Do you know what ‘moe’ is? Chances are you do, and if you don’t, it’s not something you can learn through words alone. The phenomenon is one of the biggest factors of modern anime, and is a major part of otaku culture and psychology. ‘Moe’ is defined as a ‘turn-on’ or an aspect of a character that makes them attractive. Customarily, a moe girl is one who the viewer feels a need to protect. The concept of moe has been around forever, but the word only came into usage more recently, probably within the last 10 years. Moe centers on ‘cuteness’ and a lot of it’s roots are in the computer game genre known as ‘galge’ or ‘eroge’ or ‘dating sims’ or ‘visual novels’ which are mostly text-based games that simulate starting a relationship with a moe girl, and can have stories in the range of anything from traditional romance to psychological horror. Recently, I did some research on moe and decided I should share my findings as well as make use of my knowledge. Moe can be found in all kinds of series, and as an anime fan it is one of the most important concepts to be aware of. Therefor, I composed this guide to help you get started on exploring the world of moe.
This simple game will take you through a multitude of questions adorned with moe pictures to help find just what moe anime you will enjoy most. There are 19 results and around 70 paths to make sure you get exactly what you need. Ready to get into moe? CLICK HERE TO BEGIN!
Be sure to comment with your result as well as thoughts on this project~ <3
I got Toradora. This is a sign that I should start watching it. Haha!
Oops, posted my comment before sharing my thoughts. I think that it’s a really fun project ^^ I’ll be looking forward to more!
(For some reason though, you can click on the blank area on the right side of the main image and it takes you to another page. )
That there’s some complex pathing. I got Macross Frontier which is reasonably appropriate, I suppose. I’d say Fireball might be my ideal ‘moe starter’, but it’s not well-known and might not count as anime – and I’ve seen it already, too.
yeah, that’s just because of the kind of blog it is. We’re kind of just hoping no one does that, since it does ruin the fun.
Oh my good lord I got Toradora too! Maybe this should somehow explain the show’s popularity. But hell, I’m trying it again.
@ The Animanachronism
Please try our Gateway Gundam project, I’d love to hear feedback from you sir!
I got Futakoi Alternative, which oddly enough is a show I’ve really been wanting to watch. I just haven’t gotten my hands on it yet.
In regards to this type of post: this is the kind of thing to bring to the OH! table, where you can harness all of our expertise to make this shine. There’s got to be a sexier way to do this than using a separate WP install and all those links, etc etc.
@picchar & GL
Toradora rocks, imo. It’s my “plz no end!” show of the season.
Nice job for the quiz. Pictures are nice.
I got ef on my first try by the way.
Not going to say much about moe but I think your blurb up there makes a good introduction.
Also, wtf, FutaAlt has AWESOME animation.
@ Riex
Yeah Toradora! rocks and Sybilant actually made a post on it.
And yes, we need a sexy way to do multi-slide/page posts, because I think collaborative posts will benefit mightily from it.
I got haruhi -_- lol. I thought I was more of a Kanon guy myself lol (don’t even know if that was a possible outcome).
When I said I wanted action I was wondering what real moe title had genuine action. I was expecting to get some magical girl anime.
I got Geassed
Hmm, didn’t spot that. Will do!
Oof I got Toradora… twice.
I tried to find AIR because that’s IMO one of the best gateway moe~ series around, and yup you included it. Nice list… although maybe arguably modern.
How about To Heart (1999)? That’s my real gateway.
I hadn’t heard of ‘Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu’, but it sounds kind of interesting, so cheers for that. On a couple of the questions I kind of wished there was a ‘don’t care either way’ option, but still a useful tool.
I got Hidamari Sketch. Awesome, will comment later because I’m leaving for work.
1111 – Macross Frontier
1112 – Code Geass
112 – TMoHS
1211 – Macross Frontier
1212 – Code Geass
12211 – Air
12212 – ef ~a tale of memories~
1222111 – Toradora
1222112 – TMoHS
122212 – Manabi Straight
12222 – Kamichu
211111 – Macross Frontier
211112 – Utawarerumono
21112 – Futokoi Alternative
21121 – Code Geass
21122 – NGE
2121 – Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu
2122 – TMoHS
221111 – Macross Frontier
221112 Utawarerumono
221121 – code Geass
22121 – CG
22122 – NGE
222111 – Air
222112 – Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu
222121 – ef ~a tale of memories~
222122 – Hitohira
2222111 – Ichigo Mashimaro
2222112 – Hidamari Sketch
222212 – Kamichu
2222211 – Toradora
2222212 – TMoHS
2222221 – Manabi Straight
2222222 – Hayate no Gotoku
31111 – Higurashi
311121 – Macross Frontier
311122 – Utawarerumono
3111231 – Shakugan no Shana
3111232 – Futakoi Alternative
31121 – CG
31122 – NGE
31211 – Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu
31212 – Higurashi
31221 – Haruhi
312221 – Spice and Wolf
312222 – Shakugan no Shana
32111 – Higurashi
321121 – MF
321122 – Utawarerumono
3211231 – Shana
3211232 – Futakoi
32121 – CG
32122 – NGE
322111 – Air
322112 – Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu
3221211 – tale of memories
3221212 – higurashi
322122 – hitohira
3222111 – ichigo
3222112 – sketch
322212 – kamichu
3222211 – toradora
3222212211 – haruhi
3222212212 s&w
322221222 – shana
3222221 – manabi
3222222 – hayate
Enjoy your guide
I got Air. Considering how my feelings towards Clannad are mixed I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. But then I was never really interested in moe anyway.
Neat game/quiz though.
@ coburn
@ concretebadger
Please try our Gateway Gundam project, We’d love to hear feedback from you sirs!
I got Code Geass the first time. Then when I made the exact same choices but choose “romance” instead of “no romance” I got Higurashi. Come onnnnnnnnnnnn…
Good work!
Now I have something I can use as a template to recommending anime to those who ask for something from my ‘archive’.
Good thing, each route end can be matched with other titles who may match its individual characteristics hence enlarging the pool of choices.
At least I can’t be blamed if they don’t end up liking it =P
Great work db! Even though I’ve seen all of the shows, I tried it out anyway. I got Hidamari Sketch on my first try :3
I got Spice & Wolf, which I have sitting here…
Mostly my answers are number one.
You guys are choking me up! So many people actually intrested in watching their results! And I’m going to hold onto this quiz forever <3
Also, Taigadragon, holy timespending, batman!
God damn it, why is this blog so awesome. Didn’t know you wrote here as well, 21stCDB.
I got ef ~a tale of memories~. Couldn’t have been more right.
Reminds me of my old ’so you wanna watch a harem anime’ quiz, except more awesome.
Baka-Raptor’s comment suggests to me that this fails hard. Also since when was Iriya no Sora “moe anime?” I thought it was more like “fail anime” (and I don’t mean that in an “I hate moe” sort of way, because it’s pointless to repeat the same thing over and over again to a crowd of 0/infinity Defenders with Banding).
lulz lolikit I already predicted your bitching a week ago when I started this project : p
That doesn’t make my bitching any less relevant. Try responding with your brain instead of your penis. (I know you want me.)
21cdb: what are your thoughts on mamoru-ism? – you briefly touched upon it in your OH post but what is the relationship between, say, Yukito, Misuzu and the viewer. Just as Kyon is more like a proxy for the audience, is the location of mamoru-ism also primarily in the viewer? – and so does moe become the object of mamoru-ism (the subject)?
It’s also interesting to take into consideration character design (ie. hair/eye color, seiyuu, personality[?])
White on off-pink text is horribly hard to read. Fix it.
@lelangir: I plan to continue doing moe post series on my blog so I’ll try and cover those things in them since you got me interested
Anon – the colors are random.
Well I’d have to say I’m extremely impressed with this post. Since I’m really starting to get into moe this was perfect for me.
@ everyone
The project is a ‘living’ thing. After all, there will be new anime that may serve as better gateways to a sub genre or fetishism.
As with our “Gateway to Gundam” project, any feedback here is appreciated and welcome towards improving the guide itself.
That said, I understood the presence of questionable titles (those I’ve watched, anyway) such as Code Geass and Macross Frontier this way:
Since Digiboy’s objective is to get the viewer heretofore ‘innocent’ about moe ‘corrupted’ into moe, the shows in the list are those with moe elements.
If a viewer finds appeal in those, there are other anime which can be pursued, if the goal is to watch ‘pure’ moe anime which I have trouble distinguishing.
So to everyone, I thank you for the feedback and comments.
lol @ the retarded bitching. You were right to expect his ‘input’, 21stcenturydigitalboy–but hey, you gotta take the bad with the good. I really love what you’ve done here with the test, even if the results could do with a lot more variety than just the 19.
I got Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu, and the synopsis/MAL reviews don’t seem all that bad, so I guess I’ll give it a shot. Considering that I’ve already seen a substantial number of the shows listed there, I’m amazed I didn’t stumble into a show I’m familiar with.
Got Hidamari Sketch. d(“d).
But what really is the designation in terms of animation quality? That seems to be the most subjective thing of all.
Got a good laugh when Air was the result I got. For me, Air was my first moe anime. Maybe that’s why I refuse to instantly think moe anime = bad anime.
I’m really impressed with the effort that was put into doing this.
Ha! Got Haruhi. Not the greatest show on earth but an enjoyable and entertaining starting point.
Wonderful, mine is Haruhi as well. Thanks for the fun game btw ghostlightning.
@gaguri
This is the work of our guest writer: 21stcenturydigitalboy! I’ll happily take credit for enabling this series of guides. Check out the one by Mechafetish, on finding your ‘Gateway Gundam‘ ^_^
got Evangelion
I got Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which isn’t all that off the mark. I did enjoy the first disc – it prompted me to buy the Complete Collection. Maybe I’ll finish watching it someday…
I didn’t see any links back to the home page or the post itself. Those would be very helpful improvements.
OH MY GOD THE FUCKING QUIZ HAS OVER NINE THOUSAND HITS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN FACT OVER ELEVEN THOUSAND!
*LISTENING TO EYE OF THE TIGER*
I got Toradora too… which I am currently watching (and enjoying) from the Fall season. ^_^ Cool quiz!
I was familiar with the word “moe” but didn’t realize Toradora was considered moe. ^^;;
@hazy
I wonder if it is statistically significant that a lot of commenters got Toradora! The quiz isn’t valued to provide quality anime titles necessarily, so I’m glad that Toradora is actually a good show.
Heh. I got EVA. Which is odd, because I always found Asuka irritating (we tsunderes seldom get along) and Rei more pitiable than adorable; I wanted to get her away from Gendou and give her a hot meal and a stack of good books, as opposed to a hug. Maybe it’s got something to do with being a chick?
If there weren’t so many people obviously devoted to the idea of Asuka and Rei as examples of moe, I’d have said Misato or Maaya were shoe-ins for ‘female NGE character most likely to make you go “awww!”‘ But then, I’m also the only fan of Himemiya Anthy on the planet, so what do I know?
Are not! I love Anthy!