o________O

You can’t make stuff like this up. Well, you could, but it wouldn’t have the same delightfully bizarre quality.

Anyway, The Australian is reporting that a Japanese man is currently engaging in a nationwide campaign to make it legal for humans to marry cartoon characters. No, seriously! He’s got a petition and everything! And the amazing thing is, people are actually signing it! Presumably without irony!

Taichi Takashita launched an online petition aiming for one million signatures to present to the government to establish a law on marriages with cartoon characters.

Within a week he has gathered more than 1,000 signatures through.

“I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become a resident of the two-dimensional world,” he wrote.

“However, that seems impossible with present-day technology. Therefore, at the very least, would it be possible to legally authorize marriage with a two-dimensional character?”

The story notes that marriage is on the decline in Japan and many there find it difficult to find romantic partners, which may help explain the situation a bit, though it doesn’t make it any less goofy.

Of course, there’s every chance Takashita is pulling everyone’s leg, in which case I hope he doesn’t end up running into any of his more devout petition-signers.