This reports on a panel discussion with three influencers who disseminate Japanese culture, including anime, in Egypt, examining the reality of "otaku" in Egypt and the current state of Japanese anime fans.
Egypt has a population of over 107 million, predicted to reach 160 million by 2050, with a median age of 24, making it a younger population structure compared to major emerging Asian countries. Five universities in the country have Japanese language departments, and Japanese language classes hosted by the Japan Foundation Cairo are consistently full. The three influencers participating in the panel discussion are Zeyad Emad (24 years old) with 3 million TikTok followers, 606,000 Facebook followers, and 600,000 Instagram followers; Mahitab Ibrahim (24 years old) with 203,000 TikTok followers and 139,000 Instagram followers; and Ahmed Zekri (27 years old) with 79,400 TikTok followers.
All three became anime fans after watching Arabic-dubbed anime on "Spacetoon," an Arabic anime channel based in Dubai, UAE. Mahitab's first work was "Detective Conan," Ahmed's was "Yu-Gi-Oh!" (attracted by the fusion of ancient Egyptian history and Japanese anime), and Zeyad's was "Dragon Ball." They also began participating in pop culture events held in Cairo by the Japan Foundation in 2013 and "EGYCON," an anime fan event originating in Egypt that started in 2014.
Regarding current viewing habits, Mahitab watches 1-3 episodes per week when busy with work, or can binge-watch an entire series in one day when time permits; Ahmed watches anime all day on holidays when available; and Zeyad, as a cosplayer, watches anime 1-2 hours daily for character research. They gather information through social media, internet searches, the online community "MyAnimeList," and recently even use AI's ChatGPT, as well as asking followers for recommendations through TikTok and Instagram's question features.
In Egypt, the word "otaku" is a neutral term meaning "anime fan" without negative connotations, and they were surprised to learn about the negative nuances in Japanese. Interest in Japanese culture beyond anime includes Japanese language learning, Japanese food (such as yakisoba), tourism to places featured in anime like Shibuya and Mount Fuji, and interest in Japanese mentality such as humility and punctuality.
The article concludes that Japanese anime culture has deeply penetrated among Egypt's youth, and interest in Japan is further expanding through information dissemination via social media.