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She held her hand in the air with five, four, three, two then one finger up. Immediately, the room went into almost complete silence. The only sounds came from the light clicking that the switchboard made as fingers glided effortlessly from switches to buttons. Outside the room, the “On Air” light came on warning people not to enter or make too much noise and with that, Otakucentric was officially live.

Well, almost.

Senpai Naomi Suda and her co-host Max Navarro hope to translate to listeners what Otaku is throughout the run of their radio talk show as well as introduce the sub-culture to a new audience. Otaku is a term used to describe people obsessed with the pop culture of Japan, including anime, manga, music and video games.

“We all have different interests. Some of us like music, art, some of us just like the pop culture… I didn’t really like the pop culture, of the United States,” Suda said. “I didn’t feel like it was for me. I didn’t feel like I fit in with my friends who liked Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and N’Sync.”

Suda wanted to bring Otaku to a wider audience and deconstruct the common misconceptions about Japanese pop culture. Even in Japan, being Otaku can have negative connotations.

“I think what people misunderstand about Otaku is, especially in Japan, it has this negative image that you don’t really communicate with people, you’re anti-social,” Suda said. “But when you think about it, when you’re searching for Otaku news you’re searching the web or talking to people on twitter. So it’s just another tool for communication that people don’t realize.”

Listeners who tuned in last Friday for the show may have noticed it mysteriously dropped off the waves. The servers were down for most of the show last week, which was a disappointment with all of the work that was put into the show.

“Otakucentric is one of the few shows that was ready to go last week,” Navarro said.

Navarro reassured listeners that the show did reach people despite the brief server shutdown. He also pointed out that the Lancer Radio website will soon be receiving a full overhaul.

While Otakucentric has a good plan in place already, it is clear the show will evolve over the semester.

“We’re trying to find that voice. It’s an hour where you can tune in and get a peak at a subculture that is very prominent in the United States,” Navarro said. “Hopefully we can lift the veil on a lot of people’s misconceptions about anime, music and games.”

Riding on a wavelength that is host to mostly music shows, Otakucentric mixes it up and tackles the seemingly more difficult approach of a talk show.

“The perception is it’s a show that requires very little producing,” said Navarro on producing music shows.

Just because the talk show is about Japanese sub-culture doesn’t mean that the show is broadcast in Japanese.

“Show notes will be created. We’ll have little foot notes on the page,” said Navarro, “Most of the audio we’ll be incorporating in the future—a lot of it will be in English.”

Otakucentric isn’t only about introducing and discussing anime, manga, and video games. It is also a vessel for a larger message that fights stereotypes.

“It’s something really cultural and I do take pride in it. I want to let people know that Japan is not just only samurai or ninja. It’s not only about manga and it’s not only about anime,” Suda said.

Listeners can tune in to Lancer Radio on Fridays from 12-1 to listen to Otakucentric.

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