Spring 2010: Less Moe, More Substance?
Koji Kumeta telling you what's up.
Sorrow-kun has just given his opinion on the new season, and I’ve discovered that the new shows have a subtle, but important, shift in focus away from the “moexploitation” shows of past seasons. While I am not foolish or naive enough to conclude that Spring 2010 will be known as “The Season that Moe Died” (especially with Strike Witches 2 just around the corner, HNNNNNNGH), the shift is still interesting and worth examining.
Let’s first talk about “moexploitation” for a second. I define “moexploitation” as any show that uses moe as its primary selling point. Koji Kumeta and Yasu‘s (relatively) new syndication, Joshiraku (image above), parodies the moexploitation phenomena, and while Kumeta’s being a bit precious, he’s right: moexploitation shows throw plot out the window, and feature incredibly poor writing. I’ve already made several cases against moexploitation, so I won’t bore you with rehashes. Instead, I am going to focus more on the changes that I’ve seen in the past season.
The first thing that struck me about this season’s titles was the prominence of men in the main cast. Looking at shows like Arakawa Under the Bridge, Senkou no Night Raid, Durarara!! and most certainly Rainbow, the ratio of male to female characters is highly lopsided towards males. Even shows like Working!!, Angel Beats! and (arguably) B Gata H Kei deviate from the moexploitation trend set in earlier seasons. (I’ll come back to B Gata H Kei later, because I believe it deserves a closer examination.) Angel Beats! features a strong female presence (not to mention the greatest female antagonist in anime history), but the show seems to definitely be focused on bromance, not romance. Apart from very subtle hints here and there, Angel Beats! doesn’t really have any sort of overt romantic overtones that dominated shows such as Haruhi, which gives it a distinct and unique feel. Other shows are more overly androcentric. Durarara!!, while about a woman, is a show run by men. Rainbow doesn’t even have women in the main cast.
There is one show prominently missing from this list. I’m talking, of course, about K-On!! K-On!! is the epitome of moexploitation: no plot, no characterization— moeblobs running around, doing what amounts to little more than nothing. Sorrow-kun is absolutely correct when he says that we already know what game K-On!! is trying to play. All personal feelings aside, I believe that KyoAni‘s strategy of moexploitation with K-On!! represents more and more an obsolete and losing strategy for anime production. At some point, cynicism is going to take over the minds of even the most hardcore of otaku. (Indeed, even on 2ch, extreme displays of affection towards 2D moe characters are looked down upon and made fun of.)
Examining the character designs of major series this season, it seems to me that, more and more, studios are moving away from moe overloads. Even Angel Beats! has a distinctly “moe-but-not-really-that-moe” feel to it; I personally attribute this to Na-Ga‘s inability to draw correctly, but one can also point to it as evidence that moe is on the retreat. Senkou no Night Raid, Durarara!!, Rainbow and Arakawa Under the Bridge all pursue different approaches to character design; Durarara‘s characters have a distinctively edgy, modern feel; Senkou‘s female characters (character?) are moe, but in very subtle ways… and so on and so forth. What is clear is that these aforementioned shows do not rely on moe as a source of appeal.
I mentioned at the beginning of the article that I would devote a bit of time to pick apart B Gata H Kei. In terms of innovation and vision, B Gata H Kei may actually be the most innovative anime airing this season. For starters, it turns the harem genre completely upside down: instead of thirty billion girls fawning over one clueless guy, B Gata H Kei tells the story of a single woman try really hard at getting into some guy’s pants. For starters, Yamada is an interesting lead for a show of this nature. Most moe-style romantic comedies are told from the perspective of the male, and most shoujo romances are told from the perspective of the female. B Gata H Kei really is neither. Yamada is most definitely not a cookie-cutter moeblob. In fact, she’s your anti-moeblob. Bitchy, narcissistic, horny to the point of insanity, Yamada twists and perverts the moe rom-com genre in an innovative and refreshing way. B Gata H Kei demonstrates that there’s more than one way to avoid moexploitation. I can only hope that it gets better from here.
I’ve alluded to this earlier in the article, but there is also a dearth of romance anime this season. If we examine all the major shows this season, we have three action thrillers (Senkou, DRRR, Angel Beats), one very serious drama (Rainbow), two slice-of-life shows (Working!! and K-On!!) and two rom-coms (Arakawa, B H). Both rom-coms are fairly unconventional in nature. The slice-of-life shows this season are undoubtedly guilty of moexploitation, but I find Working!! far less offensive than K-On!! in that regard; I view Working!! in the same vein as Aria, Sketchbook and Azumanga Daioh. There’s less focus on displaying the cuteness of the cast and more focus on their quirky personalities. At least the characters of Working!! have personalities.
Finally, I believe last season’s Sora no Woto also deserves a quick look; I still remember the initial accusation of it being a K-On! clone. How wrong we all were for assuming such a thing! Sora no Woto actually breaks the moexploitation trend in fairly innovative ways; as I’ve discussed in my review, the show is an attempt to merge the moe aesthetic with more serious, dark themes. While not entirely successful, I believe that Sora no Woto represents a pretty important step forward. Not a bad first effort at all.
In short, the 2010 Spring Season has seen an influx of shows that focus more on storytelling and character interactions, and less reliance on moe as a selling point. Perhaps Anime no Chikara pioneered the way for more substantive moe-style shows; perhaps this season was simply a fluke and saw many adaptations of more serious, non-exploitative works. Whether this trend persists is yet to be seen, but if it does, Spring 2010 will be remembered as a watershed season. Either way, I fully intend on enjoying the ride.
Notes: Some of you will complain about my biased show selection; notably, I didn’t list KissxSis, Kaichou wa Meido Sama! and Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou in the shows on my list. I believe my list is fairly representative of the shows this season. If you wish to expand the analysis, I propose adding in shows like Ookiku Furikabutte, Uraboku, Saraiya Goyou, Giant Killing, Heroman, Hakuouki and Yojohan Shinwa Taikei. The proportion of moexploitation to non-moexploitation is still relatively low compared to other seasons. Remember that this theory is a work in progress, and I hope to spur some dialogue in order for me to refine and reflect on trends within the industry.
The translation of Koji Kumeta and Yasu’s Joshiraku is my own.
I promised offhand for an article about anime originals. The article is coming, but I wanted to wait for Senkou no Night Raid to progress a bit further before making any judgments.
Finally, I have a twitter. Follow me @Hofrenska, I’d love to hear from you guys outside of the comment box.
I’d be wary of using shows like Durarara and Senkou no Night Raid as examples of shows with “lots of men” as opposed to moe-centric casts, since if Pixiv is any indication, the primary audience for those shows is heavily female.
Interestingly, what people on both sides of the moe argument seem to forget is that moe is super effective at inciting the right feelings when it’s not being rammed down your throat. That’s probably why it’s been a mainstay in anime for decades. It’s only in the last couple of years that it’s become so prominent to the point that it’s inundating (and almost suffocating). If we assume that the peak of “moexploitation” came around 08-09, it’s interesting that you talk about Sora no Woto as an example of a title that combined the moe aesthetic with darker themes that came just after the moe peak. There’s also an anime I’ve talked about before that did something very similar just before the moe peak: Higurashi.
It doesn’t surprise me if anime fans want something different. Even the hardcore otaku will want something different eventually (or, at the very least, for the trends to go in different directions). I remember just a few years ago when anime (as an industry) was so dynamic and was in a state of flux. This was around 05-07, and there was constantly so much to be excited about. Then it stagnated for a couple of years. Hopefully we’re about to enter another state of flux. If there’s one permanence about culture, it’s that it’s always evolving.
I, for one, welcome or more regulated moe overlords.
I actually think that the industry is merely normalizing to the economic realities. Don’t forget that only a few years ago moe was a brand new concept that sold well, and like anything of such qualities, the concept was bid up to the sky in hopes of finding a upper limit of demand for the product. They’ve now found it, and the moe bubble is deflating to an appropriate size in response.
Like Sorrow-kun, I do hope that anime does go into another state of flux as lots of great things come from it when it does. The only problem is that the money no longer exists in the industry to fuel the creativity we saw in the middle of this decade.
As far as I can tell, the only real moe-blob show is K-On S2, which I’m not watching, since I hate that piece of shit. But even working, a show I thought would be similar to K-On, has managed to not be completely thrown down the moe well, with the additions of characters such as Kyoko, who kicks ASS, and Yachiyo, who is a lesbian with a katana, aka, the best female character of the year.
Also, what manga is that picture from?
In regards to focusing on ‘cuteness’, I’m a little confused here.
The antics of the girls as of late ‘obsessing over screws’, ‘complaining about not being in the spotlight’, ‘listening to a piano speak’ seem at least to me to be for lack of better words retarded rather then cute.
Navii,
You must be new here.
You’re not going to believe what I am about to say, but I disagree that Kyoani’s moesploitation model will prove to be a definitive losing strategy in a zero sum game sort of way. However this is because I feel it is merely a strategy that leaves little to no room for growth because of it’s niche appeal to a demographic that is slowing slipping into a counter-culture position again.
Though I suppose a no-growth strategy can also be called a loss as a business model since the entire point of a business strategy is in finding ways to generate and increase profits in both the short and the long term in a competitive market. I think Kyoani’s board members may have a very short term mindset as far as what they are trying to market and where they aim to place their capital and funding. It also seem like they have kind of worked themselves into a bit of a Nash Equilibrium along with the rest of the industry during the whole moe boom, but that the equilibrium is about to or is slowly being broken out of necessity for it’s very survival. Knock on wood of course.
Anyway that 4koma is pretty golden. There’s something to be said for a gag/parody strip that says what everybody is thinking and also manages to avoid the curse of the Buckley box by making the explanation pivotal to the joke.
You also left out Mayoi Neko. I’m not so sure whether there really is less moe and more substance, or if it’s just same moe and more substance. It’s a fine line, but it points to the fact that moe is not on the decline. It’s going to be around, whereas the amount of substance is going to be dependent on how good a few series are rather than how many series there are.
… This comment is poorly written, and I’m not sure if I explained myself well.
Boy, you guys would really have absolutely nothing to talk about if moe wasn’t around, huh? I’m not so sure show’s like Lucky Star and K-On are going away. But do we expect mindless Shonen to disappear? No, it’s just a genre that those of us into seinen aren’t particularly interested in. Can’t we categorize “moe” as a genre and call it a day?
Also if the “moexploitations” arguement is true, that it costs almost no resources to hash out all these “moexploitations,” then NO resources will be lost! I don’t see a problem! Good shows will still come out, and in fact, they’ll be even better when you compare it to the “garbage” that you don’t like.
Honestly though, the whole “moexploitation” gag is ridiculous. There is nothing new about Moe, its been around since Micky Mouse. When Pokemon was popular, were there people raving about the horrid downfall of anime due to the “pokExploitation.” I mean there’s no developing plot, all episodes are filler, and there’s a cute yellow blob that says “PIKA!”
Ultimately though, when I look at the future of anime, I see nothing but hope. With technology, anime has never looked better. Anime has improved aesthetically so much that it’s become hard to watch shows that are only a decade old.
And I mean as Americans, or Europeans, or Australians, or whatever, Anime isn’t exactly the coolest hobby in the world. I think its amazing that the anime community can be so negative and so divided. How can we get our friends to be open-minded about anime when we can’t even be openminded to Sora No Woto when it has a cute girl in it.