The Moé Manifesto: An Insider’s Look at the Worlds of Manga, Anime, and Gaming

271 Pages·2014·19.94 MB·English

by  Patrick W. Galbraith

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Introduction
ITO KIMIO
From Social Movements to Shojo Manga KOTANI MARI
Memories of Youth
OTSUKA EIJI
From Shojo Manga to Bishojo Magazines SATO TOSHIHIKO
On Magical Girls and Male Fans (Part One)
NUNOKAWA YUJI
On Magical Girls and Male Fans (Part Two)
POP
Talking about Moé at the Heart of Akihabara MOMOI HALKO
The Voice of Moé Asks for Understanding TOROMI
Notes from Underground
SHIMADA HUMIKANE
Bridging the Gap between Mecha and Moé
© ZECO/FRIENDLY LAND
© JOHNHATHWAY
MAEDA JUN
The Crying Game
ITO NOIZI
Girl Drawing Girl
HONDA TORU
The Love Revolution Is Here
MORINAGA TAKURO
For Love or Money
HIGASHIMURA HIKARU
The MoéStudies Research Circle SODA MITSURU
The Philomoé Association
MORIKAWA KA’ICHIRO
Learning from Akihabara
ITO GO
The Pleasure of Lines
AZUMA HIROKI
Applying Pressure to the Moé Points SAITO TAMAKI
OtakuSexuality
Glossary
Index
© KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
PHOTOGRAPH BY RAMON MCGLOWN
“A
re you familiar with Japanese moé relationships,
where socially dysfunctional men develop deep
emotional attachments to body pillows with women
painted on them?” asks James Franco, guest starring on
the NBC sitcom 30 Rock in January 2010. Later in the
episode, the actor is shown holding a pillow with an
anime girl crudely drawn on it. Franco calls her Kimiko.
Viewers cannot suppress their laughter.
The laughter comes from a growing worldwide
awareness of Japanese popular culture, including the
antics of some of the more extreme fans of manga,
anime, and games. Just as anime and manga are
understood to be distinct from cartoons and comics, fans
of anime and manga are in a category of their own: otaku.
While talking about moé, Franco offers a concise
description of otaku: “socially dysfunctional men” who
are entirely too attached to fictional girl characters. From
where did the writers of 30 Rock get this idea? Perhaps a
July 2009 article in the New York Times that describes “moé
relationships” with body pillows as a social phenomenon
in Japan. Given the prevalence of such articles in the
popular press, many watching 30 Rock shook their heads,
smiled, and thought, “Yes, James Franco, we know moé!”
But what does moé even mean? The 30 Rock viewer sees
a man with a body pillow, which he seems to love. Is that
moé? Used as part of an inside joke, it seems that