Danica Davidson
July 19, 2023 
Sometimes people get crushes on fictional characters, like ones from anime and manga. More rarely, sometimes people get unofficial marriages with these characters. Akihiko Kondo, a man who unofficially married Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, has created a group called Association of Fictosexuality. It is a place for like-minded people to meet up and is meant to help the public better understand crushes on characters.
Kondo’s unofficial marriage has had him in the news before, and Gene Simmons of KISS even tweeted once, “It doesn’t matter if you understand this relationship. It only matters if this Otaku man is happy.”
The Japanese paper The Mainichi Shimbun interviewed Kondo now that he’s been in this marriage for four and a half years. He’s still happy being with Miku, and he says he fell in love with the character after being turned down by multiple human women. He knows she’s not actually real, but she’s real enough for him.
His marriage has gotten some mixed reactions. He revealed, “I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told, ‘It’s disgusting’ or ‘You’re sick.’ I can’t help it if people say they are offended by the way I spend time with a character.”
At the same time, the site for his new association also gets comments like “We want people to know that there is a place where they can talk about what’s bothering them” and “There are people who have found emotional support in cartoons and characters.”
Hirosaki University’s sociology professor Ichiyo Habuchi has been studying crushes on characters since the 90s and said, “It is not unusual for people to develop affection for characters.”
A survey from the Japanese Association for Sex Education, for example, found that a little more than 17% of female college students have romantic feelings toward a fictional character.
Professor Habuchi thinks Kondo’s association can help stop prejudice. “There are many people connected to this issue who are having a hard time. We believe it’s necessary to call for social consensus against discrimination and prejudice toward minorities.”
Source: The Mainichi Shimbun
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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