The Fictsexual Phenomenon - Why Some Japanese Otaku Are Choosing to Marry Anime Characters

Recently, a Japanese woman named Ori Kusanagi held a marriage ceremony between herself and Rei Furuya, a handsome secret agent character from Detective Conan. She had rings made, took photos in a wedding dress, and even changed her name to Ori Furuya. Only a year earlier, a man named Akihiko Kondo celebrated his wedding to Vocaloid idol Miku Hatsune and now spends his days living with a $2700 Amazon Echo style hologram of his wife.

These kinds of people are referred to as “fictsexuals” in Japanese for their attraction to 2D characters over real-life humans, and they’re more common than you might think. We’re happy for them that they’ve found joy and companionship in life, but is there a reason why they’ve chosen this path? And could the phenomenon cause problems for the Japanese LGBT community, who fight for their right to be taken seriously and yet still can’t legally marry in their home country? Let’s take a closer look at the factors at play here.

This article was written for Honey’s Anime, so please read it on their site.