Zeynep Altundag

Animanga Otaku Culture in Istanbul and Berlin Zeynep Altundag

Anime, manga and otaku culture, which drew considerable attention from the world youth culture in the 1990s, was formed within the popular culture wave that emerged in Japan especially after the 1970s, and has achieved its own market internationally within the new world policy of Japan after World War II. The alternative types, colorful and ideal characters and worlds provided has attracted the attention of world youth, academicians, and researchers. As this study focuses on the effects of anime, manga, and otaku cultures on the youth living in Istanbul, it aimed to evaluate this effect within the context of the boundaries of globalization. The fundamental problematic of this study is to evaluate and present this culture with its new, exclusive form of locality as a result of the interactions in each locality. This study was conducted as comparative one, with field studies performed in Istanbul and Berlin within the scope of anime and manga culture, and explains the existence and characteristics of manga and otaku cultures in Istanbul and Berlin through global culture.