The Evolution of Moe Anime
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- I talk about the evolution of Moe anime from the beginning to the current day, hoping to clear up some of the misconceptions around the subject.
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I would define "moe" as something that triggers your protective instincts....
I thought it's girls being cute
I mean, that's what cuteness is. Something that triggers your protective instincts.
+Calamack it doesn't work for me
+Renato Galinec it's not that but when people talk about it doesn't interest me
that's how we called it now "protective instincts"?? rofl
Not to be taken as hating the video, but more constructive criticism: this video has a paltry amount of substance. I feel like nothing was really said other than your broadened definition of moe without really exploring any ideas. You could've have talked about your examples: Maison Ikkoku was one of your examples, but it was just flashed on the screen while you reiterated your too broad definition over and over. Instead, reference changing art styles, relation in culture to mass appeal, or changing character sentiment would have been interesting topics to discuss. I think you are overreaching a bit with some of your examples inherent definition too, but its an idea i guess.
i have to say...
I totally agree with sir :)
Yeah, it was completely shallow, and not only that, everything he said was also completely wrong.
" I feel like nothing was really said other than your broadened definition of moe without really exploring any ideas." I feel you are wrong and my fiffies are superior to yours. :D
"... too broad definition over and over. " It is just broad, not too broad. If hate covers feeling ranging from dislike, contempt to outright murderous hostility, that's usually where the term too broad starts to be adequate. It means a distinction is necessary for the understanding or simply to prevent harm from innocent people. In short, if you accuse someone of hate, make sure he is about to chop your head off, figuratively or literarly. Otherwise it makes you a slanderous douchebag.
Contructive criticism - 1
Red Phoenix - 0
Thank god yes, I'm not the only one who felt this was boring as hell.
inb4 Digibro makes "There's No Reason To Say 'Moe'" a video
He already addressed moe in the first video on that subject, lol. He said he uses "cute girls anime" on his main channel since it conveys the idea in a more clear and direct manner.
"cute girls anime" is such a generalization though. the term "moe" is perfect because it simply covers anything related, stylistically, to the "cute anime girls" theme - and is inclusive to moe in _any_ genre
Moe is incredibly vague and ill-defined, so if you want to specifically refer to "moe" series, the SOL shows that people often think of when you use that term, "cute girls anime" works rather well. Because moe is when a feeling is evoked it's rather subjective, and thus something could or could not be moe depending upon the person. There are uses for it, but it's one you've gotta be selective about using if you want to be clear.
He just made a video yesterday and said, "Moe is a dead term." LMAO
He's desperate for people to stop calling him out for orbiting cute girl anime to the point they make up half his best of the year list every year.
For me, 'moe' animes are the ones that try making the characters look cute to the viewers in an artificial way, making them to do things that normal people do not do in real life and leading into an unnatural behaviour.
Also known as anime.
Not every anime character tries hard as fuck to be cute
I think your view on "moe" is too broad and a bit biased. There are characters that seem forced and characters that feel natural. It varies depending on the anime - and it may even be intentional depending on the genre.
If they feel natural then it's not moe. That's the thing.
You just made that up.
Bigger question is when this "Moe trend" gonna end?
When the anime consuming audience stops watching for cute girls.
TheKiroshi So never then?
Well, never, because as mentioned in this video moe "themes" are inherent to the medium.
Never :D
Just go back in time and stop Eva from airing.
your definition seems really broad.
I mean technically you can categorize almost all anime as moe going by this.
I think he's categorising it as a characteristic instead of a genre. Shows can have moe elements, examples ranging from Code Geass to K-ON were mentioned, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone classify Code Geass as a *moe* anime.
He straight up called it a genre at one point in the video.
If he didn't specifically say "anime", the definition could basically apply to almost any work with an appealing character like Harry Potter.
Zebedee Robinson I classify Berserk as a moe anime!
Yeah, feels like it's basically just an aspect of (modern?) anime. Some shows have more moe characteristics, some have less or almost none of them. it's probably quite arbitrary at which point you'd call the whole show a moe show.
Your pronunciation of bishoujo is like nails on a chalkboard to me but everything else about your video is awesome.
bīshoujo, beeshoujo, tomato, tomāto
"Mo-Eh" to your "Mo" - "E". Pronunciation has made it nearly impossible for me to enjoy this video despite all the effort that's gone into it.
I know im dumb, stupid things like this will ruin something so great for me.
Manassia Karasev there is only one "correct" way to pronounce these sort of things
There is the unambiguously accurate and proper way to pronounce it, and there is the "I can't be bothered and shall read it as if it were an English word until we are convinced it is how it is pronounced" way.
Sounds correct to me.
To be honest, I have nothing against the "moe" aesthetic. Though I do find it disheartening that so many shows use it as an excuse to have no substance whatsoever, like random CGDCT school club room "comedy" number 351.
Not all "moe" shows are like that, of course. Flip Flappers, for instance, was full of interesting content, and that's far from the only example.
Sturgeon's Law is in full effect.
There's a fanbase for everything. CGDCT I feel is more of a sub-genre of moe, but it's the most popular and well known genre, making it sorta represent moe as a whole, whether we like it or not.
Fair enough. Even CGDCT as a whole isn't something I'm against in principle, and it's fine if people still enjoy it. It's just that with many of them doing essentially the same thing (and using the same sorts of jokes), it seems like they'd quickly blur together, with maybe a few exceptions.
Agreed.
Flip Flappers incorporates a more "honest" art style compared to general Moe aesthetics too. You can especially see that in lighting as an example. In many Moe anime, everything glossy, shiny and the light is usually bright, or orangey red. The world looks cuddly clean and nice, but it also looks artificial and samey. Although Flip flappers uses the Moe aesthetic, it doesn't crank it up to 11, the lighting is much more faded, and things aren't glossy by themselves.
I think Moe is just such an addicting aesthetic. It's like sugar, and presents to us the same problems and dilemmas that overly sugary food and products in the market makes us have to deal with. Is the market saturated with overly sugary moe? Should that be the case with all kinds of products, cereal, juice, bread, dairy i.e. genres like adventure, action, slice of life, etc?
moe ruined anime
"Believe it or not, Sailor Moon had a strong male audience."
Holy shit really?
Come Candy Candy, Lady Georgie, "Ai shite Naito", "Tokimeki tonight"... XD comunque ci credo visto che è divertente ed action. Lasciando da parte gli otaku pervertiti che se lo guardavano per una sola ragione. Sic!
I'm sensing sarcasm?
Are you asking me if you sense it?
It is true. On these days if you want to watch any anime you have internet to download or buy it from specialized stores, but at that time there were not many options to watch. If we wanted something that was not on tv we had to buy it from the few comic stores that imported japanese stuff. So we used to exchange our mangas with friends or copy anime on VHS tapes, etc. It was funnier though, we used to interact with other people and made a lot of friends, very different from weebs these days.
you heard James talk about him watching sailor moon,right?
A Cancerous growth that just keeps growing bigger and bigger.
That is the evolution of Moe.
11 min video analyzing moe. When in reality moe is just cute girls doing cute shit.
Dude. Now I understand. I've had a hard time wrapping my head around the term for a while now. And the answer was really just obvious.
CorrvptSave yes finally someone who gets it.
If you like moe you should check out my Moe-Team video on my channel. (Gotta get my shitty content out there one way or another.)
LIES
who are you rena from higurashi?
Is it just me or does this video feel slightly out of sync?
I feel that too
There were certainly times, like when he was naming time periods, that they'd show up on screen as numbers a few seconds after it was said, but I didn't feel like it was important.
Ladiesman69 for me it felt the images on the screen didn't really relate to the words very much
That's the joke.
I don't hate "Moe" shows, I hate "cute girls doing cute things" shows
What went wrong in your life?
eddebrock care to elaborate?
See it's a joke. Because normally people would be happy to see cute girls doing cute things, but you come in and state the opposite. Thusly one makes the ironic conclusion that something in your life went wrong for you to hate cute girls doing cute things.
eddebrock There is so much issues I take with your comment.
The Moe genre is geared towards young, straight males. I think it is off-putting seeing barely legal girls being sexualized, doing everyday things. None of the characters are even remotely realistic. It is near impossible to relate to any of them since they are so copy and pasted. Most share the exact same face and body template, and overly clichéd stories. Time is valuable, and I won't spend it on borderline pedophilia. I'm sick of Waifu's and cannot fathom how people find them sexy. I would be more okay with it as a niche, but it is part of most mainstream anime. I'm also sick of Otakus and how sexist and homophobic they are. Of course they want to protect a little girl, because it is the only thing they can control. The entire genre is self indulgent and reinforces the relationship issue in Japan today.
+Ollie That relates to literally nothing of what I said. But good job getting triggered.
You definition of Moe just left me completely confused. You seem to be defining it as a writing style, an art style, a genre, and also a reaction audiences have to shows and/or characters. So the best I can discern is that Moe doesn't actually have any meaning at all beyond what each individual places on it. In other words it's definition is entirely subjective, making the word completely useless, as it doesn't actually communicate anything between one person and another unless the listener already had the exact same opinions as the speaker.
The actual etymology of it came from a feeling fans had over a certain character. How it came to be what it is now is like how everyone is now throwing out the word weaboo.
Very disorganized explanation this guy put forward. It's like he was building an action figure but forgot the torso. All we have are disconnected limbs lying around.
actually if you read the definition is not off, the thing is the term covers MANY things, starting as language Interjection use not only for anime.
then for anime it could be used to decribe an aspect of the character, then a full character, to the full anime, even describe as a fetish so it could be confusing indeed, but I would said the basic of it is "something cute and endering" some people have perverted this recently that's why some people dislike it
"Moe" shows are usually nichijoukei or iyashikei. Hard to call moe a genere when you can have a anything from a legitimate moe sport series and a moe comedy. It really only describes viewers relationship with characters and the characters.
Probably why i've Never understood what it means.
You're right, Moe is kind of hard to define when it comes to explanation. Though, like quite a few said "Cute girls, doing cute things!" I thought Moe started around the time of Azamanga Daioh. Definitely up for discussion. Moe was used in the media way back when, but shows like K-On was full blown "Moe."
However, it is hard to define because it's vague. We acknowledge a consensus of it from how others talk about.
Can't wait for the next ten years, where anime girls' eyes will soon take up the entirety of the face
You mean 10 years earlier?
GREAMBO actually eye size has gone down
Uhhh... PowerPuff Girls?
clannad style lmao
That already happened.🤪
I just don't like the overly cutesy style, and the fact that all the characters's faces look the same
well most anime shows have most of their characters like that and it never was different. I take it that you dont like anime as much in general then?
Lil Yachty That completely went over your head...
What
I think this as much as other definitions of moe that you stated in the beginning just misses the point of moe - it's way to vague. You said, it is the aspect of extreme emotional engagement with characters and wonting more of them- but if this was true, you could call absolutely anything moe. One example: A lot of people loved Death Note's L to death and hold him in good memory long, long after the show ended. Is he moe than? Approaching this topic from a female perspective and having a lot of female friends also enjoying anime I see a really huge passion for characters that no one in their right mindset would classify as moe. The above definition tries to avoid it, but, let's face it: Moe is a genre about cute girls, mainly for a male audience. Strangely, nobody wants to define it that precisely. Why is that?
On another note: There are legitimate resaons for liking and disliking moe. I dislike it, because it infantilizes women that should be way more grown up. I can absolutly not identfy with that and do not see women or girls who are remotly like it. That would be okay in it's niche, but seeing it taking over other genres is problematic, because the female characters in non-moe shows get robbed of the possiblity to become interesting characters more fitting of the shows themes. I think, that's a critism without blind hatred.
"Moe is a genre about cute girls, mainly for a male audience. Strangely, nobody wants to define it that precisely. Why is that?"
Because it's not. Your female friends could call the male characters they like moe. Moe is a feeling of strong attraction, so yeah, theorically anything can be moe.
You seem to be taking a really reductive look at moe. For instance, people don't want to define it as "a genre about cute girls, mainly for a male audience" because that isn't what moe is. Sure, there is often overlap between shows people feel moe towards, or characters they feel moe towards and the cute girls, but one doesn't necessitate the other. And I think that it is actually entirely possible to feel moe towards a male character, however because people try to view Otaku as strictly male this gets overlooked. Just because moe is predominantly felt by males towards female characters doesn't mean it is the ONLY way it exists, just that it is the most common.
Also, reading moe as "infantilizing" seems slightly off base, mostly because it assumes a goal of media to reflect or correlate with reality, otherwise it is "problematic". Take K-on for example, one of the greatest staples of moe, each character is a fully fleshed out individual who acts perfectly withing their character, fits the themes and ideas of the show. Ritsu in particular is a multifaceted character who exhibits tons of mature traits.
All in all, while I won't call the criticism blind hatred, I think it is a bit misguided with a fundamental misunderstanding of what moe is, and what it aims to do.
Thanks for this long and interesting answer. Could you name instances of
male characters you would call moe? It is one thing, that it is
possible for male characters ot be moe, but if it rarely ever happens,
it is not really a part of the genre. It is possible for Thriller to
have romantic elements - but that does not change, how Thriller are
defined. It wouldn't be fair to talk about K-on, without having seen
the whole thing. I cannot judge it in any way. So, what I mean by
infantilizing is, for example, the Clannad Girls. The main goal is to
have them non-threatening and non-controversial; conflict in the story
coming only from a bad outside world rather than inner conflict.
Contrast this whit Haibane Renmei, which also has only nice and friendly
characters, but they don't fall into the moe category, because the
chars are a bit rough around the edges and are not only around for the
viewer to feel good.
Pixel .Somna "Could you name instances of
male characters you would call moe?"
Yuri on Ice was voted Most Moe Show of 2016 in a poll with 4800 Japanese voters.
source : www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2017/01/30-1/research-ntt-docomo-announces-rankings-for-tv-anime-of-2016
yuri on ice is not moe, crunchyroll is always wrong.
Too much attention is paid to character designs when people label shows moe. It is primarily about innocence, sincerity and femininity.
Rafa totally agree. The so called moe aesthetic is not the problem; the content is.
Femminilità? Infantilità casomai. Ragazze asessuate che sembrano avere 10-12 anni che vivono in un mondo fuffoso senza quasi uomini °_O!
Intende che hanno un atteggiamento molto carino e femminile.
E comunque ci sono molte ragazze Moe che hanno forti caratteristiche sessuali, per esempio Mio Akiyama.
Non confondiamo Moe con Loli: le loli possono essere Moe, ma Moe non significa essere Loli.
femininity ? not really. reg from made in abyss is as moe as a boy can get.
I must be gettin old, because Moe use to just mean cute girls you wanna look after, but mostly just cute. Like a little sis, daughter, puppy, or kitty.
Where as the Bishoujo evolved to the waifu.
There's a bit of cross over, but generally people categorize them differently. Serena(Usagi) of Sailor moon originally was moe, later grew to bishoujo. She was adorable, over the series she grew to be pretty, some good 2 years of growth does.
The big eyed cute kids style was adapted by mangaka and animators from Disney cartoons back in the day. It's not particularly indicative of anything other than to indicate cute and or kids/teens. You'll note most adults have smaller eye sizes compared to the kids of that particular anime.
That's called CGDCT
zetsumeinaito Usagi really isn't moe. She was a bishoujo from the start, but even then Sailor Venus and Sailor Mercury are far more bishoujo than she is.
Moe ....cute HS girls I lust over
zetsumeinaito what do you think of this definition: when you see a character (usually cute but doesn't need to be) and you feel like you want to protect them from all the bad stuff in the world. That parent-like feeling is moe. This definition was partly inspired by Konata Izumi's own definition from Lucky Star.
Videogame logic that doesn't make sense: kirby is too cute looking for a monstrous beast
Genre so unique that it needs it own word. What, unlike all other genres, which all have their own word?
Isekai.
More in that this genre required new word, whereas most genres use existing words to communicate their meaning.
I SAW MADOKA!!!!
Oke
Anime Timestamped:
0:00 Hibike! Euphonium
0:06 Madoka
0:13 Lucky Star
0:18 Nisekoi
0:28 K-On
0:38 Anohana
1:37 WataMote
1:58 Magi
3:01 Dream Hunter Rem
3:06 Kanon
4:11 Heidi, Girl of the Alps
4:15 Doraemon
4:22 Cutie Honey
4:38 The Rose of Versailles
6:19 Maison Ikkoku
6:27 Creamy Mami
7:46 Akazukin Chacha
7:51 Ojamajo Doremi Dokkaan
7:56 Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
8:27 Hanasaku Iroha
8:31 Kamichu
Urusei Yatsura, Daicon IV, Angie Girl, Cat's Eye, Kimagure Orange Road are all great.
you're too awesome, thanks!
you are God
4:44?
>i'm about to show you how moe has a long history
>astro boy, doraemon as example of moe
gg
He forgot gundam zz
Good video.
Moe is not bad. Miyazaki always used moe in his acclaimed movies, almost always exclusively lead by female cute characters.
But what I think s different, its that his main characters weren't complete moeblobs, neither their only purpose of the work was to be cute. KiKis delivery service, yes lead by a young cute female character, but before that is a great coming-of-age story.
I think that if the demographic that consumes moe would be more strict and demand more deep characters the industry would do it, and actually not even super deep characters, just solid character that still being cute. People tend to be blame moe on the industry when is actually the fanbase of the genre the problem, the fanbase of modern moe don't just like the moeblobs and super defined cliches, they obsess over them, thats the thing, they actually ''protect'' them. I think that is the only genre of entertaiment where i have seen a fanbase literally in love with their cliches and archetypes. I think thats the reason of why ''moe'' is so ''indestructible'' in an economic sense, the studios don't even have to bother in make a good story, just throw in a couple of decent seiyuus and make sure the animation have a lot of vibrant colors, done. You know how moeblobs would work better and would be less hated? As 5 min per episode mini-show, full ecchi shows would also work wonderfully in that format, would be the perfect ''turn-off'' your brain shows with that length. Have you seen those youtube channels that just post videos of cats doing cute shit? And that they have like millions of views and subcribers? Basically the same shit.
miyazaki hates moe and does not call his protags moe atvall
Maybe he hates the Moe focuse, Sailor Moon maybe be Moe but has a profound plot
This is one of my favorite videos of your Lewis. From what I can tell you did a great job of taking context into account of the evolution of moe, and speaking more objectively about what it is and where it has come from than I tend to see. I also am glad you use this to specifically clear up misconceptions about moe as they tend to be hard to clearly correct without something slightly more longform like this video. I've felt that your videos have been getting better and better lately so I hope that trend continues.
a 12 minute video in which you managed to say next to nothing, impressive.
airsftinator That's exactly what I thought.
It's like trying to define something by listing what it's not, you could do that forever.
But back then they were actually telling good stories. Rather than sexualize little girls with their obnoxious big eyes and voice acting. Anime now a days just seems fetish driven and they don't try anime more.
Retro always wins even when it comes to moe lol.
tokyojesusfist Of course.
I just get weary of girls with physically deformed body proportions and boobs that defy gravity being shoved into the plot for adolescent eye candy.
You really really love the garbage that is modern anime.
There's a difference between characters who are sexy because it serves the plot or comments on their personality, and characters who are designed to be eye-candy without story motivation.
Thank you for mentioning Macross, one of the most influential series ever made. Also Sound, Euphonium is fantastic if you have not seen it yet.
Moe is not a style, moe is a feeling.
Also this video is ok but you are drowning neck deep in Japanophile obsession to the exclusion of all else. Every bit of this is influenced by WESTERN animation and we all know things like Astroboy and the classic huge-eye anime trademark came from Disney. Unpopular fact but still a fact. Confirmed by many of the original creators of the anime in question. In particular, Sailor Moon being accepted in the U.S. was not that shocking (insofar as the exaggerated cuteness/moe aspect) because we've already had 60+ years of it. Every girl who saw Sailor Moon grew up having seen Bambi and no, that's not a stretch. It's a direct link.
Or put even more simply, the traits that you attribute to some "moe style" are very widely used traits used long, long beforehand to as great an extent. They used to be called kewpie doll features. Wide-eyed, young-looking, innocent, babylike, even. The word here is "adorable" which is a universal language. They are universally appealing and Japan neither pioneered nor perfected this. What it DID do was make it a codified and specific cliche.
Also ironic is that whenever fans mention Lucky Star, they give it away that they didn't actually watch/understand key tenets of the show. Such as the fact that Miyuki is not some moe character, she is a deliberate parody of one, continually deconstructed by Konota. Even given "moe points".
Mikuru Asahina from Haruhi is even more extreme. She's chosen very specifically by a genera-savvy character (complete with many visual aids to explain including actual manga she flashes at us). Haruhi tracks down a "mascot with moe traits". She's not moe, she's a hard slam on the concept. She is a joke ABOUT moe.
As a nice comparison, actual "normies" in Japan do use the word since it's been around for a decade now. And they use it to describe puppies and babies and such. But then again, in reality a Japanese over a certain age refers to all animation as "anime". Legend of Korra, stop motion, Snow White....ANIME according to Japan. My elderly father in law and a lot of people over about 50 years old just call manga "anime" as well. A lot of non-fans do so as well (think professionals who read romance manga on trains and don't care to make a distinction which is in fact far more nebulous to them than it is to Americans etc. Something that shocks westerners when they see it happen in the wild ;)
/tldr essay
"Or put even more simply, the traits that you attribute to some "moe style" are very widely used traits used long, long beforehand to as great an extent. They used to be called kewpie doll features. Wide-eyed, young-looking, innocent, babylike, even. The word here is "adorable" which is a universal language. They are universally appealing and Japan neither pioneered nor perfected this. What it DID do was make it a codified and specific cliche."
Kawai allora.
this leaves me even more confused on what exactly is moe
Saya from Blood C is moe in a traditional way
Hope everyone enjoys my take on the subject! Drop a comment with your favourite era of Moe anime :)
Lots more videos coming soon
I think that my favorite era of moe anime would have to be the most recent, and that is due primarily to two aspects. One, due to moe being more pervasive nowadays you get a extremely wide variety of shows which can fall under the blanket of "moe." Two, because I just absolutely adore the sleek aesthetic of a lot of modern series with DogaKobo and Kyoto Animation being probably my two favorite studios from the character design/"moe" standpoint.
That being said, I think there is plenty of worth in each era in terms of moe, just depends on what I'm in the mood for.
Damn Stuoid moe genre .Great video
Мне нравятся 80-е, Urusei Yatsura, Project A-ko, Doctor Slamp - мне кажется именно они запустили волну моэ, а потом уже подтянулись Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku. Мне твой ролик понравился.
Разве я не понятно написал? Моя любимая эра Моэ - 80-е. =,Ъ
+Aaron kooienga actually it is a great anime .In my opinion the English dub was good
I think you should have mentioned the fact that moe created a more disgusting subtype, Loli.
reminder that Japan didnt even have a concept of the age of consent until they lost WW2
A strong female protagonist does not equal moe, I think you've kinda blended 2 or 3 ideologies in anime to all represent moe. Moe is very much about precious girls showing their innocence and pandering to that aspect within a show. Also, you focus more on bishoujo saying that they are basically the same thing when if the bishoujo girls are kicking ass and taking names or being a mega bitch it is no longer a moe show. I suppose they do have similarities but at the same time, true moe won't really revolve around fighting. Generally, I guess you can say a show has moe characters or you could just say they're the reason for the shounen characters to battle etc. doesn't really make the show a moe anime to have said characters if they aren't the focus or you're basically labeling every show as moe at that point; freezing= hot girls fighting must be moe; ghost in the shell hot woman fights cyber crime must be moe. I don't agree with your "clearing up some of the misconceptions" since if you changed the title to read the evolution of bishoujo using some moe traits it may be more fitting.
Moe anime alive! Sic!
Nice essay on the evolution of moé. Great job! I think it could have featured more of the "darker" side of where moé evolved from and it's distillation into an aesthetic geared specifically to marketing female characters to be "protected" by lonely otaku to promote merchandise sales to them. And also the part that 80's OAV erotica played in the evolution of the genre and character design aesthetic, such as the influence from the Cream Lemon series and the manga magazine Lemon People.
TJF: Okay then. And I suppose a darker side doesn't exist within your ignorance of the genre and it's history either. This is my 32nd year of following this stuff, and I can tell you that moé aesthetics early development came out of the lolicon character design movement of the early 1980's. A period of time and material that you probably have never seen or explored. There are strong connections between that movement and what would eventually be designed to create character designs and stories that would lead to the commercial creation of related character goods that would appeal to lonely otaku and neets, thus becoming a very important source of income to the industry. Even leading to the detriment of other genres of anime, and perhaps further fostering a "creepy" factor the genre has to the general public's perception in Japan. In many ways, for some people, moé has tainted the anime industry and the perception of the genres fans. I'm not denouncing the aesthetic entirely. There are anime with moé features that I like a lot. But I felt that some of the less positive aspects of the genre on fans, the industry, and public perceptions were not addressed in this video, and addressing it might make a good follow-up essay.
Moe is literally a shit ton of cute girls doing cute things.
Stop pretending it's fucking deep shit, it's just that.
Jake The Mario Fan cheers mate.
Disegnate come bambine che vivono in un mondo fuffoso! XD Il moe serve come anti-stress per un certo pubblico giappo! XD
it's not deep, but it's not "cute girls doing cute things" that's too narrow.
but what is it about those girls and the things that they do that make them cute? and does the moe reaction come out of an (arguably) misplaced romantic attraction, or a maternal/paternal instinct? probably both, depends on the person I guess
Sometimes I think these days men enjoy much more all the bishonen/moe/girly themed genre than girls, im 24 and never enjoy these genres, never felt identified with them ): they're a bit shallow in my opinion, the vast majority of female characters (with some exceptions but you know what i mean) are way to dramatic and dumb.. as a child i loved shows like HxH, get backers, rouning kenshin and FMA.. I would love to watch animes with realistic women with their own true personalities. Im looking for recommendations... what do you think about that guys? Nice video as always :)
Actually, that's probably you picking up on the demographic appeal...in Japan, Moe/girly shows are largely enjoyed by men. If you look at popularity of shows in Japan with women, a variety things like Yuri on Ice, One Piece, etc. are popular. Traditionally, Rurouni Kenshin is considered to be one of the great crossover demographic shows, being aimed at boys but attracting a large female fanbase. FMA is also written by a woman! Maybe research Shonen anime that is popular with Japanese women? You will probably get some ideas. My suggestions of interesting anime that isn't moe-blob and might be a nice step up from the shows you mentioned? Try 12 Kingdoms, Kino's Journey, Ergo Proxy, Moribito, xxxHolic, Romeo X Juliet, Angelic Layer, or Trigun (especially Trigun if you like old school shonen with unique characters like RK)!
xxxholic, trigun and Kino's Journey are in my favorites :'D the other ones i heard about them but haven't watched yet, thanks so much for the suggestions, you're very nice!
IT would be really cool if you would watch Shigatsu (22 episodes) and tell me if one of the main characters Kaori Miyazono is well developed female character. At first I didn't think so after watching towards the end I now do. It would be great to hear from a female how well developed she was, because as a guy I might be blind to these things.
i kinda feel the same too these moe anime are getting ridiculous imo. My Intrest in anime has fall short in the current age. But still watch alot of old school anime(around mid 80s too early 00s like your under arrest,cowboy beep pop, birdy the might, GTO,kenshin,hellsing,ghibli studio etc. and manga however there are still decent anime still comming out but are getting rare imo.
Just too many over exhaggratated kawii and loli character these days. Loli charcters properly pisses me off the most and a fellow guy feel ashame people into that -_- , i mean they kids FFS
Pure io. Del 2010 in poi conosco pochissimi anime!
To me moe has always been clearly intended to be sexual, but in a nuanced and innocent way. It's a design that is crafted specifically as cute as possible with the intent to draw in a male audience thanks to the innocent and childlike features of the characters, it's usually to appeal to a niche and sell merch to them. So to me not all cute styles are necessarily moe, because the styles that are are also accompanied by other subtle types of fanservice like, for instance, the moe character acting very innocent, like a child, clueless, and will usually moan a lot for... some reason. And probably panty shots, too. It's not only a style because it carries the clear but subtle message of "this is meant to appeal sexually to you", which is why I personally dislike it when this is applied to animes that normally are intended to tell completely different stories, where sexual appeal is not needed and ends up hurting the character's credibility since they are usually a main character and having them act clueless and pandering to horny guys isn't the best choice when they should instead experience the plot.
And it's weird because I thought lots of people had my same definition, but it appears that this isn't the case with some people.
Oh and this isn't to say that I hate all moe anime etc, far from it actually, I enjoy it when it exists in an anime that requires it (like Ecchi, for example. that way you know you are definitely gonna get sexual pandering, so might as well expect moe). I don't like it in shows that aren't supposed to have it, for example Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Magical Girl Raising Project, now I'm only bringing up majokko anime because that one of the genres that I like most, so I watched more anime from it. Anyway, these anime have all the characteristics I described: cute style, innocent and childlike features and attitude, cluelessness, moanings, and panty shots too, although both protagonists are supposed to be really young (nanoha goes to elementary school).
While a cute style may be normal for a show intended for children and depicting children, so that alone definitely doesn't define moe. Take for example Ojamajo Doremi, it has an extremely cutesy style but you can tell right off the bat that it's not moe. Because it's not fanservice, and definitely not intended to be sexually appealing.
I'm open to new interpretations of the word though, so feel free to argue about this with me, I do not claim to have the absolute right definition.
I've observed a lot of the same things. I stopped watching a lot of anime because I felt like too many are low-key (and sometimes high-key) selling incest and pedophilia. I just want a good story.
Yes, this. I hate so much Moe for all this stuff
@@brnne no you are L
Hmm... I personally like the Moe style, but less the modern, cheap, plastic-like Moe, and more the authentic kind, that is very cute and endearing, but at the same time, not very unrealistic and disproportionate. I just feel like the characters looking more human than doll is very appealing.
Mew is the epitome of endearing moe!
As others have mentioned, I think your definition of moe is far too broad to be meaningful. You basically argue that every historically important anime has at least elements of moe in it (specifically mentioning Astro Boy, Macross, Gundam, Sailor Moon, and NGE, among others) but I really don't think you've established the evidence there. You seem to think it's because of merchandising and emotional attachments to the characters, but you see elements of this in a lot of Western animation as well. Just because some of those classic anime have attractive female characters or large male fanbases doesn't make them moe.
Given that you don't seem to be able to properly define moe, the rest of the video then kind of falls apart. I hope maybe you can try to refine your definition a bit and take another crack at it sometime.
Wow a RUclips video about moe in anime. I wonder how the comments will end up into...
You missed the most important historical aspect of the term moe, its origin. The word itself stemmed from the word moeru, which means to be in a state of burning. It originated as a term to describe the passionate feeling one feels towards a character, to burn with passion. Of course this feeling is applicable in many ways and thus it contributes to the vagueness of the term in of itself
Man moe is just the best anime bartender.
It sounds like Moe is not something that a show *is*, but something that it _can do_. Moe being an adjective describing its tendency, specifically, to _make you feel_. And by that, I mean: the opposite of not giving a shit. When you *care* about someone. Yearning for them to be happy. When you feel the urge to align your interests with theirs. It is the recognition of a cooperative bond.
Interesting video. You have some strange but interesting ideas.
Hey, I would like to know your opinion about HXH and why you left, also Gunnm, Berserk and Summer Wars.
Greetings.
Keep it up.
Just so you know, this documentary was so well thought out and executed, with high production values, that you have earned my subscription from this video alone.
Deconstruction and Sakuga haven't adopted context far beyond their original definition. Why not use "aweful" as an example? That doesn't matter anyway as moe hasn't changed significantly in meaning so your point is wrong. The shows have evolved. You already addressed that in other videos. The concept of moe has not changed since it came about.
I'm sorry but I really feel like you're over complicating this topic to extend this video's length over 10 minutes.
i appreciate the level of detail you put into this video, i personally don't watch that much anime but if the topic were to be brung up. i feel like i would be able to casually talk about it. :)
you are thinking way to much into Moe.
SteezyMcDeezy pretentious is what we call them.
During your talk of the 1990s genre you only mentioned sailor moon, yet there was so many large anime that really expanded the scene. I can't believe no mention of Escaflowne or samurai pizza cats. Both followed sailor moon on their conquest west. Female leads really took to the stage around the Escaflowne era, another large international anime with a female lead followed suit as well. Inuyasha.
this video confused me. i don't know what moe is anymore... i mean even code geass is considered moe??
Thank you for making the video that I wanted to make! Anyway, the points that I want to drive home are these two:
1 - Moe isn't an art-style, nor is it a genre.
2 - Moe has been around for about as long as Anime has, and the intentions didn't change since the olden days, the only things that have changed were the art-styles and the technology, so if you think moe has 'killed' anime, you're just plain wrong, because if it had, it would have already done so back in the 80s, but anime is still a thing nowadays isn't it?
You can dislike moe all you want, there's nothing wrong with having different tastes, but don't act like it's 'killing anime' or anything, because it's not...
Nice video, moe-shit is still poisoning the industry tough. So don't expect people to stop being harsh on it.
Dude, have you even SEEN western animation?
Clicked just because of the Minmay thumbnail.
You didn't actually explain anything.
Hahahahhaha i came here looking for an explanation and then forgot what the vídeo was even about xD
Saw your comment and laugh a lot xD
Excellent video, for being only 12-13 minutes long you covered quite a bit. There could have been some more detail given to certain examples, but for the length of time of this video what you did was pretty good. I'd use this video as a basic primer before going more in-depth about the subject, myself.
I enjoyed the more lesson-style, informative content here and the organization of the information you presented was easy to follow and well written and researched. Thank you! :)
As a Sailor Moonf fan, I liked it not because of moe, but because here was an action series that had *heroines.*
I like the exposure to different time periods. Helps me increase my appreciation.
wtf that animation in the 1982 maccross is amazing
you are a hero
You make some of the best analysis about anime on RUclips
FACT: Jojo's Bizzarre Adventure is The best Moe.
Okuyasu totally fits the definition of moe.
Not really a huge fan of anime, but this was really interesting from an anthropological standpoint, too.
Explained a whole hell of a lot you didn't even say here.
Here's a like for you.
I hate every character shown in this video. Is that what MOE is because I haven't really liked the character design since 2000 or something.
I just kept eagerly smiling every time Ojamajo Doremi was shown. That's my favourite anime of all time and it's waaaay underrated.
i patiently waited 2 mins for thisguy to back up moe but all he did was talk about how g8 it is but basically i came here hating moe and now i hate it even more, thank, cant continue
Great video, great examples, liking the irish accent, liking the history timeline of anime, a lot of them I've grown up with and are quite nostalgic.
BTW Bishojou is pronounced BEEshojou not BAIshojou lol.
おい、ハイジは萌えって言わねぇだろ
HAIJI is not MOE.
Macros and Gundam, my era of anime 😊.
Okkaaayy but wtf is moe
lol he never actually says
I loved minmay so much she was more beautiful than the anime girls now
I agree!
All the Japanese wannabes in this comment section lol..
This was a very good video. Love how you structured it to define _moe_ give example of character then give the examples of the anime. Defining something and then applying that definition throughout the lesson, in my opinion, is the best way to explain something versus opening a subject and defining key concept "along the way."
For the sake of constructive criticism I think moe could have been defined a bit better, or more specifically, I feel like you can get to the 8 minute mark and still not understand the phrase __moe character_ but still very informative.
Sound! Euphonium was a GREAT show.
You should check out Magical Girl Raising Project if you haven't heard of it.
AgentFour I don't really agree with that. I didn't like it and I was really interested at first because as someone in band/marching band I really wanted a good band anime. But sound euphonium didn't appealed to me. I am happy you enjoyed it however.
It's 2 am and i'm not even paying attention to what's on auto play anymore. I'm just second guessing all the decisions I've made in the past 7 days
"If you have to ask what Moe is, you don't know Moe". Neil Armstrong.
The evolution of cancer.
Seriously though great to see another video from you after all this time. Glad to know you're not dead, keep up the good work.
Not even a single mention of the GOAT moe show Kaiji... shamefur dispray. Kaiji us the epitome of moe anime and totally redefined the genre.
I hate moe characters so much
we get it Matt.
there, you've been acknowledged. go home now
+TheKiroshi I didn't mean to piss you off
Great video, man. I'm happy someone is being level headed with this topic. As an aside, I don't know if it's just me, but I've always found persisent music to be massively distracting in video essays. I really wish it wasn't a thing.
The evolution of cancer
You used some really interesting clips of anime in this video, sometimes really making me wonder if there was any point to it, or if it was just randomly chosen, but regardless, great content and really well researched. Something I don't get to say as often as I'd like. :)
Bro your videos are sick, where do you get all of your background music they're easily some of the dopest chill hip hop beats Ive ever heard please share
Moe was when these weird big eyed characters became designed and manipulated just for people to have unhealthy paternal/fraternal feelings while watching them; instead of it just being a by-product it became the front and center goal of the design philosophy.
I see moe as an art form created in the male gaze but with the main subjects as female protagonists who to females never come across as realistic because she was never ment to be relatable to females. Whereas with Shojo manga, an art form for girls by girls who are relatable...but true Shojo mangas are far and few in between. Even if the writer is female, the medium is can still carry a male gaze, making the female character just an object and not human. I'm sure I didn't make any sense.
I... I wasn't ready for this much moe...
I also want to comment on how much I love the simplicity of the thumbnail. 10/10.
I saw Lynn Minmay in the thumbnail I haven't clicked that fast on a video in so long
"Tuh haff an idle storyluin mayrj with uh sci-fi shuh was just something unhaird uff" -AnimeEveryday
Thanks for saying that moe was somehow part of the anime community .I really hope I really find some decent here
This was a fascinating episode.
I'm glad you referenced Dream Hunter Rem
I clicked for Minmay.
Moe - likeable cuteness through odd idiosyncrasy.
What is the anime shown at 6:16? Heck, can you give a list of every anime you show in the video?
I'm a full grown man and Moe Anime is probably my favorite Genre
/mutes voice and stares at moe montage
Learned a lot about moy anime...
I feel like I must be learning something because it has Samurai Champloo music
Nice video. This cleared up a couple questions I had on this subject.
I can see your interest in anime but I didn't get much info out of this perhaps because I lost the thread of ideas somewhere along the way where you were kind of repeating the same ideas instead of elaborating. By the end of the video I felt like your characteristics for moe were "girl becomes prominent character" and "open to merchandizing".
I'm confused. I used to watch a lot of anim as a kid, but since I haven't really paid that much attention to it, but to my understanding, moe was just a word to describe cutesy, feminine young girls.