Netoyome and Humanizing the Database

Originally published July 2016

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Hiroki strikes again! The bias is just seeping in this video
For those curious, I didn't end up liking Netoge. I'm not someone who's particularly offput or anything by a show's use of fanservice or anything. Rather, I thought its depiction of the hikkikomori is a little skewed and somewhat problematic. Of course, I'm not an expert on the subject, so my understanding could be wrong, but my understanding definitely - certainly - affected how I valued the show
The database reading is so vast that it's a little tricky to pin it down to one single element. I didn't want to spend 90 percent of the video explaining grand nonnarratives, appropriation, hypermediation, etc., so if you've got questions for clarification, I can clarify them to the best of my ability
Does Netoge do this well? Does it humanize the database elements well? YOU be the judge (!)
You've probably seen this reading before - and that's kinda the point. It goes by a lot of names, but it's a byproduct of the internet age, many scholars argue. In fact, I briefly discuss something similar in my GATE video. Computers really changed how media is consumed.
Okay, I referenced the 2001 version, but I used the 2002 publication cause that's the book I had. Sorry, but the 2002 publication makes the same general arguments!
Dengeki Bunko, to my limited knowledge, may be a great example of straightforward databasification!

Azuma, Hiroki. "Otaku: Japan's Database Animals." Translated by Jonathan E. Abel and Shion Kono, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2009.
Drohojowska-Philp. "Superflat." Artnet, accessed June 26, 2016, http://artnt.cm/29wTEXO
Kobayashi, Tetsuro. "Bridging Social Capital in Online Communities: Heterogeneity and Social Tolerance of Online Game Players in Japan." Humab Communication Research 36 (2010), 546-569.
Lamarre Thomas, Azuma Hiroki, Yuriko Furuhata, and Marc Steinberg. "The Animalization of Otaku Culture." Mechademia 2 (2007), 175-187.
Lehdonvirta, Vili and Pekka Rasanen. "How do young people identity with online and offline peer groups? A comparison between UK, Spain and Japan." Journal of Youth Studies 14:1 (2001), 91-108.
Manovich, Lev. "The Language of New Media." MIT Press, New York, 2002.
Roth, Martin and Fabian Schafer. "Otaku, subjectivity and database: Hiroki Azuma's Otaku: Japan's Database Animals." Digital Culture and Education 4:2 (2012), 208-211.
Ruh, Brian. "Conceptualizing Anime and the Database Fantasyscape." Mechademia 9 (2014), 164-175.

Slow Jam, Carpe Diem, and Gymnopedie No 3 by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)

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