I am seriously questioning my sanity. I'm 23 years old, I've moved out of my parents basement and live on my own, I have a job, I have a boyfriend etc etc. Basically I'm a normal, responsible adult. The problem is that I am extremely attracted to anime/manga characters. I hardly find real people attractive at all any more, and I think 3D porn is pretty damn disgusting, whereas I find hentai/yaoi to be very hot. There are several characters that I have a small crush on, and I collect all the fan art, doujinshi etc that I can possibly find of them. Yesterday I let an episode of a certain show run in the background, just so I could listen to one characters voice while browsing.
tl;dr I'm in love with anime characters and I think 3D is pig disgusting. Is this normal? Am I insane? Are there others like me out there (13 year old girls and retards doesn't count)? What are your thoughts about this? Discuss!
I think maybe you prefer fiction because everything is perfect, romances are epic and those characters are your ideal, but they aren't real. Is there any reason why you feel this way? Maybe you thought someone was perfect and was let down. And, no, you're not insane, OP.
You're not insane, and there are plenty of others like you. Whether or not you can consider it normal will have to depend on your definition of normal.
Just give yourself a little perspective. You lead an ordinary life and you even have a boyfriend which means you aren't adverse to human relationships. At this point your normalcy shouldn't even be in question.
Keep in mind how many otaku out there are completely incapable/uninterested in human relationship. They -only- focus on fictional characters.
In your case, it's really not all that different than obsessing over a movie star, cause frankly the realistic chance of having a relationship with one of them is about the same as a character who doesn't exist at all. Essentially, there's no difference in being attracted to someone fictional and someone unattainable, and 'normal' people are attracted to the latter all the time.
If you want you could even go into history and find examples of love which are really quite ridiculous. When people turn it into a story though, it isn't weird, its beautiful amirite? Pygmalion fell in love with a statue for christs sake, at least you've been in love with some things that have personality.
I'm a little different: while I like have feelings for various 2D characters, I am deeply in love with Shinji Ikari. I often dream of just holding him and my arms and telling him how much I love him, but I always get depressed because I know it can't happen. It came to the point where I even tried killing myself, just so I can be with him.
If you went to the point of trying to commit suicide, it's not normal, and you should consider asking for help. And I'm not sure the issue is only about being in love with anime. After all, many people are in love with pop-stars and don't get depressed or suicidal about it. I suspect you may have other issues lingering, and you should probably tackle them.
Besides, I think you may be suffering from a peter pan syndrome, in the sense that you can't deal with the grittiness of real life, and yearn for the perfection of a fantasy world. The best solution to that problem is to embrace reality and real living people. Nobody is perfect, but trust me, real people can be awesome, and better than any fiction. You just have to get more curious, open and hopeful.
Consider the following example: geometric forms are beautiful, pure and perfect (circles, triangles, rectangles). Now consider your table: it's probably an imperfect rectangle, but if you notice its details, you will find an incredible richness, with weird motives and a never ending diversity. Everywhere you look around you is the same. The world is wonderful, rich and diverse. It's the withdrawal that you are suffering from your depression that prevents you from seeing this richness. The blandness you attribute to the world is but that of your own spirit, starved from real world stimulation. Just go out in the world like if you were a new person, and everything was fresh and new to you. A human lifespan is too short to grow bored of the world,...
it's normal, a lot of us masturbate on 2d characters quite excessively on a regular day-to-day basis.
Not insane at all. Girls are spoiled beings, it's very normal to want a supper mega perfect relationship like the ones that are depicted in anime and manga. Its normal to being atracted to something that it's like the ultra concentrate juice of perfection as are anime 2d characters.
It's like when you see a sunset, and you love it and you know you love sunsets, because they're beautiful.
It's pretty normal, if you're happy like that, that's what matters.
It's not for perfection; hell, all the characters I have had any attraction to are greatly flawed and just fucked-up.
How can anyone say that being in love with a cartoon character is the same as being in love with a pop star? Even if pop stars just represent a fantasy they are still human beings and it is normal for humans to fall in love with humans. Whereas it is not normal for humans to fall in love drawings.
>>9 pop stars are no more real than fictional characters in books or in anime. The only input you get from them is conveyed through the media, and as we know is only a projection for marketing purposes.
According to what you say, it's not ok to fall in love with Anna Karenina if I read her story in a book or as a comic. But if it's a movie? Will it be ok? Or it's only ok to fall in love with the actress herself? But the little I know about that actress just makes her as fictional as Anna.
Love in desire are internal emotions that sometimes require little external input (otherwise how could you suddenly fall in love? You don't even know the person). Because of this, it's common for humans to fall in love with which are not even real humans, just like some flowers abuse insects into thinking they are a mating partner.
>>10 A drawing is just shapes and colors, it's a piece of artwork. falling in love with a cartoon is just like falling in love with a sculpture, or a piece of music. That kind of behavior may be natural for insects, but not for humans since we have the ability to think.
A drawing is an abstraction of the imagination. The imagination has this peculiar property that if worked to a high enough degree it may emulate the impressions once received which a person previously (or imagined to have) knew. That said, there's nothing more being done THAN thinking, and some of us choose to include, along with music and sculptures, human relationships as imaginative drolleries.
>That kind of behavior may be natural for insects, but not for humans since we have the ability to think.
You seem to be deluded about humans. They are quite capable of falling in love for works of imagination, simply because desire is a subproduct of imagination. As >>13 mentioned, what shapes your interest is your imagination at work, and not necessarily the original trigger, be it a drawing or a real person,... Even in the case of attraction for a real human, imagination is the central engine. Or how do you think people can be attracted to people they haver barely seen or met? My suggestion is that the quaint leads the other person is giving are fueling the imagination and hence attraction of the person falling in love. Basically, you fill the gaps with your fantasies. And in beginning, there are more gaps than facts, a real playground for imagination.
Oh, and since when is desire and attraction related to thinking? Isn't it more about feeling? I don't know about insects, but for humans the second is definitely more important.
I think it's normal
>>6 ahahahha you just cracked me up! it's probably true for a sh*tload of otaku!
eh OP, i think its ok for you to do that. we all want to have something amazing that we cant have. shit if i saw some sexy hentai anime girl in real life, fu*k yeah i'd be staring and probably trying to get their number. and hey if it's hentai in the background....well awesome but real porn has its own charm
>>16 I must admit that I hate you more than imaginable.
Well, anime characters really are a sort of idealized vision of a human being... compared to the average person a beautiful drawing has a lot going for it, in a way.
It's not weird to be attracted to something or not attracted to something else. I wouldn't worry about that too much. People change and learn new things about themselves all the time.
Just do what you think is right... but for god sakes don't post pictures of it on the internet unless you want an ED article about you created.
interesting
I've been in a passionate relationship for four years with an imaginary friend from an animated series when I was younger.
Not that I've ever been a schoolbook example of non-weirdness. But I'm just saying, there are weirder people. :P
First of all, let's look at this in a 'logical' way.
when you are in love with a human, basically, you love that person's data. Data= collection of his voice, his hair, his personality, his attitude his whatever... you get the point.
being in love with an anime character is no different from being in love with a person because they are technically collections of data labelled under a certain name.
HOWEVER, the only thing is that YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT THE FACT that the character you are in love with will only be in that plane of existence. You can never have a sensory data of his skin, etc. BUT, once you RECOGNIZE and accept these limitations and YET, you still love him knowing all that, then that i think, is really admirable.
platonic love.
love is quite complex you see. People love machines, some love animals and some love ideas, philosophy, science, arts etc.
only that we have a general notion of love because the majority of the people are like that.
if you love that anime character, you accept his limitations, you are very happy and you have absolutely no regrets... if you value the bliss of pure love and you're ready to give up bodily pleasures for a different form of love, then do not be afraid to do so. Above all else, you are the only one who knows 'reality.' You are the only one holding your life. so if he can make you happy more than anyone else, then why not? Why conform if you don't really want it?
Again, just accept the limitations, the consequences. And follow your heart! ^_^
First of all, let's look at this in a 'logical' way.
when you are in love with a human, basically, you love that person's data. Data= collection of his voice, his hair, his personality, his attitude his whatever... you get the point.
being in love with an anime character is no different from being in love with a person because they are technically collections of data labelled under a certain name.
HOWEVER, the only thing is that YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT THE FACT that the character you are in love with will only be in that plane of existence. You can never have a sensory data of his skin, etc. BUT, once you RECOGNIZE and accept these limitations and YET, you still love him knowing all that, then that i think, is really admirable.
platonic love.
love is quite complex you see. People love machines, some love animals and some love ideas, philosophy, science, arts etc.
only that we have a general notion of love because the majority of the people are like that.
if you love that anime character, you accept his limitations, you are very happy and you have absolutely no regrets... if you value the bliss of pure love and you're ready to give up bodily pleasures for a different form of love, then do not be afraid to do so. Above all else, you are the only one who knows 'reality.' You are the only one holding your life. so if he can make you happy more than anyone else, then why not? Why conform if you don't really want it?
Again, just accept the limitations, the consequences. And follow your heart! ^_^
First of all, let's look at this in a 'logical' way.
when you are in love with a human, basically, you love that person's data. Data= collection of his voice, his hair, his personality, his attitude his whatever... you get the point.
being in love with an anime character is no different from being in love with a person because they are technically collections of data labelled under a certain name.
HOWEVER, the only thing is that YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT THE FACT that the character you are in love with will only be in that plane of existence. You can never have a sensory data of his skin, etc. BUT, once you RECOGNIZE and accept these limitations and YET, you still love him knowing all that, then that i think, is really admirable.
platonic love.
love is quite complex you see. People love machines, some love animals and some love ideas, philosophy, science, arts etc.
only that we have a general notion of love because the majority of the people are like that.
if you love that anime character, you accept his limitations, you are very happy and you have absolutely no regrets... if you value the bliss of pure love and you're ready to give up bodily pleasures for a different form of love, then do not be afraid to do so. Above all else, you are the only one who knows 'reality.' You are the only one holding your life. so if he can make you happy more than anyone else, then why not? Why conform if you don't really want it?
Again, just accept the limitations, the consequences. And follow your heart! ^_^
Has everyone seriously overlooked the fact that OP has a boyfriend?
If you were single, then fine, have a crush on anime characters. But if you're meant to be in a relationship with someone, that's really not okay. It's no different from being in a relationship and wishing you were with a real person in terms of loyalty. What you're doing is dishonest and a betrayal to your boyfriend. If you want to go chasing anime characters leave the poor guy out of it.
lol, I screwed up the sage. I'm literally the worst.
Chasing anime characters is no adultery, because a two sided sentimental relationship is very different from a one sided infatuation with some entertainment material. Honestly, I would prefer my partner to chase anime than real people.
I do see a problem in this situation, because as the OP mentions, too much obsession may lead one to lose appreciation for the 3D world. One has to remember that just like cheap sentimental novels, anime feeds into undemanding fantasies, whereas real relationships are rugged and require actual work. People who dream constantly have a low frustration threshold, which leads to apathy. This is dangerous and must be contained. Otherwise one will end up a slug in a basement, with one or many cats as sole 3D comfort.
>>27
Well you overlooked the fact that this thread was made three years ago.
I wish people would come back and update us on these kind of threads ( ._.)
Ancient thread I know, but to be honest sometimes I really envy people who can seriously love works of fiction. Life sure would be easier if I could be happy with an anime character instead of obsess over real people I have no chance of ever being with ('A`)
>>32
Watch an entire 26 episode anime about cute girls/handsome guys in a single day. That should cause you to start becoming obsessed.
Three years too late I guess, but I can relate. I had a serious girlfriend a little while ago, but she wasn't really doing it for me. At the same time I was starting to get deep into the manga/visual novel business. Long story short she refused to pretend to be Horo and wear the ears and tail and we ended up breaking it off. There were other problems between us too, but that in particular didn't help.
I've never had many friends or been that sociable, so it's hard for me to make any friends let alone another girlfriend. But even so, I don't feel like it. Almost all real women just lost their appeal to me a long time ago. I suppose this makes me a freak, but I'm fine with that.
oh wow. i feel sorry for ops boyfriend. did he know?
>>35 well, if you think about it, at least she won't screw around with someone real.
Joke aside, perhaps the guy lost it when she brought home some fake cat ears ^_^
Actually, I've done that. The closest I've ever come to having a 2D waifu was when I played Tsukihime for the first time, around 4 years ago. It was nice for awhile, but for some reason it didn't last.
>>39
Ah, okay. I guess I just have a thing for the bossy refined lady sort.
Akiha was my second favorite. I'm kind of too similar too her though, so playing through her route from Shiki's perspective felt a little odd.
well im boned i want to die to be with the anime girlm of my dreams im depressed and a very dark person and im not woried at all i like being suicidal over her cuz it porves my love for them