Hello from Japan, where the words “not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin” mean something very different.In addition to writing these updates three times a week, I post interesting images to the J-List Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook pages, along with links to newly updated products. (Click through and follow us, if you like!) It’s not uncommon for people reading my posts to ask what moe means, and since today, Oct 10, is “Moe Day” (because the date looks like the moe kanji if you write it a certain way), I thought I’d write a bit about this. Moe (always pronounced mo-eh) is a genre of (mostly) female character design traits that are calculated to elicit feelings of love and protectiveness by (mostly) male fans. While moe is about many things — the large, expressive eyes, the impossibly cute hair and hair accessories — to me it’s all about the character imperfections that become what the Japanese call “charm points.” Whether it’s the extreme dojikko clumsiness and meganekko glasses of Homura from episode 10 of Madoka Magika or the extreme shyness of Mio from K-On! or even the realistic boredom and melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, the “defects” in the characters are what really make them interesting. A variation of this is “bandage moe,” the odd cuteness of girls who are injured, with casts and possibly IV drips in their arms, or the ever-popular eye patch moe. I recently started watching the new anime Chunibyo Demo Koi ga Shitai, which features a hyperactive girl with the cutest eye patch this side of Ayanami Rei. Incidentally, we’ve got these eye patches in stock if you want one for Halloween or other cosplay uses.
Chunibyo is a new anime for “eye patch moe” fans.
