2-D in Real Life

This is a story about a man named Nisan. He’s your average everyday man with everyday needs. He has a job and lives at home with his beloved for the past 3 years. The two are inseparable, theirs no way either one of them are going to leave each other for any reason no matter what. Why do I say that? Well let’s just say it’s intuition.

  His loves name is Nemutan; a 2-D anime character from an adult rated PC game Da Capo plastered onto a pillow sheet. This 70$ love is as real as real can be perceived as. “She’s great for falling asleep with on an office chair.” He knows it’s odd for an 37 year old balding man to be in love with a 2-D character, but he can’t imagine his life without Nemutan. “When I die, I want to be buried with her in my arms.”

They take pictures of themselves underneath the cherry blossoms, frolick like children on merry-go-rounds and eat noodles at restaurants. After being three years together he proudly admits, “I’ve experienced so many amazing things because of her,” Nisan told me, rubbing Nemutan’s leg warmly. “She has really changed my life.”

 Now this may sound odd to most of us, but this is more normal than you think. Nisan is part of a thriving subculture of men and women in Japan who indulge in real relationships with imaginary characters. They are called 2-D lovers, a form of an otaku culture — the obsessive fandom that has surrounded anime, manga and video games. Some 2-D lovers go to work, pay rent, hang out with friends. Unlike most otaku though, they have real romantic feelings for their toys. The less extreme might have a hidden collection of figurines based on anime characters that they go on “dates” with during off hours. A more serious 2-D lover, like Nisan, actually believes that a lumpy pillow with a drawing of a prepubescent anime character on it is his girlfriend.