Yume

Meaning

In otaku contexts, yume ("dream") is an umbrella term for a genre of fan works that depict a relationship between a character from an anime, manga, or game and either the reader themselves or an original character the reader has in mind. For novels it's called yume shousetsu, in illustration yume-e, and in comics yume manga, with the whole category referred to collectively as yume-muke.

The original character who stands as the protagonist is the yumenushi, also read yumeshu. Some are self-insert figures the writer or reader maps themselves onto, others are built as a third party kept separate from the author, and there is no fixed template for their appearance or personality.

In the narrow sense the word means a story in which the reader can freely replace the protagonist's name. This name conversion mechanism is where the genre began, and many posting sites still support it.

People who enjoy yume are called yumejoshi, or yumedanshi for men. Yumejo is also in use, as is dorīmā, from the English word "dreamer".

Yume in English-Speaking Fandom

The closest concepts in English are self-insert and reader-insert, alongside the widely used Y/N (Your Name) placeholder that stands in for the reader's name. In recent years yume and yumeship have joined them as loanwords, and both are now understood as terms for the relationship between a character and the reader.

Origin

The word comes from the Japanese phrase yume o miru, to dream. The phrase describes picturing something that cannot happen in reality, and that sense carried over to a genre built on imagining a relationship with a character. Early works were called dorīmu shōsetsu, dream novels, and yume shōsetsu spread as the shortened form.

Personal Websites and Name Conversion

Stories carrying name conversion go back to the late 1990s. One frequently cited early example appeared on a fan site for the manga Harlem Beat in 1997.

The protagonist's name was rewritten with JavaScript or cookies, and the release of conversion tools such as DreamMaker spread the format rapidly across personal websites.

The Move to Posting Sites

From the 2000s the centre of activity shifted to posting sites that could be read on both mobile phones and computers. Services supporting name conversion, among them Uranai Tsukūru and Hameln, became the main places where yume works appeared.

On pixiv, writers long had to rely on a bookmarklet or post under a fixed name. A word conversion feature within series settings was formally implemented on 16 April 2020, bringing name conversion to a major posting site.

Usage Examples

1 "The new book is yume, so give it a miss if that's not for you." "It's fine, I actually prefer yume."
2 "Is that a yumenushi?" "Yeah. You can swap the name in and read it as your own."
3 A: "What kind of fanwork do you read for this series?" B: "Yume more than ships. I like putting my own name in."
4 "We used to type our name in on someone's personal site before we could read anything." "That name conversion screen. Takes me back."

Supplement

The Many Kinds of Yume

Works are sorted by the yumenushi's gender into female, male and unspecified. Beyond that there are types such as yujo-yume (friendship yume), which leaves romance out, and bokan-yume (bystander yume), where the yumenushi stays in the role of an observer. Setups carry their own labels: trip for falling into the world of the original, tensei for being reborn into it, and narikawari for taking over the place of an existing character. BL yume (BLD) and GL yume (GLD) sort works by the orientation of the relationship instead.

How Yume Differs from Fujoshi and Riako

Yumejoshi and fujoshi are often discussed together, yet they are not at odds with each other. Fujoshi read the relationship between two characters, yumejoshi read the relationship between a character and a yumenushi, and many fans read both.

Riako and gachikoi, by contrast, describe feelings directed at a real person. Yume stays inside the frame of fan creation, and that line is taken seriously in fandom.

Sumiwake and Keeping Work Out of Search

Because taste in yume divides sharply, marking a work as yume in tags and captions is treated as basic etiquette across the genre. This practice is called sumiwake, and the principle underneath it is that readers who would rather avoid yume should be able to filter it out of their searches.

The poster also decides which category their own work belongs to, and that principle is just as widely shared. Attacking a work or its author for not matching one's own taste is treated as out of line.

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Last Updated August 16, 2026

Japanese

夢

Hiragana

ゆめ

Table of Contents

Related Terms

Explore more Japanese cultural terms.

Fujoshi

腐女子(ふじょし)

In English-speaking anime and manga fandom, "fujoshi" broadly refers to female fans who enjoy Boys' Love (BL) content, including romantic fiction and art featuring male-male relationships. The term is borrowed directly from Japanese and is widely used across English-speaking fan communities. In Japan In its original Japanese context, fujoshi (腐女子) more specifically refers to female otaku who enjoy fictional male-male romance (BL/yaoi). The focus is almost always on fictional characters from anime, manga, games, and other media rather than real-life homosexuality. A strong culture of coded language, pairing notation (seme x uke, or “top x bottom”), and community-specific tacit rules exists within the fujoshi community.

Coupling

カップリング(かっぷりんぐ)

Coupling (カップリング, kappuringu) is a word used in doujin and fan culture for the pairing of two characters in a romantic relationship. It means roughly what English-speaking fans call shipping. It applies to BL, which depicts romance between men, and to yuri (百合), which depicts romance between women. Male-female pairings work the same way. Shortened, it is written kapu (カプ) or CP. CP is widely used as a shared term among fans across East Asia, particularly in Chinese-speaking communities. An oshi-kapu (推しカプ) is a coupling you personally love and root for. On social media, people use it like "So-and-so and so-and-so are my oshi-kapu." A pairing that the original work presents as a couple is called an official coupling. The word coupling itself is not limited to unofficial interpretations. Even so, what sits at the center of fan activity is the fun of imagining and interpreting pairings that the original never shows. There are spin-off labels too. Pairing a character with themselves is called nijō (二乗), meaning "squared." A bond of friendship or partnership rather than romance is called konbi (コンビ), and to keep it apart from a romantic A×B, it is written A+B or A&B.

Riako

リアコ(りあこ)

Riako is short for "riaru ni koi shiteru" (lit. really in love). It refers to having genuine romantic feelings for someone you can normally only have a fan relationship with, such as idols, actors, voice actors, or anime characters, or to someone in that vein. Unlike simply cheering for an oshi (favorite), riako involves romantic feelings intense enough to desire a real relationship or marriage. Many people self-identify as riako after becoming aware of their own feelings. Connection to Gachikoi "Gachikoi" is a closely related term. Riako became established among female fans, while gachikoi is sometimes considered more associated with male fans, though both are now used regardless of gender. There is virtually no difference in meaning; it comes down to personal preference or community conventions.

Gachikoi

ガチ恋(がちこい)

Gachikoi means having genuine romantic feelings for an idol, celebrity, VTuber, live streamer, or similar figure. It also refers to a fan who holds those feelings. It describes the state where your urge to support your oshi grows until you find yourself wanting to actually date the person on the other side of the screen or stage. Gachi means "for real," and koi means love, so the word literally means a real, serious love. Even within the same kind of fan activity, oshikatsu (supporting your favorite) and gachikoi point your feelings in different directions. Oshikatsu centers on cheering them on and spreading the word, and it assumes you can share what you love about them with other fans. Gachikoi, on the other hand, is romantic, so it tends to come with possessiveness and jealousy. It can lead to dōtan kyohi (the refusal to accept other fans who support the same person). On social media and in conversations between fans, the word usually shows up when someone describes their own state with a mix of self-mockery and excitement, saying something like "I'm completely gachikoi." Taken too far, it can turn into excessive spending, and it is a word fans use about themselves while being half aware of all this.

Doujin

同人(どうじん)

Doujin (同人) is a word for people who share the same interests or aspirations, and for the groups they form. In otaku culture, it most often refers to the whole range of noncommercial creative activity, where individuals or groups of friends make and release their own works. The best-known form is the doujinshi, a self-published book, but doujin games and doujin music are part of the same landscape. Creators work without publishers or manufacturers, making things at their own discretion and putting them out into the world. All of it rests on the same principle of self-production. The difference from commercial work lies in the order of motives. People create because they want to, not because profit or trends demand it. Niche subjects and experimental styles flourish in doujin precisely because creators are free from sales pressure. Doujin Related Terms A doujinshi is a book made by doujin, a doujin circle is a group that creates together, and a doujin artist is an individual creator in the scene. Doujinshi conventions, with Comic Market (Comiket) as the most famous example, developed as places where creators hand their works out directly to readers. The word covers both original and derivative works built on existing series. Doujin is often equated with fan-made derivative works, but that is only part of what it means.