[dragontamer]

The Hikikomori has become a standard anime trope. Starting in 2009 in Anohana, the main character is a recovering Hikikomori (who went through quite a depressing story that caused him to withdraw from society).

This last spring, there were at least three major animes revolving around the concept. "Nanana's burried treasure", "No Game No Life", and "Mekakucity actors" all have title characters who are Hikikomoris.

Hikikomori (shut-ins / NEETs) seem to be a real problem... real enough that they've entered Japanese Anime culture as a new character archetype.

I don't have much Japanese exposure outside of anime, so I'm not going to draw conclusions based on this alone. But I thought I'd give my perspective. Everything seems to tie together: an economic downturn that prevents many young people from getting a job, the uptick in shut-in culture, and finally an uptick in the suicide rate... (which seem to only cause more Hikikomoris as their loved ones disappear and make life more difficult for those left behind...)

[cyorir]

So let us make a few distinctions. NEET =/= Hikikomori. Hikikomori tend to be a subset of NEET, as long as they are not employed. However, most NEET (not in education, employment, or training) would certainly not be Hikikomori. Hikikomori are the edge case, so only those who have no hopes of moving towards employment AND no desire for external interactions with society will likely be Hikikomori.

The preoccupation with Hikikomori began in the 90s, when someone made the now infamous claim that there were roughly a million Hikikomori in Japan, setting off an alarm. That seems to have been a gross overestimate, but it put the term in the popular lexicon. More recent studies offer more conservative and more realistic estimates.

It just so happens that the popular view of Hikikomori is that they tend to be very focused on specific subcultures, so in particular they are commonly characterized as Otaku (although there would be Hikikomori who are not Otaku and most Otaku are not Hikikomoris, etc.). These characterizations (hikikomori as someone obsessed with a particular pasttime/lifestyl, and hikikomori as extreme NEET) have generally formed the basis for the Hikimori as it is sometimes portrayed in anime.

[jzelinskie]

This trope definitely didn't begin in 2009, as "the hikikomori anime", NHKにようこそ, was written in 2002 and adapted to anime in 2006. Maybe it's been more popular recently, but most anime are adaptations of some other format that have already been successful over the course of years. Something to keep in mind is that anime/manga satisfies a niche market and the hikikomori are actually a demographic for sales; making content that appeals to your demographics is good for business.

[ranran876]

Just to contrast your experience, I had a very interesting two month working near Tokyo. The whole time I was there I didn't see any anime, or hikkimori and the whole thing didn't resemble anime at all (though.. granted, I'm not an expert in the genre). The only places you saw anything anime related was at gambling establishments and certain districts of Tokyo. I think on the whole, that subculture is looked down upon - just like in the US.

Most people just live boring normal middle class lives. I'm not denying that there is a problem, but I think it's not necessarily a statement about Japanese society as a whole. It's like if goth kids started slashing their wrists in large numbers. It might be a reflection of US society as a whole, or it might be a toxic subculture.

[ugexe]

You shouldn't expect to run into hikkimori as their very nature is to shut themselves in

[dragontamer]

While that is true, one must always rate experiences correctly. My experience 'with' Japan basically boils down into "Watches some fiction that some subset of Japanese also watches".

His experience is actually visiting Tokyo, including newspaper and media coverage of the mainstream in ways that I don't have.

[lmm]

I found that when I went to Yakushima I saw a lot more of the things you see in anime (even just stuff like the shapes of the buses) compared to Tokyo. I suspect that just like with novels or movies, a lot of the time creators set things in the world they grew up in as kids, so the world you see through media is the world as it was 20 years ago rather than now. Tokyo changes rapidly, whereas the countryside is similar to how it was.

Is the anime-fan subculture really looked down on in the US? Here in Europe it seems to be growing a lot, part of a general status upgrade for "nerdy" interests.

[cyorir]

We have to keep in mind that much of Anime targets specific demographics and specific subcultures. It is not usually intended to portray society in a realistic or general manner, with some exceptions.

[aestra]

>The only places you saw anything anime related was at gambling establishments and certain districts of Tokyo.

How about airplanes? :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Jet

[ranran876]

I wonder if the Japanese groan when they have to get into one of those...

[thaumasiotes]

> Hikikomori (shut-ins / NEETs) seem to be a real problem... real enough that they've entered Japanese Anime culture as a new character archetype.

Character archetypes don't have to be real... they have to be interesting. It's vastly more likely that a character in a new show who draws on a different character in an older show does so because that original character was popular than that it does so because society as a whole has moved closer to that character in personality.

[Retric]

It's a fairly common anime trope.

42 examples on: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Hikikomori

[dragontamer]

Common yes, but not as common as it has been in recent years.

Three title-character Hikikomoris in a single anime season? Especially sine most of the examples before 2009 are not title characters. IE: You get stuff like a specific client for one episode of xxxHolic in older animes... or Haruhi who insulted normal people by calling them Hikikomoris.

But in contrast to say, Spring 2014 animes, there are three title character Hikikomoris that play major roles in the anime.

The concept has always been in anime, but very rarely has it been used so often for main characters.