Moe explained and revealed.

Moe is a term that shows up a lot when talking about Anime and Manga, but what is moe?

Well I'm here to clear some things up.

Moe (pronounced Mo-eh) is kind of a poorly defined otaku term that basically talks about all the cute aspects of female characters. Moe characters are usually young, between high school age or younger. If there is a moe adult woman, she's usually in her early 20's.Sometimes a moe character is used simply as fanservice and has no point to the show besides being cute and useless. These characters are dubbed by critics/haters as moe blobs.

To know if a character is a moe character or not, it has to fit all 4 of the laws of moe.

Moe characters have to be:
1. cute
2. young
3. innocent
4. quirky

Here's a quick breakdown of each law.

1. Pretty explanitory, they have to be cute, so it can convince a fanboy to buy posters and figurines of his waifu.

2. Being young makes them naive, this brings out the big brother nature to protect your waifu.

3. Innocent as in virgin. This makes their awkward romantic experiences more kawaii when in their first romantic experience when they blush and are super shy when talking to that one hot guy.

4. Quirkyness is what sets them apart from the other girls in their class. Either with a hairstyle like twintails, or having a weird way of talking (think desu or nya~). Other quirks would be either: the clumsy girl who is always late to class, the tsundere who accidentally hurts her crush. The quirk has to add to the cuteness factor of the character.

A character has to fit all 4 laws to be considered moe.

With moe characters, there are typical character personality traits that are the most common.

The ditz


The ditz is usually the dumb character in the group. She might be super nice and polite, but she's the character that's always "out there". She's usually the character that makes you go "dawww" when she messes things up, or does something really ridiculously dumb that makes you feel bad for her innocence.

The shy one


The shy one sometimes tends to be the best looking out of the other girls, but since she's shy, this makes her grade A waifu material for those who fall for her. She can either be scared of talking to boys, or she's shy to talking to strangers, or putting herself out in public situations. They usually have a skill that she's really talented at, but is scared to share her secrets of the skill due to being too shy to talk to people.

The klutz


The klutz can sometimes be confused with the ditz, or mixed together, but there are many that have them separated (think the difference between Miyuki and Tsukasa in Lucky Star). The klutz can be either really smart, or really good at something, but she always ends up messing something up. Sometimes she has difficulty walking and easily trips. For example, the klutz asks if her guests want tea, but she realizes it's cold and puts it in the microwave, but forgets to get it out of the microwave, and must reheat it again. Rinse and repeat.

Now for the slightly complicated one.

The Tsundere


A short explaination of a tsundere is someone who "runs hot and cold" and alternates between 2 moods: Tsun (aloof or irritating) and Dere (lovestruck). A tsundere could be the girl who has a massive crush on the guy, and then ends up hurting him physically. Or she could be the overly aggressive and aggravating, but has a hidden sweet side. A typical character in a romantic comedy, since her personality clashes with the main character, thus adding to drama and comedy.

There are 2 types of tsundere. Type A and Type B.

Type A tsundere


She tends to be the bitchy character (tsun is default mood), but under certain circumstances, her cute (or dere) side is triggered. A typical tsundere situation would be the love interest asking her to the movies and in typical tsundere fashion responds; "Fine, I'll go to the movies with you, only because I have nothing else to do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing this because I like you or anything, my schedule is just clear GOT IT?"

Type B tsundere


Type B default mood is dere. They are usually sweet and generous, but have a hidden violent side. her temper is usually triggered by either her love interest, or by another. She can also be the accidental pervert. A typical type B would be the violently protective girlfriend, who tries to save her boyfriend, but in the process, ends up hurting him.

Thanks for the enligthment or the heads up Grungiekins...

Thanks for the explanation; I heard the term in the second episode of Haruhi and wondered about it.

You're welcome, I decided to do an explanation since a lot of fans are confused with it.