Moe!

[Rogo]

Thoughts on the moe plagu- ah I mean genre that's kind of popular at the moment where four or five 'high school' girls do cute things for the audience to find cute?

I, personally, am not a fan of this genre of anime because it's boring to watch, but what do others think?

[Feathers]

Japanese slang usually has an English equivalent, and this is no exception. I don't really know why the dubs choose to leave this in since you could translate it to English like "cliche hero" or something like that. XD

[Rogo]

Um... wanna expand on what your talking about Feathers?

This is a thread to discuss moe XD

[Feathers]

LOL Moe = Japanese slang for a character who is extremely protective over a love interest. I was just saying how this could be summed up by just saying "cliche hero" or something similar. Make sense now?

[amyofdarkness]

I thought Moe described the typical cute, weak "woobie" character in anime? The kind that's created out of pure cuteness to elicit an emotional response (mostly the need to comfort and defend the poor helpless creature)...

At least that's how I have come to know it through TV Tropes and other stuff... cliche hero sounds a little more like the audience for Moe ;D

I don't like it very much, but I can't say I absolutely loathe it either. I'm not too much a fan of stuff that tries too hard to be emotionally manipulative, and moe anime seems to have emotional manipulation in spades! The moe in a cast is usually the one I find insufferable in other anime too... I can only take so much wet gooey eyeballs and sigh-talking! I like cute things, but I like them to have a personality better.

I take it you're referring mostly to the moe characters in slice-of-life series like Lucky Star and such though? Yeah, when that was super popular I decided to check it out and I did find it boring, they spent like 5 minutes eating a creme puff and I was like "okay, where's all the frantic stuff the opening promised? This is it? Okay..." Everyone looked bored and then so was I! :C

[Rogo]

amyofdarkness is right here Feather, moe is a trait where a character is designed to evoke the need to protect in the male audience.

Basically it's something that exploits the male need to protect by making the characters look extra child-like, act often certifiably useless or clumsy and basically act as the little sister they never had.

And it's a fetish!

No, seriously most moe titles are based on hentai games or games where the goal is to screw whatever girl you choose.

Just... take that in for a moment and weep.

[Feathers]

Oh~ Oops, my bad. And...OMG. *sobs* X-X

[Rogo]

Yeah puts the popularity of some shows in the perspective doesn't it?

Currently watching K-on and the lead in that is just... she's almost certainly got something wrong with her head but she's amazingly talented without even trying!

gag me with a spoon.

[Feathers]

*holds up spoon* You sure about this? o.o

[amyofdarkness]

But if I weep, someone might mistake me for a moe-blob, nooooo!

Oh gosh... I completely forgot about the fetishy part. *screams in horror*

I think that was in the back of my mind somewhere but I had to repress it!

Okay I recant my previous statement, I DO loathe it! (at least the fetishy stuff, 'cuz I know some characters that aren't intended to be Moe fall into this category from time to time... unfortunately)

[Rogo]

Well tbf EVERYTHING is a fetish to someone but let's not go down that road.

I have seen moe stuff that IS good.

Me and Anastasia watched ef ~ a tale of memories which is pretty moe and is based on a sexual visual novel, but was VERY well done and compelling. Actually excited that's getting a dub and a western release.

Higurashi is a great twist on moe conventions and Bamboo Blade - which I GUESS falls into moe but not sure - was also very well done.

It's when the moe aspects are all the show is that I get annoyed, ESPECIALLY when the characters are pants-on-head certifiable and useless.

[Feathers]

Too late. I'm practically a RL moe. XDD Ah, you ever see those characters that pretend to be moe in order to get other characters to do what they want? *cough*Miharu*cough* :O

[amyofdarkness]

Now whenever I see a gooey-eyed moe, I'm going to picture her with a pants-hat!

Haha, really Feathers? Look out for those overprotective guys then!

[Feathers]

Really now? Me reaction was that now I'm gonna start mentally throwing pants at the moe. XD

And yeah, you just described all my Xs, amy. LOL

Going off on what Rogo said for good moe characters, I think as long as their moe antics stay in the background and are more for comic relief, they're fine. XD I was watching Needless and the use of moe is almost used to make fun of the other moe cliches you see in anime. It's actually pretty funny. LOL

[Rogo]

Well thing is moe isn't really a character type, it's a genre so... yeah most moe characters turn up in moe shows like K-on or anything Key produces.

Moe outside of that is... debateable usually.