or , from the English "2D complex", is the

affective Affect, in psychology, refers to the underlying experience of feeling, emotion or mood. History The modern conception of affect developed in the 19th century with Wilhelm Wundt. The word comes from the German ''Gefühl'', meaning "feeling ...

perception that two-dimensional

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

, and

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

characters are more attractive visually, physically or emotionally than people from the real world. The term appeared in the early 1980s in Japan. It has been interpreted by some observers as a genuine

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

in which a person loses interest in real-life people but develops feelings of

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

and sentimental attachment to characters. This is generally directed towards the behavior and exaggerated physical or facial features of the anime/manga art style, which are perceived to be "ideal" human features. The 2D complex has been characterized by some scholars as "''

otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorat ...

'' sexuality". The psychiatrist Saitō Tamaki writes that for ''otaku'', "fiction itself can be a sexual object," with attraction manifesting in an "affinity for fictional contexts." Additional research includes work on its most controversial sub-attraction,

lolicon In Japanese popular culture, is a genre of fictional media in which young (or young-looking) girl characters appear in romantic or sexual contexts. The term, a portmanteau of the English phrase " Lolita complex", also refers to desire an ...

. The affection directed at fictitious characters is sometimes termed ''fictophilia'', which is often enhanced by

supernormal stimuli ''Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose'' is a book by Deirdre Barrett published by W. W. Norton & Company in 2010. Barrett is a psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. The book argues that human ...

References

{{Reflist Moe (slang) Anime and manga fandom

See also

References