Geeks seek love at masked match-making event

.......Creepy

Sick ...

Nice idea if it helps people who can't usually socialise to get away from their PCs to go out and meet people.

I agree with you Neil, it is a little crazy but as long as it keeps people from staying locked inside their apartments reading manga and not being able to find love or even friendship because of social ineptness I say go for it.

They are cute,or so they think.Grown adults acting like children.though great idea for people to date their likes,just imagine what kind of children are going to raise those couples. Japan is doomed if isn`t yet.

I thought the English term for these people was "losers", or "social misfits" or "emotionally stunted". These are adults that cannot talk to other adults without wearing an animated character mask? Maybe it is best for us all if they do not, in fact, breed.

I dont mind dating a girl with a mask if her face is not so hot haha.

That rabbit mask in the photo seems to be real popular, I've seen guys on TV wearing it.

Women can look real hot in masks, as long as they're not like the one in the photo. The mask would, of course, be black, with no ears on it...

Sadly, those may have been her actual teeth....

At least they will choose their partner based on personality, not looks.

I've never understood why people date and get married. To me its just a major waste of time, energy, and money.

No different in principle from a Masquerade ball where masks are worn to add a bit of mystery and lower inhibitions. I think that for many of the modern generation they're used to communicating anonymously on the internet, and feel that this gives them the freedom to "recreate" themselves and escape their own poor self-image. If a little mask helps them to find someone in the real world then I consider this an entirely positive and productive exercise.

I'd love to join if they'd let me wear a paper bag on my head.

I wonder how much would it costs to join the event. Another money making bizness????

Yay love!

Not important how it comes or if it comes to all of them. Those nutty kids in masks may be closer to risking and showing their real selves than the posers standing behind the self-made masks of their flesh and blood face I see at clubs and go-kon, pick up bars. Don't matter if it gets them play if it's only self-interested fakers playing.

One thing tho--

"New"??

creepy weird and sad. no confidence those japanese -_-

I'm a gaijin, who lived in Japan for several years when I worked at Toho, and I loved it and miss it. If my economic circumstances and health allowed, I'd move back. I find this way of meeting rather charming actually. Obviously the people here don't know what it's like to be painfully shy. These folks found a way to let themselves out.

Is Japan childish? Well, yes and no. Say rather that it's a country and a people who have never lost that sense of childlike wonder. Would that the rest of the world were as wise.

@ Hikozaemon

LOL! i was thinkin the same thing lol!!

I'd like to attend that event if I knew. Probably it was cool :D

Shyness and anxiety can be very debilitating. Good on them for rising to the challenge to overcome their issues.

I'm trying to think of this from their point of view. With judgment.

What's with all the negative comments?! Sad? Creepy? Losers? Are you guys for real? Do people have to be just like you to deserve happiness? I say that if otaku - or anyone for that matter - can find a way to reduce their shyness and have a shot at romance (like the rest of us), the more power to 'em!!

They should have just gotten everyone drunk at around 2 in the morning, no need for masks!

Congratulations to the organizers for at least trying to find a solution to this social phobia epidemic, which is by no means limited to Japan. It's sad to see so many lonely young people prevented by fear from finding friends and love.

I agree this is creepy.

Go-comi-kon is a fairly good idea, wish the organizers the best. The more younger people socialize and see they can actually be a part of society, the more they might try to get rid of the old farts running the country and actually turn Japan around.