I remember seeing a video go viral on social media a while ago, showing a dude turn on and talk to a box with a hologram of a tiny anime girl inside it. But this wasn't from a movie or TV show; this was real life. That was an advert for Gatebox, a company that aims to put a more kawaii face on home assistance services like the Amazon Echo. Alexa might be helpful, but imagine if she were a waifu and you have the idea behind Gatebox.









Gatebox have now announced that they'll proceed with mass producing units for home use, meaning that you or I could buy a tiny holographic waifu to talk to via phone or in person, that can also control your smart devices. Initial units will be available with the "default" assistant, original character Hikari Azuma (below), while previous pre-production models also included another famous blue-haired waifu, Vocaloid's Hatsune Miku. Gatebox have confirmed that new characters will be available in the future.









To commemorate the launch of Gatebox, a special event will be held in Tokyo this October 12-13, where visitors can experience the product in action, see art of upcoming characters and even have a conversation with Hikari herself. Units will be sold for about ¥150,000 (about $1,400) so they aren't exactly cheap, but hey, neither are real girlfriends, right fellas?





I'm waiting until the inevitable release of a smart onahole that lets you fuck a virtual assistant. Maybe that can even read you metrics about your stamina, or pumps per minute, or discharge viscosity, etcetera? But what do you think about Gatebox's virtual waifus as they are now? Drop your thoughts in the comments!