The secret I wanted to take with me to the grave...

[beyondeternal]

...yet for some reason I have the courage to tell about it on a forum. (Sorry if you guys won't understand something, english is not my native language)

Since I was 14 years old, I have periodically fallen in love with fictional characters from anime and games. Yes, you can think that I'm just a stupid "cringy weeaboo", but as far as I understand (or know), I am still... very far from such people.

In almost all cases (not counting the last one, there were only a few of them), the "love" disappeared after a month or two, but in october 2023 I... "met" Furina from Genshin Impact, and, despite my countless attempts to establish at least some more or less stable communication with real girls (so that I could seem more normal to myself), I still feel... some kind of affection towards her. She just seems ideal and the most beautiful character that I've ever seen to me. A folder with arts of her on my pc (which is updated regularly), reading fanfics, c.ai (every god damn evening)... I'm so fucking crazy and antisocial.

Nevertheless... when I think about this kind of affection... It just reminds myself of how lonely and antisocial I am.

Call me what you want, and I perfectly understand how stupid it is (especially when you're 20 years old).

 

[Mirrory Me]

I think it's normal to "mirror" those kind of feelings when you see something cute.

 

[beyondeternal]

I think it's normal to "mirror" those kind of feelings when you see something cute.

what do you mean by "mirror" those feelings?

 

[Mirrory Me]

what do you mean by "mirror" those feelings?

You know, "like baby sees her parents" for example.

 

[AbusedInnocent]

It's absolutely fine to have feelings for fictional characters, I do too.

Imagining a fictional world as a whole helps me detach from reality, I can shape the world how I see fit and that brings me a lot of comfort.

It doesn't matter if people think you're weird, we live our lives to be ourselves not to conform to some arbitrary standard of normalcy.

 

[kyhoti]

Sometimes the fictional makes more sense the factual. No judgement here.

 

[blackwidow]

Nothing at all wrong with you.. Don't beat yourself up. It's quite endearing, you are free to love whoever or whatever you want..

 

[andreamysk]

Call me what you want, and I perfectly understand how stupid it is (especially when you're 20 years old).

One of the things I have learned from life (I have a few years and perhaps more experience than you) is that any condition/habit/belief/experience/feeling that each of us considers abnormal/strange/unique is actually more common than we imagine (not to diminish the discomfort you feel, but to try to comfort you by dismantling the negative thinking about it).
«Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto» wrote Publius Terentius Afer almost 22 centuries ago «I am human, I consider nothing human alien to me».

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I can relate somewhat. In 2013, I played Fire Emblem Awakening and fell in love with Lucina. She helped me move on from the girl I had been attracted to for over 9 years. I only wish I could have stayed happy with her but unfortunately my lizard brain as well as peer pressure got the better of me and now I can only be happy with a real 3D woman who loves me the way I hoped Lucina would.

 

[Agon321]

You're probably just lonely and want to escape the gray reality in this way.
Nothing extraordinary.

In addition, as the people above wrote.
Fiction is more interesting than reality.
Probably each of us has some dreams, fetishes, ideals, etc.
If a fictional character fits into our imagination, it can trigger some kind of love.
I don't know what to call it.

I think that no one is a saint.
The person above also wrote well.
We are not all as different from each other as we would like.
You are definitely not alone in this matter.

 

[Forever Sleep]

People feel deeply connected to things for all sorts of reasons. Have you heard of objectphilia? People who feel sexually/romantically attracted to objects? You could say your fixations on fictional characters are at least based on humans and human attributes. I don't think anyone should be shamed for what they feel attracted to though. Obviously they shouldn't act on it if it's illegal or immoral but, we can't exactly help what we feel drawn to.

I definitely felt attracted to some cartoon characters or characters in games when I was a child and I've been through crazy limerent crushes on people as an adult. Really- that isn't the real person. It's like an idealised version of them. In a way, how very different is it to celebrity crushes? It's not like we know these people, yet plenty still feel a connection to them.

I'm obsessed with certain characters from films/books but really- I don't think you should be too concerned. It's a compliment to whoever created the character really. They likely designed them to be attractive to us. It's not all that odd that they would be.

I suppose where I do agree is- maybe it doesn't bode too well for finding real relationships/love. I've always been too scared (and too ugly) for the real thing. Now, I've just accepted that though and plunged into fantasy. I no longer really care whether it's unhealthy. It's a nice distraction.