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dancing_moonOhohohoho, moe? The budding/burning fan-service pandering that is either making or breaking the anime industry, depending on who you talk to....
First let me say, that with the exception of creepy-cute shows like Higurashi and Umineko no naku koro ni, I don't like moe-girls. They're small, speak in high-pitched voices and tend to be useless for the narrative except as objects to save, protect and drool over. If the drool potential isn't there, they're infinitely boring. Thus, me no likey.
But Japan is nothing if not gender-neutral when it comes to fan-service. Case in point, an article that ANN reported about a while ago from a mainstream woman's fashion magazine called An-an.
What is moe for women?
Not a preference or type, but it a strange feeling you get in response to bearing or clothing. This is not love, because it has nothing to do with any real partner, and it is not fetish, because it is not necessarily sexual. [...] The two biggest elements considered moe by women are identified as glasses and suits.
I admit it, I totally loled the first time I read this - wouldn't mind getting my hands on a complete translation of that article either. But I recognize a lot of things, not only from anime fandom. I mean, look at the discussion about how many men are needed to be moe:
Another fascinating section of the article deals with relational politics, or "relationality" (kankeisei). This is a central tenant of fujoshi [yaoi fangirls] discussions or uke/seme bottom/top, but it is given a fresh perspective by outside observation. First of all, there are apparently numbers that men gather in that are ideal for moe. These are two, three, five, seven and "swarm" (mure).
2 = manzai stand-up comedians or buddy cops, guys who are so close that it seems adding a woman into the mix would ruin their chemistry
^^^ So very slashy, as the person translating the article also points out
3 = [...] the balance in groups of three is absolutely ideal, because the existence of the other two allows for each one to develop a unique personality and place in the group.
5 = "Gatchaman" and sentai ranger shows, which are good because it offers the appeal of dynamic shifts between sets of two and three.
Interestingly enough, one of the things that is pointed out when people discuss the success of Sailor Moon, is that it mixed the sentai five-man team with the magical girls show. In general, team movies (Inception, anyone?) and rp-games often follow this formula.
Last is swarm, in which a huge number of good looking boys is enough to trigger moe without any specific relational dynamics. Examples are "Rookies" or "Crows."
And there we have it: Axis Powers Hetalia, a series about as moe for women as you can get.
Within the swarm of moe that makes out Hetalia as a whole, one can find each and every cliche, often in several variations.
We have the three man team: the Axis powers, with cute'n'clumsy Italy, elegant'n'shy Japan and loud, besuited (and sometimes beglassed, oh my!) forceful but repressed Germany.
The sentai-group, even lampshaded in the series, in the form of the five man main Allies:
USA, loud, stupid and enthusiastic. England, short, spell-casting tsundere. France, blond lech with hate-you-lovegrope-you interaction with England. China fills the bishounen role and Russia is a creepy-cute, insane yandere who can be both hurt and in need of nurturing and a freakishly scary stalker, depending on ones imagination.
Appropriately enough, one of the most moe characters, Austria (glasses, young-lord-of-the-manor personality, frilly suits, emotional shyness, clumsiness, musical talent and funny hair-doink) is actually married to a full-blown fujoshi/slasher girl. Yay Hungary! She's also super strong and used to think she was a boy when she was a kid, and still is the one defending him with her military.
Then there's Prussia, a failed bad-boy (the mention the appeal of "rumpled suits" in the article too), soft-spoken and oft-forgotten Canada and a whole bunch of other characters.
While the Nordic countries haven't been in the series much, they easily form their own sentai-team.
Denmark is red, spiky-haired, wild and crazy. Finland, cute, kind, funny and easily embarrassed. He'd only need glasses and he'd almost be Miyuki. Sweden - big, strong, silent, wears glasses, cooks and fixes things, super-duper-shy. Norway, cool, blue (ok, they're almost all blue, so the color codes fail), converses with supernatural beings. Iceland, sarcastic, tsundere with a little-brother complex and slightly mysterious.
It all fits very well, because Hidekaz (the author) is excellent at picking out the historical stereotypes that supports his ideas and he's a very, very deft hand at recognizing moe-traits and combining them in appealing ways.
This, btw, is why I dislike those that sneer at Hetalia as a "show full of bishies" aka pretty boys. Part of the moe appeal, for both girls and boys, is that it's not just the perfect and beautiful that attracts. It's the imperfect that really makes one burn with passion, be it clumsiness and small breasts or stubborn stupidity and difficulty to connect with ones emotions. And one shouldn't sneer at things for the wrong reasion, dammit.
Entire anime meme here
First let me say, that with the exception of creepy-cute shows like Higurashi and Umineko no naku koro ni, I don't like moe-girls. They're small, speak in high-pitched voices and tend to be useless for the narrative except as objects to save, protect and drool over. If the drool potential isn't there, they're infinitely boring. Thus, me no likey.
But Japan is nothing if not gender-neutral when it comes to fan-service. Case in point, an article that ANN reported about a while ago from a mainstream woman's fashion magazine called An-an.
What is moe for women?
Not a preference or type, but it a strange feeling you get in response to bearing or clothing. This is not love, because it has nothing to do with any real partner, and it is not fetish, because it is not necessarily sexual. [...] The two biggest elements considered moe by women are identified as glasses and suits.
I admit it, I totally loled the first time I read this - wouldn't mind getting my hands on a complete translation of that article either. But I recognize a lot of things, not only from anime fandom. I mean, look at the discussion about how many men are needed to be moe:
Another fascinating section of the article deals with relational politics, or "relationality" (kankeisei). This is a central tenant of fujoshi [yaoi fangirls] discussions or uke/seme bottom/top, but it is given a fresh perspective by outside observation. First of all, there are apparently numbers that men gather in that are ideal for moe. These are two, three, five, seven and "swarm" (mure).
2 = manzai stand-up comedians or buddy cops, guys who are so close that it seems adding a woman into the mix would ruin their chemistry
^^^ So very slashy, as the person translating the article also points out
3 = [...] the balance in groups of three is absolutely ideal, because the existence of the other two allows for each one to develop a unique personality and place in the group.
5 = "Gatchaman" and sentai ranger shows, which are good because it offers the appeal of dynamic shifts between sets of two and three.
Interestingly enough, one of the things that is pointed out when people discuss the success of Sailor Moon, is that it mixed the sentai five-man team with the magical girls show. In general, team movies (Inception, anyone?) and rp-games often follow this formula.
Last is swarm, in which a huge number of good looking boys is enough to trigger moe without any specific relational dynamics. Examples are "Rookies" or "Crows."
And there we have it: Axis Powers Hetalia, a series about as moe for women as you can get.
Within the swarm of moe that makes out Hetalia as a whole, one can find each and every cliche, often in several variations.
We have the three man team: the Axis powers, with cute'n'clumsy Italy, elegant'n'shy Japan and loud, besuited (and sometimes beglassed, oh my!) forceful but repressed Germany.
The sentai-group, even lampshaded in the series, in the form of the five man main Allies:
USA, loud, stupid and enthusiastic. England, short, spell-casting tsundere. France, blond lech with hate-you-
Appropriately enough, one of the most moe characters, Austria (glasses, young-lord-of-the-manor personality, frilly suits, emotional shyness, clumsiness, musical talent and funny hair-doink) is actually married to a full-blown fujoshi/slasher girl. Yay Hungary! She's also super strong and used to think she was a boy when she was a kid, and still is the one defending him with her military.
Then there's Prussia, a failed bad-boy (the mention the appeal of "rumpled suits" in the article too), soft-spoken and oft-forgotten Canada and a whole bunch of other characters.
While the Nordic countries haven't been in the series much, they easily form their own sentai-team.
Denmark is red, spiky-haired, wild and crazy. Finland, cute, kind, funny and easily embarrassed. He'd only need glasses and he'd almost be Miyuki. Sweden - big, strong, silent, wears glasses, cooks and fixes things, super-duper-shy. Norway, cool, blue (ok, they're almost all blue, so the color codes fail), converses with supernatural beings. Iceland, sarcastic, tsundere with a little-brother complex and slightly mysterious.
It all fits very well, because Hidekaz (the author) is excellent at picking out the historical stereotypes that supports his ideas and he's a very, very deft hand at recognizing moe-traits and combining them in appealing ways.
This, btw, is why I dislike those that sneer at Hetalia as a "show full of bishies" aka pretty boys. Part of the moe appeal, for both girls and boys, is that it's not just the perfect and beautiful that attracts. It's the imperfect that really makes one burn with passion, be it clumsiness and small breasts or stubborn stupidity and difficulty to connect with ones emotions. And one shouldn't sneer at things for the wrong reasion, dammit.
Entire anime meme here
