Waifu

thumb|right|upright=1.2|An illustration of a female anime character, representative of the type of characters commonly referred to as waifus by fans

Waifu ( ) is a term used to refer to a fictional female character toward whom one feels romantic or sexual attraction. Husbando ( ) is the male equivalent of waifu. While the term waifu was derived from a scene of the 2002 anime Azumanga Daioh and husbando emerged later as its male equivalent, both terms from the anime and manga fandom have been adopted by various other online media communities to refer to any characters toward whom fans feel romantic or sexual attraction. The term waifu directly contradicts bimbo or slut. It is rarely applied to real people, but would be intended as a complement in this context.