Talk:Moe (slang)/Archive 2

Archive 1

Archive 2

Moé Males?

Can males characters (non crossdessers) be considered moé? Trytoguess 07:51, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

As a woman, I'd say so. Sana Jisushi 04:54, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't see why not, but it probably isn't the same categories. Like, instead of youth, maybe bishounen characters or more macho characters or something, but I'm not female so I wouldn't really know. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴィルヴィント 05:00, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I've seen quite a few Japanese natives using "moe" on male characters. It seem to be an extension of the usage of it on female characters though.Everesti 15:04, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Bridget is moe. anon 12:11 in Tokyo 9/16/07 —Preceding

unsigned comment added by 24.60.194.131 (talk) 03:12, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Reverse Harem animes use Male Moe: Angelique, Kyou Kara Maou, & Ouran High School Host Club are great examples. In fact, the Ouran anime had an episode about male moe.

Most definately, I find Moe Syzlak to be very moe - Moeismoe (talk) 02:19, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Kaiji is pretty moe, and he is male.zachlol (talk) 18:36, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Moe is frequently used in conjunction with male characters, sometimes even by heterosexual males. Finding something moe does not necessarily imply a sexual fascination. 122.49.168.102 (talk) 09:01, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Uguu Script Author, I Salute You!

You should have made it not whack the image links. I hope it gets some air-time before the revert police show up. (This does not mean I support Wiki vandalism. This at least was relevant to the topic. Please don't permaban me.) 98.214.64.55 (talk) 02:58, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Two subjects?

This article seems to be talking about two different subjects intertwined.

One would be moe as an adjective, as in a character who is moe, as described in the Moe Characteristics heading.

The other would be moe as a noun, as in a fetish for something, as described in the first paragraph.

These are pretty distinct concepts and really need to be separated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Akkhima (talk • contribs) 22:40, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

I dont understand this

I dont understand this article - first, it talks about the word "moe" as a slang term for someone in love for something, then the next part suddenly talks about some manga style. It's, at least for me, very inconsistent and it's very hard to orientate in it. --Have a nice day. Running 09:27, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

The term moe can mean two different things. It's original meaning is the about feelings for a subject. The second is about the character style which is made to illict this reaction in fans. It similar to the differences between the definitions of tragedy-SeaFox (talk) 22:04, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

It's all one thing to me: Moe means "cliche fetish." Haha.

I agree. This article doesn't explain the concept well at all as it just throws some examples up and hardly draws any connection. IMO it should follow the style of the japanese wiki on this subject. --Mizst (talk) 09:16, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, this article doesn't actually define or outline the current meaning of the term... --96.35.131.50 (talk) 17:13, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

I would like to add my voice to this complaint. After reading this article, I still didn't have a clue what "moe" actually meant, nor did I have any idea what "moe characteristics" were. (Particularly troublesome, since the commercialization section mentions "moe characteristics" but at no point is it explained what those characteristics are. I don't want to be overly harsh, but an encyclopedic article that doesn't at least clearly identify the subject is completely useless. The above comment in this section by tragedy-SeaFox has more information about the subject than the entirety of the base article! This article needs a fundamental rewrite. Unfortunately, I can't offer much help, since I still don't fully understand the topic. :p --Carychan (talk) 06:32, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Merge

The article Moe drawing should somehow be merged into this as the article doesn't seem to be able to stand on its own. NanohaA'sYuri^{Talk, My master} 21:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

yahbut, there is no sourced material to move. the drawing article is all original research. Can any of the images be used to exemplify sourced statements within this article?-- The Red Pen of Doom 14:33, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Merge or nuke. It's not notable by itself. Izuko (talk) 08:09, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Merge complete. Further editing will have moe drawing content work better with this article. KyuuA4 (talk) 16:43, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

Links from Moe Drawing

• Difference between moe and sexy (in Japanese)
• moee.org Features moe drawing tutorials (in Japanese)

Possible use as citations. KyuuA4 (talk) 16:41, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

There must be some misunderstandings

I was just looking at the article and then suddenly stopped at the moe drawing parts. From my understanding, moe is not defined by a particular drawing style, such as the one illustrated in the article; they are rather defined by a character traits (such as behaviors, etc) as explained in the first part of the article. After reading the Japanese article of moe, I'm sure the person who added the 'moe features' sub-section definitely seems to misunderstand the term. Does anyone else agree that the whole 'moe feature' subsection should be rewritten in accordance with the Japanese article?Stevefis (talk) 21:26, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

That was just a copy-paste from the once article Moe drawing. As much as character traits come to play with regards to moe, appearance does play a role here. All y'gotta do is look at a whole slew of moe characters; and what do they mostly comprise of? Cute anime girls. Then again, such a section can be relegated to a simple character design article. KyuuA4 (talk) 07:30, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

I have a problem with the drawing description, too. It makes it seem like there is only one way to draw a Moe character. In reality, it varies by artist and they most certainly are not all children (which this article seems to imply). I think there should be pictures of older Moes too. I know for a fact you can at least find some grown-up meganekkos.--65.28.233.50 (talk) 17:38, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

There is the possibility the English article is more comprehensive than the Japanese one, too. The Japanese wiki artcile should not be considered as an authorative guide just because it's the term's native culture. If you feel the section should be rewritten to better integrate with the rest of the article I can agree with that. Re-write means to replace with superior content, though. Not simply delete with no replacement. --SeaFox (talk) 23:59, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

If the content is unsourced, pure deletion is a copmletely valid option. "provide a reliable source for quotations and for any material that is challenged or is likely to be challenged, or the material may be removed." (emph. added) -- The Red Pen of Doom 00:21, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Its generally more courteous to flag unsourced sections as needing references, rather than removing the content on sight. The material was previously part of a stand-alone article, but the decision was made to merge it into this one. That shows that the content is considered to have some value. Deleting it as soon as it enters here is nothing more than usurping the previous decision. --SeaFox (talk) 01:00, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

"more courteous", yes, but required, no. And if the editor was not aware of the recent merge of content, one can hardly accuse the editor of bad faith in applying a core Wikipedia policy. -- The Red Pen of Doom 02:08, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

The drawing features listed in the moe feature section is 'NOT' features of moe. They are just typical features of japanese bishōjo. A character may have all of the bishōjo feature, yet lack any moe due to a lack of moe traits. I definitely disapprove that moe has anything to do with drawing style. Unless you give any reliable source (preferably Japanese source) that supports your argument, I'm going to have to remove the moe drawing feature part.Stevefis (talk) 07:42, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

"jargon"

I removed this material

Enomoto Nariko, a yaoi author and manga critic says that "male fans cannot experience moe until they have fixed their own position", comparing them to fujoshi, who, according to Enomoto, are primarily attracted to phases of a relationship.

because it is complete WP:JARGON. Items in English wikipedia sould be understandable to readers of English and not dependant on knowledge of jargon used in academic Japanese studies. -- The Red Pen of Doom 12:10, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

References

Okay, so you're worried people will find it hard to understand. We have articles for some of the relevant terminology and we can link to them to help people out. Hopefully these will enable us to get to the underlying ideas and be able to express those rather than to be stuck with strictly quoting something that is difficult to understand. Some of the book chapter is available through Google Books. I gather that the yaoi "phases" is like the stages of a relationship - will they, won't they etc. Would expanding it to this help?:

"Enomoto Nariko, a yaoi author and manga critic says that "male fans cannot experience moe until they have fixed their own position". Saitou explains that a male fan's "position" is his position as a subject, which the male fan must establish before he can desire an object. In this view, moe characters are agents of the male fan's desire. Enomoto Nariko compares male fans to fujoshi, who she says are primarily attracted to phases of a relationship, for example the point at which a friendly relationship becomes romantic."

Does that make it clearer? If not, I could ask someone to help - would you like me to do that? -Malkinann (talk) 12:37, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

If the source actually contains this:

• Saitou explains that a male fan's "position" is his position as a subject, which the male fan must establish before he can desire an object. and this
• moe characters are agents of the male fan's desire

I would no longer revert. -- The Red Pen of Doom 12:49, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

The relevant portions are available through the Google Books link - why not check it out for yourself? ;) It'd be better if you could, because then the wording has had two sets of eyes on it. -Malkinann (talk) 12:55, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

I am having trouble accessing on dial up, I will take a look when I get to a better connection. -- The Red Pen of Doom 13:51, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Misconception

This article implys that Moe is mainly abot characters that are depicted to be young/in need of protection. The term Moe is used to add emphasys to an idealised feature on a character. Loli can be a Moe feature to some fans of Anime, Manga etc, but other aspects can be considered Moe. A character that wears glasses, an older/younger sister type character, a childhood friend are all considered Moe. Also, going back on what I said previously, a character does not need to be in need of protection to be considered Moe, on the oposite side of the spectrum, a character that seems sweet/inocent but turns out to be violent, possessive, sadistic or otherwise powerfull is considered Moe. I believe this article was written by a person that did not fully understand the term Moe and simply thought of it as a form of lolita. I believe that this article should be completely removed of current material, and rewritten by someone that fully understands the term. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.195.201.76 (talk) 19:27, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Fair use innapropriately employed

I have removed the image from this page. Fair use rationale has been innapropriately employed. Other (Free) images surely exist to depict Superflat and/or Moe styles. Depicting an artistic style not exclusively used by a lone artist is not acceptable fair use rationale for copyrighted artwork. --ZayZayEM (talk) 00:29, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

Indeed there should be free or CC images in places like DeviantArt, if someone is interested in adding images in the future. --Mizst (talk) 09:08, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

We could ask User:Kasuga to help? Good Artist! --Kim Bruning (talk) 00:06, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Another article on moe

By Jason Thompson here. Worth mining, methinks. —Quasirandom (talk) 14:15, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Thx. We'll make good use of that here. キュウ 20:52, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Issues with one stated meaning of "moe"

"'Moe!' is also used within anime fandom as an interjection referring to a character the speaker considers to be a moekko."

This might be somewhat more helpful if there were any indication as to what the heck a "moekko" is. Defining a "moe" in terms of some other undefined word isn't very illuminating... —Smeazel (talk) 04:38, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

I think there's a more fundamental problem with this sentence. Having watched a large amount of anime and having lived in Japan a few years, I've never heard "moe" used in this way. I have heard "mou" used by anime characters and real Japanese people as an interjection of exasperation, like Americans would say "geez!", along the lines of the 4th meaning defined in the EDICT:

もう (adv,int) (1) already; anymore; (2) soon; shortly; (3) more; further; other; again; (int,adv) (4) interjection used to strengthen expression of an emotion (often exasperation).

The listed definition of "moe" (though obviously this article is discussing mostly a slang use of the word) doesn't have any meaning of being an interjection:

萌え 【もえ】 (n) (1) sprouting; budding; (2) (m-sl) (also written 萌ゑ) crush (anime, manga term); fascination; infatuation.

So I think this statement needs sources to back up this claim because it's likely "mou" was confused with "moe" since their pronunciations are very similar.

That said, the sentence does say the term is used "within anime fandom", which I assume is the collective group of (mostly) non-Japanese people who are obsessed with anime and talk about it on the internet. I don't hang out in those parts of the internet, so perhaps "moe" is used in this sense by those people. Quillaja (talk) 18:05, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

This article lacks a decent definition of what 'moe' is

Maybe that's because it's an inherently untranslatable word - but it's widely used by English-speaking anime fans nonetheless, which means it must have an accepted definition. This isn't clear from the article, though: it says 'There are various interpretations of what moe is today.', and gives several possible definitions. Can't we do better? How about this: 'Moe refers to the fetishistic obsession with prepubescent girls by adult males'. Yeah, maybe that's a little crude and offensive, but it would be clearer than anything in this article at the moment. Robofish (talk) 11:50, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

moe (although that should be moved to transwikt:萌え (moe))陣内_Jinnai 04:24, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

The problem with that statement is that Moe ISN'T just children. The term covers fetish characters in general. You're thinking of "lolita" --65.28.233.50 (talk) 17:43, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Attempt at a definition?

As mentioned above, this article very badly needed some sort of real definition at the top in the intro, otherwise the article as it currently stood was more or less incoherent and hardly useful to readers at all. I am absolutely not an expert on this concept, and I don't know Japanese either, but just as a writer I have attempted to construct a couple of intro sentences to try to make sense of the intro. It's an attempt to put the ideas into real prose.

If I have misrepresented the concept, and if an editor can improve on my attempt, please do change the intro sentences. However, it is essential to keep the prose clear so that it can be understood! If English is not your first language, you are very welcome to ask me on my talk page to help you make your prose more intelligible.

Thanks and best wishes, Invertzoo (talk) 16:29, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

The basic definition would be something along the lines of "Someone being described as 'moe' implies they are an intense, burning fan of something. It is basically today's word for 'otaku'." It's really that simple. No, I don't know of any sources which describe it that way, but that's what it means. ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WikiProject Japan! 19:07, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

well something similar to that idea should be added so people can at least understand some of it. it's really odd how the main focus of the article can have alot of information and nothing on the meaning behind it. the word hasn't been used that often in English translations but it's slowly getting there.Bread Ninja (talk) 18:15, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Judging by "Saimoe" "competitions" alone, "moeness" involves the female characters, where fans in Japan quite often get enamored with the female characters. Admittingly, we on the "Western" end of the culture fall for the same thing but never had a word to describe it. With the term being a slang, a "definition" has to be based on how people associate it. KyuuA4 (Talk:キュウ) 23:26, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

There was a recent episode of ANNCast that brought several people together in order to define what moe is. Each of the people gave a different interpretation of what they view is moe, but it would be a good place at least attempt an explanation. —Farix (t | c) 00:07, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

From what I've read online, it seems that moé is related to cuteness. (As a twenty year old woman, I have no sexual interest in these characters and it is unjustified for people to assume that moe = sexual attraction.) I believe that as something being "moé" can be compared to something being "cute": the definition changes for different people because what they see as cute is different. I don't know where I'd find references on this (other than forums or other unverifiable online places), so if anybody could use this as a starting point for research I'd be delighted. (I do have a copy of otakuUSA that DOES discuss moé in more detail, but I currently don't have access to it; I'll see if it has anything useful in it when I get access again.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.137.120.159 (talk) 21:38, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Has anyone ever asked an actual japanese person? it seems like since its used for contest and such. Deb Aoki ( who i have no idea if is reliable) defines various definition of moe, that can vaguely relate to the other meaning. that said, maybe moe has various definitions and used differently depending on the situation. if no real definition can be added we should mention in the opening paragraph that it doesn't have a concrete definition. otherwise misleading.Bread Ninja (talk) 18:49, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

The thing is this is the English wikipedia, and it should be explaining the general definition of the English speaking fanbase. Asking a Japanese person wouldn't really help that much, because our definition would have changed/"corrupted" the original meaning of the word, same as the pronunciation would change; as a loan word, we use it differently.

Think of it like the word robin. In Europe, most are likely to think of the robin, while Americans are most likely to think of the robin; neither is wrong, but if you ask an American to describe a robin they will probably describe it differently than a European. (This gets even more complicated when we consider other birds can also be called robins.)

I know this can be seen as OR, but I'm just trying to point out that the search for English resources should be more important than Japanese ones. 24.137.120.159 (talk) 02:23, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

After having taken a quick scan through the "moe" article on the Japanese wikipedia, it seems that in addition to the traditional meaning of a plant's sprout, the main slang meaning has to do with infatuation. The article has a detailed grammatical explanation, but basically what I understood is that "moe" (and the verb form "moeru") is similar to the English "to have a crush on" or "to be infatuated with". So a Japanese person would say "I'm moe(ru) for Cocoa Puffs". Additionally, "moe anime" refers to anime where the characters are designed to make the viewer infatuated with them, mostly through cuteness. It lists Card Captor Sakura and the Puri-kyua series as examples. So obviously there could be a sexual connotation to the word, but there doesn't necessarily have to be one, if, for example, the object is to make elementary school girls infatuated with a show in order to sell merchandise. This is all just FYI. Quillaja (talk) 18:36, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Invertzoo, is there something wrong with the definitions in http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2009/Galbraith.html ? --Gwern (contribs) 20:10 14 February 2011 (GMT)

Project Namespace

Please don't link to an article in the project namespace. Regardless of your opinion on what images should be included, such links are not appropriate. Thanks! --Yaksar (let's chat) 05:17, 5 March 2011 (UTC)

New and interesting article

There's a pretty in-depth article over at Heisei Democracy that's recently been updated, along with an accompanying infographic. Here's hoping its of some use here. Jswinarton (talk) 05:12, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

An example that's in plain sight.

In the first episode of Master of Martial Hearts two girls go to a fast food restaurant with Moe as the signage, with the M styled similar to McDonald's big yellow M. Bizzybody (talk) 11:27, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Main image

Does anyone else dislike this image? To me doesn't look very much like typical moe drawing, and (in my personal aesthetic judgment) isn't cute. What does everyone else think? 174.63.85.80 (talk) 01:26, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

2D Love

2D Love, a concept close to this article, could do with some love/attention, if anyone's up to it. It's currently a one-line stub which could probably be much more. J Milburn (talk) 22:50, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Lame lead

Okay, I'm reading you. Japanese, huh. Not a term, what are you? Huh, you're changing, so what are you now (were last year?). A feeling? This'll be a good thing to know. Just as soon as I Find out what it is! Not a genre, huh? What are you? How the hell am I supposed to understand this (sixth already! Yet no definition is in there) sentence? And... Oh finally!

A definition, borrowed or made up, good or bad (heard it's hard to define), should be at the beginning! Otherwise you bump tons of useless info first, half your readers will forget it

P.S. doesn't "female child" mean "girl"?

Article needs a serious re-write

This article is grossly misleading and seems to be written in such a way as to attempt to force a particular definition on a word that has several meanings depending on the context in which it is used. Contrary to the Opening paragraph, Moe _IS_ a genre (as evidenced by the fact that it is used as such in the remainder of the article, ie - "moe anthropromorphism", "moe characteristics", etc), whether the article writer likes it or not. Moe is _ALSO_ a term referring to female adolescence, a specific otaku sub-culture and also certain kinds of fetishism. Again, the meaning depends on the context in which the word is used. While the majority of information in the article has some degree or another of validity in explaining what Moe is, the article as a whole completely fails to correctly explain, and I believe it should be completely re-written. Since a train-wreck of this nature is generally the result of many people working at cross-purposes I'd suggest that a group of people who are prepared to work together will tank ownership and do so. Possibly this group may actually even contain persons familiar with Japanese culture.

Clearer definition/explanation in case people don't already know what 'moe' actually means

The 'moe' page on TV-Tropes is decent. I'm not suggesting we copy it, but if you're scratching your head about all this then you may want to read it.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Moe — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.31.236.248 (talk) 16:04, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the link to the much more helpful definition of moe! The back pages of the English translation of Volume 9 of Chi's Sweet Home (Chi is a very cute female kitten) describes a 2011 December 26 - 2012 January 18 Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in China advertising campaign featuring Chi. During the campaign 5 million cellphone straps were given away. Attached to each strap was a Chi doll with one of four facial expressions: moe, happy, pitiful, or annoyed. Not knowing the meaning of 'moe', I turned to Wikipedia and found this article. Since Chi's moe look is blushing with her eyes closed, the 'burning' reference in the first paragraph sounded promising until got to the 'Criticism' section. While I'm still not certain as to the definition, the TV Tropes article made me much more comfortable with defining moe (at least in a Chi context) as a helpless and hapless individual whose cuteness enables him / her / it to survive by triggering a protective response in others. (As a companion to a Birman cat, I totally understand this definition: a google of 'birman' and 'clumsy' returns 492,000 hits.)Penelope Gordon (talk) 10:56, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Possible reinstatement of example image?

I remembered coming across this image a while back on this page, and I was curious as to the reason it had been removed. Doing some digging, I noticed it had been removed (actually replaced by some troll image that somehow didn't display properly) at revision [1]. It doesn't look like it was ever intentionally removed. All reference to the image tag vanished at revision [2], so it seems to have quietly been dropped.

I think this image is a decent example of moe, and the commons page for it says the character generator that produces it has a license that releases the images into public domain. Should it be added? Erimaxbau (talk) 10:57, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

"Anime and manga that exhibit Moe"

What is the purpose of this section? Because "moe" is so subjective, we obviously can't list every anime with characters that someone considers moe, since it could include literally every anime. Maybe if there were some reliable sources that consistently stated that these anime rely on moe characters for their success, then it could be a sentence like "Some anime which are widely considered to have gained popularity due to their moe characters include X, Y, and Z." But right now it looks like a random list of anime that people editing the article happen to like. I'm removing it for now. --Atlantima (talk) 21:49, 4 February 2013 (UTC)