Waifu Culture
 

There's this interesting thread on MAL I found yesterday. OP was sick of people obsessing over Waifus. I just wanted to ask what are your thoughts on Waifu Culture, where do you draw the line, is it any different to other subcultures?

ORIGINAL POST: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=2139264

I'd say, "Get out. We were here first."

First of all, I do think that thread was just flamebait, especially given the tone.

If you look through that thread, though, the prevailing thought tends to be mostly "live and let live." Adult anime appreciation (beyond family-friendly fare) started as a sort of alternative subculture, so the idea that it needed to be something "normal" was an antithesis to start. Obviously with the easy availability of streaming and simulcasts, it became accessible to a much wider audience and is much beyond the "niche" it once was (though obviously is still niche compared to mainstream Hollywood entertainment, popular video games, etc.). But still, in the community (the people on forums like MAL or here that discuss anime), it's still going to have the same sort of subculture feel. So it doesn't surprise me that thread is mostly filled with people taking offense at the judgmental attitude, and that the poll is quite strongly in favor.

All in all, if we are to take that thread as anything other than trolling, I would say that the OP needs to worry less about what others think about them, and then they'll learn to worry less about judging others. I mean, independent of the thread starter's sort of "secondhand embarrassment," is it going to make the other person more happy to be more "normal" by that person's definition? Isn't a main point of entertainment to bring people joy and happiness, in whatever form?

I do think, as many others raised in the thread, it really isn't all that different than celebrity worship, or even more broadly people who find identity in their favorite sports team or whatever else. It's meaningful to that person for whatever reason, and they want to act on it or show it in some way (whether publicly or privately). Obsessing about anything to the point where it interferes with someone's ability to function in society may be "problematic" (if it becomes a "harmful addiction") but it's really impossible to make that judgement call remotely. What you see of people online is only a fraction of their true selves anyway, especially in niche-focused spaces, so people who may seem "waifu-obsessed" on the forum might just be acting it up for fun.

So anyway, I don't think it's worth worrying about, and certainly not caring what people like that may think. If anything, history suggests that many people who seems more outwardly obsessed with being "normal" are just trying to mask their deviance anyway, again assuming this wasn't just all trolling to begin with. (Case in point: it's quite something to say you're "normal" on a site where people advertise their watch history, and so everyone can see all the borderline-smut they claim to have watched to the end. "Oh, but I didn't give it a high rating! I watched it ironically! It's totally normal!" :heh: Just accept your deviance and get on with life... )

Yeah, this was my thinking as well. The whole act of posting on an anime forum, instead of Twitter or Reddit, already removes their high horse. My thinking is as long as your liking isn't self-destructive, no one should have the right to criticise you.

3DPD?

My one gripe would be the seasonal waifu thing where everyone gravitates to the flavor of the month whether it be Marin, Emilia, Chizuru, etc. Where's the commitment? :frustrated::heh:

I don't really see the difference there :eyespin:

just one look, and I can judge that it's flamebait

and it was posted using a "burner account". That is a throwaway account that the OP used, and does not care if banned, since he created it for trolling people.