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In the Western world, anime/manga fans are commonly referred to as otaku (Hiragana: おたく, Katakana: オタク). [1] In Japanese however, this is a (mildly) derogatory word for a geek, nerd, or any person who has obsessive interests "to the exclusion of such things as social interaction".[2]
Does the Japanese language have any terms to refer to people of the anime/manga fandom in a non-derogatory manner?
The safest neutral phrase is ○○ファン (e.g. アニメファン / 漫画ファン / アニメやゲームのファン / etc), which is widely used both by otaku and non-otaku people. This can be safely used with non-otaku hobbies, too (e.g. サッカーファン, 将棋ファン). This is definitely the first choice, for example when you write a news article introducing (favorably) an otaku event in mass media. Other common possibilities include ○○愛好家【あいこうか】 and ○○好【ず】き, which are suitable in news articles, but people do not use these often in casual settings. Here's an example taken from 徳島新聞:
アニメの祭典「マチ★アソビ」の第１３弾と「アニメ映画祭」は最終日の１２日、徳島市中心部でコスプレ愛好家によるショーなどが行われた。台風１９号の影響で開催期間が１日短縮されたものの、県内外のアニメファンが街に繰り出し、イベントを盛り上げた。(2014/10/13 徳島新聞)
Note that real Japanese "cosplayers" normally call themselves コスプレイヤー, レイヤー or コスプレファン, but not コスプレ愛好家.
オタク sounds derogatory only when this is used by people who have a prejudiced view of オタク. Many otaku take pride in being オタク, and call each other オタク (or オタ for short) all the time. When Tarō Asō, former Prime Minister of Japan, made a speech in Akihabara, he said "秋葉原のオタクの皆さん、こんにちは" and the audience applauded, because he was thought to be a sympathizer of otaku culture in those days. But if a different politician had said the same thing, people in Akihabara might have felt offended.
サブカルチャー(サブカル) is a kind of "academic" term to euphemistically refer to so-called オタク文化. (Wikipedia says that there is a discrepancy between Japanese サブカルチャー and English 'subculture', but I'm not sure about that.) Researchers sometimes use this when they don't feel like using オタク/オタク文化 frequently in their academic papers. Unfortunately, this term is not preferred by otaku people themselves, probably because such researchers do not necessarily understand the otaku culture from the heart, and tend to make pointless "analysis". If you introduced yourself saying something like サブカルが好き, people might wonder if you are really an otaku.
○○マニア used to be a neutral word which simply meant 'a big fan' in Japanese. But recently it often carries a negative nuance in Japan, too. For example you can read this Wikipedia article discussing the difference between 鉄道マニア, 鉄道オタク and 鉄道ファン in Japanese.
I think 「〜[好]{ず}き」 is a common expression in Japan these days.
If someone likes anime very much, s/he is 「アニメ[好]{ず}き」. The usage example is http://news.mynavi.jp/articles/2015/06/21/ibayashi/
If someone likes manga very much, s/he is 「マンガ[好]{ず}き」. The usage example is https://www.booklista.co.jp/feature/harajyuku/
アニメ[好]{ず}き does not mean exactly the same as アニメオタク. アニメ好き represents a person who really likes アニメ. So, all アニメオタク are some kinds of アニメ好き, but some アニメ好き are not オタク or オタク-level.
〜[好]{ず}き has a broader meaning, so it's used not to precisely categorize people as オタク, ファン etc, or not to judge people's passion and knowledge levels. The word expresses a simple fact that the person is who likes it very much, no more no less. I think that's why 〜好き is preferred in everyday conversation in many cases.
Maybe, Twitter is not a perfect example for everyday conversation, but for a sort of reference, https://goo.gl/DzCYGm
By the way, if アニメ好き is read 「アニメすき」, it means 「アニメが[好]{す}き」 or 「アニメが[好]{す}きな」. What I'm explaining here is 「アニメずき」 which is a compound noun. Tweet examples contain both types.
Some people really hate being categorized as オタク, like this questioner's friend. http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q14107008004 So in this kind of case, 「〜[好]{ず}き」 is appropriate to use, even though the person's passion and knowledge are オタク-level actually.
The border between オタク and non-オタク is unclear in many situations, and オタク people are diverse. There are beginner-level オタク people, Kami(神)-level オタク people, and between-level オタク people. Some オタク don't accept beginner-level オタク as genuine オタク. It's complicating because many people have their own opinions about the border. So, saying アニメ好き might be useful in avoiding a conflict with a オタク or non-オタク person who has a strong belief about the border and the meaning of the word.
Please note that アニメ好き, マンガ好き and other 〜好き are essentially good words, however, it's possible that people having a prejudice use these words in a derogatory manner as explained by narutoさん.
My answer is a closer look at 「〜[好]{ず}き」, because I think this compound word is acceptable for most Japanese people, commonly used in everyday conversation, and proper in various situations.
Yes, the preferred term is a person who is involved in "subculture."
From my answer to a related question:
The current generation of young adult anime/manga fans in Japan are still viewed as oddball by others; they have not reached the level of acceptance by society at large that Western otaku enjoy (for example, the popularity of the TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory or that in American people could mention in passing that they're going to a con or RenFair this weekend and many others won't judge them for it). However, the demographic is not as negatively viewed as it was in past generations. Now, they might jokingly refer to themselves as otaku.
But the Japanese adults who are unabashed anime/manga fans do not usually refer to themselves as otaku, but rather prefer using the term 「サブカルチャー」(subculture), or 「サブカル」(sabukaru) for short, to describe their interest and what they are involved in. This term, rather than focusing on oneself, focuses on being part of a group that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs in particular, intentional ways. This usage of subculture is used not only for anime/manga fans but for other demographics of Japanese people, such as those interested in the occult, clubbing, or reggae, which are likewise not mainstream hobbies in Japan.
This is the main word used by the "Manga and Illustration Research Society" student club at my Japanese university. Excerpt from an email sent on the student club email mailing list:
会長の小森です。国際本部の田村さんという方から、『サブカルのイベントを開催してみないか』というメールが届いたのでお知らせします。
日本語や日本文化の授業をとっている留学生の多くが日本のマンガやアニメに興味をもったところから始まり日本に留学していて、実際に留学生からサブカル関連のイベントをしてほしいと要望があったそうです。そこで、そういう留学生を対象としたイベントをやってみませんか？という内容でした。難しければアドバイスという形でも構わないそうです。本部さんもサブカルのイベントといってもどうすればいいか分からなくて困っている様子でした。
It was subsequently referred to as
サブカルイベントについて
I seriously doubt that the word "subculture" originated among the international students who requested the event since 田村さん mentioned that they had specifically requested an event about 「日本のマンガやアニメ」; likely, the Japanese club member who wrote the email for the club mailing list changed whatever the international students referred to it as (i.e., 「日本のマンガやアニメ」[anime and manga] or 「オタクのカルチャー」[anime and manga fandom]) into 「サブカル」 in order to pitch it to the club members at large.
I have heard「マニアック」(maniac) tacked onto the name of a specific series title or 専門家 (senmonka = specialization) within the subculture (i.e., 「プリティーリズムマニアック！」("I'm a Pretty Rhythm maniac!" while pointing at oneself) or「ボーカロイドマニアックです」 (I'm a vocaloid maniac) but this is not usually tacked onto 漫画 and アニメ since those are more generally assumed as the base of the subculture. Of course, this is not derogatory but it's casual speech which isn't appropriate for formal occasions.
Rather than call a person something like "is a Pokemon fan," Japanese are more likely to make a statement about the person or the thing the person likes; for example: 「ポケモンに夢中」(Pokemon ni muchuu = is into Pokemon/crazy about Pokemon),「ポケモンマニア」(has Pokemon mania), or phrases like「に興味がある」(ni kyoumi ga aru = interested in),「に興味深い」(kyoumibukai = deep interested in),「好き」(suki/zuki = like), or「いいよね〜」(ii yo ne = is great, isn't it?).
I rarely, if ever, hear the words 「ファン」(fan) and 「大ファン」(dai fan) tossed around to describe oneself or one's friend in this context. I have never heard the word 「ファンダム」(fandamu) used once.
