Who is Your Waifu? Waifu Culture and Purpose

 

Loving fictional characters is a natural phenomenon. When we watch a movie or a series, or in this case, an anime, it is natural for a person to be drawn to certain characters. However, the Otaku community has taken the idea of loving a character to a completely different dimension.

The Otaku community has created the waifu or husbando culture. According to this phenomenon, people like certain anime characters and marry them in the fictional world. Let us have a closer look at this culture through this article.

What is Waifu Culture?

Before you get to understanding what Waifu culture is, you must know what a waifu is.cs

Who is Waifu?

The meaning of waifu is simply a female character from either any anime series or game. What characterizes a character as waifu is the viewer or gamer’s feelings towards the character.

Certain characters such as Kyoko Mogami from Skip Beat have such a character that viewers can not help but have romantic feelings. When the viewers or gamers have romantic feelings towards a particular character, that character becomes waifu.

How Important is Having a Waifu?

Having a waifu has become a roaring trend in the Otaku culture and community. If you do not have a waifu, you will probably be shunned out of the otaku culture. Watching much content of playing too many games to find that character that you resonate the most with is difficult. Therefore, the Internet has emerged with a lot of waifu generators.

Some of the most popular waifu is as following.

·       Tsunade from Naruto

·       Megumi Tadokoro from Food Wars

·       Asuna Yuuki from Sword Fight

·       Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail

·       Elizabeth Liones from The Seven Deadly Sins

Purpose of the Waifu Culture

The waifu culture was started as a joke on the Internet; it slowly picked speed. The anime Azumanga Daioh was the one that popularized the term waifu. This happened because some American anime and manga fans referred to their favorite characters as waifu. The term just snowballed from there.

Thus, the initial purpose of using the term was to single out a fan's favorite characters. However, the phenomenon picked speed and came to the current point when having a waifu is necessary for the otaku culture.

The waifu culture's primary purpose is to allow users to get integrated into the world of anime. When someone has romantic feelings towards a character, they are wholly invested in the anime, manga, or game that the character is featured in. Another great thing is that these fans are likely to buy merchandise related to their waifu.

Another purpose of the waifu culture is evident. Since having a waifu does not mean that the person cannot have a relationship in the real world, this relationship is only for the sake of fantasizing. Having a waifu relationship allows the lovers to get out of the real world and fantasize about a happy life with their waifu for some while.

Characteristics of the Waifu Culture

Every waifu relationship that a person has with an anime character is individual. However, a few things are common to most waifu relationships:

·       The waifu relationship involves a commitment of some kind.

·       The gamer, reader, or viewer is aware that the character is fictional.

·       Sexual aspects of the relationship are not compulsory; however, they might arise in some waifu relationships.

·       Having a waifu is an entirely different area of a person's life. If a person has a waifu, it does not mean that they cannot have a real-life partner.

 

Who is Your Number One Waifu?

There are many things that are considered by people before picking their waifu. Physical appearances play a considerable role in the picking of the ultimate waifu. However, many people prefer looking for specific character traits that help them connect with the character.

The typical character traits that anime lovers like are an innocent or fierce personality, a shy or independent personality, a naïve or smart understanding. There are many rubrics that might be required to be fulfilled by characters to become the perfect waifu for fans.

Most anime have a solid storyline that reminisces about each character's past and how it shaped them. Therefore, many people choose their waifu according to the past that the character has had and how it has impacted them.

Choosing a waifu is a personal matter that reflects the viewer, gamer, or reader's personality as well. Many waifu generator websites online select a waifu for a user based on their preferences and ideologies.

 

How the Waifu Culture Has Impacted the Real World

The impact of manga and anime on the real world is no secret. The otaku community is massive and spreads globally. Therefore, when something such as the waifu culture takes root in such a wide community, it is natural for the real world to be affected by it. Given below are some ways that the real world has been affected by the Otaku world.

Fashion

Anime characters have a very distinct sense of fashion. With colored hair and fictional clothing, many things set characters apart from real people. However, with the rise of the waifu/husband culture, people in the real-world desire to look similar to anime characters.

As people have started taking their waifu relationships seriously, they prefer people in the real-world to look similar to their waifu. Therefore, unnatural hair dyes and loose clothing or men have become immensely popular. In recent years, the shift from neutral colors to bright colors usually featured in anime is also noticeable.

Delusions

Many people create waifu relationships to fulfill the gaps that they have in the real world. However, some people get so involved in their relationship that they lose touch with the real world. Resultantly, a lot of psychological issues might arise in people. Delusions are widespread among people who have too committed waifu relationships.

 

Endnotes

Waifu culture is a fun way to be more involved in anime. It is also perfect for fantasizing and finding an escape from the real world for a bit.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with passionately loving fictional characters. However, it is a problem if people get delusional or have a waifu relationship that affects how people interact with the real world.