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[[File:Mirai-chan dakimakura in the room.jpg|thumb|304x304px|A fan's room decorated with [[dakimakura]] and merchandise of the anime character [[Mirai Suenaga]], 2012]]
二次コン or 二次元コンプレックス, from the English phrase " 2D complex", is a sexual or affective attraction towards two-dimensional anime, manga, and light novel characters, as opposed to an attraction towards real human beings. It has been interpreted by some observers as a genuine sexual orientation.
This attraction is primarily directed towards the non-realistic characteristics found in manga and anime styles. Initially discussed as male otaku sexuality in Japan, it has more recently been examined within the context of queer studies, extending beyond Japan, and referred to as a form of fictosexuality.
However, even before the inception of the "nijigen complex" jargon, works dealing with such complexes existed from before the early modern period, and the concept of "romantic feelings toward a character depicted in an image" itself was based on military stories from the Nanboku-chō period. As found in the historical Japanese epic Taiheiki, we know that such affection already existed in Japan as early as the 14th century at the latest. Imperial Prince Prince Takanaga (second son of Emperor Emperor Go-Daigo) fell in love at first sight with a beautiful woman in a painting depicting a scene from The Tale of Genji.
The psychiatrist Saitō Tamaki writes that for otaku, "fiction itself can be a sexual object", with attraction manifesting in an "affinity for fictional contexts." The affection directed at fictitious characters is sometimes termed Fictosexuality, which is often enhanced by supernormal stimuli.
Sexuality is an integral part of the attraction to 2D characters, as Tamaki points out. One important aspect is the fictionalization of sex: Sex' is broken down within the framework of fiction and then put back together again."
Another aspect that plays into otaku sexuality is, according to Tamaki, that otaku generally express strong attraction to the 2D objects of their desire through the use of the term "moe." According to Tamaki this fawning over characters and the expressing of this to other people is a way to put distance between- or objectify their own sexuality. "Saying that one is a moe of a character is a way to comically objectify the self that experiences this attraction."
Tamaki sees this as a form of securing "one's own sexuality in the field of the imaginary and allow it to function."
One such aspect that Tamaki researched is the widespread use of fan creations (fan fiction or fan art) of said characters they feel attracted to in order to take possession of them. "They let the work 'possess' them, weave a different story out of the same materials, and share it with the community. This process is a kind of 'ritual of possession' practiced within the otaku community."
One characteristic that Tamaki points out is that the desire for 2D characters is no substitute for normal heterosexuality. According to his research nijikon and healthy' sexuality in daily life" are not mutually exclusive. "...in real life otaku tend to choose perfectly respectable members of the opposite sex as their partners." He addresses that there is a "decisive gap between perverse tendencies in the imagination and 'healthy' sexuality in daily life."
While nijikon has primarily been discussed as a sexuality associated with male otaku, the characteristic of a distinction between imaginary sexual lives and everyday sexual lives is also present among women. There are women who experience attraction toward two-dimensional female characters as "pseudo-females," perceiving them as distinct from real women.
Queer theorists elucidate alternative sexual orientations through Saitō Tamaki's concept of "multiple orientations." Criticisms have been directed at Saito's Lacanian theory due to its gender binary assumptions and its failure to acknowledge individuals who experience no attraction to flesh-and-blood human. However, according to Keith Vincent, multiple orientations as a capability of "conducting a richly perverse fantasy life while maintaining an utterly "normal" and pedestrian sex life in their day-to-day lives" is consistent with the theories of Eve Sedgwick and Judith Butler. Building upon this, Yuu Matsuura applied the concept of multiple orientations to articulate the sexual orientation toward the sui generis entity of two-dimensional characters.
Qualitative surveys reveal that the practices of nijikon as fictosexual individuals offer certain avenues to challenge both compulsory sexuality and human-oriented sexualism, presenting possibilities for alternative perspectives.
Based on interview research, nijikon individuals who do not experience attraction towards flesh and blood encounter similar oppression within the framework of compulsory sexuality, comparable to asexual individuals. In a human-oriented sexualist society, there is a lack of hermeneutical resources to effectively articulate the experiences of nijikon, leaving them hermeneutically marginalized.
However, certain researchers and activists contend that the focus should be on challenging human-oriented sexualism, as real pedophilia and the sexual objectification of real women are matters of a culture that desires humans sexually. Their criticism of human-oriented sexualism rebuts the assumption that ACG pornography sexualizes real women and promotes pedophilia, while simultaneously denouncing rape culture. They argue that misrepresenting the desire for two-dimensional characters as a desire for a human is an example of human-oriented sexualist prejudice. For nijikon individuals, the regulation of two-dimensional sexual depictions is not solely a matter of freedom of expression but rather revolves around issues of sexual access and sexual rights.
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