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Chicks on Anime [2008-09-09]

I feel I should defend Magikano, since you cite it as an example of sibling over-attachment, as the show is a parody.

Strawberry Marshmallow is an odd case, since the art style just screams moe (Barasui can't seem to draw anything other than a baby face) but its content is really too brassy to fit in the moe mold. In a small way, it feels like a parody because of this.

She's just this a**hole kid who is kind of amazing.

Misuzu from the TV version of Air is sympathetic because she acts like a really unhappy little girl...but I can't shake the impression that she comes off as a bit retarded. This is why I prefer the Air movie, where she's actually pretty awesome.

Generally speaking, although there is some overlap between moe and lolicon, the hardcore people who are real moe fans will tell you that moe is not sexualized and that it is pure love. It's not about sexual or physical love. Whether you believe that or not is under question, but that's the definition.

Oh, I definitely think she is a very good example of a moe character. As I mentioned earlier, an adoring, protective impulse toward the small and vulnerable can be felt by women as easy as men, and moe has been appropriated by female creators.

Yet it seems that for some, even the sexual power of the lolicon character was too powerful, so we get moe, which neutralizes the threat of female sexuality entirely.

I've noticed at least in manga that moe manga has not exactly taken off the same way here in the United States as it has in Japan. For whatever that's worth. I'm not sure what the situation is with anime as a category separate from manga, but it may be possible that the market for moe manga in the U.S.—and the most important purchasing demographic for all categories of printed fiction in general is women anyway—just isn't big enough to sustain it as a niche genre. It just hasn't become the phenomenon, at least not yet, so all of the stuff we've been talking about is really only about the situation in Japan. Or maybe moe is a product of cultural or economic facts on the ground in Japan that do not apply here; they say that the phenomena of the shut-in is that way.

I've heard a lot of people talk about the origins of lolicon as being a kind of reaction against things like Fist of the North Star, for example, or Crying Freeman, where you have these über masculine guys, which is hard to live up to if you're a real guy.

So instead of depictions of a hyper-masculinized culture everywhere, you start seeing depictions of a more feminine culture. It's also around the time you start to see more shojo manga-styled drawings in shonen manga. The creator of Oh My Goddess! was one of the pioneers of this. I do definitely think there may be amongst some Japanese men a desire to not be male because of the pressures of being male in a very patriarchal society.

I've heard a lot of people talk about the origins of lolicon as being a kind of reaction against things like Fist of the North Star, for example, or Crying Freeman, where you have these über masculine guys, which is hard to live up to if you're a real guy. So instead of depictions of a hyper-masculinized culture everywhere, you start seeing depictions of a more feminine culture.

Wait - Azumanga is moe? Now I really am confused. None of the girls really give me a warm sense of "I must protect and admire this innocent, cute, sweet girl" sense. The littlest one is a genius, the oldest looking ones look like they could beat me up, one of them is incredibly annoying, and the teachers could drink me under the table.

Wait - Azumanga is moe?

There does seem to always be a contrast between the cute moe girl and the scary woman he wants to avoid. I guess it's your typical foil between the douchey jock and the kind-hearted chess nerd who won't dump you after prom.

I think you are right to point that out. Because in the example I just gave with the dog lover loving the puppy, it's actually different from an anime fan loving a moe character, in the sense that the moe character is a representation, and the puppy is presumably real. And so while a real-life puppy would be dependent upon its owner for food, water, shelter, etc., a moe character is really and truly an object for the consumer's adoration, exploitation, and objectification. Because the character has no feelings, fans feel no responsibility toward her, and they may manifest behaviour which, taken out of context or perhaps sinisterly transferred to a real young person by someone mentally unstable, can be distasteful or outright frightening.