The Moe Anime Revolution

when we think of anime today is hard to ignore one aspect that has seemingly taken over the medium as we know it in the modern day mo way [Music] mowie anime mo way girls mo way shows whether it be a star or genre or just a feeling is hard to explain exactly what mo way is to an uninformed outsider yet anyone familiar with anime will grow to have an unspoken understanding of it because it is everywhere nowadays no absolutely dominates anime but it wasn't always like this in fact it's something that many of you may have witnessed the rise of yourself within the very life span of your anime fandom how did such a vague broad concept rise to prominence to become synonymous with the modern anime culture how long has Maui been around for anyway and how is it evolved over the years today I wanted to tell the story of my way how his journey led to it taking over the medium as we see it today and maybe unravel the secret formula behind what seems to be just cute anime girls this is the mo a revolution to understand where mo a came from we first need to understand what mo a actually is and that's easier said than done aside from it having something to do with making your kokoro go doki doki literature club it's been very commonly debated as to how Maui is truly defined now I don't think we just can be able to grab an Oxford English Dictionary off the shelf and find a hard definition of what mo a is so maybe we can use the next best thing urban dictionary mo e is when your heart gets a boner huh that's that's that's actually pretty accurate wait sir if you're female does that mean Maori characters make your heart go more exercise the idea that Maui is when your heart gets the bonus pretty much the one sentence definition I normally settle on when describing it to strangers but I think it's cause a feeling of affection or attraction towards a specific character or character traits that comes from a place of innocence some may describe it as a burning desire to protect a character some may describe it as character features that evoke a deep endearment some may describe it as just cute it's very subjective for the most part as if you're really inclined anything can be moe a even guts or Donald Trump could be mo aid even mo could be mo a mo a Szyslak the exact definition is not so much as important to see how anime characters have evolved over the years to more effectively capture this emotion and attachment to a mass audience and with that in mind how far do the roots of mow a traced back to for such a vague concept it's hard to point to a specific origin point as it could be argued that the idea of constructing characters with the goal of eliciting an intimate responsive affection is as old as the medium itself however I think a good place to start is looking for early character traits and tropes which would eventually evolve into what we know as modern waifu culture as it is the audience attachment to these trace that would be refined and grow into the mo way we know today many have cited Lum from the 1978 manga others say yotsuba has been the progenitor of Maui as we know it and possibly the very first waifu a very cute and innocent character at first glance but one with a fiery temper who refers to the main protagonist as darling hmm she's often credited as being the first cinder ray so it comes as no surprise that she's such an important an iconic character in the medium but of course at the time this was just a new character trait audiences responded well too and she certainly wasn't created for the purpose of being a waifu this would also be seen in characters like Lynn Minmei from the original stf Matt cross and earring team any trace we've seen popular female characters nowadays as well as being one of the earliest idol characters that just happens to be in a mecha show and at the time with far more focus on the mecha side of things in terms of the whole design and aesthetics we can see a lot of influence from bishoujo designs which have had its own devolution throughout the history of anime but of course for the show that would really popularize the aspects we would come to know in modern Maui it would be hard to argue against bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon considering how much of an international success this show was think about how much it has in common with modern Maui shows today a full cast of varied female characters in an entirely feminine art style that actually had a large male audience the show Joe shows of the 80s and 90s with a significant male audience was a major turning point in the development of the mo a concept these characters weren't there as fanservice eye candy or love interest for the male protagonists they were the main focus of the show and that is how dedicated Maui shows operate now health for Sailor Moon specifically some have even theorized the origin of the word mo a itself came from Sailor Saturn Hotaru Tomoya there are many other characters like these that either display modern Maui trace or simply captured male audiences over the years but the last hugely important thing I want to mention influences extended beyond just Maui is of course neon genesis evangelion yes once again I am mentioning Evangelion for the [ __ ] I don't know just assume next time I'm talking about the evolution of an aspect within anime Evangelion is gonna have some part in it and in this case let's just say Oscar and Rey are a big deal as far as Marie is concerned they really changed the game as far as how audiences reacted to female characters audiences were deeply attached and loyal as well this was arguably the first proper waifu war just think about how many characters we've seen over the years that have been influenced by them it was at this point in the 90s that the character archetypes we know today were firmly solidified and more importantly what Evangelion proved was the franchising power of it everything was franchised in Ava including its wife who's still to this day and it is this financial success that is important to note because in all these shows whilst many of them had great stories it was the audience connection to the characters that made them as big as they were this simple idea of an intimate personal attachment towards a character would play a massive role in the evolution of the concept because this meant fan base investment the more a fan cares about a show or even a single specific aspect or character of that show the more likely they are to invest into the franchise as a whole it's turned the characters themselves into a marketable brands and companies would slowly realize how profitable this was in all genres branding plays a huge role in the success of a given show and by capitalizing on the emotional response these shows were able to thrive be it through merchandising home video sales or whatever else as time progressed to the early 2000s we would continue seeing trace of my way across the board in shows like azumanga daioh but it was a small part of a larger whole mowie certainly was present throughout anime but it wasn't as recognized or as prevalent in the culture it was simply one aspect you'd find in anime you could point to the odd character having cute in quirky aspects we had our established character archetypes but no one yet had come along to fully take advantage of the franchising potential MOA could give to a property this was all about to change however with one studio that would explode onto the scene downright perfecting the modern formula leading to a change felt across the medium that we still see today the revolution was about to begin [Music] whilst the true origins of mao-a are widely debatable I'm sure we can all agree that was the show's created by Kyoto Animation in the mid to late 2000s that cemented the concept in the mainstream anime consensus before the full-on mo a powerhouse Kyoto Animation is known for today you may remember though it wasn't always this way well started as a small animation studio based in Kyoto wait wait can someone fact check that for me please they would get their first big break in making a spin-off to a mecha series Full Metal Panic for mo foo and then its eventual sequel in the second range and in 2005 would also release air it's this period where we started to see the rise of shows with the more recognized more modern mo a style that we have now and this would lay the groundwork for their next show which would truly solidify the oncoming revolution [Music] change was coming and it was in the form of a bossy brunettes high school girl who was a god literally the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya blasted onto screens in 2006 and hera he stamped down her presence which was felt across the whole community and he went around just over ten years ago well remember how much of a cultural phenomenon this was for our community because the whole quirkiness of the show was something that we hadn't really seen before before anime was known for its futuristic cyberpunk giant robots shown in fights and then seemingly overnight everyone was doing a synchronized dance to a hyperactive J pop song starting religions around a high school girl and scouting people for the SOS Brigade it wasn't just about Hera he was about to buying into her ethos Hera he wasn't just another anime girl Hera he was a God and she was your God one whom you must obey we had high school girl hair icky bunny girl hair icky bunny go Hera key with a guitar a catchy dance only dedicated fans would be able to pull off Anaya harana who was catapulted into superstar status everything about this show was franchised marketed and sold the show created his own culture and people bought into it people bought into it in spades the success of the show skyrocketed MO into the forefront of the anime consensus I mean I know this was my first show where I learned what my way was in this situation mola is an important concept to keep in mind sorry what'd you say mo a was in my way was profitable and Hara he became a symbol of the fan base investment into this quirky anime girl culture and I think this was due to a partially being self-aware and partially celebrating everything it was being self-aware about but Kyoto Animation didn't stop there they continued their history of adapting key shows with the Canon or you make in late 2006 and of course clannad's both of which have a great deal of mao-a elements in their own rights but it would be the release of lucky star that fully encapsulated everything we now expect of mao-a shows lucky stars all levels of popularity equal or even exceeding that of Hera heat a show but a group of schoolgirls really just being cute and hanging out something which a young 18 year old Giga at the time did not get in his second ever video on YouTube I still kind of don't really get it well this show did was take one of the elements fans liked about Hera he the cute girls relatable main character the high school setting and amped up the mo aspect it proved that you didn't need a sci-fi twist to engage an audience audiences could find a connection even if there wasn't a big overarching plot and with it the momentum Kyoto Animation gained from releasing these shows back-to-back was enormous they had set the stage Maui was growing rapidly and they were right at the forefront of it everything they touched seemed to turn into gold what they didn't know was what they touched next would turn into pure diamond when we think of influential shows in the history of anime we think of international mega hits like Akira Evangelion and Dragon Ball Z anime that had an industry-wide effect and influenced their genres for years to come so seven years after some no-name on the internet reviewed Kay on and publicly exclaimed that this was a nothing show about cute girls drinking [ __ ] tea I can now regarding Lee admit that Kay on is one of the most important and influential shows to come out for modern anime that just came out of my mouth [ __ ] T Kalin was the final evolution character animation has set in a path they started while Harry he could still be seen as a high school comedy with a sci-fi twist and lucky star could be seen as a slice-of-life high school comedy in the same vein as azumanga daioh just with a very very strong Maui element K on wasn't really any of those it was just Maui and it was the first time people started calling an entire show as such this was something the community hadn't seen before the main selling point wasn't its ground plot points it wasn't its gut-busting comedy romance or action it was just the fluffy feeling of being able to hang with cute cuddly anime girls sure it had its music but that was never the main focus much to the dismay of many who didn't understand the show but the focus was on the chemistry shared between its characters characters that individually may not seem like anything special but for vast audiences the whole wood turned out to be much greater than the sum of its parts I'm probably not the best person to be able to tell you about what the appeal of k-on was but what I certainly can tell you about is it success audiences felt a deep connection to these girls and it was primarily a male demographic - from their designs to the girls personalities to the various scenarios they'd find themselves in to the chemistry that they all shared Kay on had perfected the Maui formulas so much it found his success by just reveling in its own mo Ennis [Music] this would go on to become one of the highest selling blu-ray releases for his time ke on made mo a the biggest thing in anime after its release it wasn't Mecca it wasn't action all romance it was cute girls doing cute things and it changed the way we look at anime today K on wasn't just popular K on didn't just cement Maui or start some kind of trend K on damn-near created its own genre the evolution became a revolution what came next was a plethora of shows I can only describe as belonging in the Maui Shan rrah now a lot of people myself included have referred to Maui as a genre before so let's just set the record straight and say definitively Maui isn't a genre technically in the same way that Shonen isn't technically a genre but people often refer to it as one because of the trends and commonalities we find within the shows in this case Maui describes the general theme and tone of the show and his characters for the most part I show someone would drop in this mo a genre would likely just be a slice of life drama or comedy but with how broad that definition is it doesn't really tell you what you need to know planet s and great teacher onizuka can also be described in that way but they sure as hell aren't mo a show's K on and lucky star may not have been the first examples of cute girls doing cute things but they sure as hell cemented the concept into the mainstream and more importantly directed my way down and more defines path because it was sure has held these show successes that others try to emulate it was this new subset of slice of life series that would essentially purpose towards appealing to this cute mo a feeling as we discussed before Maui is a very broad term that is subjective for every individual but what Kyoto Animation did was perfect of working formula it made mo a more targeted more marketable it was a tangible thing that other companies could try to replicate he had the more rounded cuter art style a bunch of character archetypes and almost all female cast little to no roam out scenarios you could put them in and a fresh new audience and I found out this was a thing they wanted and would invest deeply in you could even say this started a Maui arms race and one genre to benefit the most from this time period was of course idol shows now Idol shows actually go back a pretty long way in anime but I don't think it's any surprise that the surge in popular idol shows came in at time of the mowie boom that k-on started as you can see how a successful formula have influenced the idol genre I mean what are the kind of shows would be able to thrive in an environment where the audience wanted a core of pure innocent character archetypes being brought together where we as an audience member can watch them bond and grow together Idol master love life these now mega popular franchises rose up in a post que on era following the groundwork that it had lay was it cute yes was it marketable [ __ ] yes was their deep fanbase investment are you [ __ ] kidding me I don't shows it still going strong and I firmly establish themselves in their own genre but while Maui has definitely had a strong influence there it also blew up in other places but not everything has shared this same longevity during the height of the Maui boom everyone wants to find the next cute girls doing cute things mega hit and while Kay on had a deeper soul behind it the audience's latched on to the same cannot be said for others that tried jumping on this bandwagon the term Maui blob was coined on the simple criticisms of characters in these vanilla shows feeling Sammy and pandering a Maya blob is just there as a character that's meant to be my way for the audience and sometimes ends up feeling way too obvious and completely falls flat the core concept of shows trying to pander to Maori troupes exclusively quickly annoyed audiences because they were more than sick of seeing it so now much like with Idol shows the industry had to find creative and unique ways to make these shows feel fresh and interesting you can't just have cute girls doing cute things anymore you see you've got to have cute girls doing other things so long as they're doing it cutely so now we've got fine examples like cute girls doing airsoft cute girls doing game design cute girls doing motorbike racing cute girls doing tank curry that's that's not [ __ ] word you idiot cute girls doing amazing things that we'll never be able to achieve in our lifetime because we're stuck here watching some video documenting the history of cue anime girls but that's just natural evolution Maui had to take purely Maui blob shows are becoming a less common thing in this day and age but in its place you have these shows taking Maori elements but adding an extra hook to appeal to audiences with specific interests and that brings us to the latest form of Maui shows in modern anime let's say you wanted to make a Maui show with a hook for people who are interested in ships well what if we make the girls pilot the ships no the girls are the ships anthropomorphism is the current big trend besides idols in Maui anime the immense success of the can tie collection mobile game could be easily seen as partly responsible for this so whether they're boats guns horses or [ __ ] household appliances these are the levels Maui shows need to go to these days for people to pay attention to them but here's the thing even though we can point to the evolution of moe a show specifically an idols slice of life or alpha morphism the effects of it can be seen in the much wider anime landscape in recent years we've become so accustomed to seeing it that it's just become a normal part of anime now and to me that is the final evolution of what moe a has become in this modern era a versus K on and his predecessors in some way or another Maui has crept into the modern anime landscape in a way unlike any other trends that came before it in the mecha video we talked about how his evolution directly influenced decades of a genre and eventually died down noe hasn't done that Maui hasn't separated itself into an exclusive Mirwais genre it's done quite the opposite instead it has spread throughout the entire medium as we know it and become synonymous with anime itself and what I find so interesting is that this change in landscape happened within my lifespan of my anime fandom it's not something I read about or her people talk about in the past I saw it happen a lot of us saw it happen Maui feels like it's always been there sure there was a time when we became more aware of it and many believe there is a trend that's come and gone but it hasn't gone anywhere it's just slipped between the cracks and taken over a huge part of the identity of what anime is today the influence of Maui is in almost every genre of modern anime anime characters have learned how to be much more direct in targeting that specific mo a feeling even if the characters themselves aren't designed to be Maui everyone has a cute quirk every girl needs a unique selling point even if it's just something completely surface-level we're in a time when female characters that trend aren't necessarily the deepest or most fleshed out they're the ones with the most unique gimmick the ones whose designs more stand out for you see because the concept of mo a can be applied to any show it now almost does apply to every show whether directly an obvious or simply then the background of some characters who act in a way we just expect characters to act now Maui is the norm even if you're not specifically a fan of mo a shows some of you may think I'm overdramatizing the impact of these cute anime girls but the thing is these aren't just cute anime girls they're brands they're marketable products that can be commoditized and sold and we proudly buy into it it's a million dollar franchise is a fashionable art style something for us to argue over who is cuter who is better who is best they have become as much of a symbol for our medium as giant robots and muscly action heroes were in the past and continue to be an integral part of the culture that we love that's what I mean when I say was a revolution because it was a successful one moy may have always existed in one form or another but now it is at the forefront stamping down his mark on the medium without going anywhere anytime soon it was a mo a uprising it was a mo a takeover it was a mo a revolution [Applause] [Music] so quick announcement felt good going through my old videos in the process of making this my video and just seeing my older shitty videos and we got the idea to make a [ __ ] team ugh based on my original K on video for the three people that actually remember it see if you want to grab this what I think is probably like my first og me my ever made back like seven years ago then I'll put a link in the description it's gonna be a limited time thing cuz I don't think many people are gonna remember it it'll be up for like two weeks till the fourth of August so get one more you can because I'm not gonna leave Memphis and you don't even need to drink tea out of it I'm drinking coffee right now just don't tell anyone but with that said thank you very much to Robert I'm bork basil Patrick Manson Vincent Mooney now Ken and everyone else a patron for helping to support me for this month and making this video possible is videos like these that require the most time research and resources so I would not be able to do bigger projects like these without your support on there especially if these don't do as well but I always love working on them not sure what my next big genre breakdown is gonna be just yet but I'm gonna be excited to work on it anyway that's it for me if you want the limited time mug go click a link in the description but otherwise I've been gig ugh and I will see you all next time

Channel: Gigguk

Views: 1,432,176

Keywords: Anime Zone, Gigguk, Top Anime, OP, ED, Moe Anime, Top 10 Moe Anime, Top Moe Anime, Cutest Anime, Cutest Moe Anime, Cute Girls Doing Cute Things, Cutest Anime Moments, Kawaii Anime, Top 20 Moe Anime, Idol Anime, Top Idol Anime, Top 10 Idol Anime

Id: E1x1RicXFMk

Length: 21min 33sec (1293 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 22 2018