in
moé seemed natural in such an
en
e vironment. The word moé became
mor
m e widely famous when Densha
otoko
ot
, a TV drama about otaku that
was fi
w
lmed in Akihabara, was aired in
2005.
20
But by that time otaku were kind
of alr
of
eady tired of the word.
Nurse Witch Komugi
PG: You have been very outspoken about what it means to feel moé for characters. Can you elaborate?
MH: You could defi ne moé as guys that are in love with fi ctional girl characters, but it’s more complicated than that. For example, men who feel moé for characters might cross-dress or decorate their bags with cute key-chains or wear cat ears to events. The THE VOICE OF MOE
ÁSKS FOR UNDERSTANDING
MOE_8_72-79.indd 75
13/2/14 10:17 AM
76
Toho Project series of games, which are very popular with men, feature cute girl characters wearing ornate costumes. The focus on fashion and style strikes me as very feminine, sort of like shojo manga (manga for girls). Lots of men cosplay as the cute girl characters from this series. More than a desire to date a cute girl or anime character, it is a desire to become her. I’m friends with the professional fi ghter Nagashima “Jienotsu” Yuichiro, who’s a famous otaku, and he’s certainly that way. He cosplays as cute girl characters not because he wants to cross-dress, but because he wants to be that character. When I was working on Nurse Witch Komugi, I met with the character designer, Watanabe Akio. He also did the characters for the anime series Bakemonogatari (2009). His girl characters are really cute, right? He uses bright colors and designs incredible costumes. I asked him how he drew such cute pictures and he told me, “It’s because I become Komugi-chan.” He doesn’t approach characters objectively, but rather from the inside out. It’s probably similar to when I become a character and perform her voice. Or when Nagashima as a fan becomes the characters that he loves. Moé can’t simply be described as guys feeling romantic love for fi ctional girls.
TD
O., L
TION C
RODUC
O P
NOK USTA
© T
Nurse Witch Komugi
MOMOI HALKO
MOE_8_72-79.indd 76
13/2/14 10:17 AM
77
PG: Are you suggesting that
moé should be though of as be-
yond gender?
MH: Moé isn’t bound to being
male or female. The response
transcends gender. Moé is
a third gender. If you think
A
about the characters in anime,
manga, and games, you’ll no-
CHIJINSH I©
tice there is a lot of androgyny.
There are characters who we
call otoko no ko, which sounds
Are these moé characters
girls or boys?
NY
like the Japanese word for
A P
“boy” but is written with
COM
HO
the Chinese characters
OS TO
“man” and “daughter.” So,
YIA T©
it means something like
boy-girl. They appear to
be girls, but are actually
boys. It’s part of a larger
trend toward feminiza-
tion. In anime, you have
weaker male charac-
ters—for example, Amuro from Mobile Suit Gundam and Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion—and stronger female characters.
These days, no one is interested in the male characters, but everyone likes the female ones. In bishojo games, male players don’t want strong male protagonists, because that might get in THE VOICE OF MOE
ÁSKS FOR UNDERSTANDING
MOE_8_72-79.indd 77
13/2/14 10:17 AM
78
the way of their imagi-
nary relationships with
the female characters, on
whose lives the game is
almost entirely focused.
Actually, if you think
about anime series such
as Lucky Star and K-On!
CN
that are popular with
N IOY
otaku, male characters
Y CAN N
don’t really appear at
O
© P
all. But then you have
women reading “boys’
love” manga, where
there are no girls, and
the female readers are
identifying with the
male characters. I know
that lots of women
play Tokimeki Memorial,
K-On!
too, which is a game
about dating cute girls. So you have women becoming male characters and men becoming female characters. That’s the fl exibility at the heart of moé.
PG: Why do you think that bishojo characters like Komugi and Mii tend to be young?
MH: It might be a desire to return to childhood. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, the image of the carefree child playing in the backyard is appealing. The freedom and innocence is intoxicating. There was an incredible backlash when fans learned Nagi, the main character from the manga Kannagi (2006–present), might have had a boyfriend in the past. The goddess was reduced to the level of a realistic girl, which ruined the fantasy for them.
MOMOI HALKO
MOE_8_72-79.indd 78
13/2/14 10:17 AM
79
PG: You started making music for moé games and anime when you were quite young. How did you approach the making of this music?
MH: As a young girl, I put my own heart and emotions into my music. Those fans who felt moé probably identifi ed with that female spirit. Moé is a very spiritual thing. It isn’t just some pattern. There was a time when I was asked to put keywords like
“big brother” or “meow” into my music, but I didn’t like it. Someone was making a calculated business decision to put those words into the song to trigger a response in otaku. It’s the same with anime specifi cally designed to trigger moé. It seems forced and lacking in soul. I’m not interested in the business side of things.
PG: Do you still consider your songs to be about moé?
MH: That’s a real dilemma for me. One of the reasons I disband-ed Under 17 was because I didn’t want to reproduce a patterned moé formula. But when I started getting invitations to perform at conventions overseas, I learned that fans consider moé a really great thing. They want me to sing Under 17 songs and do Komugi’s voice. They think it’s cool and fun. The same way that moé is able to transcend gender, it
can also transcend national-
ity. That has given me confi -
dence and helped me recon-
T
sider the value of moé and my
INMEN
experiences in Akihabara. Moé
TA
ERT
is a subculture. It’s punk rock.
ENL
The older generation doesn’t
ITA
IG
D
understand, and people who
MIAN
are into moé are often treated
O K©
like criminals. But that is
changing, and I will continue
to do my part to help spread
understanding of moé.
Tokimeki Memorial
THE VOICE OF MOE
ÁSKS FOR UNDERSTANDING
MOE_8_72-79.indd 79
13/2/14 10:17 AM
80
Intervie
w with
Toromi
Toromi (age unknown) is
an artist whose talents
include voice acting,
character design, illustration,
singing, and composing. She
is most famous as the voice
of Mii, one of the characters
in the bishojo game Popotan
(2003). Sometimes categorized
as an “underground idol” ( chika
aidoru), Toromi distributes her
music at fan events and online.
She also illustrates the jackets
to her own CDs. In 2009, Toromi
was asked to draw character-
izations of Buddhist deities for
Ryohoji Temple in the Tokyo
suburbs. Her characters, which
resemble those in Popotan, are
prominently displayed on a
sign in front of the temple,
U
which some now call the “moé
CHIFUK
temple” ( moedera).* In this in-
A HY
terview, Toromi talks about
EST
UR
what it means to draw as a
O C
PH
professional, and how moé
RAGO
images draw attention and
TO
PH
open up dialogue.
* To view these images, visit http://
ryohoji.jp/top.html/
TOROMI
MOE_9_80-89.indd 80
13/2/14 10:18 AM
81
Notes from Underground
The Voice of Mii-chan
Patrick W. Galbraith (PG): When did you start drawing?
Toromi (T): I’ve liked to draw ever since I was a child. I started to draw professionally when I got a job as an assistant at the game company Petit Ferret.
PG: Was that your main job at the company?
T: No. At fi rst I was doing voices for them. My debut was the voice of the character Mii in the bishojo game Popotan (2002). The main visuals were drawn by Poyoyon Rock [aka Watanabe Akio].
I also sang one of Popotan’s theme songs, produced by Under 17.
[See Momoi Halko
[
, pa
, p ge 72.] But then I started assisting the illus-
]
trators,
tr
scanning,
ators, scanning fi
, xing,
fi xing and coloring their orig
, a
inal
dra
dr wings,
aw
and this was the
fi
first ste
r
p toward becoming
a pr
a p ofessional illustrator
myself.
myse
PG
PG: Is that wher
: Is th
e you fi rst
learned to dr
learned
aw?
T: Y
: es.
Y
I learned on the job.
You don’
You
t study to become a
sales clerk,
sale
right? It was the
same for me
same
. I don’t mean to
E
be arr
be a ogant, but I think that
EMPL TJIOHOY R
A Buddhist deity made
©EG
into a moé character
A
IM
THE VOICE OF MII-CHAN
THE VOIC
MOE_9_80-89.indd 81
13/2/14 10:19 AM
82
people who can draw can simply draw, and people who can’t simply can’t. It’s just a fact.
PG: So when you realized you could create your own work, you started working independently on your own projects. How do you approach illustration?
T: The most important thing is the data provided by the client, who tells me what kind of character he or she wants. For example, if you ask me to draw a girl character, I will ask you about her age, favorite things, the colors associated with her, and so on. It is diffi cult to draw a character if someone just says “make it cute.”
PG: How would you describe the characters that you draw?
T: In terms of drawing style, I prefer clean, bold lines and bright colors. In general, I draw young girls. I get almost no requests for male characters or older women. Such requests only come when I’m asked to provide multiple
e
characters that work together.
r.
In that case, each character has
has
to be distinct from the others,
s,
so there will be different ages,
s
,
body shapes, and so on.
PG: Who are your clients?
T: Right now, the toy company
ny
Bandai has got me drawing
an illustration for a sign in
Tokyo’s Akihabara district.
A store called Tokito has
asked me to draw characters
TD
O., L
to promote their samurai
N CET
goods. I’m working on a
OH
character for a seller of the
A SWAK
Okinawan souvenir cookie,
O
Ryohoji Temple manga
AD
© K
TOROMI
MOE_9_80-89.indd 82
13/2/14 10:19 AM
83
E
EMPL TJIOHOY R©
Toro Benten
THE VOICE OF MII-CHAN
MOE_9_80-89.indd 83
13/2/14 10:19 AM
84
U
CHIFUKA
, HE
EMPL TJIOHOY R©
“People want cute.”
“
NISHIMURA
chinsuko
c
. I’ve designed the image
O
EIK K
char
c
acter for Ametan candy. I’m
Y B
PH
working on a mang
w
a about Ryo-
RAGO
hoji
h
Temple in a magazine from
TO
PH
the pub
t
lisher Kadokawa. People
often don’t know my name, but
they know my characters.
PG: Do you have a sense of who is attracted to your drawings and music?
T: Well, when I’m creating, I don’t usually have a particular audience in mind. I don’t select my audience—I want to be selected by them. I’m grateful if anyone likes my work. My fans are diverse, ranging from little girls to adult men. And also people from outside Japan—I recently got an e-mail from a fan written in English.
PG: Do you put yourself into your work?
T: I think so, at least when I’m singing. The style of my music is called dempa, which is high pitched, fast, and cute. When I’m singing, I immerse myself in the story of the song, which makes me emotional and even makes me cry sometimes, but I don’t TOROMI
MOE_9_80-89.indd 84
13/2/14 10:19 AM
85
do this when I’m drawing—I have to be detached and think how best to fulfi ll the client’s request. It isn’t about me.
PG: As a woman, do you fi nd it diffi cult to draw female characters that appeal to men?
T: That’s not something I think about. I don’t make work that appeals only to men, and I don’t get requests for that kind of work.
Peopl
e want cute. Whether it’s a cat or a girl character, cuteness is what people are after.
PG: Would you describe your works as moé?
T: I personally don’t use that word to describe my work. I was drawing before people used the word moé, after all. But it’s fi ne if someone describes my works as moé. I wouldn’t disagree.
PG: What does moé mean to you?
T: It’s related to shyness. Moé is a feeling that you want to hide, an embarrassing feeling. Something on the inside, like the fi lling in a chocolate or the yolk in an e
n an gg
egg
cooked sunny-side up. You want to
nt to
savor it, and you don’t want to
show it or share it with others.
.
PG: Moé is like the yolk of an
egg?
T: It’s similar to that feeling
when you like a classmate, but
t
you don’t want him to know.
You can’t say it out loud or
share it with others.
E
PG: OK, so the love that cannot be
t be
EMPL T
spoken.
JIOHO
T: Yeah. You can’t stare at the bo
b y
oy
Y R©
you like, but you can keep stealing
li
Manga deity Toro Mini
THE VOICE OF MII-CHAN
MOE_9_80-89.indd 85
13/2/14 10:19 AM
86
E
EMPL TJIOHOY R©
Above: The Ryohoji Temple notice board;
below: Toro Benten
glances at him. There was a time in
a time in
my life where I said the wor
o d
rd moé
mo all
é all
the time, like screaming it out loud
out loud
when I looked at cute characters,
racters
,
but it didn’t feel right to me
m .
e.
Moé is something private.
PG: But girls do talk about
the boys they like.
T: Girls are shy about
revealing their feelings
but they want to be heard,
so they end up saying mean
an
things about the boys they
y
E
like. They can’t face up to ho
h w
ow
EMPL T
they really feel, so instead
JIOHO
they attack.
Y R©
TOROMI
MOE_9_80-89.indd 86
13/2/14 10:19 AM
87
U
PG: You are explaining moé using the example of shy girls talking about the
The Moé Manifesto Page 7
