/b/ - Random

This is my list of what caused mild to severe waifuism:

>Not doing well socially wise
>having unrealistic beauty and/or moral standards
>loneliness
>fear of rejection
>thinking the other gender as whole is unworthy of you and/or scary, disgusting, dirty…

Mediocre entertainment, I think that's harder to answer lol. Maybe just not wanting to think much while on a break? I don't know. What is mediocre entertainment in the first place? Some huge sitcoms and TV shows are mediocre imo, but others don't think so. Meanwhile I am guilty of watching trash horror movies and thinking they're top A+ cinema if I'm bored enough.

Extreme loneliness, especially when combined with astigmatism.
Also most of the characters that waifuists obsess over were written to pander to sweaty otakus: more often then not they are cutesy in looks and behavior, submissive and obsessed about their love interest (like Asuna or Rem).
I browse waifu boards and cringe.

Internet culture failed us. Normally the retard would just sit in the back of his class with his head down but now the retard can go online and fulfill his retarded dreams with thousands of other likeminded retards. The solution is to be put down.

>>10914
>Mediocre entertainment, I think that's harder to answer lol
I think it's because mediocre entertainment tend to rely on established tropes. They're extremely predictable characters, so they would never have to deal with the complex behaviors/responses of real people/well written characters.

I've noticed that people who are actually invested in a waifu are emotional leeches. Sure they say stuff like "If she were real, I'd do x,y,z" but it's obvious that if their waifu was real and they had to put in the legwork to cheer her up/help her with her problems/etc they'd sperg the fuck out.

Extreme pandering to a certain social demographic and use of tactics to pull in that demographic.
Waifus are normally written to be the perfect male fantasy (cute bodies, cute voices, submissive, cute mannerisms, etc), especially attractive for those that are more socially reclusive and have their opinions on how women should act based on certain media standards.
Those people have such high/specific standards that a perfect anime character made to pander them is the only one that can fulfill it, and when they do, they become obsessed with it to the point where they would fight people to defend a drawing.
Also, sometimes these people get rejected/ignored by women in real life, which in turn makes them turn to the perfect 2d woman that will never reject them and caters to their every desire in a more obsessive manner than "i like this character".

I'm okay with more "normie" liking of waifus/husbandos (likes a character a lot, but not obsessed with it), but when people fight and get triggered like a bunch of tards for fictional characters it's when it gets really sad imo.

>>10917
Aww I like waifu guys, it makes me happy when I'm at a con and I see someone brazenly walking around with a body pillow of a character I love. They're usually happy and excited to talk about how much they love their waifu with you (probably not a conversation they get to have IRL often.) I think they're part of the fun of the anime fandom.

2D > 3D
I mean, what are you doing on an imageboard if you disagree?

Probably in the same vein as celebrity worship.

I can't relate to having strong feelings for people or characters who I will never have and don't really know. One of my friends admitted on facebook of all places that she has a fictional crush that gets in the way of her forming real relationships. Probably because she puts it on a pedestal. But…just…why? Ehhh.

>>10935
Well I wouldn't say it's the same thing. You can still meet your celebrity and fuck them (if you're a groupie and they're a male, for starters). You can still meet friends of said celebrity and talk about them with other people.

waifuism is kind of like idol worship tbh. they make moeblobs and waifus with very specific 2D (lol) personalities so people don't have to deal with parts they don't like.

tbh it's mostly for merch sales, but these guys are really sad and buy into it, literally. i have characters i like, but generally they're not as boring as "tsundere" or "sweet motherly" types.

>>10912
This phenomenon has been around since the times of Ancient Greece.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_(mythology)

As anon in the picture summarises it with green text quite effectively. Not quite sure if it actually holds grounds but it might have been the case with this story.

>>10947
This. More often than not it is the circumstances that drive people into weird behavior. If not for waifus they would obsess over some other thing. Maybe a book or movie character a singer or anything really.
Don't really see the difference between them and girls who go hysterical at some boy band's concert. It's the same shit in different package.

For me I think it's
>loneliness
>loving cute girls
>for fun
>fear of rejection

and some things other people said lol. Pic related is my waifu<3

People who tend to be deep into certain waifus are those who don't really have the respect for the complexity of human beings.
It's because real human beings often make embarrassing mistakes, antagonize, or make the exact same blunders for years on end, otherwise and can unconsciously do things that make you hate them.
Most females characters are made to be beautiful and sell figurines.
So they're made to be appealing and even if they make mistakes, their mistakes are seen as part of their charm because they are women. Rather then, in their words…a dumb plain boy.
I think male waifuists compete against other male characters and are quick to give them labels like the beta or alpha shit.
But female characters are of another class. The other.
The most classical moe characters are just pretty pets that exist to make you feel good about yourself. Some waifufags get upset and angry that women aren't the perfect creatures they are depicted in media, so they retreat deeper in media full of them.
But the most popular husbandos/waifus tend to be well written or at least interesting/unique for their character archetypes which is why they have wide appeal.
I think that because fictional characters are fictional, people want to possess and own them in a way that you can't with real people.
It is because a character is fictional, that people adore them more than a real person.
When you fantasize in your head, even their faults peter out into nothing for the sake of your comfort.
Instead of wanting to learn courtship or how to become more attractive to the opposite sex, they twist their inability to get a girlfriend, as the potential girlfriends' inability to accept their "good traits". This comes down to people wanting to frame themselves in a sympathetic light.
Also, most deep waifuers are aware that they're fuckups, so they choose the most accepting characters with kindness deeper than the ocean to accept their "degenerate selves".

>>10964
But the boys are actually real. And you can actually fuck them and date them

What >>10975 said summarizes it pretty well.
Also because a character is fictional, you're watching them from a third person perspective, they're not like a girlfriend who you might fall in love with her good parts, but later get surprised with their bad parts. Real people are complicated and you can't figure them out in 1 hour more or less by watching episodes of their lives, they are unpredictable and high maintenance, and most importantly, you might put effort in them that goes to waste when they reject you or develop feelings for someone else.
That's part of life, but many waifu-obsessed people can't exactly handle that. See, emotionally vulnerable people run to books, TV and other media to escape this life they can't deal with very well. You can fantasize that you're the perfect protag with an harem of qts at your beck and call and never feel alone in your safe space. It's also why visual novels are such a popular thing. You can practically ignore most real life stuff by keeping yourself cooped up in your room fantasizing that you live a perfect life while pretending your real life doesn't even exist.
This is obviously unhealthy, but it's their way of coping with things. Also i speak from my own perspective since i'm a huge dreamer who has always had fantasies about i.e. being a magical girl with my friends and also having most of my social interactions as a young kid being through the internet, but i eventually grew up and though i keep on dreaming, i deal with real life pretty well. But i also can understand that had i let my fantasies consume me i'd be those kinda chicks who are so obsessed with fiction they can find no joy in real, complicated, stressful irl people.
I don't think there's anything wrong with just liking a character a lot and wishing you could date them, people do the same thing with idols and whatnot, and i don't even see anything wrong with having a waifu, but letting this get in the way of your life and relationships should already warrant some therapy sessions.
Pic related is my waifu, btw.

>>10976
yea but most won't get a chance nor will they even try. also waifu shits aren't in love with their waifus in a sex way always, it's usually like they are gods to them.

>>10964
It's different in that a celebrity or musician is a real person even if their public image is manufactured. Some of the "personality" will still come through even if girls or fans project a shitton on these people. Also some do things they genuinely believe in like philanthropic or humanitarian work that people admire. (Or if they do it for the publicity and asspats, whatever, the public thinks they did a good and technically at least some cause is helped)

The distance from IRL celebrities or musicians makes their public persona into a type of character, but it is definitely different from a completely fictional person. Like >>10981 and >>10975 said, the human dimension is missing.

>>10992
This does happen IRL unfortunately where people so abstracted from real life, treat real life people like fictional characters.
Idol culture is the answer to this.
Fans are aware that they sell their brand image but have no respect to them in regards to having dates with other men or being caught smoking because they believe as fans, they have monopoly over the person "being owned by everyone as an idol." They must maintain strict image as idols in an industry that does not account for the humanity of those who are a part of it.

It gets even fucking worse where major fans of anime seiyuu bleed their concept of anime characters as infallible beings existing for their pleasure and real life women for breathing those characters to life being connected to that industry. So many otaku wean themselves off drawings and into real women, by seeking out women who look and sound like their beloved characters. Ugh!
So many otaku and western fans try to project their anime purity complex onto real seiyuu insisting on "no matter how many dicks my seiyuu takes, she's still pure! Your fave is a slut!"
However oddly if their seiyuu does ecchi but not outright hentai, they are thankful.
This is showing that these guys want women to be sexual on some level, otherwise their own needs are deprived in some way. It's a matter of ego.
Not only that but fiction is bleeding into reality as people are calling real human beings waifus and husbandos (which can be fun and not serious except) when those real human beings are incapable of upholding this impossible fantasy.

>>10982
depends. if they're k pop yes. if they're western stars then it's gonna be easy imo. they're drug addicted hoes

>>10992
Anon, have you heard of idol culture? Everything i described is also projected onto idols, where the idols project this pure, untouched, but still teasing and basically perfect image of themselves that isn't real. They comfort men and women and make them feel loved and accepted, which is fine by itself, but the way it's done makes some create a one-sided, patronising, harmful and potentially psycho-level obsessive relationship with their idols, much like waifushits. I find this kinda behavior even more harmful when projected onto real people because they literally get hurt from this. See sasaengs and the extremes they go to make a point their idol, a real fucking person, belongs to them in a way some people see fictional characters, claiming they love them but turning on them the second they show humanity. These people are obviously not well adjusted and their pretend relationship with their idol makes them even more deranged. See some sasaeng shit here ( https://goo.gl/D5MVMp )

Also, here is a account of an "idol otaku" that has basically the same mindset waifushits do, but projected onto actual people who act cutesy. ( https://goo.gl/cPTCYW ) The doc Tokyo Idols also shows some insight onto this particular social phenomena of idol culture that also translates onto waifu culture.

>>10997
>"It's said that real people are 3D, anime characters are 2D, and idols are 2.5D."
>"It was really disturbing and I felt weird about it all. I would have never thought that such a pure idol would have become so dirty. It was too uncomfortable for me. What I'm trying to say, I suppose, is that idols don't create that link to such things in my mind."

This is why cosplay is troublesome as well in becoming a 2.5D.
He even got shitty about his idol working a hostess job at a bar. That's ambiguously sexual in comparison to an idol actually doing JAV.
It's their inability to marry the real person with the image they are projecting and reconcile their clean pristine beautiful 2D world with real life that they view in extremes. A fabricated depiction of Earth may be fun to enjoy but real life sexuality that is not intended just for you is not dirty.
How would these fans feel if their idol married another fan?
In short, these men don't see their idols as human..just an extension of waifuism that is real.
It's insane how these idols pose for gravure shoots where they are basically naked with strings covering their bits anyway but when they get involved with a man for their own happiness, there is no respect for that happiness. I won't lie that western fangirls can be just as rabid when their idol boyband member gets a girlfriend. It's simply harder because there is a whole societal system which is encouraging this behaviour.

>>10931
>2D > 3D
Go post that on operatorchan and see how quickly your ass gets banned.

I want to be a cute anime girl

>>10999
japan has really always been like this. hostesses and idols as well as waifus mirror their floating world from the edo period. the japanese have always had the need for a sect of women who are viewed as pure celestial beings, while all of the other are seen as dirty and gross.

>>11004
don't we all~

>>10999
>This is why cosplay is troublesome as well in becoming a 2.5D.
In male-dominated spaces female cosplayers are often generalized as being slutty and attention-seeking and the ones that get the most male attention tend to wear revealing costumes. Men who worship popular cosplayers are very different from people who are too serious about their 2D waifu, who in my observation actually tend to get upset when they see their waifu cosplayed.

>>11004
Same, I think 2D girls are inspirational. They're not banal, they're lovely. My life goal is becoming an anime MILF lol.

>>11005
Japan is stupid to me and always has been

>>10997
What a mental perversion.

Weeding through asshole or just meh men to find someone half as good as the husbando flavor of the month is a chore. And half the time the guys that seem worthwhile turn out to just want sex or a mom replacement. That's why I almost exclusively date women irl.

>>10975
>Also, most deep waifuers are aware that they're fuckups, so they choose the most accepting characters with kindness deeper than the ocean to accept their "degenerate selves".
Eh I can't really buy into that theory. Aren't blank-slate self-insert MCs created for the exact reason that it's pretty difficult for waifufags to even imagine their waifus co-existing alongside and interacting with their bleak reality?

Waifufags who have had 3D crushes/lovers in the past or vice-versa, can you please describe the similarities and differences between the former and latter in terms of how they made you feel.

A dimension of this that rarely gets brought up is that you want to love the waifu but you also on some deeper level want to be the waifu. This is a great book on the phenomenon if you're really interested enough to want to read that much about it. The 2D men I really like are all flamoyant uke types, I wonder what that says about my psyche lol.

>>11081

Not a husbandofag waifufag anymore but I was for a couple of years. Although I have yet to partake in a serious, long term relationship, I've definitely had crushes on 3Ds. Comparing them, I'd say they both come with a certain degree of loneliness that's inescapable. Even if your waifu is living in your head all day every day, after the initial fun wears off it's not as if you can actually touch them or have any sort of interesting conversation. It's just like having an internal dialogue with yourself (which it is, of course). In the end you're feeding the words and personality traits into your "waifu." And while that amount of control is appealing, especially if you're insecure and paranoid, it can't beat an actual fucking good talk with another person.

That said, I'm still coming to terms with the unpredictability of 3Ds. Certain personal/physical imperfections aren't even an issue for me, but the fact that they can cheat and lie scares me to death. In the end I'd rather take a chance on a person I can hug than be depressed and somewhat delusional, though.

>TL;DR: waifuism is safe but ultimately unfulfilling, 3D is fulfilling but scary.

>>11082
that sounds really dumb and probably not the norm. i agree with people saying they treat them like deities.

>>11097
Maybe it sounds dumb if you've never experienced it but that is really also a part of it. People get so attached to the specific character not only because they see something in the character that they want, but because there's something about that character that they deeply relate to. It's like how beautiful sad people can be so attractive because they get you thinking "here is someone who finds life just as confusing as I do." That book is full of interviews from people balls deep in otaku culture in Japan and they describe being in love with an anime girl almost as being like a "third gender" because they want to both love her and be her, and a fantasy like that can never exist in reality. If you spend enough time in otaku spaces you'll know that people who consume loli material not only are attracted to the characters but also "wish to be the little girl." When men love the stereotypical sweet and kind domestic 2D girl that can cook and clean but is so naive and socially inept that if she was alive she'd never be able to live independently, they not only want qualities of this character in a romantic partner, they also wish those parts of themselves that find society so challenging and that want to be kind and serve others could be loved. Otaku who do this are so kicked around by society and wounded that characters made to directly appeal to them are often different tropes of cute girls that would have some major dysfunction if they were real; this is meant to elicit those feelings of "I want to protect her" and "I want to be her."

>>11089
Thanks for the thorough response. Exactly what I was looking for.

>>11106
former waifu fag here, and that definitely is you projecting. i feel like your statement reeks of someone who went on /jp/ one time and took shitposting as unironic fact.

Waifuism is old hat.
Also there is literally nothing wrong with waifufags, except those who treat their waifus unjustly or inhumanely and without respect. True waifuists realize that their waifu is an extension of themselves and that the self is the superior lover and they accept it rather than pretend that it is anything else.