Back in 2010 in the height of controversy surrounding the first season of Ore no Imouto. I find myself defending moe anime as elitist fans blame it for the reason Anime getting worse. However, I felt that the editorial I wrote felt more like a rant, which is why I want to revisit it since Frog’s editorial on Moe inspired me to do this.
The term Moe basically describes a character that is cute or endearing that you want to protect him or her. Of course, this quickly became a cash cow in the late 2000s as companies and authors start making stories with these kinds of characters. However, it has become a rallying point against elite anime fans, since they feel that moe is to blame for the lack of action and mecha anime (which is not true since mecha anime is still being made). However, I think their arguments are a bit questionable. I believe that moe Anime is still relevant and is not necessarily killing Anime.
First, having moe characters doesn’t mean that a show becomes a mindless cute girl doing cute things. Some people seem to perceive moe as mindless because of the sheer popularity of K-ON, which have girls doing silly things to look cute. However, moe only describes the feeling you get from a character, not the overall plot. As seen with some shows like Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, it has a good amount of serious moments throughout its story such as the infamous Mami beheading. In these instances, we can feel more sympathy towards a character that experienced some kind of hardship.
Furthermore, moe plays a certain role in some Iyashikei anime. To me, it reminds us the little things in life. This can range from remembering a special time with your friends or something that we take for granted. For example, most Iyashikei places a lot of emphasis on friendship. In addition, these shows rely on their unique settings such as terraformed Mars in Aria to give a unique experience to add more to the story. However, the ideal personalities seen with moe characters also adds to the escapism of Iyashikei. Moe is not entirely about cute and endearing characters, but rather creating an ideal personality for a character that doesn’t exist in real life. For instance, Rikka from Chuunibyou has a playful personality and insists that she has an “Evil Eye,” which grants her special powers. While it’s very unlikely you will find a girl like her in real life, this aspect reinforces the escapism factor and can make the story interesting or enjoyable.
Lastly, Anime is always tailored for a Japanese audience opposed to a western one. In Japan, cuteness plays a big part in Japanese culture. This is why you see construction signs with a cute designs or the thriving idol industry that focuses more on cuteness rather than on sexiness. Because western cultures prefer violence and maturity, this might be the reason why some western anime fans have a dislike towards moe and shows with a lot of fanservice, not just its prevalence. However, disliking these type of shows without watching will cause them to miss out on shows that can be potentially good. Because of this, I think it’s a good idea to have an open mind.
At the end of the day, I don’t think there is anything wrong with moe in Anime. In some aspects, I think moe can be used creatively such as creating ideal characters to make a show more interesting and/or make the overall story feel immersive. That’s saying, I don’t think moe should be blamed for the reason why Anime is getting worse, but rather the lack of an open mind for the viewer. Regardless of genre, I believe in Sturgeon’s Law that 90% of stuff is crap will always apply. Since tastes are highly subjective, people should just watch what they enjoy watching instead of contributing to the never-ending debate that shows the ugly aspects of the Anime “fan dumb.”
With that, how you feel about the moe debate? Feel free to share your thoughts about the issue, but please keep it civil since this is a very controversial debate.
After all these years there are STILL sour grapes who cannot get it through their thick skulls that moe did not ruin anime quality!? If it did, there would no longer be all of those precious “suder dee duper” serious, thought provoking, deep anime that you crave so much. You know, if this debate were not started by an American otaku, I would be shocked. Anyway, your precious anime exists alongside moe. Hell, some “deep, philosphical, analytical, life changing” anime of recent years has had moe content in it.
I learned a while back that “insert entertainment medium here” is dead debates are pointless.
I am wasting my time typing this. All I have to say to the people who will not let this go is…GET OUT OF THAT DAMN ROCK YOU’RE LIVING UNDER AND LET IT GO YOU PENCIL NECK GEEKS!
I suppose that there are fans that will never be satisfied no matter what. This is probably why I try to ignore the fan dumb, aka people trying to be a purist Anime Fan. Of course, there is no perfect genre that has the best quality over the other. You can’t base quality on the type of story, but how it goes and whether or not it’s enjoyable or enough. But at the end of the day, fan dumb such as the so called anti-moe brigade will only deter people from watching any anime because the fandom is too polarized. Not only that, they have no right to demand what anime should be made as it’s a Japanese medium, thus there shouldn’t be a debate (even though it still exists0. But basically, I just want to cover some loose ends, but my argument haven’t changed since 2010.
I find it interesting to compare your post here to what you wrote three years ago to what you wrote today. I think antagonism towards a different group of anime fans (in this case elitists) is what sometimes fuels the debate more than the content itself. Moe’s never going to be for everyone, but if we just accept each other’s likes and dislikes, the debate about whether it’s making anime worse would be moot. But I like what you wrote here. You make out that moe isn’t bad, just understood. I find myself agreeing with that.
While things haven’t really changed in the overall debate, there are a good amount of things I learned, which is a reason why I rewrote it… But regardless, not every genre will be for everyone, and it’s the matter of accepting it. Of course, bashing it won’t resolve the problem with how anime is being made, but rather alienate people… Because of that, this time of elitism will hurt the anime fandom.
But yeah, I am happy that you liked what you read.
action and mecha… all right that is it Gisei is officialy joining this campaign. I’m pro Moe! Its funny this is the first time I heard about this arguement. you mean to tell me this has been going on for years while i minded my own biz? Okay first of all, lemme make it clear, I don’t dislike Mecha, its my least favorite genre. Except Evangelion, that anime is a work of art! Second, they treat moe like its some kind of abusive fanservice, Moe is character, a personality meaning its part of life. No wait it is a way of life. Yes that is true, the Japanese people are fond of Kawaii, specially when its mixed with serious events. Not to be mean to the westerners but, Japan didn’t made it for you and last i checked western anime “CARTOONS” seems to have been having MOE in it specially the new Justice League in the cartoon network i think, you know where superman and other are a bunch of kids. Anyway i still want to argue, do you have a link on an ANTI-MOE post? i’d like to place my thoughts in its comment section. PLease and Thank you ^_^
It’s in one of the comments, but I don’t quite remember as I deleted a certain persons comments when I was infuriated and dealing with a mild case of hyperthyroidism. However, I did back them up, so I can show them if you really wanted to…
Aside from that, I think culture differences as seen from your comment is one of the issues that fuels this debate. Being Asian myself although not Japanese, I kind of understand and concept the differences as the cute trend is also popular in other Asian cultures, namely China and Korea. Perhaps the west doesn’t understand this concept mostly because of cultural differences.
I feel that the word “Moe” tends to be misued a lot. People tend to misunderstand that it is cute girls doing cute things with no plot as soon as Moe is mentioned, probably due to the popularity of K-ON. But anime like Clannad and even Madoka features similarly moe girls too. Moe equals cuteness, but that doesn’t mean the anime itself has to be pointless and plotless.
I think this is true as mentioned in my post as the definition of moe describes a feeling, not a genre and certainly not cute girls doing cute things considering that serious girls have moe girls as well. Someway or another, it seems that its clear that the word is going to be misused as a distraction for haters, but we can’t let it bother people…
moe has been in anime for years it just took awhile to recognize astro boy, sailor moon, dn angel, galaxy angel, Wedding peach, to heart, to heart 2, happy lesson, elfen lied, rerouni kenshin, cutie honey, every clamp anime (excluding chobits, angelic lay, and xxxholic)
I think people have to realize that cuteness do play a big role in Japanese popular culture, which can explain why some shows have some elements of cuteness one way or another.
I honestly will never understanding the “Death of Anime” mentality. Anime has been around for 60 years and in those 60 years anime has gone through multiple different trends. Not to mention the obvious fact that its still alive despite what western fans will have you believe. What’s funny to me is that they think that every single anime that comes out today is moe, that’s not true and there is anime that will do something different (Psycho Pass and GITS come to mind). Ironically when these types of shows come out I don’t see any support from the fanbase for them. If fans were more active in their purchases and active in creating an environment for these types of anime to flourish over here then maybe the Japanese will actually take a look at us again and go “Hey this market is profitable, maybe we should start making more stuff for them!”
And before anyone says “It won’t make a difference” tell that to companies like Bandai, TokyoPop, ADVision, and Central Park Media and then tell me that.
As mentioned in my recent editorials and past, I do agree that while moe or shows with cute girls are popular, it never means that there are less shows that don’t feature them as action, adventure and mecha shows are still being made. But of course, these are the same fans who are dissatisfied with light novels adaptations not being deep enough and saying that it’s some power-fantasy without realizing that they are geared to a younger audience. While I won’t give out any names, but I have seen this in one of the recent threads debating about No Game No Life because the games are not deep enough and it pandering to a certain audience. I don’t get the complaints since light novels are not meant to be that deep since they are for middle/high school audience. I still wonder, why can’t people just enjoy anime as it is instead of complaining over and over again for whatever reason along with berating other’s people’s tastes calling them crap. If one doesn’t enjoy what he/she watches, just drop it and move on. In my opinion, it just makes the fandom in general unattractive and eventually drive fans away. Of course, no matter the genre, there is going to be some type of pandering no matter what.
But I do agree that if you want a certain series or genre to release more stuff, one has to buy the actual DVDs or whatever so that the company knows that there is still an audience. Namco just realized this recently with the Tales series, which is one of the reasons they are releasing more games and finally localizing Tales of Hearts R.