<신고질라>에 나타난 오타쿠 표상의 변화 ─ <신세기 에반게리온>과의 비교를 중심으로 = Changes in the Representation of Otaku in Shin Godzilla ─ A Comparative Study with Neon Genesis Evangelion

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study analyzes how changes in Japanese society influenced the representation of otaku by comparing Neon Genesis Evangelion and Shin Godzilla. The 1990s are described as “an opaque world in which one cannot tell what is right and no one provides guidance,” and the characters in Evangelion are depicted as hikikomori-type otaku who are “introverted, lacking communication skills, and unable to maintain appropriate distance from others.” In contrast, post–Great East Japan Earthquake Japan in the 2010s saw a shift in social imagination from “individual survival” to “collective survival.” In Shin Godzilla, “bureaucrats unconcerned with promotion, otaku, troublemakers, and academic mavericks” are assembled, where they exercise expertise and function as a “collective brain.” They are represented as practical agents guided by a sense of duty in the face of national crisis. The collective practices seen in the AKB48 General Election—such as “mass CD purchases” and the formation of “election countermeasure committees”—also demonstrate that otaku have transformed into actors who “mobilize resources toward a shared goal.” Consequently, otaku shift from isolated individuals in the 1990s to public resources in the 2010s, a transformation closely connected to the collectivist imagination characteristic of Japanese society during this period.