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
MOE_14_126-135.indd 132
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133
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
MOE_14_126-135.indd 134
13/2/14 10:31 AM
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
MOE_14_126-135.indd 135
13/2/14 10:31 AM
136
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
RU
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
MOE_15_136-143.indd 136
13/2/14 10:33 AM
137
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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13/2/14 10:33 AM
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
MOE_15_136-143.indd 138
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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
MOE_15_136-143.indd 139
13/2/14 10:33 AM
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
MOE_15_136-143.indd 140
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141
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.
The Moé Manifesto Page 12