It’s quite likely that, if you’re into anime, manga or any other aspect of otaku culture, you’ve probably heard of the term “Moe”. My own personal thoughts on moe are quite mixed and so I thought it would be pretty interesting to take a look at moe as an intrinsic and important part of otaku subculture while also expressing my own opinions on moe.
Moe is a Japanese slang term, spelt 萌え, that is pronounced in two syllables, mo and e, in contrast to the given name which is only one syllable. Moe is defined by Lexico as “the quality in a fictional female character of being youthfully innocent and vulnerable . . . eliciting feelings of affection or protectiveness“. Within anime and manga, this usually takes the form of young females, typically teenagers but sometimes young adults, with large eyes and colourful hair. Unfortunately, the origin of the term with context to otaku culture is unknown with a wide variety of theories regarding how it began although it’s fair to say that the term came into use sometime around the late 80s and early 90s.
Three characters associated with the origin of moe.
Regardless of how the term moe came to be, the 1990s was the era when moe character designs were popularised with many pointing to Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion as the catalyst. Since then, moe character designs have come to permeate the anime and manga industry and it’s clear why. For one, merchandising is a huge component of the otaku market with literal billions being spent on figurines, plushies, body pillows etc. Quite often, you’ll notice that a lot of this merchandise revolve around moe characters who otaku are drawn to collect.
So now that we’ve established how prevalent moe has become, I believe it’s time to share my own thoughts. On one hand, I do admire the moe art style. I think it’s very appealing and I genuinely believe that these character designs were one of the reasons why anime began to accelerate in popularity in the West in the 1990s.
However, I also have a grave concern when it comes to moe. As appealing as the moe character design is, I consider it to be ultimately supplemental. It can enhance an anime or manga but it cannot make it. However, I’ve noticed too many anime and manga, mainly slice of life series, relying too much on moe i.e. cute girls doing cute things with little to no substance at all. The example I always give people is the difference between the first and second season of K-On! The first season I found genuinely funny with a lot of great humour. While very much the epitome of cute girls doing cute things i.e. moe, I thought the comedy was really what carried the series and, while I didn’t consider it to be brilliant by any stretch of the imagination, I did ultimately enjoy it.
As you might imagine, I was looking forward to the second season and I was quite disappointed once I finally got the chance to watch it. The pacing felt slowed, the comedic situations toned down and the moe aspects of the series emphasised to the extreme. While I didn’t hate the show since there were a few enjoyable episodes, mainly the ones that revolved around the quirky character of Tsumugi which tended to be more comedic, what I did hate was that moe was what now defined the show and it actively took away from my experience.
While I do inherently like the moe art style and I believe it’s an important part of otaku culture, I’m also concerned that the anime and manga industries are relying too much on moe to the detriment of storytelling. Let me know your thoughts on moe as an intrinsic and important part of otaku subculture, your own thoughts on moe, if you agree or disagree with me that anime and manga these days are becoming too reliant on moe and any additional information you have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!