The Moé Manifesto

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The Moé Manifesto Page 12

by Patrick W. Galbraith

United States?

  MT: Moé is more visible

  in Japan, because of

  the excess of unmar-

  ried men who turn to

  manga, anime, and

  game characters. And

  NWO

  Japan is probably

  LGC

  M

  the only place in the

  NOM

  RAY B

  PHS

  RAGOTO

  PH

  world that is producing characters that

  can be a target for love. Also, because

  manga and anime are part of Japan’s

  popular culture, people are widely exposed

  to two-dimensional characters and develop

  feelings of affection for them. That is why it

  is possible to formulate an alternative such

  as moé in Japan. But, again, I think that the pressures contributing to the phenomenon

  are shared globally, and that moé will be-

  come a big market in other countries too

  as more and more men end up on the

  losing side of the economy.

  PG: Is moé a form of resistance to society?

  MT: I wonder if we can call it resistance. It’s a preference. Those who are into moé say that two-dimensional women are far superior to three-dimensional

  This page: otaku goods — who buys all this stuff?

  MORINAGA TAKURO

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  women. I originally thought that moé otaku retain feelings for three-dimensional women, but it seems that fundamentalists lose interest entirely. So, it isn’t that they despise the real world—it’s more that they don’t care about it. There are fundamentalists who have completely gone over to the two-dimensional world, for whom the chance of returning to the three-dimensional world is close to zero. They still aren’t that large of a population, but their numbers are increasing, and it’s creating a tough situation. In truth, I am a little worried about the future of Japan, because romantic relationships with fi ctional characters do not result in the birth of actual children. Where will the next generation of workers come from? The pension system will collapse. I want those in the two-dimensional world to return to our world, or keep one foot here, but I am often seriously criticized by them for my efforts. It’s not that I don’t understand their feelings. I myself am a huge fan of Ayanami Rei from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. Once you give yourself over to the two-dimensional, you’ve

  found your utopia. I know only too well how

  TD

  hard it is to give that up.

  O., L

  X C

  NAAI

  PG: Can anything be done to ad-

  © G

  dress this issue?

  MT: I was communicating by mail

  with an otaku who has gone over to

  the two-dimensional, and I asked him

  to come back. He told me he would, if I

  could prepare a human woman who was

  more attractive than the character he was

  dating and place her in front of him. That’s

  an impossible request! How can I prepare

  a woman or place her anywhere? In anime,

  women fall from the sky into people’s lives.

  Neon Genesis Evangelion:

  Ayanami Rei

  FOR LOVE OR MONEY

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  134

  In Japan, we have to go and approach them.

  It’s not that these men lack the ability to ap-

  proach women—they simply don’t want to.

  If it was a lack of ability, then men could just

  train to interact with the three-dimen-

  sional world. But fundamentalists

  have no desire to interact with the

  three-dimensional world in the fi rst

  place.

  PG: You paint a bleak picture,

  but you also defend otaku in

  the media.

  MT: The image of moé otaku in Japan is still pretty negative.

  e I ba-

  . I ba-

  sically consider m

  r

  y-

  m

  self an otaku, and a

  nd a

  friend to moé otaku.

  taku

  That said, it is a

  a

  problem of degr

  g ee

  re .

  e

  .

  Recently, I have come to

  me to

  think that it can be dan-

  dan-

  gerous to take the lov

  o e

  ve

  of manga, anime, and games too far.

  r

  .

  Most of the negativity toward otaku

  springs from misunderstandings,

  NW

  but some of the responsibility lies

  OLGC

  with otaku. For example, not taking a

  a

  MNO

  shower. Some otaku think to them-

  M

  RAY

  selves, “Why waste ten minutes in

  B

  PHS

  the shower when I can use that time

  e

  RAGO

  to play a bishojo game?” If you don’t

  TO

  PH

  even take the time to clean yourself

  f

  Japan makes characters

  that are a target for love

  MORINAGA TAKURO

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  135

  up, it is extremely diffi cult

  to have a social existence.

  People will judge you. Japa-

  nese are a little fussy about

  cleanliness anyway, and

  women are particularly so.

  You probably can’t get a

  date if you don’t shower.

  It isn’t entirely the fault of

  women that some people

  can’t fi nd a partner. Both

  sides have to compromise.

  If not, then we are headed

  for a divided society.

  PG: What do you think the

  future holds for moé otaku?

  MT: The model of success

  today is the entrepreneurial

  man who takes his company public and ends up with

  millions, an apartment on the waterfront, lots of friends, and a beautiful wife. The opposite end of the spectrum is the otaku, who is thought to be a complete and utter failure. But the model of success that I have described is crumbling. I think that otaku might come to be seen less as losers and more as models of

  happiness. Consuming what

  you need to be happy and not

  N

  worrying about being the

  WOLG

  richest or most powerful

  C

  MN

  might become the new

  OM

  RA

  standard. If both men and

  Y B

  women make compro-

  PHS

  RAG

  mises, otaku might even be

  OTO

  able to get married.

  PH

  FOR LOVE OR MONEY

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  Interview with

  Higashimura Hikaru

  Higashimura Hikaru, born

  in 1983, is a fan of the

  illustrated novels aimed

  at young-adult readers known

  as “light novels” in Japan, and

  has spent much of his adult life

  studying moé. He has published

  numerous fanzines on the sub-


  ject, and is one of the founding

  members of the Moé Studies Re-

  search Circle ( Moégaku kenkyukai)

  at his former university in Ehime

  Prefecture. In 2009, Higashimura

  moved to Tokyo to live and work

  in Akihabara, the district that

  has become a spiritual center

  for fans of manga, anime, and

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  video games. He now introduces

  HIKA

  himself, in a manner typical of

  URA

  the multilayered gags of fan cul-

  HIMSAG

  ture, as a teacher at Akihabara

  HIY S

  University.* In this interview,

  ET

  C L

  UR

  Higashimura talks about his ap-

  O

  , L T

  C

  PH

  proach to moé, making useful

  MEN

  RA

  N I

  TA

  OG

  comparisons between moé and

  T

  R

  OH

  NTE

  P

  romantic love.

  AL E

  ERS V

  *

  Visit

  http://upfg.lullsound.com/akiba-u.

  UNI

  ac.jp/

  EON N E

  HIGASHIMURA HIKARU

  © G

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  The Moé Studies

  Research Circle

  Taking Otaku to School

  Patrick W. Galbraith (PG): When did you fi rst hear the word moé?

  Higashimura Hikaru (HH): When I was in high school in the 1990s, I belonged to a computer club and was introduced to a bishojo game called To Heart (1997), which I really enjoyed. I remember talking about the game with an upper classman, who said to me, “This character is moé, isn’t she?” That’s the fi rst time I heard the word.

  PG: Was moé something that people often used to talked about at that time?

  HH: Yes. As I understand it, the term moé fi rst appeared in the C

  early to mid 1990s. This was a time

  N

  S IS

  when anime featuring the cute

  © K

  girls known as bishojo evolved into

  well-cr

  w

  afted products that could

  be enjo

  b

  yed by an adult audience. In

  that decade

  th

  , there were anime series

  suc

  su h as Sailor Moon (1992–1997) and

  Car

  Ca dcaptor Sakura (1998–2000), both of

  whic

  wh h were based on manga drawn

  by w

  by

  omen. There was a boom in male

  fandom ar

  fan

  ound anime heroines. Within

  that fandom,

  tha

  the word moé was used

  to describe something differ

  to d

  ent from

  the feeling y

  the

  ou get from the usual male-

  oriented r

  orien

  obot anime.

  Left: Cardcaptor Sakura;

  above: To Heart

  THE MOE

  ŚTUDIES RESEARCH CIRCLE

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  138

  PG: What you are describing—men attracted

  to manga and anime produced by women

  for women—reminds me a lot of early

  otaku engagement with shojo manga

  (manga for girls).

  HH: Awareness of the attractive-

  ness of anime characters has

  existed since the mid-1970s,

  which was refl ected in the rise

  of fanzines at the time. In the

  1980s there must have been

  moé for characters such as Lynn

  Minmay from the anime Super

  Dimensional Fortress Macross (1982),

  but no one had a word for it. Basically,

  the 1990s was a continuation of what had

  come before, but fans were growing in number

  RE

  along with the increasing amount of high-

  RONTI

  quality anime series. These days, people get

  FTS

  excited over one hit series such as Puella Magi WEIG B

  Madoka Magica (2011), but in the 1990s, there were

  ©

  several such series released every year. There

  were more fans with more characters to talk

  about, and spaces were created where people

  could discuss their feelings for these charac-

  ters in a supportive environment.

  PG: What does moé mean to you?

  HH: Moé is a special affection for a character, or, to be precise, the emotional

  reaction of a human being toward a

  fi ctional character. In my view, other

  cultural, economic, and social aspects

  of moé should be treated separately as

  Lynn Minmay

  the “moé market” or the “moé cultural HIGASHIMURA HIKARU

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  139

  sphere.” My focus is on moé prop-

  rop-

  er. It’s different from romantic

  c

  love, because with moé you can-

  n-

  not expect a response from the

  he

  object of affection. Love at fi rst

  t

  sight is very similar to moé. Both

  oth

  depend on an object’s appear-

  ance or behavior. The starting

  point of love at fi rst sight is

  when you experience extreme-

  e-

  ly positive feelings toward a

  , MBS

  person you know very little

  NERST

  about. The difference between

  n

  AR

  A PK

  moé and romantic love is a

  O

  difference in results. It’s hard

  EX, MAD

  to marry someone with only

  NIPLA

  a feeling of love at fi rst sight.

  T/ETRA

  To live with someone you

  U

  QA

  need to experience and ac-

  ICGA

  cept the differences between

  M©

  you. But you don’t need to make

  this kind of compromise when you

  have a relationship with a fi ctional

  character.

  PG: Does the moé relationship

  evolve?

  HH: It’s possible to lose interest in

  characters or become more inter-

  ested in them, and the preference

  TD

  for specifi c character designs or

  Y, L

  AN

  situations that trigger moé may

  PMO

  change. But moé is, in essence, a

  I CEO

  feeling of affection for fi ctional

  © T

  characters, and that doesn’t change. Top: Puella Magi Madoka Magica; bottom: Sailor Moon

  THE MOE

  ŚTUDIES RESEARCH CIRCLE

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  140

  PG: Could a fan have a moé response to a real person, performing as a character? Say in a maid café?

  HH: It’s possible to have a moé response to
a person dressed up as a maid. The question here is what exactly is the object of moé?

  It is not the person who is dressed up as a maid,

  p

  but the maid

  character itself. Someone who loves

  maid characters would not neces-

  sarily feel the same way about the

  person if she were wearing a dif-

  ferent costume. The attraction is to

  the maid character, which exists as

  part of a fantasy. This is a little con-

  fusing, but let’s consider someone

  who says, “I like girls who behave

  like maids.” This might mean that

  this person would like to have a

  relationship with a human whose

  character is like a maid. If that is

  the case, then we are not talking

  about moé. But if this person’s affec-

  tion is for a maid character, which

  is to say that he is in a relationship

  with a fi ctional character without

  wanting a response, then we are

  talking about moé. In another exam-

  Are maids moé?

  ple, otaku feel moé for the actresses that provide the voices for anime characters, but they don’t ex-OUL

  pect a response from them. Getting a response would make it a ODOUT

  relationship between humans, which is not moé.

  I CHRIS

  NIKOR

  PG: Could a fan have a moé response to an object?

  ND A

  HH: That’s a diffi cult question. People do feel moé for objects.

  Y B

  PH

  I recently went to an event for train fans. I myself am deeply RAGO

  interested in trains, and I often travel around Japan just to see TO

  PH

  specifi c trains. Each one has its own set of traits, personality, or HIGASHIMURA HIKARU

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  character. At this event, fans were anthropomorphizing trains.

  They drew illustrations of trains as cute girls and sold fanzines about them. Attending this event, I thought that these fans were expressing their feelings for the trains. A train obviously cannot respond to these feelings, so we are talking about moé. The fans were expressing their interest in the trains, and using the illustrations of the trains as cute girls to make others interested in the trains. They were showing other fans trains in a new light.

  For example, the Sobu train line in Tokyo carries a lot of com-muters every day. Though this train is a nonhuman object, it has a hardworking character, which can trigger a moé response.

  People discover stories in objects and feel moé for them. It isn’t even the cute character that is drawn, but the object behind it that triggers the moé response. This is not always the case. There is a manga called Afghanis-tan (2005), where the country of Afghanistan is anthropomorphized as a cute girl and the reader learns about her relationships with her neighbors. In this case, I am not sure that fans are responding with a feeling of moé to the actual country of Afghanistan.

 

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