Your Experience with Moe

[May_Lily]

I would like to know if anyone has ever experience the feeling of moe towards a character(s) from an anime they have watch, and if so how did you deal with it. Also, what was it about the character(s) that you loved so much you wanted what is best for them?

 

[Teddy]

There were explicitly designed to appeal to an audience in which would have no contact with such personality traits (namely everyone on earth, as Moe humans would no longer be that extra and cute by the time they reach adolescents as they get slapped around by real life unless they are manipulative sort who could see the benefits of acting that way. They are those however that become comfortable with their partners and thus the couple gains the desire to spoil one another.)

In my opinion people do like having some sunshine in their life and someone expressing a little bit of joy and love towards them. Moe characters from fictional sources don't require successfully courting or stalking to see them in that happy state unlike real life humans. It is subjectively speaking easier for weebs to gain their rewards through anime rather than real life if they have fallen into the trap that fictional characters Moe state is a reward for them.

Note 1: The above can also be applied to idols. They act cute, sexy, funny towards you after less effort (technically free until you buy merch or go to concerts and handshaking events) and exhibit attractive personality expressions with more intensity than a real life human would.

Note2: They are some innocent kids that do exhibit some Moe traits in real life. (Exaggerated cheerfulness. bubbliness. Dropping a cheesy line or two without knowing it. Innocently punching a 50 calibre hole in your heart.)

This brings me to my next point. An arguement/opinion on why lolicons are so widespread in weeb culture. After also being slapped by real life, People subconsciously understand that Moe traits are unnatural to mature humans of the real world. But they are able to still see that kids have not fought the duel with life and sent to the shadow realm yet. That innocence allows them to embody those traits. So anime lolis seem more natural for the less than average weeb to have those Moe traits and think less that its a marketing ploy to suck up all your earnings. (your average weeb will know the above but just don't care cause they've already fallen so far into depravity and have their heart strings all tangled up)

note again: you can call most things a marketing ploy in capitalism cause I'm sure someone somewhere has tried to make money off everything.

Tl;Dr I did not answer Op's question and instead went on a spiel also Hinagiku Katsura best girl

 

[May_Lily]

Yeah you didn't, but I take it you went on this spiel because it reminded you of something that has been on your mind for a while now that you have to let it out.

 

[PantsMan]

I would like to know if anyone has ever experience the feeling of moe towards a character(s) from an anime they have watched

I imagine most people do. Fun things are fun, cute girls are cute. The medium doesn't matter much.

and if so how did you deal with it.

As is the norm for humans, I tend to go through the four stages of Omochikaeri:

[ul]1) First contact ( A girl with moe potental first appears. )
2) Assessment ( Subject thoroughly assesses girl, usually for hymen status anomalies )
3) Omochikaeri! ( Girl is found suitable, the moe and its benefits duly harvested.)
[The Gap corollary: girls who have failed the Assessment or even First contact phase can still trigger Omochikaeri! responses, often to an even greater degree. First discovered in 1878 by Dr Jozeph Tsundere, after a heated discussion on Dickens' final masterpiece: "A Tale of six girls who just hang out a club and do things".]
4) Pair-bonding ( Subject links his own identity and taste with moe girl, exhibiting territorial behaviour such as defending her from online shit-talkers .)[/ul]

 

[Garakuta]

Let’s continue to look at this scientifically, fellow colleagues. First, bring your attention to Subject 1:

Here you can clearly see a cute Dalian. Tests on novice, as well as more experienced weebs have shown following symptoms:
-an increase of the heart rate, followed by a higher body temperature
-a strong sense of ‘wanting to protect that smile‘
-a ‚fluttering‘ of the heart, presumably the famous Moe-Moe-Einstein-Effect, named after it’s discoverer Moe Einstein
-significant relief of stress

As you can see, the influence on the human psyche by these kind of ‘sugoi kawaii‘ subjects are without a doubt of scientific interest. There are many possible explanations for this phenomenon, but the prevailing theory is the existence of a certain particle, that gets radiated, when something ‘kyuut :3‘ comes into existence. This so called Imouton still has not been observed, but it might be the cause for the mental suffering of millions of weebs.

For my next point of discussion, I would like you to look at Subject 2:

‘Pureness‘, ‘Cuteness‘, ’Preciousness‘.
These kind of words might now pop into your head, but be advised not to expose yourself to long to the subjects, as there have been cases of patients going into homelessness, because they lost all their money on merchandise of their ‘waifu‘. Further long-term effects still have not been studied, so there may be even more danger.
But coming back to the demise of many simple weebs, the process they go through often shares the same pattern, namely:
1) Making contact with the subject through certain media (anime, manga, gacha games, etc.)
2) An increasing interest in the subject
3) The critical point: the patients associating themselves with the subject; a psychological bonding occurs (e.g. ‘Hifumin is my waifu!‘)
4) The psychological bonding gets deeper, first merchandise is being bought
5) The patient starts to fully direct his life to the subject, using all his time and funds
6) (social) Death

Concluding my report on the dangers of ‘moe‘, if humanity doesn’t find a cure for their self-brought plague, then they will surely only find their end (by cuteness-overload).

 

[May_Lily]

@PantsMan

I can imagine a good amount of people have felt this way towards fictional characters as well regardless of what medium they are in. I just mention "anime" since I thought to place this topic in the anime section because the concept of moe seems to be well known people who enjoy watching this style of animation.

As for this concept of omochikaeri, I have never heard of this term before, but I am currently reading a book titled Love and Limerance: The Experience of Being in Love by the late psychologist Dorothy Tennev, Ph.D. and the following stages you describe reminds me of the phases people go through when they are experiencing limerance (at least the first three of the six phases of limerance) although they differ in some ways.

I am still learning about psychological theory of limerance, but limerance is basically the phenomenon that happens when a person experiences a feeling that has been describe as "falling in love" (or experiencing a "crush" I would add). I am thinking limerance is closely related to what the Greeks refer to as eros, which is "romantic love", but is also refer to as "passionate love" (which is "sexual love"). However sexual desire is only a component of limerance and not limerance in and of itself. Instead the chief desire a person going through limerance has towards their object of affection, which is refer to as the "limerant object" or LO for short, is "emotional connection" or "reciprocation."

Anyway the first two phases of limerance are the following:

1) The limerant reaction begins, usually at a point of discernible at the time and later recalled. In this phase sexual attraction does not need to be experience, but (a) the person one is attracted to is view as a potential sexual partner, and (b) the initial "admiration" may be, or seem to be, base primarily on physical attraction. This seems to relate to the first two stages of this omochikaeri

2) Once limerance begins a person finds themselves thinking about their limerant object and receiving pleasure in the process of doing so. They experience freedom from the usual restraints of daily life and negative emotions. They also may be attracted to more then one limerant object and feel their responces is a result of the qualities they find in the LO.

3) With evidence of reciprocation from the limerant object, the person enjoys a state of extreme pleasure and euphoria. The thoughts that go in the person's mind are mainly concerning with considering and reconsidering what they find attractive in the limerant object as they replay whatever events that have transpired between the two being together, and appreciating the qualities in oneself which they perceive as possibly being responsible for sparking an interest in the on the part of the limerant object.

Phases two and three seems to relate to the third and fourth stage of omochikaeri, but it also differs.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

@Garakuta

This is a nice explanation, but not the one I am looking for. ^_^ It's too focus on the idea of moe from a very generalize and commercialize or superficial perspective that exclusively targets males whereas I am referring to moe as a personal feeling one has towards a fictional character (including the ones that are not drawn and behave in this childish, cutish manner like the two examples you shared) that they deeply care for to the point you are concern for their well being and want what is best for them.

 

[Garakuta]

(now a bit more serious)
That's interesting actually, because, personally, I don't consider moe as something, that goes that deep. Rather than being a feeling towards a person (here character) themself, for me it's more the impression of their appearence and/or their behaviour, for example them looking or acting endearing. What I consider personal bonding can start with/before/after that, but isn't generally dictated by having a moe experience.

 

[Teddy]

I dare say @May_lily this thread wasn't what you had in mind when you started it.

 

[May_Lily]

@Garakuta

for me it's more the impression of their appearence and/or their behaviour, for example them looking or acting endearing. What I consider personal bonding can start with/before/after that, but isn't generally dictated by having a moe experience.

That sounds similar to what I experience. For me both appearance, behavior, as well as personality play a part in how much affinity I would feel for certain character(s).

I am reminded of a blog post I read years ago that imply that people have their own idea of what the concept of moe is. You can read it here if you like: http://animeyume.com/blog/2010/04/26/moe-exists-only-in-the-heart/

@Teddy

Yeah.

 

[Teddy]

Yeah.

Don't know why but made me laugh.

But yeah agree, its the portrayal that you call Moe not your personal response. For instance some normal people find Moe characters annoying, childish in a bad sense and repulsive.

On the otherhand that link you have with the characters are a different bond. The following is an idea of how the second phase of limerance forms

As the audience, we will able to see backstories, individual thoughts and their social interactions. We effectively know all about them or atleast we think we do.
Take the cliche. "I wanna confess but I'm scared" This might be relatable with personal experience but you see their hardship and want to support "Oh the target is so dense, oh that dumbass firework or train blocking their confession"

To elaborate. I'm not sure if this twilight or 50 shades of grey. Yes, I'm sure you can guess from my posts on MD. I am a guy who doesn't read that type of fantasy, if that is sexist. Then I am not the type of girl that reads that fantasy. Either way I remember hearing one of the reasons that the girl didn't leave the abusive boyfriend is because the guy explained his terrible backstory to her and she thinks she the only one who can save him/support him. This actually mirrors alot of cases of abusive relationships or even Stockholm kidnappings. The idea that you can support the character whereas everyone else in the narrative can't understand the characters inner thoughts or motives helps form an attachment to them.

Yes I'm suggesting that we are in abusive relationship with fictional characters with the notion that we are the abused.

P.s I know that that's not the only form of attachment nor do fictional characters never have someone who understands them. Even if they do, you still do feel like supporting them as an extra friend whilst they overcome their challenges.

Then we have that infamous 6 girl show that explosively expanded the CGDCTs genre and explosively nuked hearts. Which blows most of my argument out of the water but I will hold on and say, that their motivations and thoughts were clear from the start so we attached on extremely quick.

 

[May_Lily]

Don't know why but made me laugh

.

😄

To elaborate. I'm not sure if this twilight or 50 shades of grey. Yes, I'm sure you can guess from my posts on MD. I am a guy who doesn't read that type of fantasy, if that is sexist. Then I am not the type of girl that reads that fantasy.

I do not see what it is about your statement that could possibly be sexist. You are just stating you do not read a particular genre of fiction. There is nothing wrong with that.

Yes I'm suggesting that we are in abusive relationship with fictional characters with the notion that we are the abused.

I was not sure where you were coming from with this view at first as I do not see how one can be in a abusive relationship with someone that cannot harm them given they they do not exist. However as I thought about it and looked at your example of Twilight (the book you are actually referring to), I think I have an idea where you are coming from. Are you referring to the number of women who felled in love with Edward despite how unhealthy of a person he was? If so then I can see the reasoning behind your analogy. However I would not say that is the case for me, nor everyone. There have been characters I have seen with unhealthy dispositions who I do not form much of an affinity with despite knowing the reasoning that has led them to behave so terribly. At best I feel sympathy for the situations that has led them astray, but otherwise I feel more repulse towards those characters.

Then we have that infamous 6 girl show that explosively expanded the CGDCTs genre and explosively nuked hearts. Which blows most of my argument out of the water but I will hold on and say, that their motivations and thoughts were clear from the start so we attached on extremely quick.

I do not recall what show you are referring to and therefore do not know what motivations and thoughts those characters had that attracted so many people to them. Also, I do not recognize "Cute Girls Doing Cute Things" as a genre. If anything it's more of a trend then a genre.

 

[Teddy]

@may_lily
To rephrase and better explain it. The twilight/50 shades of grey reference was referring to idea of how understanding another's backstory, disposition, motivations, inner thought etcs helps form bond with that character and thus form limerance(?) with that character (even if they are not actually very nice people. I think it was actually 50 shades of grey that had the abusive sadistic boyfriend).
This bond leads one to support that character (in 50 shades the FMC tries to help and change the MC , in real life abusive relationships usually the abused wife stays or provides for the "broken" man cause, "No one else can save him but me mentality").
But yes the above is not an undisputed truth for everyone, some people are just more susceptible to forming bonds due to thinking they understand another.

CGDCTs may be genre or trend not exactly sure what the definitions are for the two words. The show I was referring to is K-On. (Which I'm sure is the same as @Pantsman's Jozeph Tsundere 1878 reference.)
- confirm if you wanna also kudos to your hitman story enjoying it much so.

 

[May_Lily]

To rephrase and better explain it. The twilight/50 shades of grey reference was referring to idea of how understanding another's backstory, disposition, motivations, inner thought etcs helps form bond with that character and thus form limerance(?) with that character (even if they are not actually very nice people. I think it was actually 50 shades of grey that had the abusive sadistic boyfriend).

Oh~, I see. Also yes it was 50 Shades of Grey that had the abusive, sadistic boyfriend.

The show I was referring to is K-On.

Oh that show. I never watch it, and only read very little of the source material. I do remember the series being popular at the time within the anime community.

 

[Huji]

Moe is sometimes the most annoying thing in anime as it can just be literally "cute girls doing cute things" since there is no underlying message behind the CGDCT Most "moe" anime are repetitive formate of the watcher trying to self insert into an moe's world. A world that is so unrealistic and cartoonish that it attracts the imagination, but far from that moe is just an over the top aspect of a single aspect of a character ... pureness and "cuteness", basically moe characters are the perfect doll, the quiet one who submits and says nothing. It eerily reminds one of what Japanese society considers a perfect "geisha", Japanese word for prostitute.

So when I think of it, I consider most moe characters to be a ying yang (is it yong yang? or yin yang?) there can be both side to it

 

[Sem]

I get it quite often! I'm an emotional reader/watcher.

There's moe as an aesthetic, which I'm pretty ambivalent about.

But there's also moe as a feeling. If we're talking about the "feeling of something blooming" I get it pretty regularly. I rarely experience it with the usual giant eyed cutesy girls. Cute girls doing cute things does nothing for me. What really gets me is gap moe.

The standard "tough delinquent picks up a stray cat"!! Or "fiery personality, but very short." Or "extremely intelligent, but asks how many calories are in soap." Or "old, but still moved by small experiences." Or "cocky and flippant, but actually serious and hardworking."
I love the big softies, I really do. I love the empathetic cinnamon rolls like Mob and Tanjiro and Natsume. But when there's a discrepancy between expectations and reality, that's when I get the feeling of something blooming in my heart.

I still love the straightforward cutes though.

Spoiler

 

[May_Lily]

@Huji

It eerily reminds one of what Japanese society considers a perfect "geisha", Japanese word for prostitute.

Really now! Interesting!

is it yong yang? or yin yang?

It's "ying yang". Curious where did you get the word "yong" from?

@Sem

I get it quite often! I'm an emotional reader/watcher.

If we're talking about the "feeling of something blooming" I get it pretty regularly.

Oh yes! I am the same way as well. ^_^ Even now I am currently going through something like this with a certain character from a particular show I am watching this summer season. Overtime I grew to like her to the point I started feeling fond of her, but also concern for her well being whenever something bad happens to her, or dreading when I know something bad is going to happen to her.

At the moment I can't describe the kind of characters I tend to have a liking towards, but thanks for sharing yours. I would say by writing standards what you describe are the best characters. The ones who seem to be one persona on the outside, but are actually this kind of person on the inside. It's because that is how everyone is like. We only see one side of a person, but as we get to know them we begin to see different sides to them that we do not expect.

What really gets me is gap moe.

What would you describe as "gap" moe?