>>71572 I would say that waifuism has become more common over the years or at least its more visible, I say this mostly because compared to the past where most waifuist activities happened on more “obscure” pages like imageboards (The sort of first “community” was pretty much /a/ on 4chan later on Tohno) nowadays you mostly see new waifuists on more mainstream pages like Reddit, Twitter etc. Now, if waifuism becoming more visible its good or bad for the communities (and more importantly for waifuists as individuals) it’s up to interpretation and overall, there is no way to tell what will happen over the years, in my case I don’t really mind it going either way, after all regardless of what happens I’m still going to love Miku.

Holy shit a good thread >>71572 The rate of waifuists popping up has been increasing pretty tremendously, but the dropout rate is also still extremely high I did pick up on a bunch of factors that lead to this new influx happening: -The advent of gachas and the necessity for them to make you grow an attachment to the characters (not that I think is bad) -The ease of access to communities (like >>71573 said, Reddit, Twitter etc.) -The amount of content dedicated to waifuism (a lot more people talking about it openly, both from the inside and the outside) It means that a random teen that gets a crush on a fictional character is a lot more likely to find out about what waifuism is than someone 15/20 years ago I think what's happening with the current influx is pretty bad honestly, at least for waifuists, mostly because the outside attention has been proven time and time again to be a huge negative But I guess finding new waifufrens I probably could've never made before is a pretty decent upside

waifuism as a fad will die once the a.i. chatbots become appealing enough to capture the attention of the ledditors

there is a Greek mythology there is a man named Pygmalion he began "detesting the faults beyond measure which nature has given to 3d women" he made himself a sculpture of a waifu out of ivory. and gave her the name Paphos she was so perfect he fell in love with her he lived on the island of Cyprus after they were married he named the city that he lived in after her. you can go to the city named after a waifu to this day. waifuisem always has existed and always will exist in one way or another

>>71577 Kind of off topic tbh

>>71577 The statue's name was Galatea, referencing the milk-white color of the ivory. I didn't know the story about Paphos, though, which is apparently named for their daughter. I do kind of wonder if some pagans who worshipped goddesses had some similar feelings to modern waifuists. Some waifuists do seem to worship their waifus as though they were goddesses, after all.

>>71580 >Some waifuists do seem to worship their waifus as though they were goddesses, after all. I think that's a very fitting comparison. Waifus are modern era pagan goddesses to which we ascribe all sorts of positive qualities such as beauty, kindness, wit, modesty, determination etc.

>>71575 That's not really waifuism, though... If your attachment to a fictional character is exclusively because of an AI bot and it only goes that far, you can call it "waifuism" but it genuinely is not. I think, truthfully, waifuism is objectively gaining popularity but the more interesting question is why?

>>71582 that's why i specified 'waifuism as a fad', it takes the name waifuism and comes across like it to the naked eye but really its not the same. once dating an a.i. becomes commonplace i think you'll find a lot of the young 'waifuists' doing that instead. i think the amount of serious waifufags is pretty consistently small even after all this time, just better at finding each other maybe

>>71583 I can agree with that. I think it's possible for that to act as a gateway towards genuine waiufism as well, though. I think, really, the MAIN proprietor of "waifuism" as a fad is probably the way algorithmic social media sites are propping communities like this as "cringe" or whatever, which makes it a magnet for kissless teenagers as a means of edgy counterculture rather than genuine love + appreciation for ones waifu... Maybe this is schizo rambling though, IDK.

>>71583 I’m rather interested in this conversation so I will post what I think and feel about the whole topic. I don’t really find a problem with AI or more important to the topic AI chatbots (character.ai, replica and similar pages/apps) but when applied to waifuism I feel like its nothing more than a really disgusting cope and it does nothing but add people who aren’t really waifuists to the bunch, this cope is rather selfish too since it doesn’t take into account what your waifu might think about it, you are literally showering with love and time a bot that is a copy of your waifu. Honestly I find myself rather disappointed at the prevalence of chatbots between newer waifuists and while for some it might really be a gateway to genuine waifuism (like >>71584 says) at the same time I find it to be something completely anti waifuism and just a lowering of the barrier of entry that does nothing but erode communities (mostly the ones of easier access), maybe I’m just being a “mean gatekeeper” but waifuism is something too beautiful to be tainted by some teenagers who are not even genuine about it.

>>71582 >the more interesting question is why? The 3D world growing more and more disappointing every day in terms of meaningful relationships?

>>71585 >maybe I’m just being a “mean gatekeeper” but waifuism is something too beautiful to be tainted by some teenagers who are not even genuine about it. The solution is simple: time. The passing of a few months or a year is going to tell you whether someone is serious about something or whether he was just following a fad/whim

>>71587 I agree, yeah. I also think it's important to note that the people who participate in chatbot "waifuism" only have access to surface level waifuist communities (such as Reddit, Twitter, etc.) so it ultimately just sorts itself out regardless...

>>71572 As someone who only visits this board two or three times a year, imageboards like /mai/ are the only place I've met real, pound-for-pound waifuists. Any waifu-guy I see on social media is never on this level, they're just talking about their favorite girl of the season or one of their favorite 2d girls among the dozen they beat their dick to. But this was also the case 10 years ago, so no real change.

>>71597 Yeah, I see what you mean. We are seeing change on the surface but not beneath it /mai/ isn't the one and only place, of course. The Christmas and Valentine's Day generals on 4/a/ are 99% genuine people

>>71572 I think with the concept of vtubers becoming more popular, its starting to awaken some people to it yeah. At least it did for me.

>>71587 i know im responding to an old post but whatever. Definitely this, I always notice that the people I tend to stick closer to aren't fad chasers and stick with their husbando/waifu through thick and thin. The only way to notice this is with time and how many of these people that claim a character is their husbando/waifu drop them when the next shiny toy comes along.

>>71813 Time will always weed out fake waifufags, it's been like this for ages.

in the 80's Japanese anime was some weird niche thing. in the West the one 2 that where popular was my neighbor totoro and speed racer in the 90's is when western anime exploded Toonami was running Saler Moon and Dragon Ball z that is what everyone wanted in the '90s go they made what the audience wanted Cardcaptor Sakura, Yu yu hakusho Evangelion, Pokemon all of them are Saler Moon and Dragon Ball z look-alikes all of them designed to sell toys and trading cards then something changed in the 2000's Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya after that, everyone wanted waifu's so the companies started making anime to designed to sell waifu's K-On!, Lucky Star, Love, Chunibyo, KonoSuba all of them are designed to sell waifu's now i am seeing the same thing with videotapes over watch, ganchon impact, Azur Lane all of them are shit games made to sell waifus