Otaku Otaku Where Art Thou?

Ok, you Final Fantasy lovers out there, here’s a treat for you! Well, the first time I heard this song, “Kiss Me Goodbye” I thought it was sad. Goodbye? Oh no! I’m the happily-ever-after freak and I can’t handle goodbyes. But I listened to it again and it was a message of hope. A very close friend of mine, who’s a FF gamer and otaku explained to me that “the princess and Penelo were writing their letters and this song was in the background.” Hmmm and? “It was about parting ways but still staying together.” All a sudden, my bipolar tendencies switched to happy.

I found another version on youtube with some footage of the FF game, but I still chose this particular video because it’s got live audience. Lovely! The first thing I noticed was Angela on the piano, wearing eyeglasses, clad in jeans and sneakers, and surrounded with string instruments – a full orchestra! So this made me search in the internet and wikipedia says Angela Aki was “born on September 15, 1977, a singer-songwriter and pianist from Itano, Tokushima, Japan.” She’s 33 years old! Whew! I’m impressed how she could keep herself so beautiful and inspiring. And glasses? Whooo, I could relate! So why didn’t I hear about her before? Yes, you guessed it right, I’m not a gamer! I just thought of sharing my moment of bliss to all my otaku friends. This song reminded me of all the past goodbyes that ended wonderfully with a miracle of hope.

Wait a second, did I say OTAKU? Some of you haven’t heard of this, and if you did, you didn’t know what it means. Yeah, this word has been abused and used by guilty non-otakus when they want to make a fast move on girls because some young-hearted women love otaku-geeks. No wonder these women are in Comic Cons (which, by the way, a little plugging here -- Comic Con in San Diego, California is coming up soon! July 22 - 25) The real definition of an otaku is – "an avid collector or an enthusiast, specially one who is obsessed in anime, video games, or computer and who rarely leaves home." If dictionary.com is right, then fifty percent of my friends are otakus?

Anyway, I do love true-otakus, and this video is for all of you out there.