Otakukin?

I'm open to the idea of otherkin seeing as I'm questioning whether or not I would classify myself as one (a therianthrope to be more specific). Whether I would label myself as such...I'm not sure. Even that is a little hard to swallow. Yes I believe in reincarnation, so the concept of therianthropy makes sense to me. Having a non-human soul placed into a human body via the process of reincarnation...it can make some sense. But fairies, dragons, elves, etc. are a little harder for me to believe. If you were to believe that there are different dimensions and that these creatures could exist, then that is possible as well. To each his own right?

But otakukin?

For people not familiar with the term "otaku" it is interpreted among anime fans to mean a person who loves/is obsessed with anime. It holds a different and more negative connotation in Japan. Otakukin are people who believe that their soul is that of an anime character. Now I thrive on being an open minded person and I took the time to look up information on otakukin and to lurk around message boards that cater to otakukin, but this is such a farfetched idea for me to grasp.

Anime characters are created by people. They can be based off of people they know (as in the case of Chihiro from Spirited Away). They can be inspired by animals (IE: Some pokemon). They can be based off of elements. They can be based off of historical figures. They can be based off of deities. Or they can be created from thin air. The thing is that they are created. To say that they could exist in other dimensions is to claim that these artists hold psychic powers to pick up on the energies of the universe and mystically created these characters.

So what happens if someone were to claim that their soul was that of Chihiro? Chihiro is based off of a real person...so by that logic you'd be claiming that you were this girl. Or what if someone were to claim they were someone from Romeo x Juliet? Say the playwright, William (who I take to be William Shakespeare). He was a real person. Let's get real farfetched. The goddess Amaterasu from Okami. Yes that's a game but I don't see any difference in the situation. To claim to be a deity is pure insanity.

Let's take this a step further. Why does being 'otakukin' have to only apply to anime characters. Let's expand it to all created characters. Say someone saw my character Sombra and read her description. They could then claim "Hey, I think I am this character". But the problem with that is I created Sombra as a representation of me. So by claiming they are Sombra, they're claiming they're me. My personality is no different than Sombra's (save the fact she's a little more confident than me). Who's to say that an animator didn't create a character to represent themselves then there's these people out there claiming that they're a fictional character.

Now if the issue is that otakukin find themselves relating to a character a lot, that's different. There are characters that I've found I relate to quite a bit. So much so that I could really empathize with the character. However I would never claim to be a fictional character. Even though I feel that I could be a dog therian (though I'm not really taking on the therian label anymore), I would never claim to be a dog. I am not a dog. I'm a human who feels and acts in a canine manner. Whether it's because I'm otherkin or because I have an animal totem trying to get my attention is unknown. It could even be because I have some sort of mild mental disorder for all I care. All I know is that I'm not going to claim to be something that I'm physically not.

If anyone can explain the idea of being a fictional character to me in a way that doesn't sound outlandish, I will definitely open my mind to the concept. But coming in and shouting at the top of your lungs that you are Pikachu or you are Goku and telling me to accept it isn't going to fly with me.