Course In Otaku-ism @ NotCliche

Course In Otaku-ism

And so, people may think that Otaku-ism is only limited to collection and stuffs like that. Well, I guess we’ve all been wrong this whole time!

In Japan, there’s actually an institution called Aniken, which actually have courses that has relation to otaku-ism. While otaku-ism does spread throughout a wide variety of categories, it would seem that Aniken specializes in the anime department.

Aniken is also quite an established institution to say the least, since these kind of course have already existed since 2006 or 2007.

Upon further investigation, it appears that this is really a sort of course, and it actually features 5 different levels of knowledge (think if it as your level in school… or something), and they even have textbooks based on the course itself. Of course, no school is complete without their own set of examinations.

I think the gold card is actually more approriate for Level 2…

Examination papers varies for each level too. For example, a level 2, 3 and 4 will have like 60 questions to finish in 60 minutes, and those that are on level 5 will have 50 questions. However, the requirements to pass the levels seems to be quite low to me, since at 5 will require you to have at least 60% passing rate, while at 2-4 will require you to have 70% passing rate.

For those that are confused about the level system, it would seem that first-timers will start off at Lv5, and gradually work towards Lv1, where they can officially pass the course and be professionals in anime otaku-ism! There’s even cards to show which level you’re officially certified on.

It’s like studying for your compulsary school education all over again.

To show how serious these examinations are, even assessment books are available for students to do revision on the examination topics. Such topics can cover anime history to at the times where buffed men and mecha were extremely popular to today’s animation where it’s the complete reverse.

While it does sound ridiculous, some anime stores requires people with this particular specialization to be hired. Animate (a popular chain for anime goods) for example, is one of such companies that needs you to pass this course to considered…

Lectures, anyone?

If you’re extremely curious about what this whole Aniken thing is like, you can actually visit their website in the link provided below.

http://aniken.jp/index.html

Should you question if you’re otaku enough, there’s even an interactive quiz for people to take if you’re interested! Of course, the only catch with it is being able to read Japanese or not.