2009: A Love Odyssey — Looking Back on Sal9000
Let me set the scene. The year is 2009. Emos weren't ironic yet, cell phones and music players had yet to merge into a single device, Jersey Shore...definitely existed! Also, a Tokyo man livestreamed his marriage to a video game character , and it was a little bit of a shock. Yes, before Akihiko Kondo , before the rise of Reddit's strong 'waifu' support groups, one gamer dubbing himself Sal9000 tied the performative knot with Nene Anegasaki of Konami's Love Plus, the virtual beauty with a name that no news reporter would even attempt to pronounce. And honestly, he was kind of a visionary — so let's talk about that. To state the obvious, the ceremony wasn't legally binding, being observed by a few of Sal's close friends and fans of the game. According to various reports, there was a priest there, but he, much like the other attendees, knew that it was all in fun and may or may not have been wearing a panda costume (it's complicat ed — d...