Denpa

Overview

Denpa is a Japanese term that literally translates to "electromagnetic wave" and is often used to describe people that exhibit bizarre behavior and claim to hear voices that they receive directly from something like a radio wave. The term is used to describe a genre of story that revolves around madness where the protagonist or other characters are disconnected from reality, often indulging in delusional or paranoid fantasies and who's view of the world is distorted. The term was popularized in otaku culture by the 1996 erotic horror game Shizuku, who's main heroine claims to be an antenna that often visits the school's roof to receive radio signals. Since then the term has been used in many visual novels, anime and manga. Several American companies have even adopted the denpa term in their name, including DenpaSoft and Denpa LLC.

Eternal Links

1. English Wikipedia Page
2. Japanese Wikipedia Page
3. VNDB Denpa Page
4. A Look At – Shizuku (Leaf / Aquaplus) – The Very First Visual Novel* (Rough Edge, 2020).