The tricky thing about social media is that announcing your passions to the world, by its nature, means you’re also announcing them to relatives and acquaintances you’d maybe rather keep in the dark regarding some of your more unusual pastimes. That’s why Twitter user Shitaraki Kongo set up his account and does his tweeting in a way that he hopes will obscure his true identity.

Nevertheless, his mom eventually managed to tie her son to the account, and his secret was revealed. That Kongo is an anime fan isn’t such a big deal, and given the current trends in the industry, the fact that he’s enjoying high school idol series Love Live! probably wasn’t a huge shock either.

Kongo is on the fringe of even otaku culture, though, as he’s also really into collecting posable dolls and dressing them up like the Love Live! cast. Odds are he was feeling pretty awkward when his mother discovered all this, but instead of disowning him out of embarrassment, dear old Mom instead grabbed a needle and made some new threads for her son’s anime crushes.

With over 6,000 followers, Kongo’s built up a decent-sized presence on Twitter. Looking through his tweets reveals an extensive amount of Love Live! merchandise, but his pride and joy appears to be the aforementioned dolls.

But about three weeks ago Kongo says his mom found out what he’s been doing with his free time. “I don’t know much about Twitter,” she said, broaching the subject, “but it seems like you’re really into dolls.”

Kongo doesn’t live with his parents, and since his collection isn’t cluttering up his mom’s home, she actually had the option of just choosing to forget what she’d seen, hoping that the next time she and her son got together the awkwardness would have blown over. Instead, she did something even more accepting.

“Give me the doll, and I’ll make whatever outfit you want for it,” she told her son. Kongo took her up on her offer, and three weeks later, he got his doll back, sporting some new clothes.

For those who aren’t intimately familiar with Love Live!, that’s a rather nice recreation of the costumes the idols wear when performing the song “KiRa-KiRa Sensation!”

Kongo was especially happy about the detailed ruffles his mom added to the skirt.

Of course, as proper idols, the girls of Love Live! are constantly slipping into different costumes during their performances. Kongo’s dolls are covered on this front too, though, as Mom also sewed the outfit used for the song “Yume no Tobira.”

▼ Anime

▼ Doll

It turns out the understanding mom has a grateful son, too. “I think I’m going to send her something tasty to eat,” Kongo mused, referring to the common practice in Japan of sending high-quality fruit, sweets, or even meat as a thank-you gift. “And since she doesn’t know anything at all about Love Live!, maybe I’ll stick a Blu-ray box set of the show in with it.”

Somehow, we doubt that Kongo’s mom imagined that one day she’d be making doll clothes for her adult son, but seeing how the activity seems to have brought them closer together, it’s hard to disparage his unique hobby when the end result is parent and child both happy, and his dolls well-dressed.

Source: Jin

Top image: Twitter (1, 2) (edited by RocketNews24)

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