We’ve talked a little bit about waifus in the past, those fictional, female objects of affection so beloved by the otaku crowd. Well, now it’s time to take a look at the other side of waifus.<\/p>\n
You guessed it: husbandos!<\/p>\n
First, our overview…<\/p>\n
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A husbando<\/i> is to males what waifus<\/i> are to females. A husbando is a male, animated character that you feel some attraction to.<\/b><\/p>\n
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If you understand what a waifu is<\/a><\/strong>, congratulations, you already understand what a husbando is—just flip the genders.<\/p>\n If you don’t, then let’s explain.<\/p>\n A husbando is always going to be a male character, and they’re always going to be animated.<\/p>\n This term started off in the anime<\/a><\/strong> and manga community, but also wrapped in video games a little bit as well.<\/p>\n Nowadays, the term has broadened enough that you could use it to discuss drawn characters even in Western media.<\/p>\n If a male character makes your heart beat a little faster, or warm you up inside, then they just might be a husbando. The levels of devotion to these characters varies widely.<\/p>\n Some people (perhaps most) use the term simply as a cheeky way to refer to male characters that excite and titillate them. Others might decorate their rooms with the character and defend them vociferously online.<\/p>\n At the far end of the spectrum you’ll have people devoting themselves to these characters as if they were real.<\/p>\n Perhaps they’ll buy body pillows with the image of the character on them and take this pillow with them into public, even to restaurants for sit down meals.<\/p>\n By no means is this last type of otaku common, or even remotely indicative of a typical anime fan<\/a><\/strong>, but they do exist out there.<\/p>\n For the most part, you can use this word as a fun way to refer to male characters you really find attractive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Heavens no! Just like people find different reasons to be attracted to different people in the 3D (i.e “Real”) world, people are attracted to all different types of male characters.<\/p>\n Japanese media<\/a><\/strong> is full of very common character archetypes, and often people will be attracted to one or more of these specific archetypes.<\/p>\n There’s the bishounen<\/i> husbando, who is young and beautiful. In English we might call him a “pretty boy.”<\/p>\n There’s the tsundere<\/i> husbando whose outward expressions are hard and cold, but they always let a little warmth slip out, so you just know<\/i> they’re a really good guy inside.<\/p>\n There’s fiercely loyal husbandos, dominating husbandos, rough’n’tumble husbandos.<\/p>\n And if you go onto forums to discuss this stuff you’ll see people defending their favorites with lots of passion.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n No, not really. Unlike waifu<\/i> the word husbando doesn’t come from Japan.<\/p>\n In fact, it was created by English speakers to sound<\/i> like a Japanified way to say “husband.” However, this doesn’t work.<\/p>\n First, Japanese already has its on English-inspired word for “husband.”<\/p>\n Second, that’s not how you would transliterate<\/a><\/strong> husband into Japanese. You’d write it as hazubando (ハズバンド).<\/p>\n Basically, the term “waifu” got really popular in the English speaking otaku community and they needed a male version of it and manufactured husbando out of thin air.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are lots of ways that wives can refer to their husband. There’s otto<\/i> (夫), go-shujin<\/i> (ご主人), and danna<\/i> (旦那). These aren’t super common in everyday life.<\/p>\n Often women will refer to their husband simply by name, plus “san” after it, for respect. They may also refer to their husband using the pronouns<\/a><\/strong> for “you,” such as anata<\/i> (あなた), kimi<\/i> (君), or omae<\/i> (お前).<\/p>\n Alternatively, if their husband has a specific title, such as “doctor” or “teacher,” they might use that. Very commonly women call their husband otou-san<\/i> (お父さん), “father,” referring to the man’s position in the family.<\/p>\n However, times are a-changing. Nowadays wives often refer to their husbands by name, no honorific san<\/i> needed (this shift started in the 70s and has become ever more prominent).<\/p>\n Even more recently, the English-Japanese word for husband that we discussed above, hazubando<\/i>, has come into use, albeit transformed into the shorter hazu<\/i>.<\/p>\n This type of sorta English, sorta Japanese word is very interesting in terms of loanwords.<\/p>\n By bringing in an English word they also bring in some of the English cultural connotations behind that word.<\/p>\n Whereas traditional Japanese<\/a><\/strong> marriages were built on hierarchy (and, often enough, convenience or arrangement), modern marriages are more built on equality, friendship, and love.<\/p>\n Marriages in predominately English-speaking countries are known for having more love-based marriages, so when a wife refers to her husband as hazu<\/i> she’s making it clear that she sees him as a beloved equal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the English-speaking otaku community, the word “husbando” is fine and has its place. However, in actual Japanese<\/a><\/strong> the word not only doesn’t exist, it doesn’t make sense right down to the very phonetics.<\/p>\nAre all husbandos the same?<\/h2>\n
Is husbando an actual Japanese word?<\/h2>\n
What do Japanese people actually say for husband?<\/h2>\n
Final thoughts on husbandos<\/h2>\n