A newspaper is recruiting writers by asking whether they can give three reasons as to why the above character isn’t moe.
Those capable of giving the “right” answer could find themselves with a chance of landing a position at the Kobe Shimbun as an online contributor, although due to government “job creation” conditions attached to the post they have to be unemployed to begin with.
Fortunately there are plenty of unemployed otaku on 2ch ready to offer opinions:
“Because it’s rubbish. As a result it doesn’t look cute.”
“The eyes are too big, the character is too blue, and it looks like a crude rip off of Hatsune Miku.”
“The colours are dull and too uniform, there’s no life to the eyes and the pose is weird.”
“The drawing is rough, I’m sure I’ve seen it somewhere before, and it’s all blue.”
“The moetards aren’t going to shut up about this. Nicely done, Kobe Shimbun.”
[Innumerable opinions follow, almost all criticising some combination of rough drawing, excessive blueness, huge eyes, obvious Miku similiarities and awkward posing.]
“Give three reasons why this character is cute.”
“The situation, her blushing and the fact she is wearing nothing but an open shirt.”
“Bed, Y-shirt, breasts.”
“Cute, breasts, I’m hard.”
[Thread denizens decide to take matters into their own hands:]
“You managed to turn it into an ordinary moe character – you guys are amazing…”
Correct answer:
1) Eyes
2) Nose
3) Mouth
I Wonder why there hasn’t been anyone who left the picture as is, I know there are moe rules but the eye of the beholder and all that XD
TL:DR – Bad art will ruin any moe characterization no matter what those moe elements are.
Seems to be mostly agreed upon that moe is basically the concept of tickling our instincts to protect, cherish, and nurture a character. Every aspect is considered as well: Appearance, background, personality, behavior, voice, etc. What exactly are the details is up to the person though, so it is certainly subjective and time will change what is common.
Going by static looks alone, there dose seem to be a pattern of physical traits that are appealing. Just being kawaii is too vague, however. Moe seems much more defined. For example, the original Hello Kitty artwork might be kawaii, but wouldn’t be moe to many people. But, if you put her in a maid outfit, make her wink and blush a bit, put glasses on her, add a bit of a twinkle in her eye, and pose her standing with one knee bent and waving an arm, suddenly she turns very moe. Presentation makes all the difference.
In the drawing that started this whole discussion you can see not everyone agrees what traits are moe with the different attempts to improve it. Cheek blush seems to be the most common element people add in. My own analysis of the drawing:
OK elements: Pigtails, sitting posture, school uniform.
Negative elements: Eyes too big and dead looking, ahoge too small, face not round enough, no blush on the cheeks, mouth is awkward, nose position too high above the base of the ginormous eyes.
“Too much blue!” color criticism is less to do with moe and more to do with basic art elements being poorly used (color and value). Its just very boring and somewhat hard to make out shapes at first.
Looks like something out of Megatokyo…or any other “American Manga.”
Who was the genius troll who concocted the idea to make people fron 2ch to pivix and net artist to transform a (intentionally) badly done drawing into an internet character/meme? 🙂