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alt title(s): Moe 
Mikuru: Moe-blob under construction.
(pronounced "mo-eh mo-eh")
"Moe" is an ill-defined otaku term that means, amongst others, "cute", "huggable", "endearing". While it's sometimes used to describe a series, it's more about a specific kind of character.
Traditionally, these sorts of characters grew organically from 'regular' stories, especially those of young heroines. While some audiences grow irritated and dislike a male character for being conflicted, whiny, or less manly, these traits seem inherently tolerated in heroines, with the audience more likely to be sympathetic or at least dismiss them as 'girly' moments, especially if the child is a growing and awkward teenager. Moe Moe can be thought as a step up from that: vulnerable or innocent qualities that are endearing to the viewer. Well, to some viewers.
Moe characters are cute. This is usually the specific aim, even over sexiness. Moe characters are implicitly youthful, congregating to high school age and below. Adult female characters who qualify are almost always in their low twenties. Any characters older than that have this fact unmentioned, or the character's appearance is altered as little as possible.
If this can't technically be done, the personality will reflect an 'innocent' outlook on something vital. A popular one is about romance. This is sometimes handwaved by the character being shy , but can befall even gorgeous characters. A related implication is that moe characters are implicitly virgins, even if this occasionally changes during the story. Related to this is all Moe characters have at least one overwhelming character flaw, invoking the 'love for imperfect things' philosophy, which should hopefully make them endearing.
Moe characters are quirky, and rely on Costume Inertia, odd language, strange hobbies and the like to make them unique and noticable. Occasionally, these traits are completely unrelated and seem a bit disjointed. If a character is plain, they are 'loudly plain' in the way Hollywood Homely characters are 'ugly'; sometimes they're just more moderate than the rest of the cast, and the writers implicitly suggest the audience is kind for liking the character for being plain.
An interesting result of this is some moe characters are quasi- Animated Actors; the series they star are need not be related at all, being only devices to enable the viewer to enjoy the character. Many of them feature in Gag Series, and only the merchandise for the series shows off its intended and occasionally creepy roots.
As might be guessed, Moe characters are not liked by everyone. Ones directly created as such are often disliked for being gimmicky, childish, and appealing to all the stereotypical desires of geeky fandom, including sexist or youth-obsessive themes.
Interestingly, male characters can also be moe characters to a female audience, and figure prominently in Shoujo and Josei. Most of the time they aren't considered such simply because of the lower (or just different) implications of romance to that demographic or because desirable traits of males are slightly different. The closest equivalents tend to exist in Boys Love stories, and the Uke tends to fill most of these traits.
See also Moe Anthropomorphism, Moe Couplet. Note that while "Moemoe" is a Hawaiian word meaning "Go to sleep", and is pronounced exactly the same, this is entirely unrelated.
Examples
- Chihiro and Fuuka from Persona 3 qualify. Both are relatively plain compared to other female characters, tend towards shyness, and Chihiro herself is 14 and afraid of men.
- One of the major themes parodied in Ouran High School Host Club, where the Host Club members each cultivate an exaggerated trait/fetish for their female guests, and their self-elected consultant Renge frequently monologues her opinion of what is moe to girls. More satirically, Club President Tamaki views his feelings towards Haruhi as moe (protective and fatherly) even though the others suspect this is his way of denying a romantic attraction.
- Suspect hell, it's damn near lampshaded in every single book.
- Mikuru Asahina from Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu is recruited for the S.O.S. Brigade specifically because Haruhi decides that there needs to be a Moe Moe mascot character (specifically a short, babyfaced girl with huge boobs). She then tries to make Mikuru even more moe by forcing her into a maid outfit and glasses, and constantly molests her to get sympathy points. Some fans have coined the term "Moe-blob" for her (and characters like her), because to a casual watcher, all she actually does in the series is stand around and be Moe Moe, and oh yeah, serve tea. Though, to be fair, this perception is mainly due the fact that KyoAni hasn't gotten around to animating most of her character development; she has a much bigger role in the novels, to the point that she and Yuki are starting to replace Haruhi as the female leads.
- The animation company M.O.E. is named after and produces many such shows; some have more fanservice than others.
- Mai-HiME skewered the concept in a Post Episode Trailer (where a lot of things did indeed "burn") as well as foreshadowing the show's darker themes much later.
- One episode of Keroro Gunsou features a One Shot character rife with disjointed moe characteristics: a cute, pale, spacey, soft-spoken, transfer student prone to bad luck who's interested in the occult. When Fuyuki takes a shine to her, his secret admirer Momoka outright describes her as a "retarded moe character."
- Speaking of retarded moe characters: Japanese model/actress Kikouden Misa makes occasional TV appearances as Hakyuun, an airheaded strange-speaking Meido. She comes off (and intentionally so) as a goofy, exaggerated Kawaiiko.
- In Lucky Star, when Miyuki talks about how absentminded and clumsy she is, Konata tells her that "these are not faults, but elements of moe". And then subverts the dojikko elements by dismissing them as something cute in anime, but annoying in real life.
- Ichigo Mashimaro embodies this with all the subtlety of a thrown brick. It has four "younger sisters", all cutesy, strangely dressed, inexplicably endearing oddballs, although this is slightly subverted, as according to elder sister Nobue, Chika's only distinguishing trait is a lack of a distinguishing trait.
- The author's deadpan delivery does keep the Moe Moe aspect within manageable bounds though, although the series certainly has its amounts of Squee — Miu and Nobue's intimate moment after Miu's open display of jealousy comes to mind.
- Mahou Sensei Negima's Setsuna is an interesting case, as her friendship with Konoka was essentially a mechanism to show off her moe traits, until it was emphasized into a romantic feeling.
- Subverted in Welcome To The NHK by creating a character that combines as many Moe Moe aspects as possible, with creepy results
 ◊ (though the anime version◊ scales it back enough to actually be Moe Moe).
- The novel version is WORSE. Visualizing it is impossible, however, as the traits contradict!
- Specifically, she is a childhood friend who is a Meido robot, Ill Girl, an apparition, alien, and a Kitsune.
- The protagonist Satou would qualify as Moe Moe if he wasn't a creepy nerd in his twenties.
- In Seto No Hanayome, a horrific episode of men crossdressing as schoolgirls and catgirls and trying to play off moe stereotypes culminates in San suddenly wearing cat ears—something everyone agrees is incredibly moe (before being sent flying).
- Much of the show Girls Bravo revolves around this, especially with the main character Miharu, who is completely oblivious to her own attractiveness.
- Going by the series timeline, glasses-wearing nerd Yomiko Readman should be about thirty years old during ROD TV. But unlike Nenene, looks exactly the same as she did in early stories.
- Likewise, Fate's adopted mom in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha doesn't seem to age after the timeskip.
- Despite anyone watching the show probably not having a problem with an older lead female, Mizuho's age in Onegai Teacher is discretely never mentioned. Adding to the problem is that the plot treats her position as Kei's teacher as being the illicit detail, and not apparently an age gap. She seems to inhabit a magical twenties-something spot that is also somehow young enough to give her a little sister and a first kiss during the show's run. Mizuho's mother is no help, as she REALLY has no problem with Kei being younger...
- This troper has seen Mizuho listed as 23 years old on several sites, making her five or eight years older than Kei, depending on whether you use Kei's mental or physical age.
- Nyu from Elfen Lied. Also, Kisaragi with the bonus of being a dojikko, despite which she doesn't last very long.
- The first two seasons of Da Capo feature a character actually named Moe. Given her large breasts, easygoing personality and way of speaking, she is indeed what many would consider moe.
- El Goonish Shive shows us how not to do it.
- Actually a matter of opinion.
- The appropriately named Moe Katsuragi in Risky Safety.
- Ilyana from the ninth and tenth Fire Emblem games is not only incredibly cute, but has an absolutely insatiable hunger. Several of the characters have reported her using her cute face and vulnerable appearance to swipe unsuspecting men's food.
- FE 7 has Shrinking Violet Florina and Plucky Girl Nino, FE 4 has Rana, Yuria and Tinny; FE 8 has Myrrh, Neimi and Amelia and the third game has Chiki, Maria and Yumina. Thany from FE 6 is a subversion; she has a moe face, but timid and vulnerable are not in this girl's vocabulary. Fa and Sophia, on the other hand...
- In a rare Live Action Lampshade Hanging in Ultraman Mebius, one of the guys' crew, Teppei Kuze, is the son of a rich family who has a maid named "Moe", complete with a short skirt and glasses.
- Ibis Douglas from Super Robot Wars. She's not as moeblob obvious like Kusuha, but she actually becomes the champion of Moe Moe characters in the Saimoe contest. Maybe there's something to do with her Pettanko status?
- Every teenaged female character from Hayate The Combat Butler. Hell, Hayate himself falls into this during his crossdressing moment(s).
- Subverted hard and fast in The Daughter Of Twenty Faces; main character Chiko first appears to be weak, defenseless, naive and spoiled, but by the end of the first episode we've already learned how clever and perceptive she is and by the sixth episode she can easily hold her own physically against The Dragon of the first narrative arc - and in all her flipping around still manages to avoid any trace of a Zettai Ryouiki. Chiko is the embodiment of what happens when an Action Girl decides to go "the hell with moe".
- Rika and Satoko from Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni. The show then goes on to royally mess them up, time and time again. By the time the second season rolls around Rika stops being moe, but Hanyuu more than makes up for it.
- Western Live Action TV example: Kaylee Frye from Firefly. Whedon likes his anime.
- Western Animation example: Starfire from Teen Titans. Murakami likes his anime.
- Sakuno Ryuzaki and Tomoka Osakada from The Prince Of Tennis.
- In No More Heroes, Travis comments on a poster in his home - "Moe~".
- Played half-seriously, half for laughs in Yu-Gi-Oh GX. In her first appearance, Rei/Blair is a 12-year-old girl who not only fills in the moe charm after being "uncovered" (she had pulled a Sweet Polly Oliver first), but has in her first deck a card named "Maiden In Love", whose monster form is the one of a very moemoe girl who uses her charm to gain the favor of other monsters... as long as they're males. The moment Judai summons a female monster (who looks like a Hot Amazon), she snaps the "guys" out of it.
- She also fits the mold when she returns in season 3, particularly once hospitalized.
- Nia Teppelin from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is very, very moe. Actually well used, as she counterweights Yoko's Stripperifficness and Simon's Hot Blood.
- It doesn't hurt that she seems to be completely fearless. See her interactions with Kittan and Adiane in her first two episodes.
- Disturbingly: Viral. Sure he's Estrogen Brigade Bait, and sympathetic, but that only really applies after the timeskip (particularly after the Lotus Eater Machine). Before that he was treated as moe by the Estrogen Brigade because of his Villain Decay of all things. Why fangirls, why?
- There was a truly creepy conversation in Fruits Basket:
Guy1: She seems kinda dumb.
Guy2: That's the best kind, they put up no resistance.
- Amelia from The Slayers seems to be something of a prototype for the trope (having been around since before the trope was noticed at large). Although much (much) more go-getting, positive, and active than most modern characters who fall under the banner, she is the youngest of the four cast members, is very naive, possesses a rather impressive chest for her supposed age (14 in the first season!), comes from a fairly chaste background and religious city-state, and is often used as a punching bag by the villains to show how evil they are, which seems intended to produce an extremely sympathetic and protective feeling from the audience. It doesn't seem a coincidence that a larger number of shows like this began airing in the years following Slayers going off the air.
- This Troper would like to direct your attention to Sara Smith of Bliss Stage fame.
- Didn't think Metal Gear Solid could be Moe Moe? Think again.
- And then there's Sunny in the actual series...
- Horribly enough, the reason the moe-figures work is because the male characters have surprisingly moe personalities. Snake alone is a aloof/warm-type Tsundere Ill Girl who makes nonsense vocalisations, is dedicated to his best friend, and gets a lot of Panty Shots. Otacon is so moe it hurts.
- Webcomic example: Hanners of Questionable Content.
- Played straight, but taken to goofy extremes, in Penguin Musume Heart, where Sakura goes into fangirl rage over one of her classmates who manages to hit just about every moe category short of having animal ears.
- Tessa in Full Metal Panic, highlighted in the OVA after The Second Raid. Of course, she also happens to be an extremely intelligent Captain of an extremely powerful submarine and Special Forces Badasses. Her orders are often phrased as suggestions.
- Tamaki-chan from Bamboo Blade is so moe it hurts.
- Many MANY jokes is made about Yuyuko Saigyouji's power of absolute mastery of death and Moe. Death by Moe anyone?
- The first The Dresden Files comic, Welcome to the Jungle features Willamena "Will" Rodgers. Meganekko glasses: check. Twin braids: check. Deer in the headlights look: check. Wants to be under the hero's protection: check.
- Although Petite Princess Yucie is already very moe-heavy with all those cute princess candidates, it really gets turned up to eleven the moment Beth's fairy assistant Belbel appears on screen.
- Yuko, from XXX Holic, has a small monologue on moe in the book xxxHOLiC: Anotherholic:
"If someone has flaws or defects, but that is exactly what draws you to them, people call it moe. It's different from 'like,' where you're drawn to their good points, their strengths. 'Like' doesn't care for defects or flaws. Moe is the opposite of 'like' or 'dislike'....."
Entire series called moe include
- Kamichu is an excellent example of the two different kinds of moe. Most of the show is based purely on the "protective feeling" school of moe, as the show is not "sexed up" in any way, and bears nary a hint of Fan Service. And then from left field comes the obligatory Beach Episode Lovers of the Sun. Gainaxing, Fanservice, and stretched-tight swimsuits suddenly leave the target audience at a loss. (Mumbles to self, "...was as disturbing as that Hello Kitty bondage doll ...")
- The anime is mild compared to the manga, which is at times quite fanservice-heavy. This often focuses on Matsuri, who is also depicted as much more well-endowed than in her anime-incarnation. The other girls get their fair share as well though, especially Yurie.
- Moon Phase, on the other hand...
- Magic Warrior-type Magical Girl shows aimed at an older male audience, such as Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
- Nanoha herself became even cuter by having a cute partner, one major reason for the strong Nano/Fate fandom despite its occasional vagueness. When Nanoha is older, the addition of Vivio lets her show off her big sister/motherly traits.
- Cute characters such as Bridget (Guilty Gear), Mizuho (Otome Wa Boku Ni Koishiteru), and Jun Watarase (Happiness!) are often considered moe. The fact they are all guys is incidental.
- The Japanese Transformers toy and manga series, "Kiss-Player", attempts to combine moe-type female characters with transforming robots. Reaction has been suitably mixed, with a large contingent declaring it the Worst. Thing. Ever. (It should be noted, though, that at least part of this reaction can be traced to the storyline, which involves evil robots with disturbingly phallic tongues who eat people.)
- Another set of H-Games with actual plots and sympathetic characters is Key's works. Kanon and AIR have both been animated twice with all H-scenes removed and practically no fanservice, and didn't lose much; CLANNAD, which is also about to be animated twice under the same contract, was completely clean in the first place.
- One word: Chobits.
- Two words: Azumanga Daioh.
- Three words: Di Gi Charat.
- Four words: Two words, Gunslinger Girl.
- Four syllables and a reversed tilde: Uta∽Kata.
- Five words (just to complete the joke): A Little Snow Fairy Sugar.
- Potemayo is about a boy and the titular, unspeakably cute, over-possessive, literal moe-blob he found in his fridge.
- Kamichama Karin. Seriously, even the bishonen are moe.
- Bottle Fairy.
- Chis Sweet Home.
- Hidamari Sketch.
- Behold the latest Spin Off series of Gradius! Otomedius!
- And of course, who can ignore Moetan?
- Arcana Heart is widget-powered moe.
- In the Harry Potter books and movies, Luna "Loony" Lovegood is considered by some to be moe, even causing Anonymous to have the unusual reaction of "I want to date her and meet her parents" rather than "I want to have violent, squicky sex with her, then kill her"
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