AMERICAN OTAKU

Otaku (おたく/オタク) is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga and video games.*

Joyless ROY LAYNE has been living a painfully unremarkable life, mechanically plodding through each day with zero meaningful connections to other people and contempt for himself. A chance encounter with KAZUHIRO, an otaku following the American publicity tour of manga writer VERA TSUJI turns Roy onto Vera's "Planet Wong" series, sparking intense and unprecedented feelings of passion in him about the animated heroine MISS WONG. When Roy's obsession evolves to the point of threatening his livelihood and, considering Miss Wong appears before him to chat, perhaps his sanity, he's faced with the prospect of rejecting the only thing he's ever loved.

"Don't tell me what's real."

*Wikipedia definition.

Special thanks to Lisa Katayama's excellent NYTimes article "Love in 2-D" for inspiring today's pitch.