One of the best ways to get audiences invested in a game, its world, and its story is by making the cast more relatable. Finding characters with similar mannerisms or interests to oneself is a great way to truly connect with a character and care about them and their journey over time.
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Almost every video game character can fall into a loose stereotype or archetype; like the jock, the playboy, and of course,the beloved otaku. An otaku is described as a person with an obsession with computers and certain parts of pop culture; namely anime, manga, video games. Here are the mosticonic otaku characters in video games.
8Alphys (Undertale)
Alphys is a reptile that resides in the lab inUndertale’s Hotland and is awell-respected scientist. She is a rather stereotypical “nerdy otaku” and is quite intelligent as well as shy most of the time, often struggling with expressing her feelings in social situations.
Alphys, being a little yellow reptile/reptilian monster, has an unusual fondness for human genres of manga and anime. It’s clear that Alphys is a fan of romanticizing and daydreaming about her life and love interests (much like other otakus) but hopefully, the timid scientist can find the courage to break out of her shell one day to make her dreams a reality.
7Anghel Higure (Hatoful Boyfriend)
Anghel Higure (real name Yoshio Akagi) is one of the many charming birds that players can romance inHatoful Boyfriend, theinfamous bird dating sim game. Anghel is a Luzon bleeding-heart dove and believes that his signature red mark on his chest is an Avatar of Destruction sealed inside him. While that may sound far-fetched at first, a deeper look into Anghel’s personality makes everything make sense.
Anghel is the embodiment of LARPing (live-action role-playing) and lives every day of his life as if he were the protagonist ofhis very own JRPG. He is constantly seen conversing with other birds in cryptic language and addressing everyone with fantasy names or titles. On top of his casual LARPing, Anghel is a member of the school’s manga club and even draws manga himself, in hopes of becoming a mangaka one day!
6Tsumugi Shirogane (Danganronpa V3)
Being a true otaku that is dedicated to their favorite anime shows or manga series means gettingattached to all the beloved charactersfeatured in them. Tsumugi fromDanganronpaV3holds the title of the Ultimate Cosplayer and states that her desire to dress up as her favorite characters stems from her love for them. She condemns fellow cosplayers that cosplay merely for the attention.
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Tsumugi is a typical otaku and is constantly seen fumbling over her words, talking about being introverted, or sneaking in quotes or trivia (that often go unnoticed or fly over others' heads) from her favorite shows when speaking with the group.
5D.Va/ Hana Song (Overwatch)
There isn’t anything more otaku than making video games one’s entire profession, which is exactly whatOverwatch’s Hana Song (a.k.a. D.va) did. Before joining Overwatch, D.va was a professional eSports athlete. D.va has a ton of voice lines that are all the quintessential “gamer” references; her most iconic one being “nerf this” after sending in her mech to self-destruct for her Ultimate.
After a shortage of pilots, MEKA (the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army) began to recruit professional gamers in hopes that the dexterity and reflexes they used for gaming would transfer over well topiloting a mech.
Luckily for the South Korean Government and military, D.va made for a perfect pilot and even learned how to tune up her equipment to be her own mechanic.
D.va is proof that being an otaku can open up new doors that lead to amazing opportunities!
4Chipp Zanuff (Guilty Gear)
Chipp Zanuff is theGuilty Gear’s resident otaku character that manages to get a whole ton of love despite being a little cringy. Chipp comes from a very troubled past that involved drugs, heavy addiction, and street fighting. Eventually, Chipp was taken into the care of a man named Tsuyoshi that offered him the help he needed.
The beginning of Chipp’s obsession with Japan and Japanese culture is a rather sweet story. Tsuyoshi essentiallyrescued Chipp from a dark lifeand trained him in the art of ninjutsu. It was from Chipp’s great respect and idolization of his master that he sought to learn more about the culture the art he was learning originated from.
From then on, Chipp became the stereotypical otaku, even teetering into “weeaboo” territory and using random/nonsensical words like “sukiyaki,” “kamikaze,” and “sushi” as battle cries! Unfortunately, it seems as if Tsuyoshi didn’t get the chance to teach Chipp any proper Japanese phrases.
3Hifumi Yamada (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc)
Just from Hifumi Yamada’s title inDanganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, anyone would be able to conclude that Hifumi is a self-proclaimed otaku. Hifumi holds the title of Ultimate Fanfic Creator and allows his flowery writing style to bleed into his everyday vocabulary.
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Hifumi isn’t just the number one Fanfic Creator, he is incredibly passionate about his craft and dedicates his life to anime and the art of fanfiction, often putting down others that aren’t like-minded. Hifumi may be a talented and dedicated writer and otaku, but hopefully, his intolerance for people that don’t agree with him won’t make others think that all otakus are just as snobby.
2Travis Touchdown (No More Heroes)
Iconic protagonist and anti-hero of theNo More Heroesseries, Travis Touchdown is not even a tad bit shy when it comes to flaunting his otaku side. Right from his introduction, Travis is seen in a motel room that is littered with both anime and manga along with video game collectibles and memorabilia. Travis' most notable otaku obsession is the magical girl mecha series, “Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly,” which is an anime series that doesn’t actually exist in real life.
The “Pure White” anime series and collectibles seen inNo More Heroeswere specifically made for the game and even have two episodes that explore the adventures of main characters Strawberry, Blueberry, and Cranberry. This was all in order togive Travis the authentic otaku feel, painting him as a fan of themoe-themed aspectsof otaku culture specifically.
1Otacon/ Hal Emmerich (Metal Gear Solid Series)
Otacon is perhapsthe most iconic otakuin the world of video games; all thanks tohis famous lineduring his encounter with Gray Fox and Snake inMetal Gear Solid. A talented engineer and computer programmer, Hal Emmerich wonMGSfans over the moment he showed off his love for anime and was even given his nickname, Otacon, as a reference to Otakon, awell-known anime convention.
Otacon is the perfect example of the typical otaku; he has an interest in anime and manga, excels at things that are computer-related, and adorably enough, sometimes finds himself a little awkward or shy around the opposite sex. Luckily Otacon still has Snake to rely on when it comes to handling social interactions!
