Citations:waifu

English citations of waifu

Noun: "(fandom slang) a fictional character from non-live-action visual media (typically an anime, manga, or video game) that one is attracted to and/or considers a significant other"

• 2008 October 30, Galen, “Re: Japanese launch campaign to marry comic book characters”, in rec.arts.manga‎ (Usenet):

  So long as I get to claim my virtual waifu and our 30 virtual children as tax deductions, I don't really care if I can't touch her.

• 2009 December 31, Dave Watson, “Re: K-ON! 2nd season announced”, in rec.arts.anime.misc‎ (Usenet):

  Seriously, it was fun, but here's hoping that they lay off some of the bits that got old real quick, like Mio getting scared easily. I would not like to have someone that timid as "mai waifu" (as if I'd marry a bloody high school girl anyway). Makes me wonder what that says about the otaku who worship her.

• 2010 March 26, Untergrundkoenig , “Re: 49 Spring Anime -- full previews, w/staff, cast, story, images, trailers”, in rec.arts.anime.misc‎ (Usenet):

  Ritsu is my Waifu *_*

• 2012, Dani Cavallaro, Kyoto Animation: A Critical Study and Filmography, McFarland & Company (2012), →ISBN, page 126:

  Bradley Meek's portrayal of Lucky☆Star's protagonist is particularly worthy of notice in assessing the anime's take on the art-play dyad: “Konata Izumi is a high school otaku hardcore enough to know trivia about seventies giant robot and tokusatsu shows,” the critic proposes, “but not hardcore enough to own a bodypillow of her waifu .

• 2013, "Rok the Reaper", "Otaku Culture: Husbando & Waifu", Genki Life Magazine, Winter 2013, page 48:

  She is my waifu because she is my absolute favorite gaming character of all time and is the most fun I have ever had playing in a fighting game.

• 2017, Chengyan Zeng, "Living in Virtual Reality: Anime and Manga Fandom", in Exploring the Rise of Fandom in Contemporary Consumer Culture (ed. Chenglu Wang), page 249:

  Different from others, the waifu and the husbando are dedicated to only one character.

• 2018, Pilan Scruggs, "Obsessive Anime Fan Claims Waifu as Dependent, Goes Unnoticed by IRS", The MQ (satirical newspaper of the University of California San Diego), 14 March 2018, page 5:

  "We should get along, and I would love to help others out so that they can claim their waifus and husbandos on their returns for this period."

• 2019, Dale Beren, It Came from Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump Into Office, unnumbered page:

  For example, the otaku had popularized body pillows, a human-size pillow imprinted with the image of one's waifu (“wife”) or husbando (“husband”), the anime girl or boy to which the otaku imagines he or she is married.

• 2021, Courtney N. Plante, Stephen Reysen, & Thomas R. Brooks, CAPE: A Multidimensional Model of Fan Interest, page 191:

  For example, about 30% of anime fans report having waifu or husbando—that is, they consider (sometimes jokingly, sometimes not) an anime character to be their wife or husband

• 2021, Stephen Reysen, Courtney N. Plante, Daniel Chadborn, Sharon E. Roberts, & Kathleen C. Gerbasi, Transported to Another World: The Psychology of Anime Fans, unnumbered page:

  Those with waifus or husbandos are also more likely to feel a greater sense of belongingness to the anime fandom, a fandom which they're also more likely to consider to be unique compared to other fandoms.