Animateromantic

Animateromantic, also known as animeromantic (former name) or mangaromantic, is an aro-spec identity and a fictoromantic orientation where one is exclusively or almost exclusively attracted to anime/manga characters. Many a-spec people only feel attraction towards people who they know could never possibly be in a relationship with, such as fictional characters. While it is normal to occasionally have a crush on fictional characters, if one is animateromantic they might feel like it is difficult or impossible to be attracted towards people in real life. If the attraction is not exclusive, animateromantic people may feel as though they are more frequently attracted to anime/manga characters than they are to people in real life. The sexual counterpart is animatesexual.

The term can be used to on its own or it can be used in combination with other terms.

Flag
The animateromantic flag was coined by Wendy on December 30th, 2020. The green-ish white represents xenic/xenic-like characters and slice of life anime, the light green represents agender/genderless-like characters and military anime, the medium green represents gender-nonconforming characters and mecha anime, the dark green represents being on the aromantic spectrum and word-jumping/time traveling anime, and the black represents pronounfluid or namefluid characters and space/sci-fi anime. The dark pink represents family-themed anime and women characters, while the light pink represents romantic-themed anime and feminine-aligned characters. The dark blue represents tragedy anime and characters who are men, while the light blue represents drama anime and masculine-aligned characters. The bright yellow represents intersex characters and humor/comedy anime, white the darker yellow represents alterhuman/kingender characters and historical anime. The dark purple represents non-binary characters and fantasy anime, and the light purple represents multigender characters and magic-based anime. The grey represents all genres inbetween and all overlapping genres, as well as all genders inbetween and all overlapping genders. The rainbow represents how animateromantic is LGBTQ+ and how it deserves to be seen as such.

The alternate flag was coined by Wendy on January 22nd of 2020. Black represents horror/dark genres and agender/genderless-like characters, dark green represents mecha/military anime and gender non-conforming characters, neon green represents humor/comedy anime and otherkin/kingender/xenic-like characters, grey represents historical anime and overlapping genders/overlapping anime genres, blue represents masculine characters and tragedy/drama anime, purple represents androgynous/neutral characters and fantasy themed anime, pink represents feminine characters and romance anime, red represents attraction, white represents multigender characters and multigenre animes, and the design represents anime characters, as anime eyes are the most common associated thing with the manga/anime style.

Animateromanticism vs paraphillia
Animateromanticism is often confused with a paraphillia, however, this is by definition an incorrect case. Paraphillias are known as sexual or romantic disorders and harmful desires, often leading to the distress of the person experiencing them and/or those around them.

Animateromanticism, however, does not usually cause harm, as it does not influence or promote any harmful or dangerous acts, and is simply a desire/attraction to one who does not exist outside of anime/manga. In some cases, one who is animateromantic may feel levels of distress due to being unable to have romantic feelings for people in reality, however this does not mean that everyone who is animateromantic feels this way, nor does it mean animateromanticism is bad.

Animateromanticism does not include attraction to harmful fictional tropes (such as lolitas) and those with harmful attractions are not the target group for animateromantics.