Nijikon

As found in the historical Japanese epic Taiheiki, we know that such affection already existed in Japan as early as the 14th century at the latest.

Imperial Prince Takanaga (second son of Emperor Go-Daigo) fell in love at first sight with a beautiful woman in a painting depicting a scene from The Tale of Genji.

According to Tamaki this fawning over characters and the expressing of this to other people is a way to put distance between- or objectify their own sexuality.

"...in real life otaku tend to choose perfectly respectable members of the opposite sex as their partners."

"[19] Criticisms have been directed at Saito's Lacanian theory due to its gender binary assumptions and its failure to acknowledge individuals who experience no attraction to flesh-and-blood human.

[20] However, according to Keith Vincent, multiple orientations as a capability of "conducting a richly perverse fantasy life while maintaining an utterly "normal" and pedestrian sex life in their day-to-day lives" is consistent with the theories of Eve Sedgwick[a] and Judith Butler.

[4] This term was coined by the fictosexual community in Japan[26] and describes a condition where sexual attraction towards real humans is assumed to be the norm.

[29] Human-oriented sexualism aligns with Judith Butler's concept of "literalizing fantasy" and is linked to heteronormativity and gender binarism.

[32][33][34][35] On one hand, nijikon individuals may face disdain due to perceptions that they lack the capacity for "normal" sexual relationships with humans.

[3] On the other hand, they may be invalidated and disregarded by the notion that the distinction between two-dimensional characters and three-dimensional (flesh-and-blood) humans is deemed inconsequential.