Ultimate moe – Kotomi and her knees

Quiet possibly the most moe thing i have ever seen.

A lot of things happened in episode four of Clannad, though nothing for me can compare to this one hardcore moe scene — followed by Kotomi’s pat pat. Adorable.

By Shiro

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Discourse on Moe with Brief Pictorial Interludes of the Cute Variety

Zac Bertschy, everyone’s loathed adored editor over at ANN, has put the call out on moe. Since I’ve already had a response published in the feature, I don’t feel it polite to submit another entry, and my entry would be way too long anyway, and I don’t want to just post it in the ANN forums, as that might lead to me getting banned–unlikely, but I don’t want to have to reregister and try to remember what I rated over 200 individual series. Since I want to post my thoughts on this matter, I’ll just do it here, for some added thought-provoking content.

For those too afraid to even click on a link leading to Zac’s writing, here’s the question he posed his readers: “What do you think of ‘moe’ anime? Is the phenomenon a good or bad thing for anime?”

To do this, first, we must define “moe”, a difficult task at best. Everyone has their own opinion on the meaning of the term, which leads to a very nebulous concept and lots of argument. I, personally, have a very unusual definition of the term. Many people use the term “innocence” to describe moe; I, personally, think the term “naiveté” is more accurate. Many people seem to have a concept of moe as being a character who is a pushover and could feasibly be coerced into various naughty acts without any effort whatsoever; I, personally, hearken back to the “fatherly love” definition of moe from way back when. I see a character I would be proud of, if I were their father, as moe. Some characters I would categorize under the “moe” banner: Asai Mugi from Hitohira, Mako from Bokurano, Ai Tanabe from PLANETES, Oscar Francois de Jarjeyes from The Rose of Versailles, and Kokoro from Kokoro Library.

One other key thing about my definition is that the concept of “moe” and the concept of “sexually appealing” are two different things. A character I find moe is very, very rarely seen in a sexual light, if ever. They’re someone to cheer on, not someone to get down and dirty with.

With that definition in mind, I’m going to answer the question.

Zac’s definition of moe is apparently limited to shows he does not see as worthy of praise, and, certainly, there’s a fair bit of call for that–no one’s going to call Zero no Tsukaima a modern masterpiece. However, what he doesn’t realize is that the concept of moe is inseparable from most recent anime–it permeates every show. Female characters must be cute and attractive, and this is done almost without exception. There’s no escaping it. And that brings me to the second part of the question.

It’s not a question of whether it’s a “good” or “bad” thing for anime. It’s neither, and both. Moe as a concept in anime has brought us shows such as DearS, but it’s also brought us Hitohira. It’s brought us Girls Bravo, but it’s also brought us Kamichu!. It’s brought us Mai HiME/Otome, but it’s also brought us Simoun. It’s brought us Raimuiro Senkitan, but it’s also brought us Toki o Kakeru Shoujo. Yes, we get trashy fanservice-filled doujin fodder, but we also get works of literary and artistic merit.

Moe is not something we, as anime fans, should sweep under the carpet and pretend like it doesn’t exist. It’s a critical factor in modern anime, just as super robots were in the 70s and 80s–and there are some seriously bad robot shows from that time frame. (Gold Lightan, anyone?) But there’s also some seriously good robot shows from that time frame. (Layzner) Trends in anime are never a bad thing. They focus, reshape, and remold the conception of anime in the minds of the masses. The Tokikakes and Kamuchus of today will pass on their legacies to tomorrow, and the Lucky Stars and Haruhis of today will do so as well. And tomorrow will reform and reshape anime as we know it in the present and turn it into anime as we know it in the future. And I have the fullest confidence that anime will still be entertaining in that future.

By OGT

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