WILMINGTON, Del. — A local Twitter user with the username “RyukyuBlade” has received continuous ridicule for the anime character featured in his profile picture, even though the character looks exactly like him in real life.
“Every time I post, all I get are responses like ‘anime PFP detected’ or people calling me ‘weeaboo trash.’ These people don’t understand,” said RyukyuBlade, after getting roasted in the comments of a post about the best Netflix movies of 2022. “This character was the first time I saw myself represented in pop culture. He has my same spiky, neon-orange hair, the same steel eye patch in the shape of an upside-down cross, and he even carries around an 8-foot-long sword like I do. I mean, sure, his floor-length cloak is black, and mine’s more of like a dark green. But still, it’s pretty close!”
Another poster under the username “Ultimate_Rizzz69” seemed to take a special interest in ridiculing the young man’s seeming obsession with the Japanese media form.
“I’ve seen him commenting on shit before and it’s like, grow the fuck up bro. No one cares about your favorite anime,” said Ultimate_Rizzz69. “We all know you want to have, like, magical powers or whatever and you probably run around calling people ‘senpai’ and unleashing your ‘special move.’ It’s just so lame. That’s why having an anime PFP is the fastest way to get your opinion ignored by normal people.”
RykyuBlade, however, insisted that his appreciation of the anime character wasn’t indicative of his media tastes as a whole.
“Honestly, I’m kind of just a casual anime fan. Some of them are a little too ‘out-there’ for me, you know?” said RyukyuBlade from the mountaintop where he lives and trains. “But when I watched this show in high school and they revealed he also has a pet dragon that houses the soul of his dead girlfriend, I teared up a little. It’s just nice to see characters you can relate to.”
At press time, RyukyuBlade had grown so frustrated with the attacks he was receiving online that he accidentally incinerated his phone with an energy blast from the snake tattoo on the palm of his hand.
