Ah, the Moe Slice of Life - never has there been a more polarizing topic that is guaranteed to spark much heated debates among anime fans. Many friendships have been destroyed over this controversial matter, brotherhoods have been torn apart - citing irreconcilable differences in opinions. Is Moe killing anime? Is Moe the best thing ever? As someone who has been on both side of the argument, this write-up is my attempt to analyse (1) what is moe, (2) why people hate moe, (3) what are the appeals of moe as well as (4) debunk some common misconceptions about the genre. In case the title did not make it clear, I’m squarely in the Pro-Moe camp, though this is a fairly recent development. A lot of people - like me, went from hating the genre to loving it, though I personally have never seen the reverse happen, kinda weird right? Well there is a reason for that (I think), which I will try to explain further below. Moving on - this is gonna be long one, sorry for the wall of text. First thing first, some ground rules for this discussion:English is not my first language, so sorry ahead for any confusion.I will try to be as objective as possible in my analysis, given my stand on the matter.Feel free to criticize me if you disagree. Better yet, let me know why!Be respectful of other’s opinion, this is the internet after all and internet points from strangers are important. What is Moe?Before we can discuss the prevalence of moe in anime, it is important that we understand the background of kawaisa (可愛さ) - or the Japanese culture of cute. As a cultural phenomenon - cuteness is increasingly accepted as part of the national identity, prominent in every aspect of Japanese popular culture from entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance to behavior and mannerisms. Kawaisa is deeply embedded in contemporary Japanese culture and is used in a vast array of situations and demographics where, in other cultures, it would be considered juvenile or just plain weird (public service warnings, office environments, commercial airlines, government publications — even military advertisements). Japan is probably the only country in the world where you have government appointed Cute Ambassadors (who are literally highschool girls by the way) to go around the world promoting Japanese pop culture. Many companies use cute mascots to present their products and services to the public from big business to corner markets and national government, ward and town offices. Look no further than the success of Hatsune Miku - originally a persona for the Vocaloid singing synthesizer application, who ended up becoming a massive franchise on her own, ironically much more popular than the software she is supposed to represent. Also did you know Windows 7, 8, 10 and Internet Explorer all have official anime character mascot? Microsoft sure knows the Japanese market well. Just like being sexy and attractive is considered desirable for Western women, this cuteness is considered a desirable trait for a Japanese woman. Women in their twenties or even thirties might use a high-pitched voice simply because it sounds cute, despite the rest of the world finding it very creepy that childishness is considered a sexy thing. If you find any of that very weird, you are not alone - even the Japanese cannot agree amongst themselves. Nobuyoshi Kurita, a sociology professor at Musashi University in Tokyo, has stated that "cute" is a "magic term" that encompasses everything that is acceptable and desirable in Japan. While Hiroto Murasawa, at professor at Osaka Shoin Women's University, calls cuteness "a mentality that breeds non-assertion ... Individuals who choose to stand out get beaten down." Most famously, Hayao Miyazaki - the man behind studio Ghibli himself finds cutesy voice acting in Anime "unbearable". "Especially the young women's voices," he said "It seems like they're all speaking with an 'Aren't-I-so-cute?' voice. That's unbearable. I always want to do something about that." (He also stated that modern anime suffers because industry staff is made up of "otaku," or people who obsessively love anime; and that using the iPad looks like masturbation - but I digress). As a side note, it is worth knowing that cute culture is not limited to the borders of Japan but is also popular into other Asian markets. Cute merchandise and products are especially common in other parts of East Asia, such as China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Like it or not, cuteness is a huge part of Japanese / East Asian culture, and it is here to stay. Moe (萌え) is a slang word that refers to feelings of strong affection mainly towards characters, mostly in (but not limited to) anime, manga, and videogames. The concept itself is deeply rooted in the Japanese culture of cute, and while this may sounds like a joke, moe has literally become an economic force have contributed positively to the Japanese economy. (In 2004, the market for moe media such as printed media, video, and games was worth 88 billion yen; roughly one-third of the estimated 290 billion yen otaku market in Japan) And with that, we are ready to discuss moe in the context of anime. What makes a show Moe? And why it is not killing anime.The word "kawaii" in Japanese has a broader definition than the English word "cute". When applied to pop culture, "cute" will suffice; however "kawaii" refers primarily to the affection of a parent toward a child coupled with the protectiveness for the innocent and weak. Thus a pop cartoon character is considered "kawaii" because it exemplifies the innocence of a child and evokes general protective, caring instincts in the viewer. Other translations of "kawaii" can include "precious", "lovable", "adorable" or "innocent". Let’s make something very clear from the start: Moe and the idea of cuteness/childishness being a desirable trait, is not something that comes from otaku fandom but is very much a significant part of Japanese pop culture. In fact, I would argue that cute culture is so deeply embedded in Anime that is it very rare to find any shows without any at least some elements of moe in it. Think of any shows that is intended for a mature audience and it will most likely has some moe in it, whether in terms of character design or how certain characters act, probably a combination of both. Cowboy Bebop has it, Death Note has it, Black Lagoon has it, NGE has it and even Berserk has it, et cetera, et cetera. This is not to say that shows / manga without any moe does not exists, you are just gonna have a very hard time finding them, I for sure have not seen any. So when angry anime fans stated that they hate moe with a burning passion, and that moeshit is the cancer that is killing anime, most of the time they meant a very specific genre of Anime: the Moe Slice of Life (Moe SOL) - also known as Cute Girls Doing Cute Things (CGDCT) - more on this later. Why do people hate moe so much? This has to do with the difference between Western vs Eastern points of view. Western audience has always preferred dark, edgy psychological shows or show featuring a lot of actions. It probably did not help that when anime was first introduced into the US - these kind of shows were the most heavily represented. (Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, NGE, etc) - these companies understand the Western audience’s taste - which is why these shows were imported in the first place.Later after on when moe shows started to become more popular in the West, this lead to two false assumptions: First is that these 80s/90s dark action shows represent the average anime. The reality is these mature kind of shows have always been less popular in Japan, they are meant for the hardcore fans only and are in no way representative of anime viewing preference in Japan, and by extension East Asia.The second false assumption: that all these modern otaku pandering moeshit is destroying anime. Moe has always been a part of anime and it is not going anywhere. And this might come as shock to many, but otakus are not the only main audience for anime shows in Japan.The most popular shows in Japan have always been family oriented shows aimed toward children with a heavy dose of cute (The top 4 recently being ancient shows like Sazae-san, Doraemon, Crayon Shin-Chan, Chibi Maruko-Chan), some family friendly super robots shows (Gundam, Macross) and a bit of magical girl (Precure, Sailormoon). This is a bit outside the scope of our discussion but I would like to once again emphasize the top 4 most popular TV anime shows in Japan as stated above. Can you spot the common theme between them? This will be important for our discussion.While a bit biased, this old timer makes a lot of good points. While moe has always been a part of anime, I agree that moe in anime, and especially CGDCT Slice of Life have been gaining more and more popularity lately. Anime studios are after all, businesses, and they have to respond to market demand. Japanese companies are well aware of anime’s international success, but in most cases the domestic Japanese audience come first and foremost. If moe brings in profit then moe it is. No, this is not killing anime and I’m glad for it. On the contrary I think the industry is in a very good place and we have more choices than ever before. Moe is here to stay, but the same can be said for dark action heavy shows that Western fans love so much. Be we can explain what are the appeals for Moe SOLs and why this is actually a good thing for us anime fans, let’s briefly look at the queen of all Moe: K-On! Let’s talk about K-On!One cannot have a proper discussion about Moe SOLs without talking about K-On! - after all, saying that you love or hate this show on reddit is basically asking for downvotes - nobody wins. Coming out in 2009 by Kyoani, K-On! is not the first moe SOL in the market (two popular SOL examples: Lucky Star also by Kyoani and Hidamari Sketch by Shaft came out in 2007 before K-On), however there is no doubt that it is this show is what really propel the popularity of CGDCT in mainstream media. It is because of K-On!’s success that we are getting so many of these seemingly endless moe SOLs with the same formula in the recent years, much to the ire of many anime fans. Now I’m sure y’all know K-On! is very popular, but I don’t think r/anime is aware of how much of a big deal this show is in Japan when it came out:In August 2009, the first volume of K-On! was the top-selling anime television Blu-ray Disc in Japan, having surpassed the previous record holder Macross Frontier, which sold approximately 22,000 copies of its first volume. It was the second best-selling Blu-ray Disc in Japan, trailing only Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, with around 49,000 copies. However, in October 2009, the first volume of Bakemonogatari surpassed K-On!'s previous record, having sold 37,000 copies at that time. Later, with the release of K-On!! volume 3, total BD sales for the series have outsold Bakemonogatari.A quick look at sales data from Japan here and here firmly establish the K-On! as one of the best selling anime series of all time.In fact, by February 20, 2011 K-on! has become the first TV Anime Franchise to Sell 500,000+ BDs, surpassing the Monogatari series (at that time) to become one of the best selling anime in terms of BD sales.K-On! Houkago Tea Time I album is the first Anime Character CDs to top Oricon Weekly Chart which sold 67,000 copies to debut at #1 in July 2009.1 year later they broke the record again with the release of Houkago Tea Time II which sold 127,000 copies to debut at the top of Oricon's album chart for the October 25-31 week of 2010.K-On! Live Concert: Let's Go! which sold 22,000 copies, topping the Oricon BD Music Sales Chart in the week of June 28 to July 4, 2010.The singles "Cagayake! Girls" and "Don't Say 'Lazy'" were certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for 250,000 full-track ringtone digital music downloads. Additionally, "Utauyo! Miracle" were certified Gold by the RIAJ in August 2010 for 100,000 copies shipped.The second anime's opening theme "Go! Go! Maniac" and ending theme "Listen!!" debuted at No. 1 and No. 2 in their first week of release on the Oricon singles chart, selling over 83,000 and 76,000 copies, respectively. "Go! Go! Maniac" became the first anime image song to ever top the singles chart and the band also became the first female vocalists to occupy the top two spots on the singles chart in 26 years since Seiko Matsuda in 1983. The season's second ending and opening themes, "No, Thank You!" and "Utauyo! Miracle" respectively, sold 87,000 and 85,000 in their first week and ranked at No. 2 and No. 3 in the Oricon charts respectively.In 2009, the school where K-On! is based on is even designated as a tangible cultural asset and is now a popular destination for fans of the show.The show is even partly credited for record electric guitar sales in Japan in 2011. Why all this popularity? Surely it must due to obsessive otakus spending excessive amount of money on fictional anime girls they grow attached to no? Actually K-On is quite universally loved by both fans and critics alike. As evidence by the many awards the show has won:Tokyo Anime Award: Best anime in the TV Category for K-On! (Season 1) in 2010 and K-On!! (Season 2) in 2011. Best Voice Actor to Aki Tokisaki for her role as Yui Hirasawa in 2011.Animation Kobe: Theme Song Award for “Don’t Say Lazy” in 2009, TV Award for K-On!! (Season 2) in 2011 and Theatrical Film Award for K-On! The Movie in 2012Anime Grand Prix: Best Anime for K-On! in 2009. Best Anime Episode for ep 12, Season 1 in 2009 and ep 24, season 2 in 2010. Best Female Character for Yui Hirasawa in 2009 and 2010. Best Voice Actor to Aki Tokisaki for her role as Yui Hirasawa in 2009. Best Song Award for “Don’t Say Lazy” in 2009.Seiyu Awards: Best Musical Performance for the album Houkago Tea Time in 2010. Best Rookie Actress to Aki Tokisaki for her role as Yui Hirasawa in 2009. Best Actress in Leading role to Aki Tokisaki for her role as Yui Hirasawa in 2010. Best Rookie Actress to Satomi Satou for her role as Ritsu Tainaka in 2010.Like it or not, there is no doubt that K-On is both a commercial success and is critically acclaimed in Japan. These accolades put the show right up there with the best of anime comparable to the likes of NGE, Code Geass, FMA, Gundam to name a few, all of which have won similar awards. In next part, let’s take a look into K-On and analyse why do people like the show? How does a show about cute girls doing mostly nothing like K-On (and by extension, other Moe SOLs) appeal to the audience? While I’m a big fan of the show I’ll be the first to admit that it is not perfect, nor is it the best Moe SOLs to me (NNB is, sorry K-On!) but when you have a show with this much cultural impact, it is definitely worth a deeper look. Plus a personal tale of how I learn to grow up and embrace the guilty pleasure that is CGDCT anime. While my writing might make this sounds like a grand debate into the nature of moe, don’t be mistaken. The answer is actually quite simple. In fact, Yui says it best. See you in the next post! http://ift.tt/1Zyp1OL
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