Anime, Manga, Video Games & More, For Today's Generation
Posts tagged moe
Moe 101: A Woman’s First Look
Apr 8th
The following is a guest post by Lauren Orsini. Lauren is a graduate student, journalist, documentarian, and convention reporter in Washington, D.C. Her love of anime, fandom, and Japanese pop culture frequently directs her reporting topics. To read about her adventures, check out her blog at www.lorsini.com.
The first person I ever heard say it out loud was Travis Touchdown in No More Heroes.
“Moe,” he gushed, slowly enunciating both syllables while he pawed a poster featuring three prepubescent anime girls.
I was familiar with the word and concept from reading Genshiken manga (though I admit I thought it was pronounced “mo” at the time), but I’d thought it stood for a general affinity for a character or object. Lately though, the more I’ve heard about moe, the more it seems to apply to a singular character type. Modern moe, in fact, appears to apply to just a select few anime titles.
Anime Review: Strike Witches – Complete 1st Season
Apr 5th
I first heard about Strike Witches at New York Anime Festival 2008. I was on the line to get Rie Tanaka’s autograph and I was asking people what they were getting signed. One particular person showed me a postcard with this character on it. When I asked who that was, he responded “You’ve never heard of Strike Witches? It’s a show about a bunch of girls that fly around and fight aliens. Oh, and they don’t wear pants.”
Yes, that’s right. Strike Witches is a show about a bunch of cute girls that grow animal ears & tails, fly around with big guns, and battle aliens in a post-World War II era. They do not wear pants and the show takes no shame in constantly reminding you of this. After reading that, chances are you think one of two things: (A) this is the stupidest and creepiest idea for a show ever, or (B) this is an AMAZING idea for a show. If you’re in group B, read on…
Moe For Those Who Don’t Like Moe
Feb 24th
On the recent ANNCast episode I was on, Zac and Justin of ANN asked me to recommend some “moe” anime titles that might be good for those who aren’t so into the moe thing. On the show, I mentioned The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Hayate the Combat Butler, and while those shows don’t focus entirely on moe, they can certainly help bring one to better understand its appeal.
In this blog post, I’m going to go into more detail with the shows I spoke about on the ANNCast and why I think many anime fans, and even non-anime fans, may enjoy them. I’ll also talk about some other “moe shows” that might be worth checking out as a sort of segue into appreciating moe.
ANNCast – Viewers Like You
Feb 11th
In the latest ANNCast, Zac Bertschy (@ANNZac) and Justin Sevakis of Anime News Network tried something new: a “call out show.” They had several different guests come on, one at a time, to discuss various topics. Zac and Justin were kind enough to let me be a guest on the show. On the show, I discuss anime viewing habits and a few “moe shows” that might be worth checking out for those who aren’t really into the moe thing.
Anime Genesis Podcast – Con Funk Moe Characters Who Think They're Pikachu
Feb 9th
Benu (@Benu), host of the internationally known podcast Anime Genesis, was kind enough to let me be a guest on the first episode of the new season of his show. On the show, us and the other guests discuss the ever-so-popular topics of moe, things we love and hate about the anime fandom, and anime characters we love and hate.
Anime Genesis – Season 4, Episode 1 – Con Funk Moe Characters Who Think They’re Pikachu
Other guests on the show:
- Dancing Queen (@DancingQueen_DQ) from How a Girl Figures
- Jimmy Blocksom (@djtyrant), a freelance blogger
- Daniel Wong (@ddh4mster) from Ddh4mster’s Blog
Thanks to everyone who was a part of the show, and to the listeners as well.
Anime Review: Sola
Dec 2nd
One of the biggest problems with anime adaptations of manga and visual novels is that in many cases, the pacing of the anime just doesn’t live up to that of its original work. Pacing is tough to manage, especially since most anime series are limited to 13 or 26 episodes, each of which must be around 23 minutes long. Some anime deal with this problem brilliantly, and others, not so much. Unfortunately, Sola falls under the “not so much” category.
Sola is a story about Yorito, a young boy in high school who loves to take pictures of the sky. His older sister Aono has been in the hospital for several months, and is visited frequently by his friend Mana and her sister. Yorito doesn’t devote much time to seeing Aono in the hospital, and Mana gets annoyed by this. Instead of caring for his sister, he prefers to spend his time taking pictures of the sky. On top of that, he has been becoming close to a mysterious girl named Matsuri. What he doesn’t know is that Matsuri has her secrets, and there may be more to her than meets the eye. The story is actually pretty good. It’s fairly original, and the addition of supernatural elements into what would be a typical slice-of-life drama make it more interesting.
Anime Review: True Tears
Nov 20th
Ah yes, another one of those moe slice-of-life anime series. While many may consider this to be an overdone and stale genre, every once in a while we get a series that stands out above the rest. True Tears is one such series.
Originally a Japanese visual novel, True Tears received its anime adaptation in 2008. However, the anime bears no resemblance to the original work, as it features a different story and characters. While fans of the visual novel may be turned off by this, some may consider it a blessing, as direct visual novel adaptations of anime quite often suffer from pacing issues. This is certainly not the case in True Tears.
