people were great!
The episode summary and plot? Well, if you cared to read this you probably watch the episode already! If you didn’t…well go watch it!
