The year is 1982. With this anime being set in Tokyo, you'd expect aliens, variable geometry hot air balloons, or (God forbid) Mokona. On the other hand, Paris seems to be getting the hot air balloons, and Mokona is copyrighted. Otaku no Video is (so they claim) a fictionalized history of Gainax, and it would have to be really fictionalized to include aliens.

If you think that you don't have a life, you haven't met Tanaka and his circle. They've got an entire apartment devoted to their various hobbies, and the circle operates around the clock. We're told that Tanaka draws manga, but there's no word on whether or not the others even have jobs. Kubo is quickly inducted and converted to Otakudom, and he gives up his job search in hopes of becoming the Otaku of Otaku -- the Otaking.

If this wasn't weird enough, the animated aforementioned story line only takes up half of Otaku no Video. The other half is a series of "Otaku no Shouzou" (Portrait of an Otaku), which are live-action interviews of the obsessed.

Tonight's episode is part 1 of a 2-part series. The second part (1985 More Otaku no Video) is even weirder, and concerns the opening of Otaku World Tokyo and the rise of Gainax to world domination. Still to be released is 1998 Otaku no Datsuzei, where Kubo and Tanaka learn creative accounting and take a vacation at Club Fed.