Forum - View topicINTEREST: Children's Picture Book Publisher is Sick of Controversy Around 'Moe' Art Style
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VORTIA
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"New Childrens' Books Not Ugly Enough Say Critics"
People seriously need to find hobbies that don't involve complaining. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2273 |
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I mean, they hired people who were known for Precure work. What kind of style did they think they'd get?
Regardless, while the covers do share a distinctive style, I'd say the only ones that really have any tinge of moe to them are the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast ones, the latter because the heroine is literally being protected (and that Beast design is giving me Wolf Children/Gankutsuou vibes) and the former because the titular mermaid has something of a clueless air about her. But the rest really strike me as being more in line with Princess Knight than what I think most otaku would associate with modern-day moe. |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13626 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Our garage used to have a moe-style picture books version of Snow White by someone named Shogo Hirata. Here's a link to that kids' book on Amazon: amazon.com/White-Seven-Dwarfs-Read-Fairy/dp/1561440922/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542424434&sr=1-5&refinements=p_27%3AShogo+Hirata.
Last edited by Kadmos1 on Fri Nov 16, 2018 10:22 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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encrypted12345
Posts: 728 |
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The current "moe" art style, if you trace it back way far, is inspired by Disney anyways (because Osamu Tezuka), so it's a nonissue unless it is sexualized, which it isn't in this case.
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Ashen Phoenix
 Posts: 2952 |
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I would agree. The style itself does not make something sexualized. Yes, a sizable amount of moe-styles are employed for anime/manga/light novels targeted at adults, but I would argue it's the way the characters are framed, what--if any--physical parts are visually, deliberately emphasized. Because manga/anime rely prominently on visual forms of storytelling (with writing/dialogue/sound being secondary factors), a character can be presented in nonsexual or obviously sexual ways, regardless of the art style itself. |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber Posts: 3019 |
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I don't see the issue, unless it ends up resulting in another one of those "people on twitter are drawing lewd art of a character who was created for a series of textbooks" situations which - while humorous - provide cheap fodder for those who wish to cast anime fandom in a bad light.
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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Precure? Yes, that WOULD rather explain the style. 
(I clicked on the article expecting "Mainstream Japanese complain about cute girls again", and then...er, ahem, that Snow White.) Otherwise, this is pretty much "the Drill" we see whenever some aspect of cute anime design DARES to escape its territory and invade the respectable sanctity of mainstream working adult Japanese society--Like children's books, advertising, or cute mascots for government programs. Like the 50's adults who were ready to blame comic books for any act of juvenile delinquency, or blame "Mortal Kombat" for Columbine, mainstream Japanese society is constantly and strategically poised, on a moment's notice, to grab the first public act of Anime Getting Too Big For Its Britches, and overreacting, "It's sexist! It's pedophilic! It disrespects females!", in the hope of establishing as much orchestrated Guilt-By-Association as possible. And then throwing the Birthrate, the NEET Plague and the latest convicted child-molester into the argument, in case anyone thinks it-can't-happen-here. They want to make sure everybody knows what Good, Responsible People are angry about, and how much better things will be once everyone gets rid of it for the public good. |
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ninjamitsuki
 Posts: 639 Location: Anywhere (Thanks, technology) |
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I know "moe" is subjective, but those illustrations look more like normal shojo manga than anything.
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dark_bozu
 Posts: 208 |
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Dunno, looks like modern shoujo style to me. And IMHO moe is not just about art - it's about expression.
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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That art is laden with serious Precure vibes. At last it's a good early reminder to make sure I watch this week's episode of Hugtto.
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Chester McCool
 Posts: 322 |
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Well, yes, most of the complainers are no doubt adults with insecurity issues. Anyone with a daughter could tell you cuteness is important in products and appealing to little girls, despite what grown adults think. It's extremely obvious when a product line is designed for actual little girls or adult complainers. |
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manapear
Posts: 1530 |
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The moe art style was really born out of shojo content, it's just a matter of how that content started getting taken over by adult, male otaku (again). But then again, it's also about how it's handled that changes who it's aimed at. Pretty obvious when it's aimed at children vs adults, but heck, even some of the seinen nowadays makes me pause and wonder who it's for.
But this seems to be a general issue with publishing in Japan. At least with manga. Something is aimed at a demographic just because of the publisher (and editor, when it comes to who the manga-ka is publishing for). So these demographics don't even mean much at times. It's interesting that they're saying stuff like that in Japan though. I wonder who's asking that more, and what children think of that matter. |
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 815 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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Same here. And by the way, I thought millions of japanese children watched Precure anime. Seriously, whatever people. These are probably the same people who pin the blame of Japan's sexist culture on Moe and Otaku in general. I'll remember that next time when I hear about girls watching K-On! or anything Precure. Edit: Or they are people moralists, going on, screaming '' think about the children''. How could I forget those? Last edited by Hellsoldier on Sat Nov 17, 2018 7:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 4030 |
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Moral guardians need to stop getting their pants in a knot 24/7. It’s getting old.
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Afezeria
 Posts: 817 Location: Malaysia, Kuantan. |
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This is so funny. Please use an ukiyo-e artstyle then. I'm sure they'd be more satisfied being reminded of the good old days.
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