While tensions continue to run high in Crimea since Russian forces took control of the strategic Black Sea peninsula some two weeks ago, internet fascination with the region’s newly appointed prosecutor has suddenly spiked, spawning numerous fan pages and an onslaught of anime-style fan art.

A Youtube video of a press conference given by Natalia Poklonskaya on the day she assumed office was viewed almost a million times after it was posted on March 11.

Poklonskaya, 33, called the current government officials in Ukraine illegitimate and described the uprising in the country as an “anti-constitution coup and an armed seizure of power,” according to Voice of Russia, the Russian government’s international radio broadcaster.   

"I tell the truth and I’m not afraid of this truth,” she said, according to Voice of Russia’s transcription. “I am no criminal, I don’t propagate Nazism, unlike certain regime functionaries in Kyiv.”

The March 11 video doesn't have any subtitles. Here is a version of the video with English subtitles. The accuracy of the subtitles cannot be immediately verified.

The lack of subtitles didn't stop netizens from quickly becoming infatuated with the woman behind the microphones.

A tweet in Japanese, which simply read "Crimea's New Attorney General oh oh oh..." with a link to the unsubtitled version of the press conference video, was retweeted more than 9,000 times, according to gaming blog Kotaku.

An onslaught of Japanese anime-style fan art ensued.

Artists have posted dozens of illustrations of Poklonskaya to online art forums like diviantArt and Pixiv.

Since there appeared to be no Japanese translation of the press conference video when it first went viral, the fan art treatment doesn't seem to be political. Instead, it is likely that fans are inspired by the similarities between Poklonskaya's physical characteristics and those of traditional anime characters.

Many admirers use the word "kawaii," which means cute in Japanese, to describe Poklonskaya.

A Facebook fan page created for Poklonskaya on March 17 received 1,000 fans in less than 24 hours. Four days later, a whopping 13,000 people have liked the page.

Poklonskaya even received her own reddit page, which is quickly filling up with anything users can scour on the internet of her.

Not everyone is amused.

Reddit user myusernameranoutofsp finds Poklonskaya fever — a term used on reddit — "pretty creepy."

“This subreddit, the facebook page, I'm not sure it's a healthy way to respond to one attractive person popping up on the news.”

Reddit user kraakmark worries that the Poklonskaya meme could function as political propaganda in the controversial Crimea crisis.

“The situation in Ukraine is creepy, why pick her specifically to give the speech? Putting a pretty face on something bad to make it more appetizing is creepy.”

Others find the trend more than a little sexist.

“I guess it's could be considered flattering, but it's also kinda degrading, too,” user GunFlame commented after Kotaku’s blog, adding that there would be little fanfare if Poklonskaya's current position is held by a man.

What do you think of Natalia Poklonskaya’s internet fame? Weigh in below.