Here’s the difference between finding something cute and finding something moe.

Kittens playing around is considered cute. Babies are cute. Cupcakes are cute.

Animated girls acting retarded (the “moe” everyone’s talking about) are a byproduct of the creation of people who haven’t gone to school and learned about plotpoints and story-creating.

In fact; “retardation” is not something that requires nurturing or protection. It requires treatment. Immediate treatment.

Welcome home.

@Slighty Bald Wizard

if you have a blog, i’d read it.

I tried to put it in perspective, and I think her retarded characteristic is just a plot device for humor. Most of the comedy with her stems from her retarded aspect, but during the important plot developments, retardedness doesn’t play a role at all. So, she isn’t a ‘retarded’ moe girl, just a girl with that being one side of her.

Is it just me, or whenever I see a sad Key ending or event, I imagine Maeda Jun throttling me and going “CRY DARN YOU CRY!”? It’s a rather funny mental image, and well, :V

Honestly, all of this has nothing to do with people specifically liking the characters Fuuko and Kotomi sincerely. I don’t even think the question really needs an answer that goes as deep as questioning the merits of moe and whether it is pandering or not, because it seems more simple to me then that:

Answer: They just go for it because the show is by Kyoto Animation, and many initiate fans just automatically like everything that Kyoto Animation does without really bothering to think about it to deeply. To these fans, everything Kyoto Animation does is a stroke of divine inspiration, and seperating the weak elements in their shows, which I feel a good example of is Fuko’s writing in Clannad, and the strong elements of include the animation and Nagisa’s writing, is not even a consideration. They don’t even have to really try to make a character deep and involving or even move for that matter for people to find them interesting, hence why it may appear to you that people find characters that behave like a toddler moe. If there were a character like Fuko in another anime then she would likely be very unpopular and people would balk at the childish behaviour exhibited by this teenager as poor character writing. So yeah really it’s not a moe trait and never was, it’s just that it happens to be a trait of a character in a Kyoani show, and that automatically makes it desirable to a lot of fans. And I agree Impz, it is quite frustrating that these people can’t think for themselves to the point that they can realize Fuko is a really screwy character, but this is what we’re dealing with in the anime community right now.

I mostly just ignore these fans these days anyway and don’t take what they say with anything resembling sincerety anymore, there’s no reasoning with them, there’s no having a good discussion with them, there’s no true way to get them to reveal their feelings about why they like what they like in any meaningful way, because there is none. They are gone as far as discretion in anime is concerned and have no real value for the things they claim they like. Once a fan catches the Kyoani syndrome it’s over for them and even getting them to acknowledge good character writing by any other studio is a feat in and of itself, let alone to acknowledge that being head over heels for Fuko without any good reason might be considered by others to be….well odd to say the least.

And I’m not saying all of this to be mean, because I already feel a bit guilty about basically slamming half the known anime fanbase. It’s nothing personal to anyone, but it’s seriously a sad truth and something that I’m still learning to live with since I can’t go back in time.

I’ll stop making blanket assumptions about anime fans having no girlfriends.

You and the rest of the anime fandom stop making decisions for the rest of us who are trying to enjoy anime; stop ruining the story I might like with moe, blue-balling, and that so-called “slapstick comedy.”

At least know what you’re talking about before, well, talking.

On topic: For my case, I don’t care about Fuuko either way. I don’t hate her, I don’t like her, I simply don’t care. She’s just there, as a character, like Random Female Classmate Number 24.

However, I’ve also accepted that there’s a lot of things I don’t understand (like, as I keep mentioning elsewhere, the concept of “GAR”), and I don’t see the point of hating the fan reactions to them, even if the concept itself is distasteful.

Hating something because others like it strikes me as a bit too meta.

The mind boggles.

Gundam SEED? And its sequal Destiny? Noboby knew that a “real robot” show farnchise existed until it turned into a “super robot” show and shook its nice butt. Welcome home.

Also, I’m not a fan of Gurren Lagann. I thought Gainax should cease to exist the moment it showed the white sticky stuff that was on Shinji Ikari’s hand.

What I do like: Busou Renkin. El Hazard: The Wanderers. Xebec’s Negima. Gonzo’s Trinity Blood, Chrono Crusade, and Glass Fleet. E’s Otherwise. Morning Mist Shrine. Hell; h-anime like Bible Black and Discipline.

And “catering to viewers.” That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to tell you. If companies are gonna throw moe garbage at people, there should atleast be some other company to create something for the rest of us. But if everyone’s gonna follow the money and/or do what everybody else is doing; then these people should accept the injury they get when people’s taste change. By that time, these people had better create something hella better than a bunch of retarded girls who make stupid verbal sound effects.

But you know what? Whoever said that “it’s just my opinion” is right. I shouldn’t get all carried away over a bunch of foreign cartoons. I know that I’ll never be able to have sex with someone like Fuuko or Kotomi. I accepted the idea tha masturbation is a byproduct of situations where the genitals of the opposite sex are not readily available when the need is greater than the means to get them.

Seriously, though: Who here has a girlfriend that isn’t drawn, animated, or some lifeless dummy? Can you still be an anime fan and have a girlfriend?