Photo: tiumentseva / 123RF
The Japanese Otaku phenomenon has been taken to the next level.
By Tom Miller — Written on May 20, 2020
You know how relationships are "hard?" And you more or less can't live with women (or men) AND can't live without them? Well, a man has decided to quit the old "human" romance rat race.
In 2009, a fella called Sal9000 isn't giving up on love, just love with things that are three-dimensional.
The phenomenon of love and infatuation with animated characters is called Otaku and the dude has taken it to the extreme by marrying a video game character named Nene Anegasaki from a Nintendo DS* game called Love Plus.
The nuptials were attended by real, live human beings, a human clergyman and the happy, loving couple.
Nene Anegasaki seemed not so embarrassed about transferring out of the realm of ones and zeros by marrying a sack of flesh.
There's a movie in here, somewhere, like a cross between Virtuosity and Cool World (with a dash of the "Take On Me" video for good measure) but with some Japanese guys and large-breasted video game characters with huge blue eyes instead of Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington and Brad Pitt (and Aha).
This is not the first instance of a Japanese doing something unexpected in the realm of love.
It has become de rigueur** for a young Japanese fellow to have a relationship, sometimes chaste, with a pillowcase fashioned with the likeness of an animated character.
It appears that Mr. Sal9000 has one-upped those fools. "Princess Toadstool, will you do me the honor..."
Despite there being no way, shape or form for a human to shtup an animated character (even with the Fleshlight), it feels like David Levy has to be pretty happy about this turn of events.
As you may recall, D-Lev predicted sexy times and marriage between robots and people in our lifetimes (maybe your lifetime, Blade Runner). It seems like the Japanese are trendsetters in terms of integrating technology and human activity.
They've had everywhere Wi-Fi for a while and were years ahead of us in terms of dancing and guitar-simulating video games.
Tom Miller is a writer and performer based in New York. He's been the general manager and coordinating video producer at YourTango for 12 years. His side-chick is acting and improvised comedy.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on December 8, 2009 and was updated with the latest information.