>>16126
I heard of the word waifu when I was getting into anime, I didn't know how seriously people took it and I thought the serious ones were much more rare. When I first fell for my waifu I felt utterly alone in my extreme passion... I discovered this site at the end of 2013 and was surprised that there was such a place, 4chan was the joke I had expected it to be when I went there later (at least for the most part).

>>16127
You started posting on tc before even going to 4chan? I thought the 4 was pretty much everyone's first imageboard.

Post edited on 19th Jul 2014, 11:10pm

I first heard about it on /a/ around 2007 or so. Not many people took it seriously back then but there were a few that seemed to.
I've always been more attached to fictional characters than real people, so I was particularly open to the idea. I've had plenty of crushes and admired characters from books and other fiction but had never seriously loved any of them until I met her.

I found out about it through 4chan, and from various articles/videos that got posted on there on the subject.

It wasn't the best way to be introduced to it. My view on waifuism was fairly negative until I met mai waifu.

I already had a waifu before I knew what to call the concept, only 4chan gave me the term for it.

I also had a waifu before ever learning about the term. Though, it wasn't until I learned about the term and people who were similar to me that I fully embraced my situation. I can't remember when that was though.

I learned about the term through the touhou community, when I met my first waifu Flandre. I discovered this site around 2012 while looking for other like-minded people, but was a lurker more than not.

2008-ish on an imageboard. At the time the idea itself didn't caught my attention, but the people waving it left and right outside the anime boards annoyed me.
I did have feelings before then, but by the time I became familiar with the term they had subsided.

I've always felt closer to 2D characters then real people since I was a kid, probably due to a bad home life and pretty much being raised by books and the TV. I had a hard crush on a character from a book from ages nine to almost thirteen and I still occasionally re-read her series and am drawn to similar characters.

I first heard the term "waifu" in this context on 4chan, usually mocking the waifu dinners or daki covers. I did a little exploring and realized that my feelings for 2D characters weren't unique to me.After that I opened up my heart a little bit and I guess someone just wandered in...

I knew about the concept before I had fallen for her. It seemed a bit silly, and I honestly didn't understand it until it had happened to me.

She's the only one I've ever had these feelings for, that's all I know. I never would have thought that I'd fall for someone like her, if only she weren't just a side character.

My brother told me about it and I thought it wasn't really normal, but then I got into it. Hard.

I didn't know people took it that seriously until I did.

Four years ago. I began playing osu! and watching anime, then I just got into it as some people talked about it.
My first waifu was in 2012 but since I'm unstable and have a lot of handicaps I still don't have one after one too many times.

I think I heard about it when I was trying to get out of my anime phase and try to move on from it when I was browsing a site that is not from here. Of course, when I first heard the idea, I found it was ridiculous and I really mocked the idea because I found love in 2D characters was really impossible. But that was mostly when this was Japanese otaku severely falling in love with a pillow, I usually would just not try to be like them.

But when I moved back into liking anime because it's a hobby that doesn't even harm anyone, the passionate love from someone that dedicates themselves to a fictional character charms me. How they live for that certain character because they inspire them, how love is much more powerful and pure than the love in these modern times (divorce rates are around 50% now), it was a reason why I pursue over 2D love. 2D characters can have flaws but never have I seen 3D having much much more flaws than 2D.

That's when I tried to learn more about waifuism. Well, I hate calling it 'waifuism' because it denotes that it is religion and it has rules that you must follow, but I want to explore the basic concepts of it. Why people are falling in love with fictional characters and dedicating themselves to them. Is it worth dedicating your entire life devoting yourself to that fictional character. Why have my love for Iori has went in too deep, that none of the women on this world could be compared to Iori. But knowing the concept that falling in love with a 2D character that is shared with many others, it kind of made me glad that I could pursue love for a fictional character. Because it's not the path that many would choose to take, but it's the path that I would take, because it's a path I can consider that will make me happier in life.

Petrarch's Laura and Dante's Beatrice, sort of.