Anime/Manga Have you ever crushed on anime characters?

Be honest - no shame in admitting it. :D Have you (or do you still)? Who did you have a crush on?

I've had maaany anime crushes over the years lol, starting with I think Ash from Pokémon and Yami from Yu-Gi-Oh! when I was around 9-10.

Of course I have, lmfao. How can I not when red haired character exist? Well, I don't really anymore these days, of course. I did have a crush on Gary back in 2008, though.

Aha, of course not.




I've had several. Childhood crushes mostly. Never really fully got into waifu culture so /shrug.

Having talked about this topic more recently I actually remember a couple more characters than I probably would have normally. Some obvious ones would be tayuya and anko from Naruto, major from gits, hawkeye from fma, faye from cowboy bebop, and blackrose from .hack.

Some even further back ones are probably characters like launch from DragonBall, Android 16, and sailor mercury.

Not really tbh. The closest I've come is "this character has a cute design/personality" but that's really more an appreciation of art or writing than anything resembling feeling a crush for a fictional character. Granted, I find other ways to be super invested in characters instead lmao.

Yes. Unfortunately, I was a teenager once.

Misty and May from Pokemon when I was 12, and Hinata from Naruto when I started watching it last year!

Pretty sure I have, but I can't name anyone off the top of my head.

gimmepie said:

Not really tbh. The closest I've come is "this character has a cute design/personality" but that's really more an appreciation of art or writing than anything resembling feeling a crush for a fictional character. Granted, I find other ways to be super invested in characters instead lmao.

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I would agree with this. I am going to try to walk on eggshells here while still getting my point across. While I guess I understand how you could have a crush on a fictional character (I would assume more from the characters personality?) the fact that they are drawings makes me feel weird about it.

Could someone share some insight to this? I can't imagine it is being attracted to a drawing so much as the idea of if it were a real person? Again, jusy trying to understand better.

I have made so many memes of my own about how I crush on fictional men. One of my favorites is this one:

I've been thinking about Yami Bakura again a lot... He was my first fictional crush and has been an on-and-off one for the past 20 years. I've had numerous crushes over anime, manga, cartoon, and video game characters over the years. And I usually go pretty hard, with fanart, fanfiction, changing my avatars most everywhere to reflect this crush, etc. I find it fun and a great form of escapism. I embrace the weirdness of having crushes on fictional men. Some of my crushes include:
Yami Bakura/Thief King Bakura (ultimate waifu/husbando)
Lucas Baker
Eridan Ampora
Paul from Pokemon
Trafalgar D. Law
Portgas D. Ace
Shadow the Edgehog (I'm not a furry I swear :(((( )
The Once-Ler (I did it before Tumblr thought it was cool)
And honestly just way too many to list...

Figure said:

While I guess I understand how you could have a crush on a fictional character (I would assume more from the characters personality?) the fact that they are drawings makes me feel weird about it.

Could someone share some insight to this? I can't imagine it is being attracted to a drawing so much as the idea of if it were a real person? Again, jusy trying to understand better.

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Trust me, dude, I've been harassed and degraded for crushing on fictional men ("they're not real, you know that don't you??" like, no shit. So condescending), and there is nothing wrong with your question. Some people don't and won't get it, which is totally fine. Everyone has their preferences.

I can only speak for myself and not other fangirls and especially not fanboys (I find that males and females tend to deal with their crushes differently). The main appeal to me is a mixture of the fantasization and romanticization (not words but they should be) of whichever character I find myself becoming attracted to. I write a lot, which is a great way for me to escape reality for a little while and provides the perfect vector for my weird crushes to come to life, so to speak.

Having crushes on fictional men has given me something to look forward to in my day, gives my racing mind someone to settle on, and it becomes a victimless crime of sorts because I'm not involving a real-life person into my writing or fantasies. I'm one of the odder fangirls that very, very rarely ever crushes on real-life people, probably due to my general misanthropy, thus leading to more romanticization of fictional men. In a way, I suppose it's an unhealthy coping mechanism, but it doesn't affect my ability to function so I've never really cared.

I guess the tl;dr explanation comes down to: this fictional man has his own trope that he settles into, but his personality can be molded into what I want and the "perfect" "relationship" can be formed through daydreaming and writing. Is it weird? Yes, absolutely. Anyone who tells you otherwise is delusional. But it is what it is, and some people like myself have turned to fictional characters to cope with daily life.

That said, it doesn't really explain how I started so early, with my first fictional crush on Yami Bakura starting at about 8 years old. But I can't remember at all what was going through little me's mind and can only speak for adult me now.

Yep. One of my first crushes as a child was Dren, aka Kisshu from Tokyo Mew Mew. I watched the 4kids dub as a kid but still ended up falling for him.

CiCi said:

View attachment 97816
I have made so many memes of my own about how I crush on fictional men. One of my favorites is this one:

Spoiler:

View attachment 97817

I've been thinking about Yami Bakura again a lot... He was my first fictional crush and has been an on-and-off one for the past 20 years. I've had numerous crushes over anime, manga, cartoon, and video game characters over the years. And I usually go pretty hard, with fanart, fanfiction, changing my avatars most everywhere to reflect this crush, etc. I find it fun and a great form of escapism. I embrace the weirdness of having crushes on fictional men. Some of my crushes include:
Yami Bakura/Thief King Bakura (ultimate waifu/husbando)
Lucas Baker
Eridan Ampora
Paul from Pokemon
Trafalgar D. Law
Portgas D. Ace
Shadow the Edgehog (I'm not a furry I swear :(((( )
The Once-Ler (I did it before Tumblr thought it was cool)
And honestly just way too many to list...



Trust me, dude, I've been harassed and degraded for crushing on fictional men ("they're not real, you know that don't you??" like, no shit. So condescending), and there is nothing wrong with your question. Some people don't and won't get it, which is totally fine. Everyone has their preferences.

I can only speak for myself and not other fangirls and especially not fanboys (I find that males and females tend to deal with their crushes differently). The main appeal to me is a mixture of the fantasization and romanticization (not words but they should be) of whichever character I find myself becoming attracted to. I write a lot, which is a great way for me to escape reality for a little while and provides the perfect vector for my weird crushes to come to life, so to speak.

Having crushes on fictional men has given me something to look forward to in my day, gives my racing mind someone to settle on, and it becomes a victimless crime of sorts because I'm not involving a real-life person into my writing or fantasies. I'm one of the odder fangirls that very, very rarely ever crushes on real-life people, probably due to my general misanthropy, thus leading to more romanticization of fictional men. In a way, I suppose it's an unhealthy coping mechanism, but it doesn't affect my ability to function so I've never really cared.

I guess the tl;dr explanation comes down to: this fictional has his own trope that he settles into, but his personality can be molded into what I want and the "perfect" "relationship" can be formed through daydreaming and writing. Is it weird? Yes, absolutely. Anyone who tells you otherwise is delusional. But it is what it is, and some people like myself have turned to fictional characters to cope with daily life.

That said, it doesn't really explain how I started so early, with my first fictional crush on Yami Bakura starting at about 8 years old. But I can't remember at all what was going through little me's mind and can only speak for adult me now.

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Thank you for explaining! I agree totally what you said about the "victimless crime" aspect. It isn't hurting anyone so for someone to degrade you over it it just shitty.

i literally got into bungo stray dogs bc i thought dazai was hot so lmfao. i don't watch a lot of anime tbh so i guess my answer is more yes but @ video game characters. althought.........L could totally get a hand hold. look at me like over a decade late lmfao

Sheep said:

Be honest - no shame in admitting it. :D Have you (or do you still)? Who did you have a crush on?

I've had maaany anime crushes over the years lol, starting with I think Ash from Pokémon and Yami from Yu-Gi-Oh! when I was around 9-10.

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Sammeeee. There was also this guy from Bakugan that I was into.

To answer the question, yes but I think it was only the above three because I was too busy shipping everyone else haha

Oh kid me.......

.. n-no.... baka. :eyes:

/glances nervously at Roy Mustang and Phoenix Wright

gimmepie said:

Not really tbh. The closest I've come is "this character has a cute design/personality" but that's really more an appreciation of art or writing than anything resembling feeling a crush for a fictional character. Granted, I find other ways to be super invested in characters instead lmao.

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Yeah this is how I feel too. The most attraction I might feel is "Ok this character is kinda hot" but even then, it feels very uncomfortable to me if I call someone hot (even if it's a fictional character).

CiCi said:

Trust me, dude, I've been harassed and degraded for crushing on fictional men ("they're not real, you know that don't you??" like, no shit. So condescending), and there is nothing wrong with your question. Some people don't and won't get it, which is totally fine. Everyone has their preferences.

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I'm really sorry you experienced stuff like this. :x There's absolutely nothing wrong with crushing on fictional characters and I have several friends who do, some of them take it very seriously too and ask people who pair themselves with the same characters not to follow them on social media for example. Selfshippers tend to be some of the nicest people from my experience. Much support!!

Just realized I never answered my own question? To which the answer is absolutely yes lmao. I've been crushing on anime boys since I was like 9 starting with Ash Ketchum and Yami Yugi. Setting childhood crushes that I no longer crush on aside, some of my anime crushes are:

Break from Pandora Hearts
Yunan from Magi
Reigen from Mob Psycho 100
Joshua from NEO/TWEWY
Levi from Attack on Titan
Momo from Idolish7
Mystogan from Fairy Tail (but oddly not Jellal from the regular universe, even though they look and behave pretty much identically)
Lavi from D. Gray-man

My absolute biggest crush and perfectest husbando material is Fai from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle though. I would think about him aaaall the time a few years ago lol, don't think anyone else comes close to being as perfect of a husbando as he is. am a proud weeb

You know, it's funny, I don't know anything about Naruto aside from some little bits I watched as a kid, but YouTube recommended the Gaara v Lee chuunin exams fight and I've been crushing on mainly Lee ever since. He's just so cute and passionate and a hard-worker. That said, Gaara is 100% my type of character and I've been crushing on him, too, lmao

I used to have a crush on Teen Gohan from Dragonball Z when I was a kid.

No. Not that they're ugly in fact some are really tantalizing to look at, and I think it leans more on good character design and aesthetic, idk I've just never personally had a crush on one.

My first love as a kid and I will never deny it.....EVER! I always had a crush on him even as a kid. :D