Jexhius said:
I don't feel like you are really using the term correctly. A thing is not moe, it is a thing which illicits a moe response. That response can also be created is a very specific way - certain character designs, costumes, apparel, character traits, situations etc. If you just use 'moe' in a general term it loses all meaning. "I'm so moe for that cute puppy" - possibly a correct usage but not one that should be used.
sorry for missing your post.
IIRC it actually was one of the earlier usages of the term, wherein people would be 'moe' for specific fetishism's like hime cuts and girls with glasses, etc.
As it is, im using 'moe show' to refer to shows with main characters that capitalize off of moe traits to inspire a 'protective' emotional response in the viewer. good moe uses this to establish a character to follow, moeshit does this and then the seasons over.
It's not either "moe" or "not moe" - that would be a binary and limiting way to use the term which fails to reflect it's complexity. Code Geass has a moe charater - a girl, in a wheelchair, who is blind with a fairly distrubing sexual undertones. Yet it is not a moe show. Shinji, from Evangelion may also illicit the moe response in some but it is also not a moe show. When it becomes troublesome is when they noticed "This Rei from Eva sells on whatever you put her on" and thus you have part of the growth of the moe industry.
well, this is a dozy... i agree, disagree and maybe agree at different points you're making here. :lol so you're certainly right when you say its a complex term. first off, while i think shows are either moe or not moe, i do think shows can have moe characters without being moe shows, code geass being a good example, haruhi being another. nunnally might be moe, but she isn't moe towards the viewer as much as she is to lelouche himself, whose entire first season motivation was the fact that he was hardmoe for his sister. moe character with moe points, but she wasn't the motivation for the viewer so its not a moe show. IMO.
as for Rei and the industry moelestation, no argument there. I've never really thought of rei as moe in the series, but how she later came to be portrayed via the industry is certainly heavy on moe.
Also art style is definetely a factor that relates to the amount of moe that you may be able to see in a show. Girls looking kind of underage with big eyes and short skirts is just part of a look associated with moe characters.
I agree, art-style certainly can influence the level of moe but its not the be all end all. If Mei tortured kittens in her spare time i doubt anyone would consider her moe.
On the anti-moe part that may be true, I've watched Elfin Lied a couple of times and I'm not quite sure what it's message is. If any.
racism is bad, lucy et al were just normal kids, their homicidal nature was largely a result of the abuses they suffered for being 'monsters'. [initial monster image probably fueled by a kid with superpowers going through puberty].
yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
) which can be called moe because of the art but the story for the most part is pretty damn solid and a hell of a lot different than other most other moe type shows which is mostly random scenarios of bullshit.