Are there any terms used to refer to people of the anime/manga fandom in a non-derogatory manner?


In the Western world, anime/manga fans are commonly referred to as `otaku`
(Hiragana: `おたく`, Katakana: `オタク`). [[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otaku)]
In Japanese however, this is a (mildly) derogatory word for a geek, nerd, or
any person who has obsessive interests "to the exclusion of such things as
social
interaction".[[2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%82%AA%E3%82%BF%E3%82%AF#Japanese)]

Does the Japanese language have any terms to refer to people of the
anime/manga fandom in a non-derogatory manner?




The safest neutral phrase is **○○ファン** (e.g. アニメファン / 漫画ファン / アニメやゲームのファン /
etc), which is widely used both by otaku and non-otaku people. This can be
safely used with non-otaku hobbies, too (e.g. サッカーファン, 将棋ファン). This is
definitely the first choice, for example when you write a news article
introducing (favorably) an otaku event in mass media. Other common
possibilities include **○○愛好家【あいこうか】** and **○○好【ず】き** , which are suitable in
news articles, but people do not use these often in casual settings. Here's an
example taken from 徳島新聞:

> アニメの祭典「マチ★アソビ」の第１３弾と「アニメ映画祭」は最終日の１２日、徳島市中心部で **コスプレ愛好家**
> によるショーなどが行われた。台風１９号の影響で開催期間が１日短縮されたものの、県内外の **アニメファン**
> が街に繰り出し、イベントを盛り上げた。(2014/10/13 徳島新聞)

Note that real Japanese "cosplayers" normally call themselves コスプレイヤー, レイヤー or
コスプレファン, but not コスプレ愛好家.

**オタク** sounds derogatory only when this is used by people who have a
prejudiced view of オタク. Many otaku take pride in being オタク, and call each
other オタク (or オタ for short) all the time. When Tarō Asō, former Prime Minister
of Japan, made a speech in Akihabara, he said "秋葉原のオタクの皆さん、こんにちは" and the
audience applauded, because [he was thought to be a sympathizer of otaku
culture](http://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BC%E3%83%B3%E9%96%A3%E4%B8%8B)
in those days. But if a different politician had said the same thing, people
in Akihabara might have felt offended.

**サブカルチャー(サブカル)** is a kind of "academic" term to euphemistically refer to so-
called オタク文化. (Wikipedia says that there is a discrepancy between Japanese
サブカルチャー and English 'subculture', but I'm not sure about that.) Researchers
sometimes use this when they don't feel like using オタク/オタク文化 frequently in
their academic papers. Unfortunately, this term is not preferred by otaku
people themselves, probably because such researchers do not necessarily
understand the otaku culture from the heart, and tend to make pointless
"analysis". If you introduced yourself saying something like サブカルが好き, people
might wonder if you are really an otaku.

**○○マニア** used to be a neutral word which simply meant 'a big fan' in
Japanese. But recently it often carries a negative nuance in Japan, too. For
example you can read this Wikipedia article discussing the [difference between
鉄道マニア, 鉄道オタク and
鉄道ファン](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%89%84%E9%81%93%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%B3#.E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.E3.81.AB.E3.81.8A.E3.81.91.E3.82.8B.E5.91.BC.E7.A7.B0.E3.81.AB.E3.81.A4.E3.81.84.E3.81.A6)
in Japanese.

