Thread: Moe vs Kawaii
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Old 2012-03-29, 22:28   Link #2
Vexx
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
Many western fans mistakenly think 'moe' is a tangible attribute of something whereas it is basically the feeling the *viewer* has. People can get feelings of 'moe' over a variety of things. Some series use art techniques that generate 'moe' in the viewing audience and those are sometimes called 'moe shows' or 'moeblob shows'. However, the feeling can be generated from watching a character drawn in other styles as well.

It is a slang word: a pun derived from a Japanese word that literally means "budding," as with a plant that is about to flower and a homonym for the word for "burning" ... in other words, its an armwaving way of trying to describe a passionate feeling for something that isn't necessarily erotic/sexual. That warm, fuzzy feeling that something must be worshiped and protected.

The situation reminds me of the German word "gestalt" which doesn't have a direct translation so it just gets imported. Haruhi... well, I blame some of the fansubbers for a rather loosely translated bit of dialog in that scene contributing to the problem (there was also some intentional satire in the scene on the otaku culture that was taken seriously by some viewers).
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Last edited by Vexx; 2012-03-29 at 23:14.
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