Hello there!

I've recently came across some interesting topics on the internet. Those topics were about how Moe era somewhat "ruined" the artwork they used to do before.
As a "Moe non-believer" I find the artwork they use in the anime/manga more or less lazy and bad. I found several pages where they compared 90s to late 2000s, and to me all the moe Main characters looked kinda "the same". The 90s where a lot more detailed, and a bit more believable.

I'd like to point out that I'm not by any means trying to hate this moe-thing, however as a person who appreciates good artwork, I'm somewhat troubled by the "lazy" approach (come one guys, 90s artwork looks a heck a lot harder to design/draw than the current Moe-style.).

At the end of the day, what do you guys think? I'd like to hear your opinions of people that are both for and against this whole thing.

I like Moe art..
The current art is nicer than the ones from 90s...
The characters might be "lazy" (as you say it is), but the background and everything else aren't..
End of story... lol

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Yes. I can relate with your opinions completely. Especially when comparing legends such as Slam Dunk, or just any 90s manga (e.g. Mars, Hana Kimi etc.) to the CG'ed 'moe' mangas now, its clear the amount of detail that went into the work in the past.

Personally though, I don't like this whole moe movement because everything is too smooth - I much prefer rough lines or visible shadowing techniques (e.g. Takehiko Inoue style); currently, a lot of moe artwork is very anime-esque. Hence I'm also not a big fan of art made with stuff like paint tool Sai.

But I really have nothing against the moe faction of manga, since there are still so many other mangas with good art (Tetsugaku Letra <3).

Cna yuo raed tihs? Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Alright, so at the end of the day you read it for background and "everything else"? Lol

Could you at least explain to me why you find Moe-artwork attractive? I do not see anything wrong in explaining that much at least, sorry if the topic sounded "offensive" to you..

@theVagabondSon
Slam dunk is a really great example of how good artwork used to be - thank you for sharing! 🙂

I think the moe-artstyle has been one of many artstyles existing in manga and anime for a long time now. There have been some very successful titles of this style in recent years, so of course it saw more use.

I don't think it will have much of an impact on the industry as a whole. It's still all based on demand and supply. And I don't think there'll ever be a time where people will only want one art style.

And I'm not sure if this "lazy" art really is there because of this art style.
It's always been there, and with more titles using the moe-style there were more lazy ones too. It may be that it works "better" with moe-style, but imo that shouldn't affect the rest of the industry too much.

Personally I don't really mind the style, but it really depends on the title and the general atmosphere. I read and watch a lot of slice-of-life titles, and that goes hand-in-hand with moe art style often. There are a lot of other titles I like and that wouldn't work with this art style, but this diversity is a good thing for me.

There are also some great titles that both use the moe art style and are incredibly detailed and elaborate. Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro is a prime example for that.

[img]http://i59.tinypic.com/zxm8o8.jpg[/img]

Mangawise it's definitely not as common as the designs you see in shoujo romances and battle manga.

Hmmmm, Moe art is cute, isn't that enough??
For me, yes, as long as the plot isn't crappy...

Oh, and the topic isn't really that offensive,
As with the 'lol'...

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No. The only thing I don't like is eroge art, but that usually stays in eroges and assorted manga adaptions.

I like moe art, so no complaints here.

[img]http://www.mediafire.com/convkey/a8ee/v1c0uzwpt6cdtcbfg.jpg[/img]

Moe is not an art style nor a genre.

Anyways what people understand as "moe" changes over time. The "moe" of 20 years ago isn't the same as that of now nor will the "moe" of 20 years in the future look the same as that of now. Back in the 90s people complained that Sailor Moon was too kawaii, and now it's regarded as one of anime's classics.

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My issues with "moe" is simply that there is to much of it, at least on the anime side. When the majority of a anime's season lineup is saucer-eyed, panty-flashing prepubescent girls you're going to deal with stagnation really fast. But that's what happens when the industry is pretty much by otakus for otakus. Miyazaki made a really interesting commentary on the state of anime that I hope people will pay head too. Before the industry chokes its self to death. It's no secret that studio's are having trouble staying afloat.

I don't think you can really compare Sailor Moon to the issue since 1: It was never targeted towards the "moe" audience, the 20-something otaku men. Takauchi has publicly stated that SM is a show for girls. 2: There was still a large variety of shows airing at that time. Everything didn't look like Sailor Moon, hell the only one I can think of is Wedding Peach. There was still a lot of action, sports, fantasy, etc. I can show you a dozen "moe" shows airing right now.

Animation wise, it depends on anything else. If there is money in the budget it will look great. Modoka is a great looking "moe" anime, but I know a lot of low budget ones that look like shit. I'm not a fan of the style to much since everyone looks like they're 12 and I'm worried the FBI is going to break down my door and drag me away at every panty flash.

I dont really think so, if there is something ruining that is the 3D era, because they became lazy and its cheaper to make anime that way... Some shows do use CGI in the right way for background and stuff or ambientation but... some others want everything made from CGI and that does ruin them most of the time.

I agree with you, there is way to much of it. Can this potentially push out the non-moe ones? The sad truth is that there are so many good reads out there that probably will never be animated simply because they forgot about them. I'd give much to have ARES or Berserk (continuation of the Berserk series) animated.

What's even more problematic about having so many Moe shows is that they are all, more or less the same. From what I've seen, the setting tends to happen strictly in a school (I could be wrong there, but that's what I've gathered from my observation etc.) Like it's cool to have a realistic setting, but some of the greatest stories that used realistic setting (school/job/spot etc) weren't exactly from Moe era. Great Teacher Onizuka and Slam dunk are such examples. And while it's great to have all this, if I wanted to watch something like that - there are lots of series with same setting on tv, only that they are not anime. My problem is that they don't make any bold moves. Gone are the days when high quality series like Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo were around. I still try to find something that has the same feel as those two.

Also, could you explain to me who this "Miyazaki" is? I really like to read his commentary about the current state of the anime.

Thanks in advance

The problem with shows that feature moe characters, i.e. girls (and the occasional guy in the background) with large eyes, round faces, and short and skinny stature is that the artstyle is so strictly defined, leaving the animators to feature only very young characters. It stifles creativity, as you're essentially limited to very few settings that would really have only young characters, or forces writers to have ridiculous premises, e.g. sengoku era with moe girls. Ignoring the issue of pandering to the audience and strictly looking at it from a creative point of view, moe severely limits the types of characters an artist can portray. I suppose it doesn't "ruin" the artwork, because you still need to know how to animate properly in the first place, but is more of a creativity problem.

Hayao Miyazaki is basically the Walt Disney of Japanese animation. He's responsible for Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, The Wind Rises and many more. He is considered a master of hand-drawn animation, and it really shows in his works. I'm surprised you don't know him since he is to anime what Tezuka is to manga.

Mm, this moe thing isn't a problem to me as long as the plot is not crappy.