Moe

Those helpless eyes are killers.

"Somehow, when I look at her, I feel like I can't leave her alone. I feel like I have to protect her!"

— Chiri Kitsu, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei

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Coined in Japan in the late '90s, "Moe" (萌え, pronounced as "Mo-Eh", derived from a Japanese word that means "budding, to sprout/bloom")^note 燃え, also pronounced "moe", is a different word meaning "to burn" or "passion". This is a source of puns. is an ill-defined otaku term that means, amongst other things, "cute", "huggable", or "endearing". While it's sometimes used to describe a series or the phenomenon called Perverse Sexual Lust, it's more about a specific ideal or kind of character, similar to Kawaisa. When used as an interjection, figuratively, it's used to convey that "something blooms inside your heart". It has a basis in the Bishoujo genre.

A common definition is that Moe is the ability of a character to instill in the audience an irrational desire to adore them, hug them, protect them, comfort them, etc. To evoke a sort of Big Brother Instinct or Heartwarming Moments, in men and women. Therefore, Moe characters are, generally speaking, cute.

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Moe characters are implicitly youthful. In Anime, they are mostly of high school age, but adult characters are not exempt if they fit the model of adorability; an example of the Moe Archetype applied for adults is the Yamato Nadeshiko. Their personality will reflect an "innocent" outlook on something vital, such as about romance. A related implication is that moe characters are virgins, though mostly in Japan, where virginity and purity still remains important to a girl's appeal.

The classical Moe character, based on that of Conservative Japanese customs, is highly associated with innocence, shyness, humility, submission, helplessness and woobie characteristics (e.g., Prone to Tears, Shrinking Violet, Extreme Doormat, Cute Clumsy Girl, The Ingenue, the Healing-type genre, etc., usually drawn with Tareme Eyes). However, due to Western influence, modern variations of the Moe Archetype trend towards upbeat, lively, energetic and extroverted personalities that are far more unique, noticeable and recognizable, such as the Genki Girl, Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Broken Bird and benign variants of the Tsundere archetype. Other contributions to uniqueness can also come in the form of quirks, reliance on Costume Exaggeration, odd language, strange hobbies and the like. Occasionally, these quirks are completely unrelated and seem a bit disjointed.

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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.

More on these traits can be found here, although trying to define the exact nature of "what is Moe" is still up to debate.

Such characters are also prone to being used as mere Pandering to the Base. When a character has no visible personality traits aside from vaguely cute uselessness, they are termed the dreaded "Moe Blob". An interesting result of this is some moe characters are quasi-Animated Actors; the series they star in 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 possibly-intended roots, though quite a few merchandise producers use heavy amounts of artistic liberty when designing products.

Also, do note that the Moe aesthetic in itself is generally not considered to be a sexual thing. Saying otherwise will be a Fandom-Enraging Misconception. That is not to say, of course, that Moe characters can never be sexually attractive, and indeed some aesthetics may deliberately blur the line.

Male characters can also have moe traits, and they figure prominently in Shoujo and Josei. Like their female counterparts, moe boys are usually ridiculously cute. The Adorably Precocious Child is a good example. Bishōnen characters (particularly Troubled, but Cute characters) also tend to evoke feelings of Moe in a female audience and are frequently called Moe by both fans and authors.

For the non-anthropomorphic equivalent, see Ridiculously Cute Critter. See also Moe Anthropomorphism, Moe Couplet, Moe Stare; compare The Woobie where the focus is about sympathy. Yamato Nadeshiko has a similar appeal but for older characters. Also see When She Smiles for situations where applicable characters get massive Moe points for finally breaking out a smile. In darker series, very likely to suffer Break the Cutie. Weakness Turns Her On is a sort of Distaff Counterpart that concerns women's attraction to moe males. Contrast Rated M for Manly. What Do You Mean, It's Not for Little Girls? when someone mistakes a moe show that's meant for older males for a show that's meant for little girls.

No connection to a certain bowlcut-wearing would-be leader, surly bartender, six-year-old school bully, or clam. Or, for that matter, a town in Victoria, Australia. Also no connection to the Dutch word for "sleepy" (despite what The Advertisement Server thinks).

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Moe characters

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• The Japanese Windows 7 mascot Nanami Madobe who's a bit ditzy and suffers from Cuteness Proximity.
  • Microsoft Moe strikes again: Claudia Madobe, whose figurines are bundled with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Priced at ~$2200, one must wonder whether the figurine or the software is the bonus content.
• The commercials for Myrbetriq hyperactive bladder medication manage to evoke this in an anthropomorphic bladder, of all things. Just look at those soft, pleading eyes...

Arts

• Hommage aux soldats français morts pour la patrie◊ (1931). Given how the French are known for Cultural Cringe it is not surprising that some artists used this to promote a more innocent outlook on Patriotic Fervor. The date shows that the trope is Older Than They Think.

Comic Books

• One male example who gets away with it because of his age is Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. Remember when the baby raccoon died? It was also a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
  • It's when he wants to be, and it never works on his parents. Not even "Bambi eyes" work. Of course, "Bambi Eyes" tend to lose the intended effect when one is using them to ask for a flamethrower. It also doesn't work on Rosalyn (the baby-sitter), or Miss Wormwood (the teacher), or... you know what? It just doesn't work In-Universe.
• The title character of Empowered is a rare example in an American Super Hero comic.
  ThugBoy: She's got this whole adorable, aching vulnerability thing going on... [...] I wanted to comfort her and tap that ass like it's never been tapped before.
• Delirium in Death: At Death's Door
• Molly Hayes and Klara Prast from Runaways
• Ignacia from Wildguard
• Squee from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac could be an example of this.
• The original version of Marrina from Alpha Flight was absolutely made of this, at least as long as she was in control of herself. Unfortunately, outside forces kept pulling out her Super-Powered Evil Side, making her good half seem just that much more tragic and, well, moe.
• Most of the kid characters from Le Petit Spirou easily qualify for this.
• Gastoon from the comic book of the same name is this. Just look at this album cover.
• Kamala Khan, aka the current Ms. Marvel. She's so perky and happy all the time!

Fan Works

• Let's just say the author of Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità really displays Italy's moe characters. No wonder Germany and Japan are head-over-heels for him.
• And If That Don't Work has Shinju Ayanami, It Makes Sense in Context. Imagine the Moe qualities of Rei and Shinji and add a healthy dash of Elegant Gothic Lolita.
• Chi and Chakra has Ryoko Saotome, a moe Blood Knight.
• Pretty much EVERY original character that Author Nearlover7 writes. And if you know her from DesuDesBrigade, she's pretty moe herself.
• In the Total Drama story, Keepers of the Elements, the author has stated that Aideen, the previous Fire Keeper is this, as well as Anacaona the very first Air Keeper.
• Total Drama Kids: The designs for the kiddie versions of the teens are all completely and absolutely adorable!
• Brainbent's AU version of Nepeta Leijon, like her canonical counterpart, is pretty darn adorable. She's a short, quirky Cat Girl with a generally playful and friendly personality, although like the rest of the cast, she has her share of issues.
  • Many of the younger cast members have moe moments. Being a cast full of Woobies doesn't hurt, and neither does the cast's comparative lack of homicidal outbursts.
  • Calliope gets moe points from her character design alone. She's a burn victim instead of an alien skull monster in this universe, but still terribly cute in her own way.
• Even a Dark Fic like Hivefled has moe characters, especially Ganmed Lomust, an Adorkable writer of absolutely awful fanfiction, and Tsukey Morney, a painfully shy sufferist with Girlish Pigtails who usually speaks in third person. (Of course, Ganmed is an Obliviously Evil subjugglator who has, to quote his profile, "killed a number of people", and Tsukey is a Child Soldier who collects knives, but, ehh, they're still cute.)
• Gensokyo 20XX: Kid Youmu is adorable and there isn't much not to love about her being a Cuddlebug and her only being able to say "Muh". The image of her almost speaks for itself.
• Sweetie Belle in Sweetie Belle: Blackjack Dealer. Yay! is so adorable that hardened hitponies and mafia dons fold like a house of cards in front of her. In the final scene, she gains her cutie mark (a kitten licking an ice cream cone) that signifies her special talent is being unbearably cute.
• Peter Parker in To Intervene is so adorable and purely good that Tony finds himself wanting to wrap him in cotton and protect the kid from any and all harm. After their first meeting, Tony resolves to protect Peter's innocence and idealism when he learns Peter is a superhero because he feels obligated to help others simply because he can.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series has jokes about Yugi being this. Specifically, the series likens him to a baby panda.
  Yugi: Have you seen my face?! Seriously, I'm so cute, people have mistaken me for a baby panda! One whimper outta me and he'll be the Joey we know and love again.
  Yami: You mean you're not a baby panda?
  Yugi: Nope.
  Yami: Wow, you're good!
• In A Brand New Day, an AU fic of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Homura Akemi's moe traits are jacked Up to Eleven. Shrinking Violet? Check. Nice Girl? Check. The Woobie? Check. So much that all other characters want to hug her.
• Izuku in The Undead Schoolgirl: Dead Pulse. Everyone who meets her wants nothing more than to protect her optimism, including Bakugo, Gunhead, Mirio, and Shinso.

Films — Animation

• All Dogs Go to Heaven: Anne-Marie. For a good many folks who grew up during the Renaissance Age, she was THE Heartwarming Orphan.

• Big Hero 6: Hiro is an adorably tiny 14-year-old robotics prodigy with Messy Hair and big brown eyes, and he looks especially small when standing next to the rest of the adult characters, including Baymax. And he's an orphan who loses his big brother, which makes him prime-grade Woobie material. The fandom loves to make him the subject of Hurt/Comfort Fics, many of which involve him getting kidnapped or hurt in some way.
• The Boxtrolls: Eggs, the Heartwarming Orphan who was taken in by the titular boxtrolls, also invokes a "taking him home with me" reaction from the audience.
• Despicable Me: Agnes is the most innocent child to hit the screen in a long time, and she's adorable.
• Frozen: Anna, as part of her Adorkable and Cute Clumsy Girl appeal.
• Inside Out: All five of the emotions are this is some way, but Sadness tends to be the biggest example out of all of them thanks to her quiet Eeyore-like personality, large glasses, and her short stocky appearance in general.
• The Little Mermaid: Ariel is a very cute mermaid for viewers of all ages to enjoy.

• Rise of the Guardians: Sophie is just the most adorable thing and tends to invoke I'm Taking Her Home with Me! in the audience.
• Rock Dog: Bodi's cute character design and optimistic, innocent Adorkable personality make him quite the Precious Puppy.
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Snow White, the original princess, was arguably the start of this in Western Animation and her cuteness is purposefully emphasized nowadays in contrast to some of the most elegant or tough princesses.
• Sweet little Saoirse in Song of the Sea is goddamn precious, with her little rosy cheeks and huge dark eyes. You just wanna give her a big squishy hug, especially early in the film when her older brother is being mean to her.
• Spies in Disguise:
  • Walter instantly became this when the character design was revealed, even more so when the film itself released. Aside from being a direct caricature of his actor, Walter is an awkward yet kindhearted Wide-Eyed Idealist who loves pigeons and wants to use his gadgets to protect everyone from harm, including his enemies.
  • Eyes is a tall, slender Meganekko with big glasses, Youthful Freckles and an endearingly nerdy personality.
• Tangled: Rapunzel. Her mannerisms and personality make her one of the most adorable Disney Princess.

• Toy Story 3: Bonnie. Whether she's being shy (around adults) or a cheerful Genki Girl (with her toys) she's always adorable.
• The titular Trolls are considered this, given the fact that they hug all the time.
• Wreck-It Ralph: Vanellope von Schweetz is the most adorable character in the movie and also the most abused, whose living conditions were even worse than Ralph's. She is essentially a Dummied Out character in her home game, which is horrifyingly tragic if such a character were sentient. Some of the story team members even grew protective of her.

Films — Live-Action

• Glory Adams, the severely autistic girl from the movie Jack Of The Red Hearts has her own way of being adorable throughout the film.
• Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. More so than the book, in which he seems slightly more composed and more mature than his younger Hobbit friends, film Frodo is every bit the doe-eyed, plucky little train-that-could. Whenever action goes down, even the other Hobbits manage to get some licks in. But not our Frodo, who whimpers and faints and plays the Ill Boy throughout. He's so in over his head it's absurd... which is what makes his pluck all the more moving. It's just a good job Sam went with him...
• David Bowie's character from The Man Who Fell to Earth is a fragile, if stoic, alien who proves highly, tragically vulnerable to the pitfalls of the human world. In his human disguise, he's one of the older examples of this trope (his true form is that of a Rubber-Forehead Alien). It's telling that Bowie fangirls usually refer to Thomas Jerome Newton via his in-story nickname of "Tommy".
• The ultimate western example would be Audrey Hepburn's adorably innocent Princess Ann from Roman Holiday.
• Star Trek (2009): Chekov. He's developed quite the female following.
  • He's practically a live-action anime character with his enormous greenish-blue eyes; no wonder he's a Moe! That and his positively adorable accent (especially when the computer acts like a bitch to him).
    • "I can do zat! I can do zat!"
• Little Nancy in Sin City the movie. She is a lot cuter when seen in full color light in the bonus DVD features than in the black and white of the movie.
• Raven in Cecil B. Demented falls into this category in a weird way, but then, considering the actress...
• Both used straight and subverted when Wednesday Addams turns on the charm at summer camp in Addams Family Values. In just a few moments she blossoms from her usual drawn and dour self into a charming doe-eyed lovable little girl.
  • The other children are visibly shocked. One remarks, "She's scaring me!"
• Child!Hanuman/Maruti from The Return of Hanuman. Big girly eyes, cheeks, innocence, he's just so adorable.
• Transformers Film Series
  • Bumblebee fills this, despite being a mechanical life form. Due to being the most humanoid of the robot cast, his movements modelled after Marty McFly, the fact his horns are replaced with little bug antennae, he's given Prowl's door wings which act like dog ears, and his childlike enthusiasm at times. There's a reason many cried when he was injured in the first film and when it looks like he's about to be executed by Soundwave in the third. Possibly lampshading this, Laserbeak uses his apparent ability to change into anything to become a human child sized pink version of him to trick a small girl into letting him inside so he can kill her family.
  • Carly in the third film also acts as this, due to being more emotional than Megan Fox's character Mikaela in the first film and more playful.
• Child's Play: Chucky. Yes, he is a psychotic mass murderer, but he just looks so adorable in his doll body.
• Syrena from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Come on look at those big adorable eyes. Doesn't hurt that she's a sweet vulnerable non-murdering mermaid.
• Barbra from Night of the Living Dead (1968). After all of the horrible things that happen to her, she becomes a nervous wreck. And it's adorable!
• Just about anyone played by Mr. Buster Keaton. Poor guy.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • In Thor, Loki gets one or two scenes (notably The Reveal scene) that make him this... until he turns all Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
  • Pre-serum Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger, especially in fanworks. He's feisty and determined (very) rather than innocent and vulnerable, but he is a short, kind of delicate-looking (with big blue Disney princess eyes), romantically inexperienced, Adorkable Ill Boy who gets beat up a lot. Post-serum, he's still cute, but in more of a Dork Knight-Iron Woobie way.
  • Cute Alien Girl Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. She's a reasonably kind person with a non-violent power set (being The Empath) in a film full of stab-happy Jerks With Hearts Of Gold and worse. She's socially awkward in a terribly endearing way due to her isolated upbringing, which also gives her Woobie points because she's terribly lonely and in need of friends. And her Cuteness Proximity reaction to Rocket and baby Groot is adorable.
  • Spider-Man. Much emphasis is placed on this Spider-Man's youth and inexperience compared to previous versions. He acts like a geeky fanboy and is constantly stuttering and running his mouth in battle. He defaults to being the youngster when placed against much older heroes. The writers and actor deliberately invoke trope as it makes both his death in Avengers: Infinity War and his mentor Tony Stark's death in Avengers: Endgame all the more heartbreaking as he reacts like a scared, frightened child instead of a more stoic, hardened hero
• Janie in Another Time, Another Place, especially when she gets the chance to smile.
• X-Men: First Class managed to make Mystique seem Moe.
• Aurora in Maleficent. Innocent, Friend to All Living Things, and spends many of her scenes full of nothing but joy. Being played by Elle Fanning definitely helps. She eventually forms a Moe Couplet with the title character.

Music

• Lala◊ (right), the singer for J-Pop / digital noise shotgun wedding わたしのココ. You think it stops there? Wait 'till she opens her mouth.
  • Possibly something of a Woobie as well; the band's webpage states that she's a Shrinking Violet to the nth degree.
• LIGHTS
• Damon Albarn of Blur most likely invokes this, particularly in the mid-90s. Just look at him.◊ Awwwwww.◊
• Gorillaz:
  • Guitarist Noodle has always been one in her way, especially considering the visceral art style. Here she is aged ten◊, fourteen◊ and twenty◊, complete with Cool Mask.
  • 2D also invokes this feeling a bit, particularly in Phase 3. He's definitely more Ugly Cute than anything, but his advanced Woobiehood and ditzy, laid-back demeanor make him... pretty damn lovable.
• Carcass in their heyday were quite cute for people making Gorny Grind Core.
• Ringo Starr guessed that his fanbase in the '60s consisted mainly of girls who wanted to mother him. He was absolutely right.
• In-universe example. In the Bon Jovi song, "Superman Tonight," Jon sings about a girl he wants to rescue...THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW.
• Sally Shapiro
• Jazz vocalist and pianist Blossom Dearie had this as a big part of her appeal, often described as having a girlish appearance and an innocent "baby-doll" voice. Case in point: her famous cover of "Someone To Watch Over Me." (Is a more Moe name than "Blossom Dearie" even possible?)
• Ben Howard has been known to have this effect on some.
• Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy has always had this effect on people to the point where even Pete Wentz has joked about it.
  Pete: patrick doesnt do gross things. his body is made up of kittens, saturdays, 70 degree weather, first kisses and butterflies. trust me, i cut that bitch open once to check.
• Ryan Ross◊ and Brendon Urie◊ of Panic! at the Disco. No wonder their fans ship◊ them together!
• Gerard Way◊ and Frank Iero◊ from My Chemical Romance are this. Gerard has an adorable personality contrary to his appearance, and Frank is small and huggable. Is no wonder why they were a hit with the girls?
• Cone of Sum 41 may as well be the poster child for the real-life◊ male counterpart.◊ He's so sweet and sugary, it's no wonder the fans want to protect him!
  Commenter on a tribute video of him: He's so pure, we must protect him at all costs
  • Deryck◊ Whibley◊ is this too. He's even small◊ and shy (Despite what his stage presence says)!
• Most of the Vocaloids count. The best-known examples are Hatsune Miku, the Kagamine twins Rin and Len, Megurine Luka, Meiko (who also counts as Fanservice), Gumi Megpoid and Akita Neru.
  • Many Utauloids also count, but none more so than Kasane Teto.

Podcasts

• The caricatures of the two hosts of Fat, French and Fabulous have a distinct, cutesy animesque art style that belies the dark, disturbing comedy of the podcast itself.
• About the best way to describe why Hailey Solomanari of Kakos Industries is so well liked among fans. Even with only her voice to convey her character, she's so damn naive and bubbly it's borderline infectious. She's especially this compared to the other characters who tend to carry a more obvious sense of intimidation while she keeps her own Evil capabilities under a pretty pink gauze of innocence which makes her both incredibly "moe" with plenty of Cute and Psycho to boot.

Professional Wrestling

• A.J. Lee is of the Genki Girl variety.
• Randy Savage's valet Wrestling.Miss Elizabeth could also count.
• It's Bayley! Genki Girl, check, Adorkable, check, weaponized glomper, check, one of the most "wholesome" Divas on WWE programming, check. Her opening even features a drawing of her as an anime character!

Roleplay

• Survival of the Fittest:
  • Sierra Manning in , a cute emotional girl whose cuteness is only amplified by her lisp.
  • This trope could also easily explain why Orn "Dutchy" Ayers is so popular on the board. Dutchy is an Icelandic, free-loving comic book nerd who watches soccer and cries Tender Tears over the plight of third-world countries among other things. Add in his in-game posts, which makes many handlers see him as The Woobie, and his habit of wearing a Pointless Band-Aid over his nose, and you have a character who most of the board adores.
• The Doomy Adventures of Irken Doominess:
  • Melissa as a smeet was a total Moe being shy and withdraw, often having others feel the need to protect her.
  • while we're on this subject, San too who was in pretty much the same situation as Melissa but wasn't shy or withdrawn but so socially awkward that most people avoided her.

Tabletop Games

• The Warhammer 40,000 fan-character Cultist-chan turned into this once she got de-aged. Yes, a cultist of Chaos.
  • She's so cute she'll cahptoor your heart!
  • An unintentional example: The Land Raider is a ginormous uber-manly Awesome Personnel Carrier / Cool Tank, with◊ multiple◊ variations◊, each more badass than the last. The there's the Land Raider Spartan...◊
  • In a similar vein to Cultist-Chan, we have Lolicron, which is basically a Moe Personification of the necrons. And yes, she is adorable◊.
• Eberron's female religious leaders are adorable.
  • Jaela Daran has been mentioned many times.
  • Erandis Vol also practices knitting.
• Fighting Fantasy books including Deathtrap Dungeon, House of Hell and Sword of the Samurai were redone in a moe art style in Japan.
• The GURPS advantage Pitiable basically facilitates moe.
  Something about you makes people pity you and want to take care of you. You get + 3 on all reaction rolls from those who consider you to be in a position of helplessness, weakness, or need (which never includes those with the Callous disadvantage). Taken in conjunction with above-average looks, Pitiable means you are "cute" instead of "sexy"; in combination with below-average looks, it means you are "appealingly homely," like a basset hound.
• A similar Competence is available for some races in the Tabletop RPG based off Naheulbeuk : "Touching naivety" grants the character a +4 bonus to all Charisma rolls in order to get forgiven by the rest of the party for any laughably catastrophic mistake. Considering how stupid, clumsy (read "very keen to accidentally shoot allies in the back while trying to cover them") elves can be in the Naheulbeuk Universe, they automatically start the adventure with this competence.
• The Collectible Card Game Weiss Schwarz uses moe as its primary selling point, allowing moe stalwarts such as the Lucky Star and Clannad casts to wage bloody moe battle against each other.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese card game, therefore there are a lot moe characters in it. The first and best-known example is "Dark Magician Girl"; she later gets a moe sisterhood whose names contain the words "Magician Girl" and the first letters of those names form the word "Black" (she's known as "Black Magician Girl" in Japan and Korea). Many later archetypes used by cutesy female characters from the anime and manga consist solely of moe girl monsters. IRL, some of the most popular moe monsters are (visually) designed by the Japanese artist Akina Fujiwara (藤原明奈), including the girl group known as Charmers (one of them is male, but still cute enough) and their cuddly familiars; the Charmers have won a poll and gotten featured on game mat and card sleeve designs.

Theater

• The Phantom of the Opera
  • Christine is a perfect example of a Moe done well.
  • Meg Giry could also qualify for this.

Visual Novels

• Danganronpa:
  • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Chihiro Fujisaki serves as this In-Universe, having a sizable fanbase due to looking like a "small, frightened animal". Even before his secret is revealed, he serves as the Token Mini-Moe to both the boys and girls.
  • Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: Chiaki Nanami fits this to a T. She's a shorty, busty, sleepy-headed Gamer Chick who is voiced by Christine Marie Cabanos in the English dub.
    • Mikan Tsumiki too, at least before The Reveal and even then, people still tend to feel bad for her.
    • Ibuki Mioda is pretty cute as well, especially with her energetic nature and hilarious dialogue.
  • Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls:
    • Jataro to quite a few fans. His unmasked appearance especially.
    • Komaru herself is quite the cutie, which is why the game seems to make an active effort to break her. Even Kotoko thinks so.
    • Monaca plays it up for deceptive purposes, so she arguably subverts this trope.
  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: Himiko has that "Cute Little Sister" aura to her, not to mention sharing some similar quirks (and Christine Marie Cabanos's voice in the dub, which also helps) with the above Chiaki Nanami.
• Doki Doki Literature Club! definitely has this aesthetic and kept it even as horror elements creep into the game.
• Shiki from Tsukihime tends to have a love of moe traits among the girls in the games. The doujins take this to whole new levels, creating his infamous line "So moe...I'm gonna die~!"
  • The female cast of the game are all quite moe; some just more than others.
  • Akiha, Arcueid, Hisui, Satsuki, and Len; arguably the most moe characters out of the lot.
• The girls of Katawa Shoujo, who are all Disabled Love Interests who each have some moe traits, but Shrinking Violet Hanako probably takes the cake. However, it's worth noting that despite fandom's treatment of Hanako as moe, her route in the game actually deconstructs the concept. Hanako becomes well aware that Hisao feels sorry for her and sees her as The Woobie, and she greatly resents it. In her Bad End, she calls Hisao out on this, yelling that she hates him for this behaviour. With the way she's facing the screen, however, it doesn't seem that she's yelling at Hisao so much as she's yelling at the player. In her H-scene, the reason she has sex with Hisao in the first place is so that he'll stop seeing her as someone to be pitied and protected.
• Ema Skye in the extra case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and her cameo in Ace Attorney Investigations. Check out one of her animation cycles if you want proof.
  • Really, any of your female companions fall into this in some way. Maya with her childish naivete, Pearl's innocent ignorance of the world outside Kurain Village (and just being the one little girl in general), and Trucy Wright just all around. Even Kay Faraday, Genki Girl as she is, gets in on it sometimes with her charming ambition. It helps that all these characters have Woobie backgrounds.
  • Ron DeLite: Mask☆DeMoe.
• Rika and Satoko from Higurashi: When They Cry. 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.
  • Rena is plenty moe as well, she just has a far less emphasis on childish moeness. At one point she plays this up in order to fluster Keiichi long enough to win one of their club's games of tag.
  • In its Spiritual Successor, Umineko: When They Cry, you have Shannon, who fulfills most of the stereotypical moe traits (Meido, Shrinking Violet, The Ingenue, etc.), and also Beatrice (oddly enough), when you get glimpses of what the fandom has dubbed "Moetrice".
    • And Maria when she isn't being Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant
    • Also Sakutaro, for a male example.
• The elves of ElfQuest are deliberately Moe, particularly Suntop (later renamed Sunstream in-universe) who is practically the Ur Example. Around age 5 or 6, he had to endure being kidnapped by Winnowill, the only truly evil elf known and magically hurt in order to keep him from struggling. Then as a 7yo (guesstimated), he had to endure 2-3 days of sleeplessness because of constantly "hearing" telepathic screaming of other elves from some unknown place. If it weren't for sympathetic parents and an understanding mentor, he could have literally turned out an insanely evil being instead of godlike good.
• Grisaia no Kajitsu: In-Universe. Yuuji suspects that Makina acts cutesy, dumb and weak in order to inspire protective feelings in people. He also speculates that it probably gets her bullied by other girls while guys would find it charming. In her route, he more or less falls for it and makes protecting her his duty in life.

Web Animation

• Squimpus McGrimpus focuses on nightmare-inducing, found-footage Fnaf content. Yet somehow, despite all of the horrors, the little animated Freddy in the Night Security Training Video is derpily adorable.
• Eddsworld:
  • Edd himself is a very cute cartoon boy with his Adorkable personality, wide-eyed expressions, cheerful attitude and love of cats.
  • Matt in the later episodes is still very vain, but also very much of a ditzy Keet.
  • Jon, he's a bit jerkish like Eduardo and Mark, but it's suggested that he's only misguided and manipulated by them into being a jerk and is really just an innocent guy and possibly the Only Sane Man of the trio.
  • Heck, to an extent, almost everyone on the show is this.
• Quite a few examples in RWBY, as it's a World of Action Girls:
  • Ruby Rose is a bubbly and geeky 15-year-old monster slayer in-training who wants to be a hero because her Cool Big Sis Yang read a lot of old fantasy stories to her as a little kid.
  • Yang as a little kid would qualify, with her pigtails and brave Determinator attitude.
  • Penny Polendina is a... strange but very cheerful young girl who is also capable of carving through an entire army of terrorists with a cute little smile on her face.
  • Standing at 4'9'', Neopolitan is the shortest girl in the cast, and rarely seen without her Parasol of Pain. That is, when she's not stabby Nightmare Fuel who nearly murdered both Ruby and Yang on separate occasions.
  • Velvet Scarlatina has bunny ears and big brown eyes, and practically squees when given a chance to use her weapon.
  • Blake Belladonna too, being a Stoic Woobie Catgirl
• Lucas the Spider is a relatively recent entry, but he will cure you of arachnophobia through cuteness alone. The little guy has the sweetest voice and cutest eyes you just want to hug him!
• Kizuna AI is a "virtual YouTuber" who plays video games or does video logs. She's an adorable Genki Girl and amusing to watch, while often rousing people's protective instincts when she fails or is scared. And she's also capable of being cute when saying cuss words like "Fuck you"—I mean, "FAKKYU!"

Web Comics

• El Goonish Shive shows us how not to do it: two moeblobs exceeding the critical mass together can make a moesplosion (cue speechless Diane).
• Hanners of Questionable Content.
  • And the author knows it. (Check the title.)
  • Marigold is as well, though to a lesser extent.
  • Marigold's anthroPC Momo is so Moe that she has a shocker built in to combat kawaii-related overload.
• Eve from Applegeeks is a robot. She is also very innocent and very cute. "What kind of cat would you want?" "I want a lolcat!"
• Eerie Cuties brings us Chloe, the Meganekko Moe succubus who thinks that she's a failure as a succubus. She got over THAT in her own spin-off comic, Dangerously Chloe
• Anime News Nina parodies the phenomenon with "Melodic Summer Kuu-Tan," whose eponymous main character is a literal moe-blob, as seen here.
• Secret, from Keychain of Creation, with enough adorability that Keychain fanart about her is overwhelmingly more popular than Marena's.
• Kimiko from Megatokyo. "Rehhhh???"
  • Don't forget Yuki — she's a Magical Girl, she almost has no choice but to be moe!
  • Miho and Largo play a video game called "Super Moe Moe Moe Ball".
• Speaking of Kimiko...Masha Kinoko. Using the power of moe, she single-handedly melted any objection towards the introductions of original characters in the series and was considered too adorable to become the final boss of the series, which was her intended role in the story at the time of her introduction.
  (Touhou Nekoyayou #50: A Maid's Work)
  Tewi Inonymous: The unforgivable sin of fan works is original characters. DUH!
  (Shenanigans in a Magical Forest 244: Masha: Wait, which her? PANIC!)
  Tewi Inonymous: >Masha: Calm down, panicking will get us nowhere. Let's assess.
  • Moeshroom. Yes, she received a fan nickname because of this!
• Precocious:
  • Tifany is considered this. Bud and Jacob comment on seeing her curled up asleep that she's "exceedingly cute!"
  • Yvette fits the role quite well also.
• Nepeta Leijon from Homestuck. She even warms /b/'s heart with her utter adorable.
  • Also, Jade can go into this category. Both she and Nepeta are clearly under Badass Adorable, though given the comic's cast...
  • And then there's the passive, shy, wheelchair-bound Tavros Nitram. There's a reason he's one of the most popular trolls in the series.
  • You know what? Skip individual descriptions, all the kids, and ALL the trolls can count as Moe at one point, for a ludicrous plethora of reasons. Which makes the three trolls who are now hated and feared an especially interesting character study...
  • Clubs Deuce / Courtyard Droll is a Ditzy Ineffectual Sympathetic Minion with an F in Evil. This video is considered canon.
  • And now we can add Calliope, aka uranianUmbra to the list, despite her not being a traditional example of "cute" physically. Her Fangirl tendencies (complete with Cosplay), hidden insecurities alongside being menaced by her "brother", and generally behaving in an Adorkable manner made many fans Squee! when she was first officially revealed.
  • WV/Wayward Vagabond/Warweary Villein, an adorable Cloud Cuckoo Lander with a tendency to suffer.
• Cuanta Vida has Anton, the panicky Mega Nekko medic. The CV fandom is usually ridiculously protective of the two main characters, so it really says something that Anton was immediately forgiven for working with Rojo to kidnap Bleu.
• Drowtales has Faen'arae Val'Sullisin'rune. While she may be older than the typical Moe character, she has the advantage of actually being a Drow whose age-equivalent in Human Terms would only be in the late Teens, Early Tweenties. This character has the drawback of being able to feel the emotions of others and frequently will go into what is termed "Empathic Shock" due to highly stressful emotions. She also suffers from severe PTSD. All that said, she is also one of the most endearing characters in the series.
  • Oh and Kyo'nne Val'Illhar'dro may also count... depending on whom you ask. Not to mention Naal'suul Val'Beldrobbaen would have counted Prior to being turned into a Demon.
• Moé the ninja in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!, who spends most of her time looking adorable and sad. Notable that she and her brothers Lari, Kurlijoh, and Shempu are the only anime-styled characters in the otherwise toony world of the comic.
• Eric "Bitty" Bittle (even his nickname is cute) from Check, Please! may be the most adorable tiny big-eyed pie-baking college hockey player ever.
• According to the author of Rain, the title character is associated with this trope.

Web Original

• Jade Sinclair, codename Generator, of the Whateley Universe. Cute, Genki Girl, looks about ten years old even if she's a high school freshman, still fixated on Hello Kitty.
• According to Uncyclopedia, musicians such as David Ellefson, Varg Vikernes (Troubled, but Cute), and Rick Allen (Bandage Babe) are considered moe by Heavy Metal fangirls.

Web Videos

• lonelygirl15. That is to say, Bree Avery.
• Codex of The Guild falls into more pathetic cute, but she still counts.
• MRirian became the second most subscribed person in Japan: for doing nothing but staring into a camera, looking incredibly moe. Really, almost all of her videos only staring consist of that.
• That Guy with the Glasses:
  • The Nostalgia Critic. Those huge, pretty eyes, his actor's gleeful catering to the fangirls and the fact that he looks like a kid playing grown-up (and tends to suck at it) in that messy suit adds a lot to his appeal.
  • On that note, Nella, in all her Adorkable woman-child-ness.
  • Chester A. Bum, and unlike those two, he really does need taking home.
  • Pushing Up Roses, with her cute voice, glasses, and not-so ambiguous Jewish-ness.
  • MarzGurl; her blue hair, her right-out-of-the-hamper t-shirts, and her being fluent in Japanese.
  • Oancitizen, from Brows Held High; chubby face, fluffy facial hair, lovably snobby, cries almost as much as the Critic and has a soothing, Stephen Fry-esque voice.
  • Donnie DuPre from Demo Reel goes straight to the bedroom eyes to convince his co-workers to do anything, manages to be a complete Dude Magnet, is weak, femmy and very rarely raises his voice, has a horrible past (and present!) and nobody can resist looking after him.
  • Rebecca Stone. Her actress was delighted that Doug was the only guy to give her a Badass Adorable role, and while she's plenty ass-kicking feminist, she's also got an adorable giggle, has a stoner past and says whatever comes into her brain first.
• LilyPichu, a Gamer Chick that hosts her own channel doing escapades playing League of Legends and occasionally accompanies them with cute non-professional drawing in moe style. Just listen to her voice and try not to have a HNNNNNGGG. Of course, sometimes she subverts it in that she's also a bit foul-mouthed, letting out a Precision F-Strike from time to time, but it's also worth noting that she admits that the Moe voice is totally original and not made-up. She's also pretty personable and can be hilarious when she wants to be.
• The character named Moe in No Boys Dorm. With her bubbly personality, love of the color pink, enthusiasm for just about everything, and tendency to actually sparkle, she definitely fits the description.
• Idols of Anime episode 14 discusses the rise of Moe in anime during the mid-2000s.

Entire series called moe

Notable Producers of Moe Series

• The animation company M.O.E. is named after and produces many such shows; some have more fanservice than others.
• Kyoto Animation also has a knack for this. They made the series (Lucky Star, Kanon, Air, CLANNAD, K-On!) that are the zenith of moe.
• CLAMP, on occasion.
• Most series in the Manga Time Kirara magazines are moe.

Video Games

• Game Tengoku (also known as The Game Paradise).
• Otomedius, a Spin-Off of Gradius.
• Arcana Heart is widget-powered moe.
• Every Kirby character that's not a final boss is Moe. Even Meta Knight, under his mask, is adorable.
• All of Nippon Ichi's strategy RPG releases are cutesy enough to qualify as Moe.
  • Except maybe Soul Nomad & the World Eaters.
• The champ, however, has to be Pop 'n Music. Take your pick of literally dozens of characters, including one actually named Moe (which she is, in spades).
• Neko Blade
• Chip Chan Kick, an Elimination Platformer for the PC-FX.
• Touhou actually averts this for the most part, since despite 98% of the cast being cute girls wearing some kind of frilly clothing very few of the characters really have any stereotypically moe personalities (and it's not like any of them need to be protected anyway). It's still pretty easy to think it's a moe series, though, since fans are very fond of emphasizing moe traits whether the characters in question have any or not. Some details in the guidebooks have actually subverted the moe treatment some characters got (i.e. Hina is not someone you want to spend time with because she leaks misfortune, Kisume is actually a Creepy Child, Nitori may or may not actually be racist against humans).
• Pangya, the world's most moe golf MMO.
• The Atelier series, from their pages here on TVTropes, described as being "described as one-part JRPG, one-part Time Management Game and three-parts Item Crafting with a dollop of Moe for flavour."
• In Potion Maker, most notably the store staff, but applies to pretty much all characters. Including cats.
• When EA realized that The Sims wasn't selling so well in Asia, they figured they needed a new series to appeal to people in that area. In order to do this, they decided to take said game and add a thick coat of pure, Super-Deformed, Animesque, family-friendly Moe to it. What did they get? MySims.
• Eternal Fighter Zero, the doujin Fighting Game by Twilight Frontier features a cast of cute girls from Key/Visual Arts works, such as AIR, Kanon and ONE ~ To The Radiant Season ~, which are Moe works themselves. Special mention to Mayu, Mio and Unknown for the ONE side, Ayu, Nayuki and Sayuri for the Kanon side; and Misuzu and Kano for the AIR side.
• The Tamagotchi toys are about taking care of a virtual alien pet. A lot of the breeds the pet can evolve into, especially the modern-era ones, look absolutely adorable and very cuddly and huggable (it's primarily aimed at girls most of the time, so this makes sense - girls love cute stuff, after all, right?).

Visual Novels

• A set of eroge 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 was also animated twice under the same contract, was completely clean in the first place.
• There's actually a whole VN genre for so-called "moege". Da Capo and its spinoffs, SHUFFLE!, Snow Sakura and Canvas 2 are just some that this particular niche has to offer. Confusingly enough, there is also a different genre called "moege", the one relating to burn/passion; these titles are usually related to sports or hobbies one can be, well, passionate about and bond to each other over it. This difference was mentioned (and admitedly better explained) in Koe de Oshigoto!.
  • Speaking of Da Capo, remember the character Moe above in the anime section? In the VN there's more to her than meets the eye, and it has to do with her unusual sleeping habits, if that alone is not Moe enough. She takes sleeping pills. Not because of insomnia, but due to a tragic incident in her childhood — there was a boy she liked, then one day he died. Overcome with grief, she made a wish to the magical Sakura Tree to see that boy in her dreams. Hence her need to sleep. Thus when the tree withers, she loses that wish, and just breaks down. Awwww.

Web Comics

• Nerf NOW is a moe version of Team Fortress 2. While all the characters in TF2 are male (probably), the comic has male and female versions, and otherwise follows devotedly the Rule of Cute. It also has Moe Anthropomorphized Zerg Girls.
• APT Comic has plenty, all of which are intentional.

Web Animation

• The animated characters of the Dolan Life Mysteries videos, especially in the videos animated by Klowncar or ReturnOfGoo.

Web Original

• Starting in 2014, .moe joined the likes of .com and .net as a TLD. Yes, it is directly named after this concept.

Western Animation

• Baby Looney Tunes: A Lighter and Softer version of Looney Tunes as adorable and innocent babies who learn life lessons, although the trope is exaggerated to the point the series is accused of tasting like diabetes.

• Cartoon Network: Throughout its history, this channel's been able to churn out a slew of cute cartoons (which may contribute to its popularity, both in the States and in Japan).

• ChalkZone has been described by many as Nickelodeon's cutest non-preschooler cartoon. Of course, this is not without complaints of Tastes Like Diabetes.
• Danger Mouse (2015): Penfold, Professor Squawkencluck, Danger Moth, Dawn Crumhorn, sometimes Danger Mouse himself ... the list is endless.

• Doc McStuffins: Basically the entire show is about a titular "Healer of Moe-toys".

• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends has plenty of cute imaginary friends and some charming human characters.
• Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater. Tara Strong, the mistress of cute characters, started as Kitty on this show when she was 13.

• KaBlam!: The Life with Loopy'' shorts. And the Henry and June shorts at some points. The two main characters include an Adorably Precocious Child and a Cute Bruiser.
• Kim Possible: Many find Kim and Ron to be quite heartmelting.
• Lilo & Stitch: From the Puni Plush art to the high octane Sweet Dreams Fuel, it drips of Moe at every corner. Especially Lilo.
• The Loud House: Lincoln and all ten of his sisters, as well as many of the side child characters, just fill the series to the brim with cuteness.
• Madeline: Oddly enough for a late 80's/early 90's show. A lot is done to ensure the tiny, cute heroines are as tiny and cute as possible.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Due to the general art style, characters have varying degrees of this, but it's probably the most pronounced in Fluttershy. Outside of the main cast, there's Coco Pommel, whose popularity is almost entirely due to how endearing she is... And the show itself is largely about ponies learning to be better friends to one another, teaching lessons that often apply to adults as well as children.
• The original My Little Pony series, the second, or third.

• The Powerpuff Girls with Badass Adorable added to boot.

• Ruby Gloom combines this trope with Dark Is Not Evil to create a cast of endearing and lovable monsters and creepy creatures headed by the eponymous Perky Goth.

• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: The show has plenty of cute (or Ugly Cute for monsters) character designs.
• Strawberry Shortcake: Especially the first two incarnations (i.e., the 1980s specials, and the 2003 series).
• Tiny Toon Adventures: The main cast being a bunch of cute Puni Plush Toons based on Looney Tunes characters.
• Total DramaRama: A Spin-Off Babies show starring adorable preschool-aged versions of the cast of Total Drama Island. That said, some of the kids are cuter in appearance more than in personality.
• Wakfu: It has been described on This Very Wiki as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, "but with Moe rather than Hot Blood." The main character is Yugo, an Adorably Precocious Child with Cute Little Fangs, huge brown eyes, and a Nice Hat with cat ears. One of his companions is Amalia, a Rebellious Princess with a Flower in Her Hair who Does Not Like Shoes and harbours a deep attachment to her female bodyguard. Speaking of said bodyguard, even Evangelyne has her moments. It's important to note, though, that while these characters look huggable and helpless, they're anything but.

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